Moscow State University of Printing. Culturology History of World Culture Edited by Professor A

Subject and object of cultural studies

Subject of cultural studies- objective patterns of world and national cultural processes, monuments and phenomena of material and spiritual culture, factors and prerequisites governing the emergence, formation and development of cultural interests and needs of people, their participation in the increase, preservation and transmission of cultural values.

Object of cultural studiesare cultural aspects of various areas of social life, identifying the characteristics and achievements of the main cultural and historical types, analyzing trends and processes in the modern socio-cultural environment.

Various sources contribute to the development of cultural theories. scientific directions: anthropology, sociology, psychology, philosophy and history. But highlighting the specifics of the subject and the object of study of cultural studies allows us to draw a line between them. Culturology emphasizes the content side joint activities and people's lives, and this distinguishes it from sociology. What distinguishes cultural studies from natural science is its attention to artificial objects and processes. And if social philosophy can be represented as a science about the meaning of individual and social existence, and history as a theory about the event-activity content of social existence, then cultural studies is occupied with specific historical forms of this existence, which imply both formative elements of a cultural-historical type, and the content of systems of values ​​and technologies of activity that regulate and organize these types of activities.

In the development of cultural studies as a field scientific knowledge It is customary to distinguish the following periods: ethnographic(1800-1860), evolutionist(1860-1895), historical (1895-1925). During these periods, knowledge was accumulated, ideas about the subject were formed, and initial foundations and key categories were identified. Research at this time was mainly academic in nature. But starting from the second half of the 20th century. the situation is changing. The pragmatic value of knowledge about the origins of the general and the special, the stable and the changing in culture becomes obvious. This knowledge is beginning to be in demand and applied in the most various fields- in the practice of mass communication, diplomacy, military affairs, etc.

The concept of "culture"

The concept of culture is central to cultural studies. In its modern meaning, it entered the circulation of European social thought from the second half of the XVIII century, although the idea of ​​culture arose much earlier.

The word “culture” comes from the Latin, meaning the cultivation of the soil, its cultivation, i.e. change in natural site under human influence, as opposed to those changes caused by natural causes. Already in this initial content of the concept, language expressed an important feature - the unity of culture, man and his activity, although the concept of “culture” has been and is being given very different meanings. Thus, the Hellenes saw their upbringing as their main difference from the “wild”, “uncultured barbarians”. In the Middle Ages, the word “culture” was associated with personal qualities, with signs of personal improvement. During the Renaissance, personal perfection began to be understood as conformity to the humanistic ideal. And from the point of view of the enlighteners of the 18th century. culture meant "reasonableness." Giambattista Vico (1668-1744), Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803), Charles Louis Montesquieu(1689-1755), Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) believed that culture is manifested in the rationality of social orders and political institutions, and is measured by achievements in the field of science and art. The purpose of culture and the highest purpose of reason coincide: to make people happy. This was already a concept of culture, called eudaimonic.

From the second half of the 19th century V. the concept of “culture” is increasingly acquiring the status scientific category. It only ceases to mean high level development of society. This concept increasingly began to intersect with such categories as “civilization” and “socio-economic formation.” Concept "socio-economic formation" introduced into scientific circulation by Karl Marx (1818-1883). It forms the foundation of a materialistic understanding of history.

For a long time, the concepts of “culture” and “civilization” were identical. The first to draw the line between them was the German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), and at the beginning of the 20th century. another German philosopher Oswald Spengler(1880-1936) and completely opposed them.

In the 20th century In scientific ideas about culture, the touch of romanticism, which gave it the meaning of uniqueness, creative impulse, high spirituality, liberation from the burden of everyday life, finally disappears. The French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre (1905-1980) noted that culture does not save or justify anyone or anything. But she is the work of man, in her he looks for his reflection, in her he recognizes himself, only in this critical mirror can he see his face.

The concept of “culture” was originally deciphered by N.K. Roerich (1874-1947). He divided it into two parts: “cult” - veneration, “ur” - light, i.e. reverence for light. Consequently, the motto of N.K. Roerich’s “Peace through culture” should in turn be deciphered as “Peace through the veneration of light”, i.e. through the affirmation of the luminous principle in the souls of people.

So, what should be understood by culture? There is no single answer, not only because of the polysemy of the very concept of culture, but also because the word “culture” unites different points of view. Now, according to some researchers, there are about a thousand definitions of culture.

IN modern cultural studies The most common are technological, activity and value concepts of culture. From point of view technological approach culture represents a certain level of production and reproduction of social life. Activity concept considers culture as a way and result of human life, which is reflected throughout society. Value-based (axiological) the concept of culture emphasizes the role and importance ideal model life - the due in the life of society, and culture in it is considered as the embodiment, the implementation of the due into existence, the real.

The concept of “culture,” as noted in the Philosophical Dictionary, means a historically certain level of development of society, creative powers and abilities of a person, expressed in the types and forms of organization of people’s lives and activities, as well as in the material and spiritual values ​​they create.

Therefore, the world of culture, any of its objects or phenomena is not a consequence of the action of natural forces, but the result of the efforts of people themselves aimed at improving and transforming what is given by nature itself. As the Russian poet wrote Nikolay Zabolotsky (1903-1958),

Man has two worlds:
The One who created us
Another one that we have been since forever
We create to the best of our ability.

Thus, it is possible to understand the essence of culture only through the prism of human activity and the peoples inhabiting the planet. Culture does not exist outside of man.

By revealing and realizing the essential meaning of human existence, culture simultaneously forms and develops this very essence. A person is not born social, but only becomes so in the process of activity. Education and upbringing are nothing else. as the acquisition of culture, the process of transmitting it from one generation to another. Consequently, culture means the introduction of a person to society, society.

Any person first of all masters the culture that was created before him, thereby mastering the social experience of his predecessors. But at the same time, he makes his own contribution to the cultural layer, thereby enriching it.

Mastery of culture can be carried out in the form of interpersonal relationships (communication in preschool institutions, school, university, enterprise, travel, family) and self-education. The role of funds is enormous mass media- radio, television, print.

The process of socialization can be represented as the continuous mastery of culture and at the same time as the individualization of the individual. This is due to the fact that cultural values ​​are superimposed on the specific individuality of a person: his character, mental make-up, temperament, his mentality.

An interesting experiment in self-analysis of individuality was made by the Russian philosopher N.A. Berdyaev (1874-1948):

On the one hand, I experience all the events of my era, the entire fate of the world, as events happening to me, as my own fate; and on the other hand, I painfully experience the alienness of the world, the remoteness of everything, my disconnect with nothing.

ON THE. Berdyaev clearly expressed the contradictions of the process of socialization and, consequently, culture, which is a complex antinomic (contradictory) system. Its inconsistency is manifested in the contradiction: 1) between socialization and individualization of the individual, 2) between the normativity of culture and the freedom that it provides to a person (norm and freedom are two poles, two fighting principles in culture), 3) between the traditionality of culture and that renewal that occurs in her body.

These and some other contradictions constitute not only essential characteristic culture, but are the source of its development.

The structure of the phenomenon “culture”

The considered essential features of the phenomenon of culture allow us to imagine its internal structure. For culture as a social phenomenon, the fundamental, system-forming concepts are cultural statics And cultural dynamics . The first characterizes culture at rest, immutability and repeatability, the second considers culture as a process in movement and change.

The basic elements of culture exist in two forms - material and spiritual. The totality of material elements is material culture, and intangible - spiritual. But their division is often conditional, since in real life they are closely interconnected and interpenetrated.

Important Feature material culture- its non-identity with either the material life of society, or material production, or materially transformative activity. Material culture characterizes this activity from the point of view of its influence on human development, revealing to what extent it makes it possible to use his abilities, creative possibilities, talents.

Material culture includes: the culture of labor and material production, the culture of everyday life, the culture of topos, i.e. places of residence (homes, houses, villages, cities), culture of attitude towards one’s own body, physical culture.

The set of intangible elements forms the spiritual side of cultural statics: norms, rules, patterns and norms of behavior, laws, spiritual values, ceremonies, rituals, symbols, myths, knowledge, ideas, customs, traditions, language. Any object of intangible culture needs a material intermediary. For knowledge, for example, books are such a mediator.

Spiritual culture is a multi-layered education and includes cognitive (intellectual), moral, artistic, legal, pedagogical, religious and other cultures.

According to some culturologists, there are types of culture that cannot be unambiguously attributed only to the material or spiritual realm. They represent a “vertical section” of culture, permeating its entire system. These are types of culture such as economic, political, environmental, aesthetic.

In cultural statics, elements are delimited in time and space. Thus, part of the material and spiritual culture created by past generations, which has stood the test of time and is passed on to subsequent generations as something valuable and revered, is called cultural heritage. Heritage is an important factor in the unity of a nation, a means of uniting society in times of crisis.

In addition to cultural heritage, cultural statics also includes the concept cultural area- the geographical area within which different cultures similarities are found in the main features.

Globally cultural heritage express the so-called cultural universals- norms, values, rules, traditions, properties that are inherent in all cultures, regardless of geographical location, historical time and social structure of society.

American anthropologists identify more than seventy universals, elements common to all cultures, among them: age gradation, calendar, cleanliness, cooking, labor cooperation, dancing, decorative arts, education, ethics, etiquette, family, festivals, laws, medicine, music , mythology, number, punitive sanctions, personal name, religious rituals, etc.

As already noted, culture is a very complex, multi-level system. It is customary to subdivide culture according to its bearer. Depending on this, world and national cultures are distinguished.

World culture- is a synthesis of the best achievements of all national cultures of the various peoples inhabiting our planet.

National culture, in turn, acts as a synthesis of cultures of various classes, social strata and groups of the corresponding society.

The uniqueness of national culture, its uniqueness and originality are manifested both in the spiritual (language, literature, music, painting, religion) and material (peculiarities of the economic structure, farming, traditions of labor and production) spheres of life and activity.

The set of values, beliefs, traditions and customs that guide the majority of members of society is called dominant culture. However, since society breaks up into many groups (national, demographic, social, professional, etc.), each of them gradually forms its own culture, i.e. system of values ​​and rules of behavior. Such small cultural worlds are called subcultures. They talk about a youth subculture, a subculture of older people, a subculture of national minorities, a professional subculture, urban, rural, etc.

The subculture differs from the dominant one in its language, outlook on life, and manners of behavior. Such differences can be very pronounced, however, the subculture is not opposed to the dominant culture.

A subculture that not only differs from the dominant culture, but opposes it, is in conflict with dominant values, is called counterculture.

The subculture of the criminal world is opposed to human culture, and the “hippie” youth movement, which became widespread in the 60-70s. in Western Europe and the USA, denied the dominant American values: social values, moral standards and moral ideals consumer society, profit, political loyalty, sexual restraint, conformism and rationalism.

Forms of culture

Depending on who creates the culture and what its level is, three forms are distinguished - elite, folk and mass culture.

Elite, or high, culture created by a privileged part of society or at its request by professional creators. It includes fine art, classical music And classic literature. As a rule, elite culture is ahead of the level of perception of it by an averagely educated person. Motto elite culture"Art for art's sake." A typical manifestation of aesthetic isolationism, the concept of “pure art” is the activity artistic association"World of Art".

Unlike the elitist folk culture created by anonymous creators who have no professional training. Folk culture is also called amateur (but not by level, but by origin), or collective. It includes myths, legends, tales, epics, fairy tales, songs, and dances. According to their execution, the elements folk culture can be individual (statement of a legend), group (performing a song, dance), mass (carnival processions) Another name for folk culture is folklore. It is always localized, since it is connected with the traditions of a given area, and democratic, since everyone participates in its creation.

