Personality traits and their relationship with culture. Man as a product of culture

The world of culture in all its diversity and richness is created by man. These phenomena - man and culture - are inextricably interconnected. Just as a person creates culture, so culture shapes a person, determines the goals and meaning of his existence, and develops his own essence. Therefore, the problem of “man and culture” acquires special significance.

According to the definition of S. L. Rubinstein, personality is “a specific, historical, living individual included in real relationship To real world. The essential, determining, leading ones for man as a whole are not biological, but social laws of his development" *191.

*191: (Rubinstein S.L. Fundamentals of general psychology. - St. Petersburg, 2000. - P. 635.)

Analyzing the relationship between man and culture, researchers note its multidimensional nature. The person appears as:

- a unique cultural product;
- consumer of culture;
- crop producer;
- cultural translator.

Let us consider various manifestations of the relationship between culture and man.

Man as a product of culture

A person is formed as a personality, distinguishing himself from nature, determining his attitude towards the world around him in the process of developing his consciousness and self-awareness.

Evolution of personality culture

Man, as a product of culture, is a conscious social being. Unlike animals, he enters the world of culture with its norms and values, where the formation of his personality occurs in the process of enculturation *192 and socialization *193. An essential link in this process is a person’s mastery of speech, which represents universal remedy communication. Thanks to it, the meaning of human communication is realized and preserved, behavior patterns are mastered, and learning takes place. cultural norms, accumulation scientific knowledge, introduction to art. This is how a cultural and speech environment is created, a speech community of people and the totality of words used by this community. cultural elements(customs, traditions, symbols, values, norms) *194.

*192: (Enculturation is the process by which an individual acquires traditional ways of thinking and acting characteristic of the culture to which he belongs.)

*193: (Socialization is the introduction of a person to the system of values and norms accepted in a given culture and society.)

*194: (See: Kravchenko L.I. Culturology. - M., 2000. - P. 99)

The influence of the external world, all its components, determines a person’s relationship with others, while at the same time, being reflected in his consciousness, it forms his internal structure and rebuilds his consciousness.

Culture also determines the so-called “existential” (Latin existentia - existence), life-meaning values: the attitude towards life and death, the responsibility of decision and choice, a person’s attitude towards his calling, towards the people around him, and more - everything that expresses the very essence of the human condition in the world. The richness and depth of a person’s connections with the surrounding reality determine and inner wealth personality.

The process of socialization of the individual occurs primarily at the level of the microenvironment: in the family, in communication with parents and loved ones. A person perceives and assimilates norms and ideals; he develops a special hierarchy of sociocultural values.

It is the system of values that regulates human aspirations and actions, determines the principles that guide a person in his life and activities, based on which he follows certain “patterns” of actions, patterns of behavior defined within the framework of culture. Not only the assimilation, but also the retransmission of cultural skills occurs, which strengthens the connection between generations and ensures the preservation of the integrity of society and culture.

The socialization process is carried out in several stages:

- pre-moral, characterized primarily by standards and regulators “external” to a person;
- the stage of conditional moral consciousness, when the norms and values of social groups prevail over individual ones;
- the stage of autonomous moral consciousness, determined by the relative freedom of the individual from external norms.

Thanks to socialization, a person adapts to the sociocultural environment, the entry of individuals into sociocultural and historical existence is ensured, and the possibility of mutual understanding between people appears.

Thus, the environment and society determine the initial assimilation of cultural patterns and values. Subsequently, in the process of learning, activity, obtaining information from the surrounding society, from the media, a person extracts the essence of conflicts and contradictions occurring in the world, develops his own life position, which gives the right to choose, the opportunity to actively and consciously participate in cultural exchange and creation.

Let's imagine this process in the form of a diagram.

Art plays a huge role in the process of shaping a person as a product of culture.

According to Hegel, “art really became the first teacher of nations *195.

*195: ("Hegel. Aesthetics. In 4 volumes - M., 1968. - T. 1. - P. 92)

Works artistic creativity fulfill their educational mission, reflecting the phenomena of reality in figurative form. But this is not the only thing great role art. Artistic image emotionally rich, it has an amazing property of emotional impact on a person, attracts aesthetic pleasure, which delivers. The suggestiveness (suggestion - from the Latin suggestio - suggestion) of art images, their heuristic *196 potential, attractiveness, communicativeness - all this develops human feelings, saturates spiritual world person, and, therefore, contributes to the development of aesthetic, artistic and moral culture person and society.

