Definition of Ideal Culture
(noun) The standards and values a society tries to have or pretends to have.
Example of Ideal Culture
- The United States celebrates the American Dream and the doctrine of a meritocracy.
Ideal Culture Pronunciation
Syllabification: i·de·al cul·ture
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /ie-dEEl kUHl-chuhr/
- British English – /ie-dIUHl kUHl-chuh/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /aɪˈdil ˈkʌlʧər/
- British English – /aɪˈdɪəl ˈkʌlʧə/
Usage Notes
- Plural: ideal cultures
- Ideal culture is contrasted to real culture.
- A type of culture.
Additional Information
Related Terms
Works Consulted
Ferris, Kerry, and Jill Stein. 2010. The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology. 2nd ed. New York: Norton.
Griffiths, Heather, Nathan Keirns, Eric Strayer, Susan Cody-Rydzewski, Gail Scaramuzzo, Tommy Sadler, Sally Vyain, Jeff Bry, Faye Jones. 2016. Introduction to Sociology 2e. Houston, TX: OpenStax.
Henslin, James M. 2012. Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach. 10th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Merriam-Webster. (N.d.) Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/).
Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).
Shepard, Jon M. 2010. Sociology. 11th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Shepard, Jon M., and Robert W. Greene. 2003. Sociology and You. New York: Glencoe.
Stolley, Kathy S. 2005. The Basics of Sociology. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Thompson, William E. and Joseph V. Hickey. 2012. Society in Focus: An Introduction to Sociology. 7th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Turner, Bryan S., ed. 2006. The Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).
Cite the Definition of Ideal Culture
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “ideal culture.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved April 1, 2023 (https://sociologydictionary.org/ideal-culture/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
ideal culture. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/ideal-culture/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “ideal culture.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed April 1, 2023. https://sociologydictionary.org/ideal-culture/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“ideal culture.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 1 Apr. 2023. <https://sociologydictionary.org/ideal-culture/>.