Definition of Material and Non-Material Culture Examples

Material Culture

Material Culture Definition

Material culture is the study of objects and their use in everyday life. Material culture can be found anywhere at any time, and it provides insight into the lives of those who use it.

Materials are the basic building blocks of our world; they might not be glamorous, but life as we know it would not exist without them. The word material itself is defined by Merriam Webster dictionary as “a substance (as wood or stone) out of which a thing can be made.”

Material culture consists of all the things that people use to make their lives better and easier.

Material Culture deals with artifacts and physical remains left by past peoples. This includes items such as clothing, tools, pottery, or even homes. These things can significantly help to understand our history and provide insight into what life was like in other times.

The idea behind Material Culture is that objects are useful for understanding human behavior because they have meaning outside their everyday uses; people make choices about how to use them based on social norms, cultural values, and beliefs which in turn influence the material culture itself.

Material Culture Examples

A material culture example is an object used by a group of people in their everyday lives.

Examples  of Material culture include;

• Things like furniture, clothing, food, pottery, etc.
• Objects are used to tell a story about how people lived in the past.

What Is Non-Material Culture

Non-Material Culture Definition

Non-material culture is a term that was first developed by Edward T. Hall in 1976  and later used by John B. Thompson in 1997 to describe the way that many people are now consuming cultures, such as music or film. This type of consumption has changed dramatically over time and will change even more in the future.

The term ‘non-material culture’ is used in anthropology, sociology, and economics to refer to the things that make up a society or community which are intangible.

In this sense, non-material culture encompasses religion, music, language, and other aspects of life that can’t be easily quantified or measured by numbers alone.

This concept describes the way people gather and use the information to understand each other’s behavior, attitudes, and beliefs without relying on direct observation or material artifacts.

It involves nonverbal cues such as facial expressions, eye contact, touch frequency/force/duration, etc., body movement like posture and gestures, and the context of the situation you are in when communicating with others.

Non-Material Culture Examples

What are Non-Material Culture Examples

• A person’s name is an example of non-material culture.
• The way people dress can be considered a form of non-material culture.
• Non-material cultures are also found in the arts, such as music and dance.
• The way that people speak
•  What they eat and drink
• The beliefs, traditions, and values
• The way you dress and present yourself
• How you greet someone
•  What your handshake is like
•  Your posture and body language

Importance Of Material Culture

Why Is Material Culture Important?

Material culture is an important part of our world, and it cannot be easy to understand the past without it.

Archaeologists and historians use material culture to learn about people from the past. Without it, we would not know what ancient civilizations like Rome or Greece looked like

Differentiate Between Material And Nonmaterial Culture

• Material culture is defined as the physical objects that people use to express themselves and their values, while non-material culture includes beliefs, language, rituals, traditions, and customs.
• Material culture is the physical material that remains from a society or group, while non-material culture is intangible and includes social, political, artistic, and religious aspects of society. Other examples of nonmaterial culture are language, customs, religion, art forms.

Material Culture Examples Archaeology

Material culture is a branch of social sciences (anthropology, sociology, etc.) that studies the relationship between people and objects.

In archaeology, it has developed into an interdisciplinary subfield that focuses on studying all aspects of material production, distribution, consumption, and disposal in human societies across all time periods.

Material Culture Definition Sociology

Sociologists study material culture to understand how people interact with one another.

In Sociology, material culture looks at human-made objects and their relationships to people, society, and the natural environment.  It can also be explained as “the material things humans make or use to satisfy needs.”

Material culture includes all aspects of a society’s physical surroundings: tools, architecture, clothing, foodways, etc. The study of material culture seeks to understand how these objects reflect cultural values and traditions.

Material Culture Anthropology

Material culture is the study of material goods and artifacts.  It is an anthropology branch that examines how people’s lives are influenced by objects, technologies, and physical surroundings. The field has been around since the 1800s.

Anthropologists have studied everything from clothes to buildings to food in order to understand how humans interact with their environment. Anthropologists study material culture because it provides insights into social relationships.

Material cultures can also be studied in archaeology and sociology.