In this article, azVocab has compiled IELTS phrases related to the “Culture and Society” topic, which you can easily apply to IELTS Writing Task 2 or the Speaking section. We also provided you with full meanings and examples of these phrases to make it easier for you to apply.
Subtopic Culture
The topic of Culture is a common one in everyday communication as well as in various sections of the IELTS exam.
| PHRASE | MEANING | EXAMPLE |
| Diverse culture | The quality of diverse or different cultures | The matic and special exhibitions are held at this hall at intervals to promote an awareness of the country’s diverse culture. |
| Contemporary/modern culture | Current, shared themes, beliefs and values of the society | Indeed, because the city is everywhere, contemporary culture is completely immersed in the cultural representation of urbanity. |
| Cultural assimilation | The process in which a minority group or culture comes to resemble a society’s majority group or assimilate the values, behaviors, and beliefs of another group whether fully or partially | The most commonly understood form of assimilation is cultural assimilation. |
| Cultural degradation | The decline or deterioration of cultural values, traditions, and practices within a society | Much too often statements about cultural degradation come from religious fanatics, such as the endless numbers of Baptist preachers who claimed that jazz was the devil’s music. |
| Cultural difference | A difference in the habits, traditions, or beliefs of a society | It is essential for you to be aware of cultural differences in communication, for example, to know the correct way of addressing and greeting your business partners, your boss, and your colleagues; always use last names and titles unless you are invited to do otherwise. |
| Cultural exchange | Cultural exchanges happen when people learn from each other, sharing some aspect of their cultures | With activities in the festival, we hope to provide an opportunity that can benefit both Vietnamese students and a range of foreign tourists, as well as improve the cultural exchange between Vietnam and the world. |
| Cultural festival | A celebration of the traditions of a particular people or place | The annual cultural festival aims to honor the Cham people’s values and cultural identities and provide an opportunity for Cham ethnic minority groups to strengthen their solidarity. |
| Cultural globalization | The transmission of ideas, meanings and values around the world in such a way as to extend and intensify social relations | Cultural globalization refers to the rapid movement of ideas, attitudes, meanings, values, and cultural products across national borders. |
| Cultural heritage | The heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations | With a group of temple-towers of Cham people, an imperial city during the Champa kingdom, My Son Sanctuary is a cultural heritage and tourist attraction in Vietnam. |
| Cultural integration | When people from a culture adopt the essence of another culture, while maintaining their own culture | Cultural integration eliminates conflicts arising from cultural differences by organizing events to connect the values of different communities. |
| Cultural norm | The standards we live by | There were a number of clear cultural norms in the highest-performing arts. |
| Cultural misconception | A mistaken belief or idea about a particular culture that is based on stereotypes, biases, or limited understanding | William Cruz showed how differences in non-verbal communication cause cultural misconceptions. |
| Cultural richness/diversity | Diversity in anything that has to do with how people live, such as music, art, recreation, religion or beliefs, languages, dress, traditions, stories and folklore, ways of organization, ways of interaction with the environment, and attitudes | Cultural diversity is a mainspring for sustainable development for individuals, communities, and countries. |
| Cultural specificity | The property of being specific to one or more cultures, and hence not existing in other cultures | However, all scales demonstrate cultural specificity and rely upon measuring loneliness via indirect questions relating to direct social engagement. |
| Cultural uniqueness | A style of artistic expression, methodology, or medium which is unique to a particular country, nation, society, class, ethnicity, religion, tribe, or other group of persons | It focuses on claims by social sectors within national contexts for status and recognition of their own contemporary cultural uniqueness. |
| Cultural homogenization | An aspect of cultural globalization, listed as one of its main characteristics, and refers to the reduction in cultural diversity through the popularization and diffusion of a wide array of cultural symbols—not only physical objects but customs, ideas and values | Cultural homogenization is understood as a state-led policy aimed at cultural standardization and the overlap between state and culture. |
| Cultural diffusion | When certain cultural values, ideas, or even cultures are adopted by different cultures | Historically cultural diffusion and hybridization have occurred through migration, colonial conquest, and domination. |
| Cultural landscape | A term used in the fields of geography, ecology, and heritage studies, to describe a symbiosis of human activity and environment | The culture-bound, ideological-mental dimension of space is also a prominent topic of research for archaeologists studying the cultural landscape. |