Mass, or public, culture does not express the refined tastes of the aristocracy or the spiritual quest of the people. Its greatest scope begins in the middle of the 20th century, when the media penetrated into most countries. The mechanism for the spread of mass culture is directly related to the market. Its products are intended for consumption by the masses. This is art for everyone, and it must take into account his tastes and needs. Everyone who pays can order their own “music”. Mass culture can be international and national. As a rule, it has less artistic value than elite or folk art. But unlike elitist, mass culture has larger audience, and in comparison with folk music, it is always original. It is designed to satisfy the immediate needs of people, reacts to any new event and strives to reflect it. Therefore, examples of mass culture quickly lose their relevance and go out of fashion. This does not happen with works of folk and elite culture.

Despite the apparent democracy, mass culture is fraught with a real threat of reducing the creative person to the level of a programmed dummy, a human cog. The serial nature of its products has a number of specific features:

Primitivization of relationships between people;

Entertaining, funny, sentimental;

A naturalistic relish of violence and sex;

The cult of success strong personality, thirst for possession of things;

The cult of mediocrity, the conventions of primitive symbolism.

Typical heroes of popular culture are super agent James Bond and various sex bombs, sex symbols, etc.

Mass culture is also culture, or rather part of it. And the dignity of her works is not that they are understandable to everyone, but that they are based on apxetypes. Such archetypes include the unconscious interest of all people in eroticism and violence. And this interest is the basis for the success of mass culture and its works.

The catastrophic consequence of mass culture is the reduction of human creative activity to an elementary act of silent consumption.

Understanding the problem of mass culture was begun by the books of O. Spengler “The Decline of Europe”, A. Schweitzer “Culture and Ethics”, X. Ortega y Gasseta“The Revolt of the Masses”, E. Fromm’s “To Have or to Be”, in which mass culture is interpreted as the ultimate expression of spiritual lack of freedom.

Functions of culture

Culture is a multifunctional system. Let us briefly describe the main functions of culture. The main function of the cultural phenomenon is human-creative, or humanistic. Everything else is somehow connected with it and even follows from it.

Broadcast function social experience often called the function of historical continuity, or information. Culture is rightly considered the social memory of humanity. It is objectified in sign systems: oral traditions, monuments of literature and art, “languages” of science, philosophy, religion, etc. However, this is not just a “warehouse” of stocks of social experience, but a means of strict selection and active transmission of its best examples. Hence, any violation of this function is fraught with serious, sometimes catastrophic consequences for society. The break in cultural continuity leads to anomie and dooms new generations to the loss of social memory (the phenomenon of mankurtism).

Cognitive (epistemological) function is associated with the ability of a culture to concentrate the social experience of many generations of people. Thus, she immanently acquires the ability to accumulate a wealth of knowledge about the world, thereby creating favorable opportunities for its knowledge and development. ON THE. Berdyaev wrote about this:

It (culture) realizes only truth in knowledge, in philosophical and scientific books: good - in morals, being and social institutions; beauty - in books, poems and paintings, in statues and architectural monuments, in concerts and theatrical performances...

It can be argued that a society is intellectual to the extent that it uses the richest knowledge contained in the cultural gene pool of humanity. All types of society differ significantly primarily on this basis.

Regulatory (normative) The function of culture is associated primarily with the definition (regulation) of various aspects, types of social and personal activities of people. In the sphere of work, everyday life, and interpersonal relationships, culture in one way or another influences the behavior of people and regulates their actions, actions, and even the choice of certain material and spiritual values. The regulatory function of culture is based on such regulatory systems like morality and law.

The semiotic, or sign, function, representing a certain sign system of culture, presupposes knowledge and mastery of it. Without studying the corresponding sign systems, it is impossible to master the achievements of culture. Thus, language (oral or written) is a means of communication between people. Literary language represents the most important means of mastering national culture. Specific languages ​​are needed to understand the world of music, painting, and theater. The natural sciences (physics, mathematics, biology, chemistry) also have their own sign systems.

Value, or axiological, the function reflects the most important qualitative state of culture. Culture as a value system forms in a person very specific value needs and orientations. By their level and quality, people most often judge the degree of culture of a person. Moral and intellectual content, as a rule, acts as a criterion for appropriate assessment.

Approaches to the study of culture

As diverse as the concept of culture is, there are so many approaches to its study. But all the variety of approaches to the study of culture, as a rule, can be reduced to two main directions, rooted in philosophical traditions XVIII V. and answering the question: What is culture? A tool for enslaving a person or a means of ennobling him, turning him into a civilized person?

A direction that can be described as pessimistic, irrational, originates in the works of the French enlightener Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who considered man as a perfect being, and life natural in the bosom of nature as its most correct form. Rousseau saw the defectiveness and harmfulness of culture both in the existence of private property, which makes people unequal (the essay “Discourse on the Beginning and Foundations of Inequality”), and in the existence of absolutism - a power that is anti-people in its essence. He considered religion, art and science to be no less evil, which contribute to the maintenance of inequality without providing either an improvement in morals or happy life of people.

From these general positions, the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) concludes that man by nature is generally anti-cultural; he spontaneously feels that culture is evil and was created to enslave and suppress it.

Adjacent to irrational theories of culture is the school of cultural psychoanalysis, the founder of which is considered to be the Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). In his works, Freud emphasized that man constantly suffers from contradictions between your own desires and prescribing certain behavior by cultural norms. And the representative of the school of psychoanalysis, Erich Fromm (1900-1980), tried to combine Freudian psychoanalysis with the Marxist theory of alienation.

At the beginning of the 20th century. three fundamental theories of the development of Western European culture were formulated: O. Spengler, A. Schweitzer, M. Weber.

The German philosopher O. Spengler in his book “The Decline of Europe” makes a pessimistic conclusion that the rationalistic civilization that has reigned in Western Europe represents a degradation of the highest spiritual values ​​of culture, and is therefore doomed. According to Spengler, the concepts of “culture” and “civilization” are universally significant; he believes that culture is an organism that lives for about a thousand years. In world history, the philosopher identifies eight cultures: Egyptian, Indian, Babylonian, Chinese, Greco-Roman, Byzantine-Arab, Western European, and Mayan culture. He predicts the birth and flourishing of Russian culture.

In contrast to the theory of O. Spengler, another German scientist Max Weber (1864-1920) in his works “Agrarian History of the Ancient World”, “Economy and Society” and “Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism” concludes that there is no crisis in Western European culture no, it’s just that the old value criteria were replaced by new ones and, above all, universal rationality, which changed ideas about this culture. In the origins of Western European capitalism Weber decisive role assigned to Protestantism.

The humanist philosopher A. Schweitzer, in his work “The Decay and Revival of Culture,” following O. Spengler, notes the decline and crisis of Western European culture, but considers them not fatal, and the salvation of culture is possible. According to Schweitzer, culture consists of man’s dominance over the forces of nature and over himself, when the individual coordinates his thoughts and passions with the interests of society.

The original concept of the sociology of culture, which influenced the solution of problems of typological studies of culture, was created by P.A. Sorokin (1889-1968).

The Russian scientist A.L. considered the life of mankind in close connection with space. Chizhevsky (1897-1964). He created a concept that reveals the specifics of the interaction between space and historical process walking on Earth.

The views of the Russian scientist V.I. had a great impact on modern scientific ideas about the cultural process. Vernadsky (1863-1945), who created the doctrine of the noosphere (sphere of the mind) and its impact on all biological and geological processes occurring on our planet.

One of the most prominent representatives existentialism Karl Jaspers (1883-1969), in contrast to the theory of cultural cycles, popular throughout Europe in the first half of the century, developed first by O. Spengler and later by A. Toynbee (1889-1975), emphasizes that humanity has a single origin and a single way of development. He introduces the concept of axial time.

The axis of world history, writes K. Jaspers, if it exists at all, can only be discovered empirically, as a fact significant for all people... This axis should be sought where the preconditions arose that allowed man to become what he is ... This axis of world history should apparently be dated back to about 500 BC. e., to the spiritual process that took place between 800 and 200 AD. BC e. Then the most dramatic turn in history took place. A person of this type appeared, which has survived to this day.

This is the axial time according to K. Jaspers. He characterizes it by the fact that at this time a lot of extraordinary things happen. Confucius and Lao Tzu lived in China at that time, and all directions of Chinese philosophy arose. The Upanishads arose in India, Buddha lived, in Indian philosophy, as in China, all possibilities of philosophical comprehension of reality were considered, including skepticism, sophistry, nihilism and materialism; in Iran, Zarathustra taught about a world where there is a struggle good with evil; the prophets Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Second Isaiah spoke in Palestine; in Greece this is the time of Homer, the philosophers Parmenides, Heraclitus, Plato, the tragedians, Thucydides and Archimedes. Everything associated with these names arose almost simultaneously over the course of a few centuries, independently of each other.

What is new in this era in the three mentioned cultures boils down to the fact that man is aware of existence as a whole, himself and his boundaries.

During this era, the basic categories with which we think to this day were developed, the foundations of world religions were laid, and today they influence the lives of millions of people. The transition to universality was taking place in all directions.

Starting from the axial time, K. Jaspers outlines the following structure of world history:

1. The Axial Age marks the disappearance of the great cultures of antiquity that had existed for thousands of years. It dissolves them, absorbs them into itself, and allows them to perish. Ancient cultures continue to exist only in those elements that entered the Axial Age and were taken over by a new beginning.

2. By what happened then, what was created and thought out at that time, humanity lives until now. In every impulse, people, remembering, turn to the axial time. Since then, it has been generally accepted that the recollection and revival of the possibilities of the axial age - the Renaissance - leads to spiritual uplift. Returning to this beginning is a recurring phenomenon in China, India and the West.

3. At the beginning, Axial Time is limited in space, but historically it becomes all-encompassing.

K. Jaspers summarizes all of the above as follows:

Axial time, taken as the starting point, determines the questions and dimensions applied to all previous and subsequent developments.

Thus, the category “culture” denotes the content of the joint life and activity of people, which is a biologically non-inherited artificial environment of existence and self-realization created by people, a source of regulation of social interaction and behavior.

Name: Culturology - History of world culture.

This is a revised and significantly expanded reissue of the famous textbook (1st ed. - UNITY, 1995). Culture is analyzed as a complex multi-level system, including various spheres - art, science, religion, material culture, customs and morals of peoples. The culture of the leading regions of the world (Europe, East, America) and leading countries is considered different eras(primitive world. Ancient world, Middle Ages, New and Modern times); trend analysis is provided cultural development regions and a brief description of features of the course of these processes in stages.

The edition is illustrated.

