Culture and Cognition: A Process Account of Culture

Abstract

Sociologists of culture and cognition are well positioned to take up the rigorous study of culture as a dynamic process by which meanings come to be perceived as shared through social interaction and influence. A wealth of exciting new work in psychology on how cognitive representations and associations are shaped and strengthened by social interaction can be integrated into a more comprehensive account of the dynamic process of culture. Understanding how shared meanings develop and change sheds light onto some of the most important questions in sociology. I provide a brief example of how a process‐based account of culture can help us understand peer conflict in schools.