| Cultural trait | A characteristic of human action that’s acquired by people socially and transmitted via various modes of communication | According to Bastian, innovations and cultural traits tended not to diffuse across areas. |
| Culture shock | A feeling of confusion felt by someone visiting a country or place that they do not know | Culture shock basically comes from a lack of understanding and builds up anxiety. |
| Deeply-rooted culture | The culture that strongly connected to the past, esp. of beliefs, culture, prejudice, conflict, etc. | The Chinese zodiac is a very deeply-rooted culture. |
| Exotic culture | The culture that is unusual and exciting because of coming from far away | So, is it possible to experience an exotic culture without harming it in some way? |
| Folk culture | Cultural traditions that are done at a local level and which are derived from longstanding cultural practices | The Vietnamese folk culture has always evolved on the basis of the wet rice civilization. Thus, the lifestyle of the Vietnamese population is closely related to its village and native lands. |
| Indigenous culture = Local culture | The set of behaviours, beliefs and customs that exist in a country | The indigenous culture is an active and living part of everyday life for the majority of the population. |
| Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity | Many parts of culture, however are intangible, including song, music, dance, drama, skills, cuisine, crafts and festivals | Then practice is recognized as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. |
| Melting-pot society = Multi-cultural society | The society that is characterized by people of different races, ethnicities, and nationalities living together in the same community | A mełting-pot society is predicated on assimilation, yet this involves submission to a predominant culture. |
| Racial conflict | A conflict between two or more contending ethnic groups | Racial conflicts have become a serious challenge for many Companies in America. |
| Social culture | A complex set of meanings, habits, values and behaviours adopted by one or more social formations | In sociology, a social culture is the culture of a society. |
| Material culture | The aspect of social reality grounded in the objects and architecture that surround people | Her training in material culture provides a distinctively different vantage point from which to analyze the much-researched subject of veiling. |
| The total loss of cultural identity | The loss of traditional practices and ways of living | Globalization will inevitably lead to the total loss of cultural identity. |
| The growing influence of western culture | The state that the society is influenced by Western culture | The way of life in some Asian countries has gone through tremendous changes due to the growing influence of Western culture. |
| Time-honored culture = Long-standing culture | The culture that has existed for a long time | It also seeks to popularise the historic significance of Hanoi’s liberation in the cause of national construction and defense whilst highlighting the revolutionary tradition and time-honored culture of Thang Long – Hanoi. |
| To be imbued with national identity | To fill something or someone with a national identity | The objective of the orientation is to promote the role of inhabitants and communities in the development of modern architecture imbued with national identity and the creation of a sustainable living environment. |
| To preserve/keep/save/conserve the values of culture | To keep the artifacts and traditions of a community intact against factors trying to change them or wear them away | It is essential to preserve the values of our culture to maintain our identity as a nation. |
| To abandon one’s own culture | To ignore the values of one’s own culture | There are people who choose to abandon their own culture and assimilate into the new culture of the majority. |
| To adopt a new culture | To acquire and adjust to a new cultural environment as a result of being placed into a new culture, or when another culture is brought to someone | Adapting to a new culture can be difficult for expatriates. |
| To distort traditional values | To change traditional values so that they are false or wrong, or no longer means what they were intended to mean | Many historical sites’ owners risk distorting traditional values with the aim of gaining higher profit from tourism. |
| To instill cultural and traditional values into sb | To put a cultural and traditional values gradually into someone’s mind, so that they have a strong influence on the way that person thinks or behaves | Families play a significant role in instilling cultural and traditional values into children at a young age. |
| To take pride in their origin | To feel very pleased about one’s origin | Young children are encouraged to take pride in their origin and treasure the life they have today. |
| To reinforce cultural exchange | To promote the exchange of students, artists, athletes, etc., between two countries to develop mutual understanding | Many universities worldwide collaborate with a view to reinforcing cultural exchange among their students. |
| To glean deeper insight into | To gain an accurate and deep understanding of something | Cultural exchange programs give attendees an opportunity to glean deeper insight into the diversity of cultures and history around the world. |
Subtopic Society
Below, azVocab will provide you with phrases related to the “Society” topic. You can apply them to your Writing Task 2 or Speaking part.