For university students, college and school students, as well as for all readers interested in the history of world culture.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
From the authors 3
CHAPTER 1. CULTURAL SUBJECT 10
I. CULTURE OF THE PRIMITIVE ERA AND THE ANCIENT WORLD 21
CHAPTER 2. PRIMITIVE CULTURE 22
2.1. Periodization of primitiveness 23
2.2. Features of Primitive Art 24
2.3. Early Forms of Belief 32
CHAPTER 3. CULTURE OF ANCIENT EGYPT 36
3.1. Ancient Egypt 36
3.2. Hellenistic Egypt. Egypt - Roman province 46
CHAPTER 4. CULTURE OF ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA (Two Rivers) 49
4.1. Settlement of Mesopotamia 49
4.2. Sumerian-Akkadian culture 50
4.3. Culture of the Old Babylonian Kingdom 54
4.4. Culture of Assyria 58
4.5. Culture of Sasanian Iran 59
CHAPTER 5. CULTURE OF ANCIENT INDIAN 63
5.1. Ancient India 63
5.2. Magadho-Mauri era 68
5.3. Kushano-Gupta period 71
CHAPTER 6. CULTURE OF ANCIENT CHINA 77
6.1. Philosophical and religious systems of China 77
6.2. Standards of everyday life 82
6.3. Development of science, literature and art 83
CHAPTER 7. CULTURE OF ANCIENT GREECE 90
7.1. Preclassic period 90
7.2. Classic period 96
7.3. Hellenistic culture 103
CHAPTER 8. CULTURE OF ANCIENT ROME 107
8.1. Etruscan culture 107
8.2. Tsarist period 108
8.3. Republic period 110
8.4. Empire period 114
CHAPTER 9. CULTURE OF SLAVIC ANCIENTITY 120
9.1. Veles book 121
9.2. Cosmogonic ideas of the ancient Slavs 123
9.3. Rituals and customs of the ancient Slavs 126
9.4. Writing of the ancient Slavs 131
CHAPTER 10. CULTURE OF THE PEOPLES OF NORTH AMERICA 134
10.1 Tribal culture of North America 135
10.2. Worldview of North American Indians 141
10.3. Myths and Legends of North America 144
II. CULTURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES 146
CHAPTER 11. CULTURE OF WESTERN EUROPE IN THE EARLY AND CLASSICAL MIDDLE AGES 147
11.1. general characteristics Early Middle Ages 148
11.2. The influence of religion on cultural life 151
CHAPTER 12. WESTERN EUROPEAN CULTURE OF THE RENAISSANCE 159
12.1. New worldview 159
12.2. Italian Renaissance 162
12.3. Northern Renaissance 169
CHAPTER 13. CULTURE OF KIEVAN Rus' AND RUSSIAN PRINCIPALITIES IN THE ERA OF FEUDAL FRONTATION 177
13.1. Culture Kievan Rus 178
13.2. Culture of Russian lands of the XII-XIII centuries. 185
CHAPTER 14. CULTURE OF MOSCOW Rus' 198
14.1. The rise of culture during the formation of a unified Russian state 198
14.2. New trends in the development of Russian culture at the end of the 15th-16th centuries. 203
CHAPTER 15. BYZANTINE CULTURE 211
15.1. Peculiarities historical development Byzantium 211
15.2. State system of Byzantium 214
15.3. Early Middle Ages 216
15.4. Period of the Macedonian and Comneni dynasties 224
15.5. Age of Palaiologos 230
CHAPTER 16. CULTURE OF THE ARAB EASTERN 235
16.1. Arab East- birthplace of Islam 235
16.2. Arab culture 240
16.3. Life and customs of the Arabs 244
CHAPTER 17. CULTURE OF MEDIEVAL INDIA 248
17.1.Rajput period 248
17.2. The era of the Delhi Sultanate 255
17.3. The era of the Mughal Empire 259
CHAPTER 18. CULTURE OF MEDIEVAL CHINA 266
18.1. Early Middle Ages 266
18.2.The era of the Classical Middle Ages 272
18.3. era Mongol conquest China 282
18.4. Ming era Mature Middle Ages 285
CHAPTER 19. CULTURE OF MEDIEVAL JAPAN 292
19.1 Age of Kings Yamato 292
19.2. Heian era 298
19.3. The Age of the Shogunate 302
CHAPTER 20. CULTURE OF MESOAMERICA 312
20.1. Olmec culture 313
20.2. Teotihuacan culture 317
20.3. Toltec culture 321
20.4. Mayan Civilization 326
20.5. Aztec culture 334
CHAPTER 21. CULTURE OF CIVILIZATIONS OF SOUTH AMERICA 345
21.1. Culture of South American primitive peoples 346
21.2. Culture of the Peoples of the Central Andes and Intermediate Region 347
21.3. Inca Civilization 361
III. CULTURE OF NEW TIMES 371
CHAPTER 22. WESTERN EUROPEAN CULTURE OF THE ERA OF ENLIGHTENMENT 372
22.1. The main values ​​of the Enlightenment 372
22.2. Features of the Enlightenment in European countries 376
22.3. Style and genre features 18th century art 384
CHAPTER 23. WESTERN EUROPEAN CULTURE OF THE 19TH CENTURY 393
23.1. The main processes and directions of socio-political, scientific and religious life 393
23.2. Classicism 397
23.3. Romanticism 402
23.4. Realism 414
23.5. New directions in Western European culture at the end of the 19th century. 426
CHAPTER 24. RUSSIAN CULTURE XVII - XVIII CENTURIES 436
24.1. Russian culture on the threshold of the New Age 437
24.2. Formation of Russian national culture 444
CHAPTER 25. RUSSIAN CULTURE OF THE 19TH CENTURY 455
25.1. First half of the 19th century 456
25.2. Reform years 465
25.3. Silver Age of Russian Culture 479
CHAPTER 26. US CULTURE XV11-XIX CENTURIES 487
26.1. Features of the formation of US culture during the era of colonization and the struggle for independence 487
26.2. American Culture XIX". 492
IV. LATEST TIME 502
CHAPTER 27. CULTURE OF WESTERN EUROPE IN THE XX CENTURY 503
27.1. Industrial civilization and cultural problems 504
27.2. 20th century and new forms of art 510
27.3. Western European literature of the 20th century. 513
27.4. European theater in the 20th century. 516
27.5. Architecture, music, cinema 519
CHAPTER 28. CULTURE OF THE USSR 524
28.1. Cultural transformations in the 20-30s. 524
28.2. Features of cultural processes in the 40s. 532
28.3. Culture in the 50-90s. 535
CHAPTER 29. US CULTURE OF THE XX CENTURY 543
29.1. Philosophical and religious views 543
29.2. Science and education 547
29.3 Literature, theater, musical creativity 550
29.4. Fine arts, architecture, cinema 553
29.5. Americanization of popular culture 562
Literature 566
Illustrations 568

IN higher school In Russia, the discipline “Culturology” (“History of World Culture”) is compulsory for students of all specialties.
Cultural studies plays a huge role in the spiritual progress of society. The future specialist must understand and be able to explain the phenomenon of culture, its role in human life, know the forms and types of cultures, the main achievements in the development of culture in the leading countries of the world, know the history of Russian culture, its place in the system of world civilization, be able to evaluate cultural achievements.
Textbook “Culturology. History of World Culture" introduces students to the basics of cultural studies, key issues of cultural history various countries- from primitive society to today. The material is presented according to the main stages of cultural development (Primitive era and Ancient world, Middle Ages, Modern times, Modern times), which gives an idea of ​​the progressive movement of world civilization and the increasing level of material and spiritual culture of mankind.
The textbook covers the key issues of the history and theory of culture, its types and forms, reveals social functions culture, the main cultural and historical centers and civilizations of the world are characterized, as well as the creativity of the largest representatives of various schools and trends in culture.
Unlike the previous edition, the textbook has been significantly expanded - the countries of the East and the civilizations of the New World, the Arab East, Byzantium are included, and the development of culture of the 20th century is analyzed.
During its existence human society In the field of culture, such colossal baggage has been accumulated, such a huge number of representatives of literature, music, architecture, and fine arts have come forward, that even despite the impressive volume of the textbook it was not possible to include all the names.
The textbook was prepared by the team of the Department of History of Economics, Politics and Culture of the All-Russian Correspondence Financial and Economic Institute (VZFEI).

Culturology. Markova A.N. and etc.

4th ed., revised. and additional - M.: 2008 - 400 p.

The first edition of this book (1995) was one of the first textbooks in the new discipline, created in accordance with the first generation of government educational standards higher professional education. In 1998, its second edition was published, and in 2000, the third. All publications were popular and in constant demand among Russian students. In 2004 tutorial was translated to Chinese and came out in China. The new (fourth) edition provides a brief chronological overview of the history of world culture from primitiveness to the present day (the eras of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, Modern Times and Modern Times), covering the countries of Europe, the Ancient East, Russia and the USA (the modern period). The chronological overview is complemented by a country approach - the development of the culture of leading countries is outlined in each era. The culture of the leading countries of the Ancient World, the Middle Ages, New and Contemporary times is considered. The set of analyzed most important types of art, their styles and genres was predetermined at each stage by the level of development and historical and economic characteristics of specific countries. The analysis of cultural development by era and country is preceded by an introductory chapter containing the main methodological provisions of the subject of cultural studies (the essence of culture, its components, functions). The authors of the textbook see their task primarily in introducing Russian youth, students, and schoolchildren to the great works of great writers, sculptors, artists, architects, philosophers and scientists who were ahead of their time. For university students, schoolchildren, lyceums and colleges, as well as a wide range of readers.

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Table of contents
To the reader 3
Introductory Chapter 5
Chapter 1. Culture of the primitive era 13
1.1. Periodization of the primitive era 23 1.2. Art and beliefs of the primitive era 24
Chapter 2. Culture of the Ancient East. Formation of the first civilizations 31
2.1. The culture of Ancient Egypt - the desire for immortality 24 2.2. Culture of Ancient Mesopotamia - great achievements and discoveries 31 2.3. Culture Ancient India- the greatest achievements and mysteries 40 2.4. Culture Ancient China- originality in everything 48
Chapter 3. Culture Ancient Greece- creation of enduring, universal values ​​57
3.1. Creto-Mycenaean culture 58 3.2. Culture of the Homeric and Archaic periods 60 3.3. Culture in the classical period 67 3.4. Culture in the era of the crisis of the polis 72 3.5. Hellenistic culture 75
Chapter 4. Culture Ancient Rome- special value system 81
4.1. Culture Etruscan civilization 82 4.2. The culture of Rome during the Royal period 84 4.3. Culture of Rome during the Republic 85 4.4. Culture of Rome during the Empire 91
Chapter 5. Culture of the ancient Slavs and Ancient Rus' 97
5.1. Culture of the ancient Slavs 98 5.2. Culture of Kievan Rus 105 5.3. Culture of Russian principalities of the XII-XIII centuries. 115
Chapter 6. Culture of Russia XIV-XVII centuries. Formation of all-Russian culture 121
6.1. Russian culture of the 14th - first half of the 15th century. 122 6.2. Culture at the end of the XV-XVI centuries. 125 6.3. Culture of Russia in the 17th century. 129
Chapter 7. Culture of medieval Europe. Christian consciousness and the emergence of urban culture 137
7.1. Christianity and the Church 138 7.2. Education and literature in medieval Europe 141 7.3. Urban culture and architectural canons of the Middle Ages 146
Chapter 8. Humanistic culture of the Renaissance 151
8.1. Humanism of the Renaissance 152 8.2. Humanistic culture of the Italian Renaissance 153 8.3. Northern Renaissance 159 8.4. Renaissance in Spain and France 165
Chapter 9 European culture XVII century Classicism and Baroque 169
9.1. The 17th century is a turning point in the development of human society 170 9.2. Basic art styles- Baroque and classicism 170 9.3. Art culture France 172 9.4. Artistic culture of Italy 176 9.5. Artistic culture of Spain 178 9.6. Dutch culture 180 9.7. Culture of England and Germany 184
Chapter 10. Culture of the Enlightenment. Rational man 187
10.1. XVIII century- Age of Enlightenment 188 10.2. Enlightenment as a current of social thought 190 10.3. Artistic directions Age of Enlightenment 195 10.4. Literature and music of the Enlightenment 196 10.5. Art. Education 200 10.6. "The Golden Age of Theatre". Playwrights of the Enlightenment 203 10.7. Crisis of the Enlightenment 205
Chapter 11. Russian culture XVIII V. - a fusion of national identity and Europeanism 207
11.1. Education system 208 11.2. Russian social thought and literature 211 11.3. The heyday of Russian architecture - Russian Baroque and Russian classicism 214 11.4. Genres and styles of fine art 216 11.5. Theater and musical life 220 11.6. Life and customs 222
Chapter 12. European culture of the 19th century. Basic Art Styles 225
12.1. Socio-historical features of the era 226 12.2. Classicism in the artistic culture of the 19th century. 227 12.3. Romanticism in artistic culture
XIX century 230 VIA. Realism in the artistic culture of the 19th century. 237 12.5. Naturalism and symbolism in the artistic culture of the 19th century. 243 12.6. Impressionism
and post-impressionism in fine art and music 245
Chapter 13. Culture Russia XIX- beginning of the 20th century - golden and silver age 249
13.1. Main factors and trends in cultural development 250 13.2. Folklore and literature 252 13.3. Russian musical art of the 19th century. 258 13.4. The flourishing of theatrical art 262 13.5. Architecture and sculpture 264 13.6. Russian painting of the 19th century. 267 13.7. Silver Age of Russian Culture 272
Chapter 14. Science and culture 277
14.1. Functions of science and the scientific picture of the world. Science and culture 278 14.2. The development of science in the Ancient World and the Middle Ages 281 14.3. Scientific revolutions 283 14.4. Scientific and technical advances Russia 293
Chapter 15. Culture and religion 299
15.1. On the relationship between culture and religion. Origins of religion 300 15.2. World religions 302 15.3. Religious monuments 304
Chapter 16. Culture of Western Europe of the XX and XXI centuries 317
16.1. Basic cultural concepts 318 16.2. Western philosophy
XX century 327 16.3. European literature of the 20th century. 332 16.4. New directions in Western European art of the 20th century. 335 16.5. European musical culture of the 20th century. 341 16.6. Architecture and cinema of the 20th century. 344
Chapter 17. Culture of the USSR and Russia post-Soviet period 349
17.1. Soviet culture of the first decade 350 17.2. Cultural construction in the 30s. Socialist realism 355 17.3. Soviet culture during the Great Patriotic War 359 17 A. Soviet culture in the 40s - 60s 362 17.5. Cultural life in the 60s - 80s 366 17.6. Domestic culture at the end of XX - beginning of XXI V. 368
Chapter 18. Artistic culture of the USA in the 20th - early 21st centuries 377
18.1. Features of American culture 378 18.2. Tradition and modernity in US literature 380 18.3. US Fine Arts and Architecture 383 18.4. Musical culture of the USA 387 18.5. Theater and Cinema USA 393
Recommended reading 398

