Definition of Cultural Transmission
(noun) The sharing and transfer of material culture (e.g., and nonmaterial culture (e.g., beliefs, norms, and values or “ideas”) of one culture to another.
Cultural Transmission Pronunciation
Syllabification: cul·tur·al trans·mis·sion
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /kUHl-chuhr-ruhl trans-mIsh-uhn/
- British English – /kUHl-chuh-ruhl tranz-mIsh-uhn/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ˈkʌlʧərəl trænzˈmɪʃən/
- British English – /ˈkʌlʧərəl trænzˈmɪʃən/
Usage Notes
- Plural: cultural transmissions
- A cultural object is called a meme, such as belief in a deity, the hula hoop, or a video game. Meme was coined by Richard Dawkins (born 1941) in The Selfish Gene (1976).
- Also called cultural transmission theory.
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Works Consulted
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Cite the Definition of Cultural Transmission
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “cultural transmission.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved October 2, 2023 (https://sociologydictionary.org/cultural-transmission/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
cultural transmission. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/cultural-transmission/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “cultural transmission.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed October 2, 2023. https://sociologydictionary.org/cultural-transmission/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“cultural transmission.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 2 Oct. 2023. <https://sociologydictionary.org/cultural-transmission/>.