A game of social acceptance amongst piers, primarily played by middle aged mothers. The game involves; Performing activities simply to brag about them to other mothers, trying to create a false image of a perfect family to the outside
world and pretending to care about certain socially acceptable things.
An
example of a mother playing "The Culture Game" is when she drags her family to a museum, that she has no interest in, only to brag about it to her friends and tell them how "insightful" and "refreshing" it was. Another example is when a mother forces her children to attend a gathering even if the children have no connection to the people who
will be at the gathering, simply to uphold the image of the perfect family.
The Culture Game comes from a place of longing for social acceptance and fear of
rejection. The middle aged mothers are scared of being
honest and truthful with their piers, scared to admit fault, disinterest and
show weakness, which results in them dragging their families through the
mud to keep up the facade.
"I can't believe that
mom is playing The Culture Game with aunt Karen again"
"Yeah, she doesn't even
like wine, but I guess her pride is more important than her
taste.."