*196: (E in rika (Greek heureka - “I found”) - a word expressing joy, satisfaction when solving some difficult problem, the appearance of a successful thought, idea, etc.)

It depends on how broad a person’s horizons are, how developed his aesthetic feelings, ability to perceive art facts and phenomena, the content of the personality, the richness of its inner world largely depends, which affects relationships with others, and the person’s performance of his social “roles.” This is how a personality is formed that is socially and culturally adequate to society.

Culture determines the formation of a person’s moral consciousness, which has its roots in the social existence of the individual. “It receives its psychologically real expression in the way inner meaning acquires for a person everything that is around him and in himself" *197.

*197: (Rubinstein S.L. Fundamentals of general psychology. - St. Petersburg, 2000. - P. 640.)

The process of human formation does not end with reaching adulthood: it continues throughout life. As a result, those components are formed, the synthesis of which determines the essence and content of the personality:

- cultural ideal, which consists of values and their systems;
- social “roles” played by individuals in various groups;
- subjective and objective “I”, i.e. a complex of a person’s ideas about himself, conditioned by self-esteem and the opinions of other people about him.

§ 1. Definition of the concept “culture”

An essential feature of man is that the environment in which he exists is created by him. Really, life experience people gives reason to believe that they create around themselves not only a material world, which includes buildings, tools, bridges, canals, cultivated land, but also a world of human relationships, which includes a system social behavior, a set of rules and procedures to meet basic needs. This world of relationships is infinitely diverse. A city resident and a village resident, representatives of the population of, say, Georgia, Ukraine, Russia, each separate social group - everyone lives in a world of their own rules, norms, customs and traditions, which are expressed in special language, behavior, religion, system aesthetic views, social institutions. Moreover, due to individual perception environment each individual understands social relationships in his own way, creating a unique personal pattern of manifestation general rules, customs and traditions. Individual and general patterns of relationships, as well as the corresponding specific material and spiritual products of human life, constitute the sphere of human culture.

Culture is an extremely diverse concept. This scientific term appeared in Ancient Rome, where the word "cultura" meant cultivation of the land, upbringing, education. Having entered ordinary human speech, in the course of frequent use this word has lost its original meaning and began to designate a variety of aspects of human behavior, as well as types of activity.

So, we say that a person is cultured if he owns foreign languages, being polite to others or using a knife and fork correctly. But it is known that representatives of primitive tribes most often eat from a knife, speak using no more than four dozen words, and nevertheless have their own culture, for example, customs, traditions and even primitive art. Very often, in an ordinary, generally accepted sense, culture is understood as the spiritual and sublime side of people’s life, which includes, first of all, art and education. Everyone is familiar with the Ministry of Culture; everyone has encountered cultural institutions. But how to relate to such concepts as production culture, management culture or communication culture? Obviously, in the usual, everyday understanding, there are several different meanings the words "culture", denoting both elements of behavior and aspects of human activity. Such a broad use of the concept is unacceptable for scientific research, where accuracy and unambiguity of concepts are required. At the same time, any scientist cannot completely break away from generally accepted concepts, since it is obvious that it is in them that the long experience of people in practical use certain words and concepts, their common sense and traditions.

The ambiguity of understanding culture from the point of view common sense gave rise to numerous difficulties associated with scientific definition this complex concept. In different areas scientific activity More than 250 definitions of culture have been formulated, in which the authors try to cover the entire scope of this social phenomenon. The most successful definition of the concept of “culture” was apparently given by the English ethnographer E. Taylor in 1871: “Culture... is a complex whole that includes knowledge, beliefs, art, morality, laws, customs and others abilities and habits acquired and achieved by a person as a member of society" (217, p. 1). If we add to this the materialized knowledge, beliefs and skills that surround us in the form of buildings, works of art, books, religious objects and everyday objects, then it becomes obvious that culture is everything that is produced, socially assimilated and shared by members of society.

It should be noted that not every material or spiritual product created by people is covered by the concept of “culture”. Such a product, in order to become part of a culture, must be accepted by members of society or a part of them and fixed, materialized in their minds (say, through recording, fixation in stone, ceramics, metal, etc.). The product acquired in this way can be passed on to other people and subsequent generations. Based on this, each individual considers culture as a share of his social heritage, as a tradition passed on to him by his ancestors. At the same time, he himself can influence the culture and, if necessary, make changes, which in turn become part of the heritage of descendants if they turn out to be positive and are accepted by subsequent generations.

