The concept of culture, social science. Culture and spiritual life of society

In sociology, culture is viewed as a complex formation that can be structured on a variety of grounds. It seems essential to classify culture by origin (genesis), nature and level of development, which makes it possible to distinguish its three forms: elite, folk and mass.

Elite or high culture includes classical music, fine literature and poetry, fine arts, etc. It is created by talented writers, poets, composers, painters and is aimed at a select circle of art connoisseurs and connoisseurs. This circle may include not only “professionals” (writers, critics, art critics, etc.), but also those who highly value art and receive aesthetic pleasure from communicating with it. As the level of education of the population increases, the circle of consumers of high culture expands.

Folk culture arises to a certain extent spontaneously and most often does not have specific authors. It includes a wide variety of elements: myths, legends, epics, songs, dances, proverbs, ditties, crafts and much more - everything that is commonly called folklore. Two characteristic features of folklore can be distinguished: it is localized, i.e. connected with the traditions of a particular area, and democratic, since everyone takes part in its creation. Folk culture can be distinguished by a high artistic level.

Mass culture arises in the 20th century. in the context of the commercialization of art and the development of new technologies of mass communication. The products of mass culture are distributed among all segments of society and are aimed at satisfying the immediate needs of people. The main function of mass culture is compensatory and entertaining, which is complemented by a socially adaptive function, implemented in an abstract, superficial form. Typical examples of mass culture include musical hits, endless television series, standard action movies, horror films, etc.

Nowadays, popular culture is increasingly becoming special kind business. It is modified taking into account the specific characteristics of various social groups, becomes more technically advanced, inventive in ways of influencing mass public. Thus, today the mechanism of status consumption is increasingly used, when the acquisition of a particular thing is dictated primarily by considerations of prestige.

Along with the noted forms of culture, sociologists identify a number of its varieties according to individual social groups. In this regard, the concepts of “dominant culture”, “subculture” and “counterculture” are used.

Dominant culture- is a set of beliefs, values, norms, and rules of behavior that are accepted and shared by the majority of members of society. This concept reflects the system of norms and values ​​that are vital for society and form it cultural basis. Without such a generally accepted system cultural norms and values, no society can function normally.

However, there are many groups in society, each of which may have its own special system of values ​​and norms

behavior depending on age, occupation, profession, nationality, geographic environment, etc. Cultural specificity These groups are expressed by the concept of “subculture,” with the help of which sociologists identify local cultural complexes that arise within the framework of the culture of the entire society.

Subculture- this is a special system cultural values and norms inherent in a particular social group and differing to one degree or another from the dominant culture. Any subculture presupposes its own rules and patterns of behavior, its own style of clothing, and its own manner of communication. This is a peculiar fellow cultural world, which reflects the lifestyle characteristics of different communities of people.

There are many subcultures: age, professional, territorial, national, religious, etc.

Currently, Russian sociologists pay especially great attention to the study of youth subculture. As the results of specific sociological studies show, the subcultural activity of young people depends on a number of factors:

level of education (for people with lower level of education, for example, vocational school students, it is noticeably higher than that of university students);

on age (peak activity is 16-17 years old, by 21-22 years it decreases significantly);

place of residence (typical in to a greater extent for the city than for the village).

Due to a number of social, political or economic reasons, a subculture can transform into a counter culture. Under counterculture refers to a subculture that not only differs from the dominant culture, but is in a state of open conflict in relation to it. The author of this term is the American sociologist T. Roszak, who used it to characterize youth protest movements in Western countries in the late 60s. XX century

Depending on the forms of the economic structure, as well as the means of implementation, fixation and dissemination of values, norms, patterns of behavior: preliterate written

Depending on the characteristics of the spheres of society and types of activity: economic, political, professional, artistic, urban, rural, etc.

Thus, if with the help of a subculture an individual can in different ways perceive and realize the basic values ​​of society, then counterculture means the rejection of these values ​​and the search for alternative forms of life.

Culture is the most important element, defining the sphere of spiritual life. Despite the fact that we are already familiar with this concept, we have to delve even deeper into its meaning. Let's try to answer the question: “Where does culture begin?”

On the surface lies the idea that one must look for it where nature ends and man begins - a thinking and creative being. For example, ants, while erecting complex structures, do not create a culture. For millions of years they have been reproducing the same program inherent in them by nature. Man, in his activity, constantly creates new things, transforming both himself and nature. Having already cut a stone and tied it to a stick, he created something new, namely an object of culture, that is, something that did not exist in nature before. Thus, it becomes clear that the basis of culture is the transformative, creative activity of man in relation to nature.

The term “culture” itself was originally Latin meant “cultivation, cultivation of the soil,” i.e. even then it implied changes in nature under the influence of man. In a value close to modern understanding, this word was first used in the 1st century. BC e. Roman philosopher and orator Cicero. But only in the 17th century. it began to be widely used in independent meaning, meaning everything that is invented by man. Since then, thousands of definitions of culture have been given, but there is still no single and generally accepted one and, most likely, there never will be. In the very general view it can be represented as follows: culture is all types of transformative activities of man and society, as well as all its results. It is the historical totality of the industrial, social and spiritual achievements of mankind.

From another, narrower point of view, culture can be represented as special area life of society, where the spiritual efforts of humanity, achievements of reason, manifestations of feelings and creative activity. In this form, understanding culture is very close to defining the spiritual sphere of society. Often these concepts easily replace each other and are studied as a whole.

The science of culturology is primarily concerned with the study of culture. But at the same time, various phenomena and aspects cultural life are the subject of study of many other sciences - history and sociology, ethnography and linguistics, archeology and aesthetics, ethics and art history, etc.

Culture is a complex, multifaceted and dynamic phenomenon. The development of culture is a two-pronged process. It requires, on the one hand, summation, accumulation of experience and cultural values previous generations, i.e., creating traditions, and on the other hand, overcoming these same traditions by increasing cultural wealth, i.e. innovation. Traditions are a stable element of culture; they accumulate and preserve cultural values ​​created by humanity. Innovation imparts dynamics and pushes cultural processes towards development.

Human society, through the creative efforts of its best representatives, constantly creates new models that take root in people's lives, becoming traditions, the key to the integrity of human culture. But culture cannot stop. As soon as it freezes, the process of its degradation and degeneration begins. Traditions become stereotypes and patterns, thoughtlessly reproduced for the simple reason that “it has always been this way.” Such cultural development invariably leads to a dead end. Complete denial of all previous achievements also turns out to be unpromising. The desire to destroy everything to the ground and then build something new ends, as a rule, in a senseless pogrom, after which with great difficulty we have to restore the remains of what was destroyed. Innovation gives positive result only when it takes into account all previous achievements and builds a new one on their basis. But this process is far from painless. Just remember the French impressionist artists. How much they had to listen to ridicule and abuse, censure from the official art criticism and bullying! However, time passed, and their paintings entered the treasury of world culture, became role models, that is, they joined the cultural tradition.

Social science. Full course preparation for the Unified State Exam Shemakhanova Irina Albertovna

1.10. The concept of culture. Forms and varieties of culture

Approaches to understanding culture

1. Technological: culture is the totality of all achievements in the development of the material and spiritual life of society.

2. Active: culture is creative activity carried out in the spheres of material and spiritual life of society.

3. Value: culture – practical implementation universal human values ​​in the affairs and relationships of people.

4. Historical: culture is a product of history, which represents the inheritance of social experience and its transmission from generation to generation.

5. Normative: culture – values ​​and norms of human existence. Types of values: 1) material (pleasant, useful, suitable); 2) logical (true); 3) ethical (good); 4) aesthetic (beauty).

6. Activity (anthropological): culture is all types of transformative activity of man and society, as well as all its results (second nature). Secondary (second) nature is a set of material conditions created by man in the process of his adaptation to natural conditions. Artifact of culture– an artificially created object that has a sign or symbolic content: 1) objects, things, tools, clothing, household utensils, housing, roads created by people; 2) phenomena of the spiritual life of society: scientific theories, superstitions, works of art and folklore.

