The Outline of Cultural Materials (OCM)

The Outline of Cultural Materials is a numerical system for categorizing cultural data for purposes of research. It is usually referred to by its initials, OCM.

The OCM is sometimes referred to as H-RAF, the HRAF codes, or the Human Relations Area Files system, but these should not be confused. See the connection between the OCM and HRAF.

The OCM was first developed in the 1930s by the anthropologist George Murdock and his colleagues. It has been revised several times and is now in its fifth revised edition.

The OCM is available in two forms in the LinguaLinks product:

• A read-only library bookshelf view. To access the OCM in this form, open the Anthropology bookshelf in the LinguaLinks Library and double-click The Outline of Cultural Materials.
• As one of the categorizing lists available in LinguaLinks Workshops. In this form it can be used to categorize entries in a lexical database or a data notebook. You access the list from the particular tool you are using.

Here are the parts of the Outline of Cultural Materials:

• Preface and Introduction to the OCM system
• Table of Contents, which lists the cultural categories and subcategories and their numerical classification codes
• Descriptions of the range of each category, which are guidelines on what kinds of things may be included under a particular category
• Index of key words cross-referenced to relevant categories

Murdock et al 1987

• Structure module: Outline of Cultural Materials
• In modular book: Using the Outline of Cultural Materials (OCM), by Elinor Abbot
• In bookshelf: Anthropology

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 3.5, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 21 March 1999

© 1999 SIL International