All social heritage can be considered as a synthesis of material and immaterial cultures. Intangible culture includes the words people use, the ideas, habits, customs, and beliefs that people create and then maintain. Material culture consists of human-made objects: tools, furniture, cars, buildings, farms and other physical substances that are constantly changed and used by people. In the game of hockey, for example, the pads, puck, sticks and uniform of hockey players are elements material culture. Intangible culture in in this case includes the rules and elements of game strategy, the skill of the players, as well as the traditionally accepted behavior of players, referees and spectators. Comparing both of these types of culture with each other, we can come to the conclusion that material culture should be considered as the result of non-material culture and cannot be created without it. If the game of hockey is forgotten, then for our descendants the stick will be just a wooden stick. The destruction caused by the Second World War was the greatest in human history, but despite this, bridges and cities were quickly rebuilt because people did not lose the knowledge and skill necessary to rebuild them. In other words, undestroyed intangible culture makes it quite easy to restore material culture. On the other hand, the pyramids Ancient Egypt were not restored, but nevertheless serve as an object of material culture, since certain elements of intangible culture have been preserved: the method of their construction, the knowledge that has reached us about the spiritual values that forced the pharaohs to build such structures. At the same time, the values of the disappeared intangible culture have lost their meaning for current generations. cultural significance. Therefore, we call the pyramids of Ancient Egypt monuments of a dead culture that has lost the relevance of its intangible content.

Culture is usually associated with certain society, nation or social group. They talk, for example, about Russian, French, spanish cultures, about the culture of a city or village, implying that in every society there is a specific, different system of interconnected norms, customs, beliefs and values shared by the majority of members of society, which differs from other systems this kind. Domestic social connections and the independence of society, connecting the individuals within it, is the framework of culture, its foundation and protection from external influence. Without society as a whole, culture could not develop, since with its help uniform cultural patterns are consolidated and their separation from the dominant influence of others cultural systems. But the boundaries of culture and society are not identical. For example, Roman law is the basis legal systems society (and therefore an element of culture) of both France and Germany, although these are different sociocultural communities. At the same time, each individual society may include different cultures, significantly different from each other (for example, the presence in a society of two or more languages or several religious beliefs).

Thus, it should be concluded that, on the one hand, the culture of each individual society does not have to be shared by all its members, and on the other, some of its cultural patterns extend beyond the boundaries of society and can be accepted in several societies.

§ 2. Culture and system of norms

Members of every society are so deeply immersed in their own beliefs and customs that they do not notice how they themselves begin to obey them, considering them the only correct and reasonable ones. The poetic expression “custom is a despot among people” quite succinctly reflects the fact that people themselves create such cultural patterns that they subsequently obey and which they take for granted. When a culture indicates how and what we should or should not do, it is said to be normative, one that indicates standards of correct behavior. How is this normative influence carried out? In order to exist in social world, a person needs communication and cooperation with other people. But essential for the implementation of joint and purposeful action should be a situation in which people have a common idea of how to act correctly, and how incorrectly, in what direction to make their efforts. In the absence of such representation, concerted action cannot be achieved. Thus, a person, as a social being, must create many generally accepted patterns of behavior in order to successfully exist in society, interacting with other individuals. Similar general patterns of behavior of people in society that regulate this behavior in certain direction, called social norms. So, for a handshake we extend right hand; Arriving at the store, we stand in line; We don’t talk loudly or make noise in the library. In carrying out these actions, we adhere to generally accepted standards. Our culture defines this behavior as correct. At the same time, both the right and left hand can be used to scratch the back of the head, because our culture does not have norms regarding this action (14, 116).

It is almost impossible to give an unambiguous definition of the word “culture”. This term can apply to any aspect of life. In the ordinary understanding, culture can exist exclusively in a civilized society, however, in reality the situation is somewhat more complicated. It is worth remembering that every country has its own traditions and rules of behavior. Even a primitive society has its own culture. This term can be used to define the differences between urban and rural life.

Culture and personality are inextricably linked with each other. These are two parts of one whole. It is people who create culture, which in turn influences them. It is a process of continuous improvement and renewal. Personality is culture. Man constantly improves it in accordance with the requirements of society and the era. In turn, culture shapes a person’s character and makes him more socialized. It presupposes certain rules, without which no community can exist.

Culture and personality are a rather complex area of science that can be represented in the form of a structure. A person can play several roles in relation to culture. Let's look at them all.

Personality is a product of culture. That is, only a person who has mastered all the traditions, rules, and values of his society can be adequate to society and his time.

