culture war

American  

[kuhl-cher wawr] / ˈkʌl tʃər ˌwɔr /

noun

1. a conflict or struggle for dominance between groups within a society or between societies, arising from their differing beliefs, practices, etc..

   a culture war over the right to own a gun; China’s culture war with the Western world.

---

Etymology

Origin of culture war

First recorded in 1875–80; a loan translation of German Kulturkampf ( def. ). The contemporary sense was first recorded in 1985–90 .

Example Sentences

"Let's remove the whole culture war thing entirely and focus on the pragmatic element plenty of people will like and will choose to use," is how one government figure put it to me.

From BBC

The woman at the center of what Morgan calls “America’s first modern culture war” was a poor fit for her times.

From Los Angeles Times

Maybe Mr. Noseda really is tone-deaf to America’s culture war.

From The Wall Street Journal

“The attention to the culture war thing means that there’s a lot of distraction from the basic needs of kids being met,” said Aysha Prather, a parent who has closely followed changes in state education policy.

From Salon

Social and institutional systems interact with individual moral beliefs, shaping how people view culture war issues such as wealth and inequality − and, in turn, how they engage with the policies and conflicts that emerge around them.

From Salon