It refers to the interaction, or network of interaction, of living persons with each other and with supernatural entities. Anthropologists have noted that peoples around the world give different meaning to different social concepts, such as father, mother, god, law, health, priesthood, sacrament, the body, creation of the world, sexuality, birth, death, misfortune, religious objects, objects of prestige, and even human existence. But viewed in the comparative lens of anthropology, ours is only one of many. The meaning given to events, places, objects, and social processes, are thus an essential aspect of social and cultural anthropology. The way culture works in peoples lives may be illustrated with an example from the game of football .
Football has both cultural and social properties, and provides a good illustration of both.
The field may be regarded as the universe or world within which action occurs. The actual playing of a football game within this field or universe is a social event, involving the interaction of at least 22 persons, who are divided into two groups. The social interaction constitutes the social dimension or social system of the game. There is also a cultural dimension to football. Here social interaction takes place in an environment which is culturally defined and structured, and the interaction is ordered by a set of culturally derived rules.