The individual also acts as a consumer of culture. That is, a person in a ready-made form, most often in the form of stereotypes, assimilates language, traditions, norms, knowledge, and so on.

The personality is the producer of culture. It is man who creates, rethinks, complements, improves and interprets

Personality is a kind of transmitter of culture. A person passes on his values, priorities, traditions and rules to his children and his immediate environment.

Personal culture is a necessary element for the successful socialization of an individual. The child begins to acquire knowledge and rules, with which his parents help him. Thus, a person becomes adequate to the culture accepted in his society. An individual assimilates a certain set and is formed as a personality. Only after this will he be able to function successfully in society.

As mentioned, culture and personality are two things that are necessary for socialization. Let's consider which areas of life are affected by cultural development.

First of all, the Personality masters skills precisely through the assimilation of certain rules and norms. At the same time, a person’s culture influences the ability to evaluate one’s activities and set goals.

Secondly, the sphere of communication. A person cannot interact with members of a particular society without knowing their traditions, rules and norms.

Culture and personality, as well as their interaction, are also important for the sphere of self-awareness. In this case, the formation of one’s own “I” occurs, understanding one’s social role.

To sum up, we can say that each person has his own special culture shaped by his surroundings. An individual begins to master rules and traditions from infancy. Culture is not simply a sign of a civilized society, but a term for the enduring differences between certain groups. It may relate to the traditions of an urban or village life, to the rules and regulations that exist in each individual country. In addition, there is industrial, physical, intellectual culture, as well as many other types.

Culture and personality are interconnected. On the one hand, culture forms one or another type of personality, on the other hand, personality recreates, changes, and discovers new things in culture.

Personality- this is movement. the force and creator of culture, as well as the main goal of its formation.

When considering the relationship between culture and man, one should distinguish between the concepts of “man,” “individual,” and “personality.”

The concept of "person" stands for general properties people kind, and “personality” is one. a representative of this genus, an individual. But at the same time, the concept of “personality” is not synonymous with the concept of “individual”. Not every individual is a person: a person is born as an individual, he becomes (or does not become) a person due to his definition. an object. and subject. conditions.

The concept of "individual" characterizes ex. features of each specific of a person, the concept of “personality” means spirit. individual's appearance, form. culture in specific social the environment of his life (in interaction with his innate anatomical, physiological and psychological qualities).

Therefore, when considering the problem of interaction between culture and personality, of particular interest is not only the process of identifying the role of man as the creator of culture and the role of culture as the creator of man, but also the study of personality qualities, cat. culture forms in it - intelligence, spirituality, freedom, creativity. potential.

Culture in these areas most clearly reveals the content of personality. Regulators personal aspirations and actions of the individual are a cult. values. Price tracking. samples indicates def. cult. sustainability of society. Man turning to cult. values, enriches the spirit. the world of your personality.

Value system, approx. influence on the formation of personality, regulates the desires and aspirations of a person, his actions and actions, determines the principles of his social. choice. Thus, the individual is at the center of culture, at the intersection of the mechanisms of reproduction, storage and renewal of cults. peace.

The personality itself, as a value, essentially provides a common spirit. the beginning of culture. Being a product of personality, culture, in turn, humanizes social life. life, smoothes alive. instincts in people.

Culture allows a person to become intelligent. - spiritual, moral, creative. personality. Culture shapes internal a person’s world reveals the content of his personality. Destruction of culture neg. affects a person’s personality and leads him to degradation.

26 Socialization and enculturation

The influence of culture on personality occurs in the processes inculturation And socialization, with the help of the cat. a person acquires the knowledge and skills required. for life in society and in one or another specific context. culture.

Under socialization understand the process of assimilation by an individual of social roles and norms. At the same time, a person is formed as a personality, a socialist. and cult. adequate to society. In the course of socialization, the individual enters the social network. and cult. environment, their assimilation of the values of society, call. to function successfully as a member of society.

In contrast to socialization, the concept inculturation implies teaching a person the traditions and norms of behavior in specific areas. culture. This occurs in the process of interchange between a person and his culture, where, on the one hand, culture determines the basis. personality traits, on the other hand, a person himself influences his culture.

Enculturation includes the formation of fundamental gender. people skills (types of communication with other people, forms of control of general behavior and emotions, ways of satisfying needs, evaluative attitude towards various phenomena of the surrounding world, etc.).