In higher education in Russia, students of all universities and specialties study such a general educational humanitarian discipline as “Cultural Studies”. This item is included in learning programs as mandatory in the early 90s of the last century. During this time, extensive educational literature on cultural studies, history and cultural theory was published. There are many different good and worthy textbooks. But the textbook offered to you occupies a special place among them. Its first edition (1995) was one of the first textbooks on the new discipline, created in accordance with the first generation of state educational standards of higher education. vocational education. In 1998, its second edition was published, and in 2000, the third. All publications were popular and in constant demand among Russian students. In 2004, the textbook was translated into Chinese and published in China. All these years the book has been popular and in constant demand among Russian students.
The new (fourth) edition provides a brief chronological overview of the history of world culture from primitiveness to the present day (the eras of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, Modern Times and Modern Times), covering the countries of Europe, the Ancient East, Russia and the USA (the modern period). The chronological overview is complemented by a country approach - the development of the culture of leading countries is outlined in each era.
The course in cultural studies gives an understanding that any material, practical, scientific and other human activity outside culture is impossible, just as human life itself is impossible without culture.
Cannot be considered cultured person, if he does not know the authors of “The Sistine Madonna”, “The Last Supper”, does not know Bach, who wrote the oratorio “St. Matthew Passion”, masses, chorales, listening to which a person detaches himself from the trifles of everyday life and is elevated in soul, does not know Andrei Rublev, who painted the icon The “Trinity,” distinguished by deep humanity and sublime spirituality, does not know Alexander Ivanov, who created the monumental painting “The Appearance of Christ to the People,” the main idea of ​​which is hope for the spiritual revival of humanity.

(Document)

n1.doc

Cultural studies

History of world culture

Edited by Professor A.N. Markova

Second edition,

vocational education Russian Federation

as textbook for students

institutions of higher education

UNITY

U N I T Y

Moscow 2000

BBK 63.3(0)-7я73

All-Russian Correspondence Financial and Economic Institute

Rector Academician AN. Romanov

Chairman of the Scientific and Methodological Council prof. D.M. Dayitbegov
Reviewers:

Department of Philosophy, Religion and Religious Studies

Faculty of Philosophy, Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov

AND Doctor of Philosophy science prof. N.N. Nikitina

Editor-in-chief of the publishing house N.D. Eriashvili

Culturology. History of world culture: Textbook for universities / Ed. prof. A.N. Markova. - 2nd ed., revised. and additional - M.: UNITY, 2000. - 600 p.; ill. color

ISBN 5-85178-043-6.

This is a revised and significantly expanded reissue of the famous textbook (1st ed. - UNITY, 1995). Culture is analyzed as a complex multi-level system, including various spheres - art, science, religion, material culture, customs and morals of peoples. The culture of the leading regions of the world is considered (Europe, East, America) and leading countries of different eras (primitive world. Ancient world, Middle Ages, New And Modern times); An analysis of trends in the cultural development of regions and a brief description of the characteristics of the course of these processes in stages are given.

The edition is illustrated.

For university students, college and school students, as well as for all readers interested in the history of world culture.

ISBN 5-85178-043-6


BBK 63.3(0)-7я73
©Collective of authors, 1995

Cultural studies plays a huge role in the spiritual progress of society. The future specialist must understand and be able to explain the phenomenon of culture, its role in human life, know the forms and types of cultures, the main achievements in the development of culture in the leading countries of the world, know the history of Russian culture, its place in the system of world civilization, and be able to evaluate the achievements of culture.

Textbook “Culturology. History of world culture" introduces students to the basics of cultural studies, key issues in the history of culture of various countries - from primitive society to the present day. The material is presented according to the main stages of cultural development (Primitive era and Ancient world, Middle Ages, Modern times, Modern times), which gives an idea of ​​the progressive movement of world civilization and the increasing level of material and spiritual culture of mankind.

The textbook covers the key issues of the history and theory of culture, its types and forms, reveals the social functions of culture, characterizes the main cultural and historical centers and civilizations of the world, as well as the creativity of the largest representatives of various schools and trends in culture.

Unlike the previous edition, the textbook has been significantly expanded - the countries of the East and the civilizations of the New World, the Arab East, Byzantium are included, the development of culture is analyzed XX century.

During the existence of human society, such colossal baggage has been accumulated in the field of culture, such a huge number of representatives of literature, music, architecture, and fine arts have emerged that even despite the impressive volume of the textbook it was not possible to include all the names.

The textbook was prepared by the team of the Department of History of Economics, Politics and Culture of the All-Russian Correspondence Financial and Economic Institute (VZFEI).

Teacher I. A. Andreeva- chapters 10, 20, 21.

Candidate of Historical Sciences WITH. D. Borodin- chapters 2, 22, bibliography.

Candidate of Historical Sciences N. O. Voskresenskaya- chapters 3, 4, 6, 16.

Candidate of Historical Sciences A. S. Kvasov - chapters 11, 12, 27.

Senior Lecturer E. A. Kozlova- Chapter 23.

Candidate of Historical Sciences N. S. Krivtsova- chapter 5.

Doctor of Economic Sciences A. N. Markova- chapters 15, 23.

Senior Lecturer E. M. Murashova- chapters 7, 8.

Doctor philosophical sciencesL. A. Nikitich- Chapter 27.

Candidate of Historical Sciences V. E. Nosov- chapter 1, 26, 29.

Candidate of Historical Sciences E. M. Skvortsova- chapters 9, 13, 17,18, 19.

Candidate of Historical Sciences Yu. I. Topalova- chapters 14, 24.

Candidate of Historical Sciences R. M. Chernykh - Chapter 13.

Executive Editor

Professor, State Prize laureate A. N. Markova

table of contents
From the authors 3
Chapter 1. Subject of cultural studies 10
I. CULTURE OF THE PRIMITIVE ERA

AND THE ANCIENT WORLD 21
Chapter 2. Culture of the Primitive Age 22
2.1. Periodization of primitiveness 23

2.2. Features of Primitive Art 24

2.3. Early Forms of Belief 32
Chapter 3. Culture of Ancient Egypt 36

3.1. Ancient Egypt 36

3.2. Hellenistic Egypt. Egypt-

roman province 46
Chapter 4. Culture of Ancient Mesopotamia

(Mesopotamia) 49
4.1. Settlement of Mesopotamia 49

4.2. Sumerian-Akkadian culture 50

4.3. Culture of the Old Babylonian Kingdom 54

4.4. Culture of Assyria 58

4.5. Culture of Sasanian Iran 59
Chapter 5. Culture of Ancient India 63

5.1. Ancient India 63

5.2. Magadho-Mauri era 68

5.3. Kushano-Gupta period 71
Chapter 6. Culture of Ancient China 77

6.1. Philosophical and religious systems of China 77

6.2. Standards of everyday life 82

6.3. Development of science, literature and art 83
Chapter 7. Culture of Ancient Greece 90

7.1. Preclassic period 90

7.2. Classic period 96

7.3. Hellenistic culture 103
Chapter 8. Culture of Ancient Rome 107

8.1. Etruscan culture 107

8.2. Tsarist period 108

8.3. Republic period 110

8.4. Empire period 114
Chapter 9 Culture of Slavic Antiquity 120

9.1. Veles book 121

9.2. Cosmogonic ideas of the ancient Slavs 123

9.3. Rituals and customs of the ancient Slavs 126

9.4. Writing of the ancient Slavs 131
Chapter 10. North American culture 134

10.1 Tribal culture of North America 135

10.2. Worldview of North American Indians 141

10.3. Myths and Legends of North America 144
II. CULTURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES 146
Chapter 11. Western European culture in the era

Early and Classical Middle Ages 147
11.1. General characteristics of the Early Middle Ages 148

11.2. The influence of religion on cultural life 151
Chapter 12. Western European culture of the era

Renaissance 159
12.1. New worldview 159

12.2. Italian Renaissance 162

12.3. Northern Renaissance 169
Chapter 13. Culture of Kievan Rus and Russians

principalities of the era feudal fragmentation 177
13.1. Culture of Kievan Rus 178

13.2. Culture of Russian lands of the XII-XIII centuries. 185

Chapter 14. Culture of Moscow Rus' 198

14.1. The rise of culture during the period of education

united Russian state 198

14.2. New trends in the development of Russian culture

at the end of the XV-XVI centuries. 203
Chapter 15. Byzantine culture 211

15.1. Features of the historical development of Byzantium 211

15.2. State system of Byzantium 214

15.3. Early Middle Ages 216

15.4. Macedonian dynasty and dynasty period

Komninov 224

15.5. Age of Palaiologos 230
Chapter 16. Culture of the Arab East 235

16.1. The Arab East - the birthplace of Islam 235

16.2. Arab culture 240

16.3. Life and customs of the Arabs 244
Chapter 17. Culture of Medieval India 248

17.1.Rajput period 248

17.2. The era of the Delhi Sultanate 255

17.3. The era of the Mughal Empire 259
Chapter 18. Culture of Medieval China 266

18.1. Early Middle Ages 266

18.2.The era of the Classical Middle Ages 272

18.3. The era of the Mongol conquest of China 282

18.4. Ming era Mature Middle Ages 285
Chapter 19. Culture Medieval Japan 292

19.1 Age of Kings Yamato 292

19.2. Heian era 298

19.3. The Age of the Shogunate 302
Chapter 20. Mesoamerican culture 312

20.1. Olmec culture 313

20.2. Teotihuacan culture 317

20.3. Toltec culture 321

20.4. Mayan Civilization 326

20.5. Aztec culture 334

Chapter 21. Culture of Civilizations

South America 345

21.1. South American primitive culture

peoples 346

21.2. Culture of the peoples of the Central Andes and

Intermediate area 347

21.3. Inca Civilization 361

III. CULTURE OF NEW TIMES 371

Chapter 22 Western European culture of the era

Enlightenment 372
22.1. The main values ​​of the Enlightenment 372

22.2. Features of the Enlightenment in European countries 376

22.3. Style and genre features of art

XVIII century 384
Chapter 23. Western European culture XIX century 393

23.1. The main processes and directions of social

political, scientific and religious life 393

23.2. Classicism 397

23.3. Romanticism 402

23.4. Realism 414

23.5. New directions in Western European

culture of the late 19th century 426
Chapter 24. Russian culture XVII - XVIII centuries 436