| PHRASE | MEANING | EXAMPLE |
| An egalitarian society | In an egalitarian society, all are considered equal, regardless of gender, race, religion, or age | An egalitarian society which accepts everybody equally on achievement is also a society which rejects people who fail to make the grades it requires. |
| A utopian society | An imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members | The first important thing to understand about a utopian society is that it is an ideal society. Another important detail about utopian societies is that one has never existed. |
| Innovative thoughts | The ability to create something new, moving away from traditional thought patterns | Sharing the same old mindset can make one miss out on innovative thoughts. |
| Antisocial behavior | Actions which are considered to violate the rights of others by committing crime or nuisance | Currently, voluntarily inducing infertility seems to be regarded as somewhat antisocial behavior. |
| Outdated traditions | Ttraditions that no longer make sense in the context of the modern-day but that we still perform | Some outdated traditions are not fitting in modern society. |
| Social anxiety | A long-term and overwhelming fear of social situations | Those who suffer from social anxiety disorder fear being judged by others in society. |
| Social conformity | A type of social influence involving a change in belief or behaviour in order to fit in with a group | Culture jamming is employed as a reaction against social conformity |
| Social conscience | A sense of responsibility or concern for the problems and injustices of society | I trust that he will have the political confidence and the social conscience to do so. |
| Social decline | The fall of a complex human society characterized by the loss of cultural identity and of social complexity as an adaptive system | Relaxing laws on alcohol consumption could potentially cause social decline. |
| Social exclusion/ marginalisation | The social disadvantage and relegation to the fringe of society | Social exclusion is a major cause of crime and re-offending |
| Social fabric | The web of interactions and connections that binds us all together as a society | The social fabric of society is being changed rapidly. |
| Social hierarchy | Systems of social organization in which some individuals enjoy a higher social status than others | Lower down the social hierarchy, customary forms of divorce and remarriage were widely accepted. |
| Social inequality | The condition of unequal access to the benefits and rights of society | The rise of populism is not only a product of our economic divide, it’s a product of growing social inequality. |
| Social mobility | The ability to move from one level of society to another | The most important factor promoting social mobility is education |
| Social norm | Shared standards of acceptable behavior by groups | These men and women had deviated from the social norm of marrying in young adulthood. |
| Social solidarity | The degree to which individuals and groups in society are connected to, and supported by, one another; the strength of the social fabric in a given society | Social solidarity is the key to beating the negative effects caused by a large-scale health crisis like Covid-19. |
| Social welfare | Services provided by the government or private organizations to help poor, ill, or old people | The Salvation Army is one of the largest providers of social welfare in the world. |
| Illegal immigration | The migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continuous residence without the legal right to live in that country | Tackling illegal immigration and human trafficking requires proper checks to be in place. |
| Growing gap between rich and poor states | The growing economic inequality | The growing gap between rich and poor states can create instability which increases risks for us all. |
| Gender imbalance | The proportion of males to females in a given population | This has led to a gender imbalance, with the male population significantly larger than the female. |
| Domestic violence | The situation in which someone you live with attacks you and tries to hurt you | Women are still the main victims of domestic violence. |
| Colour bar | A social and legal system in which people of different races are separated and not given the same rights and opportunities | Even if migrants could afford to live outside the inner city there was a strong colour bar that prevented them from moving into more affluent areas. |
| To develop based on judgment | To form an opinion or evaluation by discerning and comparing | As a result, people are fighting for the right to develop based on their judgment. |
| To feel left out | If someone feels left out, they are unhappy because they have not been included in an activity | I felt left out when every other kid got invited to the party but me. |
| To follow societal traditions | To conform to behaviours that are common among other people | The passionate and emotional sides within them bring about a sense of forgiveness and cause them to follow societal traditions in negative ways. |
| To suppress individualism | To prevent yourself from having or expressing the quality of being different from other people and doing things in your own way | Another reason is that suppressing individualism can also inhibit creativity and innovation. |
| To segregate sb | To keep one group of people apart from another and treat them differently, especially because of race, sex, or religion | The civil rights movement fought against practices that segregated black and white people. |
| To discriminate on the grounds of something | To treat a person or particular group of people differently, especially in a worse way from the way in which you treat other people, because of their race, gender, sexuality, etc. | It is illegal to discriminate on the grounds of race, gender, or religion. |
| To integrate into society | To mix with and join society or a group of people, often changing to suit their way of life, habits, and customs | It’s very difficult to integrate yourself into a society whose culture is so different from your own. |
| To be socially acceptable | To be deemed acceptable or appropriate by society | The differences across cultures can be significantly associated with the need to be socially accepted. |
| To develop social skills | To train people or animals to behave in a way that others in the group think is suitable | Extending care for children after school helps them develop their social skills. |
azVocab hopes that these phrases for the topic of “Culture and Society” will help you easily approach these two subjects. Wishing you good study and success in your upcoming IELTS exam!
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