material culture

noun

, Sociology.

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of material culture¹

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

The burials had scanty grave goods—a bead and a dog paw—so it’s hard to connect them to any particular material culture.

From Science Magazine

Music becomes sacred partly through the material culture it inspires.

From New York Times

That, quite by accident, is what Juli Lynne Charlot did in late 1947, in the process creating a totem of midcentury material culture as evocative as the saddle shoe, the Hula-Hoop and the pink plastic lawn flamingo.

From New York Times

“Even in that early moment, Americans kind of conflated consumerism with patriotic memory,” said Bruggeman, whose books include “Here, George Washington Was Born: Memory, Material Culture, and the Public History of a National Monument.”

From Seattle Times

"When we overlay the mobility maps with the social network, we see a strong correlation between routes for subsistence-oriented mobility and strong ties in material culture between regional communities, suggesting the emergence of 'mobility highways' over centuries of use," Frachetti said.

From Science Daily