material culture

American  

noun

Sociology.

1. the aggregate of physical objects or artifacts used by a society.

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Etymology

Origin of material culture

First recorded in 1925–30

Compare meaning

How does material-culture compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• material culture vs. nonmaterial culture

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

material culture

In addition, the museum’s curators tended to be specialized in material culture — collecting and studying the museum’s several million objects and artifacts — rather than in conceptual storytelling.

From Salon ● Sep. 25, 2026

“The heroes, the poetics, the material culture, the everyday,” she said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2026

On top of its potential communicative importance and intrinsic value as a cultural behavior, accumulative stone throwing involves durable primate material culture, the loss of which would constitute the erasure of primate heritage.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 28, 2026

The Shakers, with their signature spare style, have had an outsize impact on material culture, considering their numbers—a peak estimated at 6,000 members in the mid-19th century—and segregation from the world.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 4, 2026

The differing availability of raw materials imposed an obvious constraint on material culture.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond