Cultural determinism

Cultural determinism is an idea from sociology (the study of how humans act in groups) and anthropology (the study of humans).^[1]

Cultural determinism is the thought that how people think and act is greatly shaped by the culture they grow up in. A culture is the common history and ways of life within a group of people.^[2]

Cultural determinism is on a spectrum – it is possible to agree with cultural determination a lot, a little, or not at all. If someone is strongly culturally deterministic, they believe that a person is mainly controlled by their culture. If someone is weakly culturally deterministic, they believe that a person is barely controlled by their culture. Many cultural anthropologists use theories that have varying levels of cultural determinism within them.^[3]

1. ↑ "cultural determinism". Oxford Reference. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
2. ↑ "Definition of CULTURE". www.merriam-webster.com. 2023-12-04. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
3. ↑ "Examples That Simplify the Meaning of Cultural Determinism". Historyplex. 2015-03-07. Retrieved 2023-12-12.