Subcultures are groups whose norms and values are different from those of the wider culture. Examples include gamers or members of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). For example, members of Alcoholics Anonymous have different norms and values than the rest of society. They abstain from drinking and often follow a 12-step process towards recovery, so they have different attitudes and practices than what might be typical in American society.

Sociologist C. Wright Mills described the sociological imagination as the ability to “think yourself away from the familiar routines of everyday life," meaning that you could place yourself into another culture and understand how it might feel to live in that culture. Having a sociological imagination helps us understand different subcultures because to understand them, we have to suspend some of our typical norms and values and comprehend that their norms and values are different.