Classification and Distinctive Features Classification and Distinctive Feature Analysis Social and cultural phenomena are not simply events or objects but have meaning.
Cultural meaning is determined by a system of constitutive rules.
These rules do not regulate behaviour but create the possibility of particular forms of behaviour. It is possible to score a goal in football, to adopt a child, to go bankrupt, because of particular sets of constitutive rules in a specific society. By categorizing as equivalent disciminably different events, persons or things in the natural, supernatural and social world, the organism reduces the complexity of the environment. Categorization allows us to identify objects in the world around us. When a category based on a set of defining attributes is established, the necessity of constant learning is reduced.