Addressing the Problem of Cultural Anchoring

One of the primary challenges in the study of culture and action is determining which cultural elements “anchor” (or influence) other elements. Notable attempts to address this problem include tool kit theory and dual-process models of culture and action. Insightful as these efforts are, they do not adequately explain action that crosscuts contexts, in part because they do not detail the specific types of cultural content that matter. This article draws on identity theory from sociological social psychology and a variety of perspectives from cultural sociology to propose an identity-based model of culture in action that begins to address these shortcomings. Past research supports the theory’s major claims, although additional work is required to fully verify the proposed sequence of situated action.