cowboy culture

Cowboy culture encompasses the traditions, values, and lifestyle associated with cattle herding in the American West.

It includes practical elements—horsemanship, roping, ranch work—alongside a mythology of rugged individualism, self-reliance, and frontier justice.

The culture persists in rodeos, country music, and Western fashion: He grew up steeped in cowboy culture.

It romanticizes open land, hard work, and a code of honor, though critics note it often glosses over the displacement of Indigenous peoples and the contributions of Black and Mexican vaqueros.