24.1. Russian culture on the threshold of the New Age 437

24.2. Formation of Russian national culture 444
Chapter 23. Culture of Russia in the 19th century 455

25.1. First half of the 19th century 456

25.2. Reform years 465

25.3. Silver Age of Russian Culture 479
Chapter 26. US culture of the 11th-19th centuries 487

26.1. Features of the formation of US culture

during the era of colonization and the struggle for independence 487

26.2. American Culture XIX". 492
IV. LATEST TIME 502

Chapter 27. Culture of Western Europe inXX century 503

27.1. Industrial civilization and problems

culture 504

27.2.XX century and new forms of art 510

27.3. Western European literature XX V. 513

27.4. European theater VXX V. 516

27.5. Architecture, music, cinema 519
Chapter 28. Culture of the USSR 524

28.1. Cultural transformations in the 20-30s. 524

28.2. Features of cultural processes in the 40s. 532

28.3. Culture in the 50-90s. 535
Chapter 29. US culture of the 20th century 543

29.1. Philosophical and religious views 543

29.2. Science and education 547

29.3 Literature, theater, musical creativity 550

29.4. Fine arts, architecture, cinema 553

29.5. Americanization of popular culture 562

Literature 566

Illustrations 568

1

Item

Culturology

Subject and object

cultural studies

Subject of cultural studies- objective patterns of world and national cultural processes, monuments and phenomena of material and spiritual culture, factors and prerequisites governing the emergence, formation and development of cultural interests and needs of people, their participation in the increase, preservation and transmission of cultural values.

Object of cultural studies are cultural aspects of various areas of social life, identifying the characteristics and achievements of the main cultural and historical types, analyzing trends and processes in the modern socio-cultural environment.

Various scientific fields contribute to the development of cultural theories: anthropology, sociology, psychology, philosophy and history. But highlighting the specifics of the subject and the object of study of cultural studies allows us to draw a line between them. Culturology emphasizes the content side of people’s joint activities and lives, and this distinguishes it from sociology. What distinguishes cultural studies from natural science is its attention to artificial objects and processes. And if social philosophy can be presented as a science about the meaning of individual and social existence, and history as a theory about the event-activity content of social existence, then cultural studies is occupied with the specific historical forms of this existence, which are understood as formative elements of a cultural-historical type, and the content of systems of values ​​and technologies of activity that regulate and organize these types of activities.

In the development of cultural studies as a field of scientific knowledge, it is customary to distinguish the following periods: ethnographic (1800-1860), evolutionist(1860-1895), historical(1895-1925). During these periods, knowledge was accumulated, ideas about the subject were formed, and initial foundations and key categories were identified. Research at this time was mainly academic in nature. But starting from the second half of the 20th century. the situation is changing. The pragmatic value of knowledge about the origins of the general and the special, the stable and the changing in culture becomes obvious. This knowledge is beginning to be in demand and applied in a variety of areas - in the practice of mass communication, diplomacy, military affairs, etc.

The concept " culture"

Concept culture - central to cultural studies. In its modern meaning, it entered the circulation of European social thought from the second half of the 18th century, although the idea of ​​culture arose much earlier.

The word “culture” comes from Latin, which meant the cultivation of the soil, its cultivation, i.e., a change in a natural object under the influence of man, in contrast to those changes that are caused by natural causes. Already in this initial content of the concept, language expressed an important feature - the unity of culture, man and his activity, although the concept of “culture” has been and is being given very different meanings. Thus, the Hellenes saw their upbringing as their main difference from the “wild”, “uncultured barbarians”. In the Middle Ages, the word “culture” was associated with personal qualities, with signs of personal improvement. During the Renaissance, personal perfection began to be understood as conformity to the humanistic ideal. And from the point of view of the enlighteners of the 18th century. culture meant "reasonableness." Giambattista Vico (1668-1744), Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803), Charles Louis Montesquieu (1689-1755), Jean Jacques. Rousseau(1712-1778) believed that culture is manifested in the rationality of social orders and political institutions, and is measured by achievements in the field of science and art. The purpose of culture and the highest purpose of reason coincide: to make people happy. This was already a concept of culture, called eudaimonic 1 .

From the second half of the 19th century. the concept of “culture” is increasingly acquiring the status of a scientific category. It ceases to mean only a high level of development of society. This concept increasingly began to intersect with such categories as “civilization” and “socio-economic formation.” Concept "socio-economic formation" introduced into scientific circulation Karl Marx(1818-1883). It forms the foundation of a materialistic understanding of history.

For a long time, the concepts of “culture” and "civilization" were identical. The German philosopher was the first to draw the line between them Immanuel Kant(1724-1804), and at the beginning of the 20th century. another German philosopher Oswald Spengler(1880-1936) and completely opposed them.

INXX V. In scientific ideas about culture, the touch of romanticism, which gave it the meaning of uniqueness, creative impulse, high spirituality, liberation from the burden of everyday life, finally disappears. French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre(1905-1980) noted that culture does not save or justify anyone or anything. But she is the work of man, in her he looks for his reflection, in her he recognizes himself, only in this critical mirror can he see his face 2.

Originally deciphered the concept of “culture” N.K. Roerich(1874-1947). He divided it into two parts: “cult” - veneration, “ur” - light, i.e.

reverence for light. Consequently, the motto of N.K. Roerich’s “Peace through culture,” in turn, should be deciphered as “Peace through the veneration of light,” that is, through the affirmation of a luminous principle in the souls of people.

So, what should be understood by culture? There is no single answer, not only because of the polysemy of the very concept of culture, but also because the word “culture” unites different points of view. Now, according to some researchers, there are about a thousand definitions of culture.

In modern cultural studies, the most common are technological, activity and value concepts of culture. From point of view technological approach culture represents a certain level of production and reproduction of social life. Activity concept considers culture as a way and result of human life, which is reflected throughout society. Value-based (axiological) the concept of culture emphasizes the role and significance of the ideal model of life - the ought in the life of society, and culture in it is considered as the embodiment, the implementation of the ought into existence, the real.

The concept of “culture,” as noted in the Philosophical Dictionary, means a historically certain level of development of society, creative powers and abilities of a person, expressed in the types and forms of organization of people’s lives and activities, as well as in the material and spiritual values ​​they create 1 .

Therefore, the world of culture, any of its objects or phenomena is not a consequence of the action of natural forces, but the result of the efforts of people themselves aimed at improving and transforming what is given by nature itself. As the Russian poet wrote Nikolay Zabolotsky (1903-1958),
Man has two worlds:

The One who created us

Another one that we have been since forever

We create to the best of our ability.
Thus, it is possible to understand the essence of culture only through the prism of human activity and the peoples inhabiting the planet. Culture does not exist outside of man.

By revealing and realizing the essential meaning of human existence, culture simultaneously forms and develops this very essence. A person is not born social, but only becomes so in the process of activity. Education and upbringing are nothing else. as the acquisition of culture, the process of transmitting it from one generation to another. Consequently, culture means the introduction of a person to society, society 2.

Any person first of all masters the culture that was created before him, thereby mastering the social experience of his predecessors. But at the same time, he makes his own contribution to the cultural layer, thereby enriching it.

Mastering culture can be carried out in the form of interpersonal relationships (communication in preschool institutions, school, university, enterprise, travel, family) and self-education. The role of the media is enormous - radio, television, print.

The process of socialization can be represented as the continuous mastery of culture and at the same time as the individualization of the individual. This is due to the fact that cultural values ​​are superimposed on the specific individuality of a person: his character, mental make-up, temperament, his mentality.

An interesting experiment in self-analysis of individuality was made by a Russian philosopher ON THE. Berdyaev (1874-1948):
On the one hand, I experience all the events of my era, the entire fate of the world, as events happening to me, as my own fate; and on the other hand, I painfully experience the alienness of the world, the remoteness of everything, my disconnect with nothing 1 .
ON THE. Berdyaev clearly expressed the contradictions of the process of socialization and, consequently, culture, which is a complex antinomic (contradictory) system. Its inconsistency is manifested in the contradiction: 1) between socialization and individualization of the individual, 2) between the normativity of culture and the freedom that it provides to a person (norm and freedom are two poles, two fighting principles in culture), 3) between the traditionality of culture and that renewal that occurs in her body.

These and some other contradictions constitute not only the essential characteristics of culture, but are the source of its development.

The structure of the phenomenon “culture”
The considered essential features of the phenomenon of culture allow us to imagine its internal structure. For culture as a social phenomenon, the fundamental, system-forming concepts are cultural statics Andcultural dynamics. The first characterizes culture at rest, immutability and repeatability, the second considers culture as a process in movement and change.

The basic elements of culture exist in two forms - material and spiritual. The totality of material elements constitutes material culture, and intangible elements constitute spiritual culture. But their division is often conditional, since in real life they are closely interconnected and interpenetrated.

Important Feature material culture - its non-identity with either the material life of society, or material production, or materially transformative activity. Material culture characterizes this activity from the point of view of its influence on human development, revealing to what extent it makes it possible to use his abilities, creative potential, and talents.

Material culture includes: the culture of labor and material production, the culture of everyday life, the culture of topography, i.e. place of residence (dwellings, houses, villages, cities), the culture of attitude towards one’s own body, physical culture.

The set of intangible elements forms the spiritual side of cultural statics: norms, rules, patterns and norms of behavior, laws, spiritual values, ceremonies, rituals, symbols, myths, knowledge, ideas, customs, traditions, language. Any object of intangible culture needs a material intermediary. For knowledge, for example, books are such a mediator.

Spiritual culture is a multi-layered education and includes cognitive (intellectual), moral, artistic, legal, pedagogical, religious and other cultures.

According to some culturologists, there are types of culture that cannot be unambiguously attributed only to the material or spiritual realm. They represent a “vertical section” of culture, permeating its entire system. These are types of culture such as economic, political, environmental, aesthetic.

In cultural statics, elements are delimited in time and space. Thus, part of the material and spiritual culture created by past generations, which has stood the test of time and is passed on to subsequent generations as something valuable and revered, is called cultural heritage. Heritage is an important factor in the unity of a nation, a means of uniting society in times of crisis.

In addition to cultural heritage, cultural statics also includes the concept cultural area - a geographical area within which different cultures exhibit similarities in their main features.

On a global scale, cultural heritage is expressed by the so-called cultural universals - norms, values, rules, traditions, properties that are inherent in all cultures, regardless of geographical location, historical time and social structure of society.

American anthropologists identify more than seventy universals, elements common to all cultures, among them: age gradation, calendar, cleanliness, cooking, labor cooperation, dancing, decorative arts, education, ethics, etiquette, family, festivals, laws, medicine, music , mythology, number, punitive sanctions, personal name, religious rituals, etc.

As already noted, culture is a very complex, multi-level system. It is customary to subdivide a culture according to its carrier. Depending on this, world and national cultures are distinguished.

World culture - it is a synthesis of the best achievements of all national cultures of the various peoples inhabiting our planet.

National culture, in turn, acts as a synthesis of cultures of various classes, social strata and groups of the corresponding society.

The uniqueness of national culture, its uniqueness and originality are manifested both in the spiritual (language, literature, music, painting, religion) and material (peculiarities of the economic structure, farming, traditions of labor and production) spheres of life and activity.