The result of enculturation is the similarity of a person with other members of a given culture and his difference from representatives of other cultures. By its nature, the process of enculturation is more complex than the process of socialization. The content of the enculturation process is personal. development, social communication, acquisition of basic their life support skills.

Basic The mechanisms of enculturation are imitation (repetition by people of habitual behavior skills, observations in the behavior of other people) and identification (during which children learn the behavior of their parents). In addition to these pos. mechanisms of enculturation, there are also neg. mechanisms - shame and guilt.

Basic agents of socialization and inculturation are family, peer group, school. establishments, media, misc. floor. and general organizations. These factors operate differently at different stages of life. IN early childhood Ved. The family plays a role in the development of a person. Subsequently, other factors come into play.

The processes of socialization and enculturation are long-term and operate throughout a person’s life. As a result of socialization and enculturation, a person acquires the ability to act on his own. mastering sociocult. reality, accumulates its own. life experience, different starts to play. social roles.

Culture and personality

Culture and personality are interconnected. On the one hand, culture forms one or another type of personality, on the other hand, personality recreates, changes, and discovers new things in culture.

Personality- This driving force and the creator of culture, as well as the main goal of its formation.

When considering the relationship between culture and man, one should distinguish between the concepts of “person,” “individual,” and “personality.”

The concept of "person" denotes the general properties of the human race, and “personality” - a single representative of this race, an individual. But at the same time, the concept of “personality” is not synonymous with the concept of “individual”. Not every individual is a person: a person is born an individual, becomes a person (or does not become) due to objective and subjective conditions.

The concept of "individual" characterizes distinctive features each individual person, the concept of “personality” denotes the spiritual appearance of the individual, formed by the culture in a particular social environment his life (in interaction with his innate anatomical, physiological and psychological qualities).

Therefore, when considering the problem of interaction between culture and personality, of particular interest is not only the process of identifying the role of man as the creator of culture and the role of culture as the creator of man, but also the study of the personality qualities that culture forms in him - intelligence, spirituality, freedom, creative potential.

Culture in these areas most clearly reveals the content of personality.

The regulators of personal aspirations and actions of an individual are cultural values.

Following value patterns indicates a certain cultural stability of society. Man turning to cultural values, enriches the spiritual world of his personality.

The value system that influences the formation of personality regulates a person’s desires and aspirations, his actions and actions, and determines the principles of his social choice. Thus, the personality is at the center of culture, at the intersection of mechanisms of reproduction, storage and renewal cultural world.

The personality itself, as a value, essentially provides the overall spirituality culture. Being a product of personality, culture in turn humanizes social life, smoothes out animal instincts in people.

Culture allows a person to become an intellectual, spiritual, moral, creative person.

Culture shapes inner world of a person, reveals the content of his personality.

The destruction of culture negatively affects a person’s personality and leads him to degradation.

Culture and society

An understanding of society and its relationship to culture is best achieved from system analysis being.

Human society- this is a real and specific environment for the functioning and development of culture.

Society and culture actively interact with each other. Society makes certain demands on culture; culture, in turn, influences the life of society and the direction of its development.

For a long time, the relationship between society and culture was built in such a way that society acted as the dominant party. The nature of culture directly depended on social order, who controlled it (imperatively, repressively or liberally, but no less decisively).

Many researchers believe that culture arose primarily under the influence of social needs.

It is society that creates opportunities for the use of cultural values and promotes the processes of cultural reproduction. Outside social forms In life, these features in the development of culture would have been impossible.

In the 20th century The balance of power between the two sides of the sociocultural sphere has changed radically: now social relations began to depend on the state of material and spiritual culture. The determining factor in the fate of humanity today is not the structure of society, but the degree of development of culture: having reached a certain level, it entailed a radical reorganization of society, the entire system of social management, opened new way to establishing positive social interactions - dialogue.

Its goal is not only the exchange of social information between representatives of different societies and cultures, but also the achievement of their unity.

In the interaction between society and culture, there is not only a close connection, there are also differences. Society and culture differ in the ways they influence people and how people adapt to them.

Society- this system of relationships and methods of objective influence on a person is not filled with social requirements.

Forms of social regulation are accepted as certain rules necessary for existence in society. But in order to meet social requirements, cultural prerequisites are necessary, which depend on the degree of development of a person’s cultural world.

In the interaction of society and culture, the following situation is also possible: society may be less dynamic and open than culture. Then society can reject the values offered by culture. The opposite situation is also possible, when social changes may outstrip cultural development. But the most optimally balanced change in society and culture.