Dominant culture is a key concept in social stratification theory, describing a dominant set of cultural norms, values, and beliefs that exist within a society. It is an overarching way of living, a system of power and privilege that privileges certain groups over others. This system helps perpetuate the unequal distribution of access to goods, services and opportunities, as well as to social power, within a society. Dominant culture rarely challenges the status quo, but instead works to maintain it. It is through this lens that we understand the social and economic inequities existing in our world.

See also: native people, social change, capitalist modernity, neoliberal capitalism