The set of values, beliefs, traditions and customs that guide the majority of members of society is called dominant culture. However, since society breaks up into many groups (national, demographic, social, professional, etc.), each of them gradually forms its own culture, i.e., a system of values ​​and rules of behavior. Such small cultural worlds are called subcultures. They talk about a youth subculture, a subculture of older people, a subculture of national minorities, a professional subculture, urban, rural, etc.

The subculture differs from the dominant one in its language, outlook on life, and manners of behavior. Such differences can be very pronounced, however, the subculture is not opposed to the dominant culture.

A subculture that not only differs from the dominant culture, but opposes it, is in conflict with dominant values, is called counterculture.

The subculture of the criminal world is opposed to human culture, and the “hippie” youth movement, which became widespread in the 60-70s. in Western Europe and the USA, denied the dominant American values: social values, moral norms and moral ideals of consumer society, profit, political loyalty, sexual restraint, conformism 1 and rationalism.

Forms of culture
Depending on who creates the culture and what its level is, three forms are distinguished - elite, folk and mass culture.

Elite, or high, culture created by a privileged part of society or at its request by professional creators. It includes fine art, classical music and classical literature. As a rule, elite culture is ahead of the level of perception of it by an averagely educated person. The motto of elite culture is “Art for art’s sake.” A typical manifestation of aesthetic isolationism, the concept of “pure art” is the activity of the artistic association “World of Art”.

Unlike the elitist folk culture created by anonymous creators who have no professional training. Folk culture is also called amateur(but not by level, but by origin), or collective. It includes myths, legends, tales, epics, fairy tales, songs, and dances. In terms of their execution, elements of folk culture can be individual (statement of a legend), group (performing a song, dance), mass (carnival processions). Another name for folk culture is folklore. It is always localized, since it is connected with the traditions of a given area, and democratic, since everyone participates in its creation.

Massive, or public, culture does not express the refined tastes of the aristocracy or the spiritual quest of the people. Its greatest scope begins in the middle of the 20th century, when the media penetrated into most countries. The mechanism for the spread of mass culture is directly related to the market. Its products are intended for consumption by the masses. This is art for everyone, and it must take into account his tastes and needs. Everyone who pays can order their own “music”. Mass culture can be international and national. As a rule, it has less artistic value than elite or folk art. But unlike elitist, mass culture has a larger audience, and in comparison with folk culture, it is always original. It is designed to satisfy the immediate needs of people, reacts to any new event and strives to reflect it. Therefore, examples of mass culture quickly lose their relevance and go out of fashion. This does not happen with works of folk and elite culture.

Despite the apparent democracy, mass culture is fraught with a real threat of reducing the creative person to the level of a programmed dummy, a human cog. The serial nature of its products has a number of specific features:

Primitivization of relationships between people;

Entertaining, funny, sentimental;

A naturalistic relish of violence and sex;

The cult of success, a strong personality, a thirst for possessing things;

The cult of mediocrity, the conventions of primitive symbolism.

Typical heroes of popular culture are super agent James Bond and various sex bombs, sex symbols, etc.

Mass culture is also culture, or rather part of it. And the dignity of her works is not that they are understandable to everyone, but that they are based on apxemunax 1 . Such archetypes include the unconscious interest of all people in eroticism and violence. And this interest is the basis for the success of mass culture and its works.

The catastrophic consequence of mass culture is the reduction of human creative activity to an elementary act of silent consumption.

Understanding the problem of mass culture began with books O. Spengler"The Decline of Europe" A. Schweitzer"Culture and Ethics" X.Ortega y Tasseta"Rise of the Masses" E. Fromm“To have or to be,” in which mass culture is interpreted as the ultimate expression of spiritual unfreedom.

Functions of culture
Culture is a multifunctional system. Let us briefly describe the main functions of culture. The main function of the cultural phenomenon is human-creative, or humanistic. Everything else is somehow connected with it and even follows from it.

Function broadcasts (transmissions) social experience often called the function of historical continuity, or information. Culture is rightly considered the social memory of humanity. It is objectified in sign systems: oral traditions, monuments of literature and art, the “languages” of science, philosophy, religion, etc. However, this is not just a “warehouse” of stocks of social experience, but a means of strict selection and active transmission of its best examples. Hence, any violation of this function is fraught with serious, sometimes catastrophic consequences for society. The break in cultural continuity leads to anomie and dooms new generations to the loss of social memory (the phenomenon of Mankurtism) 2 .

Cognitive (epistemological) function is associated with the ability of a culture to concentrate the social experience of many generations of people. Thus, she immanently acquires the ability to accumulate a wealth of knowledge about the world, thereby creating favorable opportunities for its knowledge and development. ON THE. Berdyaev wrote about this:

It (culture) realizes only the truth in knowledge, in philosophical and scientific books: goodness - in morals, being and social institutions; beauty - in books, poems and paintings, in statues and architectural monuments, in concerts and theatrical performances 1 .....
It can be argued that a society is intellectual to the extent that it uses the richest knowledge contained in the cultural gene pool of humanity. All types of society differ significantly primarily on this basis.

Regulatory (normative) The function of culture is associated primarily with the definition (regulation) of various aspects, types of social and personal activities of people. In the sphere of work, everyday life, and interpersonal relationships, culture in one way or another influences the behavior of people and regulates their actions, actions, and even the choice of certain material and spiritual values. The regulatory function of culture is based on such normative systems as morality And right.

Semiotic, or iconic, a function, representing a certain sign system of culture, presupposes knowledge and mastery of it. Without studying the corresponding sign systems, it is impossible to master the achievements of culture. Thus, language (oral or written) is a means of communication between people. Literary language is the most important means of mastering national culture. Specific languages ​​are needed to understand the world of music, painting, and theater. The natural sciences (physics, mathematics, biology, chemistry) also have their own sign systems.

Value-based or axiological, function reflects the most important qualitative state of culture. Culture as a value system forms in a person very specific value needs and orientations. By their level and quality, people most often judge the degree of culture of a person. Moral and intellectual content, as a rule, acts as a criterion for appropriate assessment.

Approaches to the study of culture
As diverse as the concept of culture is, there are so many approaches to its study. But all the diversity of approaches to the study of culture, as a rule, can be reduced to two main directions, rooted in the philosophical traditions of the 18th century. and answering the question: What is culture? A tool for enslaving a person or a means of ennobling him, turning him into a civilized person?

A direction that can be described as pessimistic, irrational, originates in the works of the French educator Jean Jacques Rousseau, who considered man as a perfect being, and natural life in the bosom of nature as its most correct form. Rousseau saw the defectiveness and harmfulness of culture both in the existence of private property, which makes people unequal (the essay “Discourse on the Beginning and Foundations of Inequality”), and in the existence of absolutism - a power that is anti-people in its essence. He considered religion, art and science to be no less evil, which contribute to the maintenance of inequality without ensuring either an improvement in morals or a happy life for people.

From these general positions the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche(1844 - 1900) concludes that man by nature is generally anti-cultural; he spontaneously feels that culture is evil and was created to enslave and suppress it.

Adjacent to irrational theories of culture is the school of cultural psychoanalysis, the founder of which is considered to be the Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud(1856-1939). In his works, Freud emphasized that a person constantly suffers from contradictions between his own desires and cultural norms that prescribe certain behavior. A representative of the school of psychoanalysis Erich Fromm(1900-1980) tried to combine Freudian psychoanalysis with the Marxist theory of alienation.

At the beginning of the 20th century. three fundamental theories of the development of Western European culture were formulated: O. Spengler, A. Schweitzer, M. Weber.

German philosopher O. Spengler in his book “The Decline of Europe” he makes a pessimistic conclusion that the rationalistic civilization that has reigned in Western Europe represents a degradation of the highest spiritual values ​​of culture, and is therefore doomed. According to Spengler, the concepts of “culture” and “civilization” are universally significant; he believes that culture is an organism that lives for about a thousand years. In world history, the philosopher identifies eight cultures: Egyptian, Indian, Babylonian, Chinese, Greco-Roman, Byzantine-Arab, Western European, Mayan culture. He predicts the birth and flourishing of Russian culture.

In contrast to the theory of O. Spengler, another German scientist Max Weber(1864-1920) in his works “Agrarian History of the Ancient World”, “Economy and Society” and “Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism” concludes that there is no crisis in Western European culture, it’s just that the old value criteria have been replaced by new and previously just a universal rationality that changed ideas about this culture. In the origin of Western European capitalism, Weber assigned a decisive role to Protestantism.

Philosopher-humanist A. Schweitzer in his work “The Decay and Revival of Culture,” following O. Spengler, he notes the decline and crisis of Western European culture, but considers them not fatal, and the salvation of culture is possible. According to Schweitzer, culture consists of man’s dominance over the forces of nature and over himself, when the individual coordinates his thoughts and passions with the interests of society.

The original concept of the sociology of culture, which influenced the solution of problems of typological studies of culture, was created by P. A. Sorokin(1889-1968).

The Russian scientist considered the life of mankind in close connection with space A.L. Chizhevsky(1897-1964). He created a concept that reveals the specifics of the interaction between space and the historical process taking place on Earth.

The views of the Russian scientist had a great influence on modern scientific ideas about the cultural process IN AND. Vernadsky(1863-1945), who created the doctrine of the noosphere (sphere of the mind) and its impact on all biological and geological processes occurring on our planet.

One of the most prominent representatives existentialism 1 Karl Jaspers
(1883-1969) in contrast to the theory of cultural cycles, popular throughout Europe in the first half of the century, developed first by O. Spengler and later A. Toynbee(1889-1975), emphasizes that humanity has a single origin and a single path of development. He introduces the concept axial time 1 .

The axis of world history, writes K. Jaspers, if it exists at all, can only be discovered empirically, as a fact significant for all people... This axis should be sought where the preconditions arose that allowed man to become what he is ... This axis of world history should apparently be dated back to about 500 BC. e., to the spiritual process that took place between 800 and 200 AD. BC e. Then the most dramatic turn in history took place. A person of this type appeared, which has survived to this day 2.

This is the axial time according to K. Jaspers. He characterizes it by the fact that at this time a lot of extraordinary things happen. Confucius and Lao Tzu lived in China at that time, and all directions of Chinese philosophy arose. The Upanishads 3 arose in India, Buddha 4 lived, in the philosophy of India, as in China, all possibilities of philosophical comprehension of reality were considered, including skepticism, sophistry, nihilism and materialism; in Iran, Zarathustra 5 taught about a world where there is a struggle between good and evil; the prophets Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Second Isaiah spoke in Palestine; in Greece this is the time of Homer, the philosophers Parmenides, Heraclitus, Plato, the tragedians, Thucydides and Archimedes. Everything associated with these names arose almost simultaneously over the course of a few centuries, independently of each other.

What is new in this era in the three mentioned cultures boils down to the fact that man is aware of existence as a whole, himself and his boundaries.

During this era, the basic categories with which we think to this day were developed, the foundations of world religions were laid, and today they influence the lives of millions of people. The transition to universality was taking place in all directions.

Starting from the axial time, K. Jaspers outlines the following structure of world history:

1. The Axial Age marks the disappearance of the great cultures of antiquity that had existed for thousands of years. It dissolves them, absorbs them into itself, and allows them to perish. Ancient cultures continue to exist only in those elements that entered the Axial Age and were taken over by a new beginning.

2. By what happened then, what was created and thought out at that time, humanity lives until now. In every impulse, people, remembering, turn to the axial time. Since then, it has been generally accepted that the recollection and revival of the possibilities of the axial age - the Renaissance - leads to spiritual uplift. Returning to this beginning is a recurring phenomenon in China, India and the West.

3. At the beginning, Axial Time is limited in space, but historically it becomes all-encompassing.

K. Jaspers summarizes all of the above as follows:

axial time, taken as the starting point, determines the questions and dimensions applied to all previous and subsequent development.

