Cultural transmission
Also known as: cultural learning
Cultural transmission is the process by which a society's knowledge, values, norms, language, and practices are passed from one generation to the next through learning rather than genetics. It occurs through socialization by family, schools, peers, and media.
Cultural transmission is the passing of culture — language, beliefs, values, norms, customs, and skills — from one person or generation to another through learning and socialization rather than biological inheritance. It is what makes culture cumulative: each generation inherits the accumulated knowledge of previous ones and builds on it.
Transmission flows through the agents of socialization: family (usually the first and most influential), schools, peer groups, religious institutions, and media. Sociologists distinguish directions of flow — vertical transmission from parents to children, horizontal transmission among peers, and oblique transmission from non-parental adults or institutions to younger generations. Both material culture (physical objects like tools and clothing) and symbolic (nonmaterial) culture — language, rituals, values — are transmitted this way.
Cultural transmission sits alongside related processes tested with it: cultural diffusion is the spread of cultural elements between different societies (not generations within one), assimilation is the adoption of a dominant culture by a minority group, and culture lag is the delay as nonmaterial culture catches up to rapid changes in material culture and technology. Keeping transmission (within a society, across generations) distinct from diffusion (across societies) is a classic test discrimination.
The MCAT's Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior section tests cultural transmission within its culture and socialization content — expect questions distinguishing transmission from diffusion, identifying agents of socialization, and applying concepts like culture lag and assimilation to passage scenarios.
Key takeaways
- Cultural transmission passes knowledge, values, norms, and language across generations through learning, not genes.
- It operates through agents of socialization — family, schools, peers, religion, and media.
- Transmission can be vertical (parent to child), horizontal (peer to peer), or oblique (institutions to youth).
- Cultural transmission happens within a society across generations; cultural diffusion spreads culture between societies.
- The MCAT tests cultural transmission alongside diffusion, assimilation, and culture lag in its psych/soc section.