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Several sociologists have observed that the word "culture," though commonly used in academic literature, is an ultimately hazy concept—for example, Renate Mayntz has noted that "there is (still) no agreement on the meaning of this core term of sociological analysis." Does the idea of culture encompass art, or customs, or both these things and others? For casual usage, such haziness is permissible—we know culture when we see it—but for researchers, a standardization of the term is called for if sociology is to truly progress.