Thus, the category “culture” denotes the content of the joint life and activity of people, which is a biologically non-inherited artificial environment of existence and self-realization created by people, a source of regulation of social interaction and behavior.

I
Culture

Primitive era

And the Ancient World

2
Culture

Primitive era
The origins and roots of our culture are in primitive times.

Primitiveness is the childhood of humanity. Most of human history dates back to the primitive period.

American ethnographer L. G. Morgan(1818-1881) in the periodization of human history (“Ancient Society”, 1877), the period of primitiveness is called “savagery”. U K. Jaspers in the scheme of world history, the period of primitiveness is called “prehistory”, the “Promethean era” (see Chapter 1)

We know nothing about the soul of a person who lived 20,000 years ago. However, we know that throughout the history of mankind known to us, man has not changed significantly either in his biological and psychophysical properties, or in his primary unconscious impulses (after all, only about 100 generations have passed since then). What was the formation of man in prehistoric times? What did he experience, discover, accomplish, invent before the beginning of the transmitted history? The first formation of man is a deepest mystery, still completely inaccessible and incomprehensible to us.

The demands placed on our knowledge by prehistory are expressed in questions without answers.

Does not give a final and reliable idea of ​​the time and reasons for the transition from Homo Habilis to Homo Sapiens, as well as about starting point its evolution, and modern anthropology. It is only obvious that man has traveled a long and very winding path in his biological and social development. In times and eras inaccessible to our definition, people settled on the globe. It went within limited areas, was endlessly scattered, but at the same time had an all-encompassing, unified character.

Our ancestors, in the most distant period available to us, appear before us in groups, around a fire. The use of fire and tools is an essential factor in the transformation of man into man. “We would hardly consider a living being that has neither one nor the other a person” 1.

The radical difference between humans and animals is that the environment objective world is the object of his thinking and speech.

The formation of groups and communities, awareness of its semantic meaning is another distinctive quality of a person. Only when greater cohesion begins to emerge between primitive people does a sedentary and organized humanity appear instead of horse and deer hunters.

The emergence of art is a natural consequence of the development of labor activity and technology of Paleolithic hunters, inseparable from the formation of the clan organization, the modern physical type of man. The volume of his brain increased, many new associations appeared, and the need for new forms of communication increased.

2.1. Periodization

Primitive
The most ancient human tools date back to about 2.5 million years ago. Archaeologists divide history based on the materials from which people made tools. The primeval world for the Stone, Copper, Bronze and Iron Ages.

Stone Age divided by ancient (Paleolithic), middle (Mesolithic) And new (Neolithic). The approximate chronological boundaries of the Stone Age are over 2 million - 6 thousand years ago. The Paleolithic, in turn, is divided into three periods: lower, middle and upper (or late). The Stone Age has changed copper (Neolithic), lasted 4 -3 thousand BC. e. Then came bronze age(4th-beginning of the 1st millennium BC), at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. replaced him Iron Age.

Primitive man mastered the skills of agriculture and cattle breeding in less than ten thousand years. Before this, for hundreds of thousands of years, people obtained their food in three ways: gathering, hunting and fishing. Even in the early stages of development, the mind of our distant ancestors affected us. Paleolithic sites, as a rule, are located on capes where ravines exit into one or another wide valley. The rough terrain was more convenient for driven hunting of herds of large animals. Its success was ensured not by the perfection of the weapon (in the Paleolithic these were darts and spears), but by the complex tactics of the beaters pursuing mammoths or bison. Later, by the beginning of the Mesolithic, bows and arrows appeared. By that time, mammoths and rhinoceroses had become extinct, and small and non-gregarious mammals had to be hunted. What was decisive was not the size and coordination of the actions of the team of beaters, but the dexterity and accuracy of the individual hunter. In the Mesolithic, fishing also developed, and nets and hooks were invented.

These technical achievements - the result of a long search for the most reliable, most expedient tools of production - did not change the essence of the matter. Humanity still only appropriated the products of nature.

The question of how this ancient society, based on the appropriation of wild nature products, developed into more advanced forms of farming and pastoralism constitutes the most complex problem of historical science.

The beginning of the development of the history of primitive society, as already noted, was laid by the American ethnographer L.G. Morgan in the work "Ancient Society". The transition from appropriation to agriculture is far from being as simple and natural as it is sometimes imagined. The discovery of agriculture was made independently in several areas of the world. Signs of agriculture can already be traced in the monuments of the Natufian culture in Palestine, dating back to the Mesolithic era. These are sickles, consisting of silicon inserts inserted into bone handles, and grain grinders. In the Neolithic layers of Jericho, traces of grains of barley and emmer wheat were discovered.

Traces of agriculture are also found in other areas of the world.

There were various hypotheses and assumptions about the origin of another type of productive livestock farming. However, most scientists believe that animal husbandry developed among sedentary farmers. The first of the domesticated animals - the dog - was domesticated in the Paleolithic, about 15-10 thousand years ago. Her wild ancestor was the wolf. Agriculture and animal husbandry made it possible for an ever-increasing human race to exist on earth.

It is inherent in the very nature of man that he cannot be only a part of nature: he shapes himself through art. We will dwell on this quality of man of the primitive era.

2.2. Peculiarities

primitive art
For the first time, the involvement of Stone Age hunter-gatherers in the visual arts has been attested to by a famous archaeologist. Eduard Larte, who found an engraved plate in the Chaffaux grotto (Vienne department) in 1836. He also discovered an image of a mammoth on a piece of mammoth bone in the La Madeleine grotto (France).

Syncretism
A characteristic feature of art itself is early stage was syncretism 1 .

Human activity related to the artistic exploration of the world also contributed to the formation of homo sapiens (reasonable man). At this stage, the possibilities of all mental processes and experiences of primitive man were in embryo, in a collective unconscious state, in the so-called archetype.

As a result of the discoveries of archaeologists, it was discovered that monuments of art appeared immeasurably later than tools, almost a million years.

Monuments of Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic hunting art show us what people's attention was focused on during that period. Paintings and engravings on rocks, sculptures made of stone, clay, wood, and drawings on vessels are devoted exclusively to scenes of hunting game animals.

The main object of creativity of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic times were animals.

The first works of primitive fine art belong to the Aurignac culture (Late Paleolithic), named after the Aurignac cave (France). Since that time, female figurines made of stone and bone with exaggerated body shapes and schematized heads have become widespread - the so-called "Venus" apparently associated with the cult of the ancestral mother. It is very interesting that in the same monument Late Paleolithic Usually female figurines are presented, not of the same type, but different in style. A comparison of the styles of works of Paleolithic art along with technical traditions made it possible to discover striking and, moreover, specific features similarities of findings between distant areas. Similar “Venuses” have been found in France, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic, Russia and many other areas of the world.

At the same time, generalized expressive images of animals appear, recreating the characteristic features of a mammoth, elephant, horse, and deer.

Both cave paintings and figurines help us capture the most essential in primitive thinking. The spiritual powers of the hunter are aimed at comprehending the laws of nature. The very life of primitive man depends on this. The hunter has studied the habits to the smallest detail wild beast, which is why the Stone Age artist was able to show them so convincingly. Man himself did not receive as much attention as the outside world, which is why there are so few images of people in cave painting France and so faceless in in every sense words paleolithic sculptures.

Home artistic feature primitive art was symbolic form, conditional nature of the image. The symbols are both realistic images and conventional ones. Often works of primitive art represent entire systems that are complex in their

Contour painting of the Ice Age. Cave La Moneda. Spain

Cave painting in the Lascaux Grotto. Ice Age.France,
the structure of symbols that carry a large aesthetic load, with the help of which a wide variety of concepts or human feelings are conveyed.

Culture in the Paleolithic Age
Initially not isolated into a special type of activity and associated with hunting and the labor process, primitive art reflected man’s gradual knowledge of reality, his first ideas about the world around him.

Some art historians distinguish three stages visual arts in the Paleolithic era. Each of them is characterized by the creation of a qualitatively new visual form.

Natural creativity - composition of carcasses, bones, natural layout.

Artificial and figurative form - large clay sculpture, bas-relief, profile outline.

Upper Paleolithic fine art - cave paintings, bone engravings.

Let's look at the first stage in a little more detail.

Natural creativity includes the following points: ritual actions with the carcass of a killed animal, and later with its skin thrown on a stone or rock ledge. Subsequently, a molded base for this skin appeared. Animal sculpture was an elementary form of creativity. The natural layout, in turn, goes through several stages. At first, a natural figured volume was used - a natural mound. The head of the beast was then placed on a deliberately constructed pedestal. Later, a rough sculpting of the beast was made, but without a head. This structure was covered with the skin of an animal, to which an animal head was attached 1.

The next second stage is art form includes artificial means of creating an image, the gradual accumulation of “creative” experience, which was expressed at first in full-scale sculpture, and then in bas-relief simplification.

The third stage is characterized by the further development of the Upper Paleotic fine arts, associated with the emergence of expressive artistic images in color and volumetric image. The most characteristic examples of painting of this period are represented by cave paintings. The most ancient monuments of art were found in Western Europe. They date from the same Late Paleolithic period as the emergence of modern humans. Monuments of primitive painting, as already noted, were discovered more than 100 years ago. In 1879, a Spanish archaeologist M. Sautuola reveals multicolored images of the Paleolithic era in the Altamira cave (Spain). In 1895, drawings of primitive man were found in the La Mout cave in France. In 1901 in France A. Breuil discovered drawings of a mammoth, bison, deer, horse, and bear in the Le Combatelle cave in the Vézère valley. There are about 300 drawings here, there are also images of people (in most cases wearing masks). Not far from Le Combatelles in the same year, an archaeologist Pestroni in the Fon de Gaume cave opens a whole " art gallery» - 40 wild horses, 23 mammoths, 17 deer. The drawings were made with ocher and other paints, the secret of which has not been found to this day. The Stone Age palette is poor, it contains four main colors:

black, white, red, yellow. The first two were used quite rarely.

Similar stages can be traced when studying the musical layer of primitive art. The musical principle was not separated from movement, gestures, exclamations, and facial expressions.

The musical element of the "natural pantomime" included:

imitation of the sounds of nature - onomatopoeic motifs;

artificial intonation form - motives with a fixed pitch position of the tone;

intonation creativity: two- and three-voice motives 1. An ancient musical instrument made from mammoth bones was discovered in one of the houses at the Mezin site. It was intended to reproduce noise or rhythmic sounds.

Of particular interest are the musical instruments discovered in the Late Paleolithic. During excavations of the Molodova site on the right bank of the Dniester in the Chernivtsi region, an archaeologist A.P. Chernysh found at a depth of 2.2 m from the surface in the cultural layer of the middle of the Late Paleolithic a flute made of reindeer antler, 21 cm long, with artificially made holes.

When studying a dwelling from the famous Mezinskaya site of the Late Paleolithic (in the Chernigov region), bones painted with ornaments, a hammer made of reindeer antler and beaters made of mammoth tusks were discovered. It is assumed that the “age” of this set of musical instruments is 20 thousand years.

The subtle and soft tradition of tones, the overlay of one paint on another sometimes creates the impression of volume, a feeling of the texture of the skin of an animal. For all its vital expressiveness and realistic generality, Paleolithic art remains intuitive and spontaneous. It consists of individual specific images, there is no background, there is no composition in the modern sense of the word.

Primitive artists became the founders of all types of fine arts: graphics (drawings and silhouettes), painting (images in color, made with mineral paints), sculpture (figures carved from stone or sculpted from clay). They also excelled in decorative arts - stone and bone carving, reliefs.

