Terms such as "welcome culture", "asylum" or "Islam" are part of our daily language use and convey certain meanings and connotations. What do expressions such as "racism", "migration background" or "identity" mean? How has the meaning of the terms "culture" or "modernity" changed over time? Why can it be problematic to talk about "people" and "home"? The cultural studies glossary sensitizes readers to the use and meaning of certain terms, explains their historical and socio-political changes in meaning, and provides information on current uses. Terms were recorded that are effective in the media, in election campaigns or in everyday conversations, and that make social localizations and delimitations. In addition to a brief definition and discussion of the current use, the meaning and the effect of the individual terms, the uniformly structured manual contributions deal with problems in dealing with the respective terms and highlight changes in their meaning in the history of science. The aim is to show the history of word usage and to show, by means of examples, the socio-political instrumentalization at different times and the often shortened use of the terms. A conclusion outlines their reflective use.