Beginning in the 1960s, anthropologists began to place much more focus on the symbols used in a culture.

A sign is a thing that we can perceive that has a meaning. A symbol is a type of sign. Rather, culture lies in individuals’ interpretations of events and things around them. As it emerged from symbolic anthropology during the 1970s, the concept of culture drew from the predominant model of language as an underlying grammar, structure, or system of symbols and meanings (see Culture: Contemporary Views).

These interpretations form a shared cultural system of meaning–i.e., understandings shared, to varying degrees, among members of the same society (Des Chene 1996:1274). Semiotics is the study of signs and sign systems. Symbolic anthropology studies how people create meaning out of their experiences or construct their own concept of reality through the use of shared cultural symbols, such as myths or body language. Some good examples of symbols/symbolism would be objects, figures, sounds, and colors. Symbolic and Interpretive Anthropology. Everything one does throughout their life is based and organized through cultural symbolism. With a reference to socially established signs and symbols, people shape the patterns of their behaviors and give meanings to their experiences. The theoretical school of Symbolic and Interpretive Anthropologyassumes that culture does not exist beyond individuals. A symbol is an object, word, or action that stands for something else with no natural relationship that is culturally defined. Symbolism is when something represents abstract ideas or concepts. Symbolic anthropologystudies the way people understand their surroundings, as well as the actions and utterances of the other members of their society.