A special area of ​​primitive art - ornament. It was used very widely already in the Paleolithic. Back in the 19th century. At the Mezinsky Paleolithic site (Ukraine), bone products with skillfully applied geometric patterns were found along with stone and bone tools, needles with an eye, jewelry, remains of dwellings and other finds. Geometric pattern covered with bracelets, all kinds of figures carved from mammoth ivory. Geometric ornament is the main element of Mezin art. This design consists mainly of many zigzag lines. IN last years Such a strange zigzag pattern was also found at other Paleolithic sites in Eastern and Central Europe.

Neolithic: 1 female clay figurines; 2 - harpoon made of horn;

3 - pottery with dimpled patterns
What does this abstract pattern mean and how did it come about? There have been many attempts to resolve this issue. The geometric style did not really correspond to the brilliant realism of the drawings of cave art. Having studied the cut structure of mammoth tusks using magnifying instruments, the researchers noticed that they also consist of zigzag patterns, very similar to the zigzag ornamental motifs of Mezin products. Thus, the basis of the Mezin geometric ornament was a pattern drawn by nature itself. But ancient artists not only copied nature, they introduced new combinations and elements into the original ornament.

Stone Age vessels found at sites in the Urals had rich ornamentation. Most often, the drawings were extruded with special stamps. They were usually made from round, carefully polished flat pebbles of yellowish or greenish stone with sparkles. Slots were made along their sharp edges. Stamps were also made from bone, wood, and shells. If you press such a stamp onto wet clay, you get a pattern similar to a comb imprint. The impression of such a stamp is often called comb, or jagged.

In all the above cases, the original subject for the ornament is determined relatively easily. But, as a rule, it is almost impossible to guess it. French archaeologist A. Breuil traced the stages of schematization of the image of a roe deer in the late Paleolithic art of Western Europe - from the silhouette of an animal with horns to some kind of flower.

Primitive artists also created works of art of small forms, primarily small figurines. The earliest of them, carved from mammoth ivory, marl and chalk, date back to the Paleolithic.

In Russia, Paleolithic sculptures have been discovered in the center of the Russian Plain and in the Angara basin. In Siberia and the Urals, small plastic arts flourished in the Iron Age. It is found during excavations at Paleolithic sites.

Some researchers of Upper Paleolithic art believe that ancient monuments arts, for the purposes they served, were not only art, they had religious and magical significance, they oriented man in nature.

Culture in the Mesolithic and Neolithic eras
Later stages of the development of primitive culture date back to the Mesolithic, Neolithic and the time of the spread of the first metal tools. From the appropriation of finished products of nature primitive gradually moves to more complex forms of labor, along with hunting and fishing, begins to engage in agriculture and cattle breeding. In the new Stone Age, the first artificial material invented by man appeared - fire-clay. Previously, people used for their needs what nature provided - stone, wood, bone. Farmers were much less likely than hunters to depict animals, but they enthusiastically decorated the surface of clay vessels.

In the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, ornament experienced a real heyday, and images appeared that convey more complex and abstract concepts. Many types of decorative and applied arts were formed - ceramics, metal working. Bows, arrows, and pottery appeared. The first metal products appeared on the territory of our country about 9 thousand years ago. They were forged - casting appeared much later. In the Urals, about 5 thousand years ago, awls, knives, hooks were already made from copper, and about 4 thousand years ago, the first artistic castings were made. For example, on the handles of knives from the Turbinsky burial ground on the Kama, figurines of rams were cast, and so skillfully that experts could easily determine the breed of the animals.

Culturology. Markova A.N. and etc.

4th ed., revised. and additional - M.: 2008 - 400 p.

The first edition of this book (1995) was one of the first textbooks on the new discipline, created in accordance with the first generation of state educational standards for higher professional education. In 1998, its second edition was published, and in 2000, the third. All publications were popular and in constant demand among Russian students. In 2004, the textbook was translated into Chinese and published in China. The new (fourth) edition provides a brief chronological overview of the history of world culture from primitiveness to the present day (the eras of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, Modern Times and Modern Times), covering the countries of Europe, the Ancient East, Russia and the USA (the modern period). The chronological overview is complemented by a country approach - the development of the culture of leading countries is outlined in each era. The culture of the leading countries of the Ancient World, the Middle Ages, New and Contemporary times is considered. The set of analyzed most important types of art, their styles and genres was predetermined at each stage by the level of development and historical and economic characteristics of specific countries. The analysis of cultural development by era and country is preceded by an introductory chapter containing the main methodological provisions of the subject of cultural studies (the essence of culture, its components, functions). The authors of the textbook see their task primarily in introducing Russian youth, students, and schoolchildren to the great works of great writers, sculptors, artists, architects, philosophers and scientists who were ahead of their time. For university students, schoolchildren, lyceums and colleges, as well as a wide range of readers.

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Table of contents
To the reader 3
Introductory Chapter 5
Chapter 1. Culture of the primitive era 13
1.1. Periodization of the primitive era 23 1.2. Art and beliefs of the primitive era 24
Chapter 2. Culture of the Ancient East. Formation of the first civilizations 31
2.1. The culture of Ancient Egypt - the desire for immortality 24 2.2. Culture of Ancient Mesopotamia - great achievements and discoveries 31 2.3. The culture of Ancient India - the greatest achievements and mysteries 40 2.4. The culture of Ancient China - originality in everything 48
Chapter 3. Culture of Ancient Greece - the creation of enduring, universal values ​​57
3.1. Creto-Mycenaean culture 58 3.2. Culture of the Homeric and Archaic periods 60 3.3. Culture in the classical period 67 3.4. Culture in the era of the crisis of the polis 72 3.5. Hellenistic culture 75
Chapter 4. The culture of Ancient Rome - a special system of values ​​81
4.1. Culture of Etruscan civilization 82 4.2. The culture of Rome during the Royal period 84 4.3. Culture of Rome during the Republic 85 4.4. Culture of Rome during the Empire 91
Chapter 5. Culture of the ancient Slavs and Ancient Rus' 97
5.1. Culture of the ancient Slavs 98 5.2. Culture of Kievan Rus 105 5.3. Culture of Russian principalities of the XII-XIII centuries. 115
Chapter 6. Culture of Russia XIV-XVII centuries. Formation of all-Russian culture 121
6.1. Russian culture of the 14th - first half of the 15th century. 122 6.2. Culture at the end of the XV-XVI centuries. 125 6.3. Culture of Russia in the 17th century. 129
Chapter 7. Culture of medieval Europe. Christian consciousness and the emergence of urban culture 137
7.1. Christianity and the Church 138 7.2. Education and literature in medieval Europe 141 7.3. Urban culture and architectural canons of the Middle Ages 146
Chapter 8. Humanistic culture of the Renaissance 151
8.1. Humanism of the Renaissance 152 8.2. Humanistic culture of the Italian Renaissance 153 8.3. Northern Renaissance 159 8.4. Renaissance in Spain and France 165
Chapter 9. European culture of the 17th century. Classicism and Baroque 169
9.1. The 17th century is a turning point in the development of human society 170 9.2. The main artistic styles are baroque and classicism 170 9.3. Artistic culture of France 172 9.4. Artistic culture of Italy 176 9.5. Artistic culture of Spain 178 9.6. Dutch culture 180 9.7. Culture of England and Germany 184
Chapter 10. Culture of the Enlightenment. Rational man 187
10.1. XVIII century - century of Enlightenment 188 10.2. Enlightenment as a current of social thought 190 10.3. Artistic movements of the Enlightenment 195 10.4. Literature and music of the Enlightenment 196 10.5. Art. Education 200 10.6. "The Golden Age of Theatre". Playwrights of the Enlightenment 203 10.7. Crisis of the Enlightenment 205
Chapter 11. Russian culture of the 18th century. - a fusion of national identity and Europeanism 207
11.1. Education system 208 11.2. Russian social thought and literature 211 11.3. The heyday of Russian architecture - Russian Baroque and Russian classicism 214 11.4. Genres and styles of fine art 216 11.5. Theater and musical life 220 11.6. Life and customs 222
Chapter 12. European culture of the 19th century. Basic Art Styles 225
12.1. Socio-historical features of the era 226 12.2. Classicism in the artistic culture of the 19th century. 227 12.3. Romanticism in artistic culture
XIX century 230 VIA. Realism in the artistic culture of the 19th century. 237 12.5. Naturalism and symbolism in the artistic culture of the 19th century. 243 12.6. Impressionism
and post-impressionism in fine art and music 245
Chapter 13. Culture of Russia XIX - early XX centuries. - golden and silver age 249
13.1. Main factors and trends in cultural development 250 13.2. Folklore and literature 252 13.3. Russian musical art of the 19th century. 258 13.4. The flourishing of theatrical art 262 13.5. Architecture and sculpture 264 13.6. Russian painting of the 19th century. 267 13.7. Silver Age of Russian Culture 272
Chapter 14. Science and culture 277
14.1. Functions of science and the scientific picture of the world. Science and culture 278 14.2. The development of science in the Ancient World and the Middle Ages 281 14.3. Scientific revolutions 283 14.4. Scientific and technical achievements of Russia 293
Chapter 15. Culture and religion 299
15.1. On the relationship between culture and religion. Origins of religion 300 15.2. World religions 302 15.3. Religious monuments 304
Chapter 16. Culture of Western Europe of the XX and XXI centuries 317
16.1. Basic cultural concepts 318 16.2. Western philosophy
XX century 327 16.3. European literature of the 20th century. 332 16.4. New directions in Western European art of the 20th century. 335 16.5. European musical culture of the 20th century. 341 16.6. Architecture and cinema of the 20th century. 344
Chapter 17. Culture of the USSR and Russia of the post-Soviet period 349
17.1. Soviet culture of the first decade 350 17.2. Cultural construction in the 30s. Socialist realism 355 17.3. Soviet culture during the Great Patriotic War 359 17 A. Soviet culture in the 40s - 60s 362 17.5. Cultural life in the 60s - 80s 366 17.6. Domestic culture at the end of the 20th - beginning of the 21st century. 368
Chapter 18. Artistic culture of the USA in the 20th - early 21st centuries 377
18.1. Features of American culture 378 18.2. Tradition and modernity in US literature 380 18.3. US Fine Arts and Architecture 383 18.4. Musical culture of the USA 387 18.5. Theater and Cinema USA 393
Recommended reading 398

In higher education in Russia, students of all universities and specialties study such a general educational humanitarian discipline as “Cultural Studies”. This subject was introduced into curricula as compulsory in the early 90s of the last century. During this time, extensive educational literature on cultural studies, history and cultural theory was published. There are many different good and worthy textbooks. But the textbook offered to you occupies a special place among them. Its first edition (1995) was one of the first textbooks on the new discipline, created in accordance with the first generation of state educational standards for higher professional education. In 1998, its second edition was published, and in 2000, the third. All publications were popular and in constant demand among Russian students. In 2004, the textbook was translated into Chinese and published in China. All these years the book has been popular and in constant demand among Russian students.
The new (fourth) edition provides a brief chronological overview of the history of world culture from primitiveness to the present day (the eras of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, Modern Times and Modern Times), covering the countries of Europe, the Ancient East, Russia and the USA (the modern period). The chronological overview is complemented by a country approach - the development of the culture of leading countries is outlined in each era.
The course in cultural studies gives an understanding that any material, practical, scientific and other human activity outside culture is impossible, just as human life itself is impossible without culture.
A person cannot be considered cultured if he does not know the authors of “The Sistine Madonna”, “The Last Supper”, does not know Bach, who wrote the oratorio “St. Matthew Passion”, masses, chorales, listening to which a person detaches himself from the trifles of everyday life and is elevated in soul, does not know Andrei Rublev, who painted the “Trinity” icon, distinguished by deep humanity and sublime spirituality, does not know Alexander Ivanov, who created the monumental canvas “The Appearance of Christ to the People,” the main idea of ​​which is hope for the spiritual revival of humanity.