7. Semiotic: culture is a system of signs and symbols used in a given society. Semiotics (from the Greek semeion - sign, attribute) is a science that studies methods of transmitting information, the properties of signs and sign systems in human society (mainly natural and artificial languages, as well as some cultural phenomena - systems of myth, ritual), in nature ( communication in the animal world) or in man himself (visual and auditory perception, etc.).

8. Sociological: culture is an organizing factor public life.

Culture – 1) in in a broad sense words are a historically conditioned dynamic complex of forms, principles, methods and results of active creative activity of people; 2) in in the narrow sense– a process of active creative activity, during which spiritual values ​​are created, distributed and consumed. Components of human culture: environmental, economic, legal, aesthetic, moral, educational, political, Physical Culture, culture of life, culture of speech and communication.

The main spheres of existence and development of culture

– Material culture– the material environment of a person, consisting of objects that serve to satisfy vital needs, is associated with the production and development of objects and phenomena of the material world, with changes in the physical nature of a person (material and technical means of labor, communication, cultural and social facilities, production experience, skills, abilities people, etc.).

– Spiritual culture– a set of spiritual values ​​and creative activities for their production, development and application: science, art, religion, morality, politics, law, etc.

– Social culture – forms of organization of joint life characteristic of a particular culture.

The division of culture into material and spiritual is very arbitrary. It is very difficult to draw a line between them, because they simply do not exist in a “pure” form: spiritual culture can also be embodied in material media (books, paintings, tools, etc.).

Basic functions of culture

1) educational– this is the formation of a holistic idea of ​​a people, country, era;

2) evaluative– implementation of differentiation of values, enrichment of traditions;

3) regulatory (normative)– formation of a system of norms and requirements of society for all individuals in all areas of life and activity (standards of morality, law, behavior);

4) informative– transfer and exchange of knowledge, values ​​and experience of previous generations;

5) communicative– preservation, transfer and replication of cultural values; development and improvement of personality through communication;

6) socialization– the individual’s assimilation of a system of knowledge, norms, values, accustoming to social roles, normative behavior, and the desire for self-improvement.

The structure of the spiritual life of society

– spiritual needs represent the objective need of people and society as a whole to create and master spiritual values;

– spiritual activity(spiritual production) – production of consciousness in a special public form carried out by specialized groups of people professionally engaged in qualified mental work;

– spiritual benefits(values): ideas, theories, images and spiritual values;

– spiritual social connections individuals.

Forms and varieties of culture

1. in connection with religion: religious and secular;

2. on a regional basis: culture of the East and West;

3. by nationality: Russian, French, etc.;

4. according to affiliation historical type societies: culture of traditional, industrial, post-industrial society;

5. in connection with the territory: rural and urban culture;

6. by sphere of society or type of activity: industrial culture, political, economic, pedagogical, environmental, artistic, etc.;

7. by level of skill and type of audience: elite (high), popular, mass.

1) Folk culture– the most stable part of national culture, a source of development and a repository of traditions. Culture created by the people and existing in the masses. Folk culture is usually anonymous. Folk culture can be divided into popular and folklore. Popular culture describes the current way of life, morals, customs, songs, dances of the people, and folklore describes its past.

2) Elite culture is created with a view to a narrow circle of consumers prepared to perceive works that are complex in form and content ( literature: Joyce, Kafka; painting: Chagall, Picasso; cinema: Kurosawa, Tarkovsky; music: Schnittke, Gubaidullina). Signs elite culture: A) high level(complexity of content); b) obtaining commercial benefits is not an essential goal; c) the audience’s preparedness for perception; d) a narrow circle of creators and audiences; 5) determines the development of the entire culture.

3) Mass culture(pop culture) has the following characteristics: a) general availability; b) entertaining (addressing such aspects of life and emotions that arouse constant interest and are understandable to most people); c) seriality, replication; d) passivity of perception; 5) commercial in nature.

4) "Screen culture» is based on the synthesis of a computer with video equipment. Personal contacts and reading books fade into the background.

The development of culture is a two-pronged process: a) summation, accumulation of experience and cultural values ​​of previous generations, i.e. the creation of traditions; b) overcoming these same traditions by increasing cultural wealth, i.e. innovation.

Tradition– elements of social and cultural heritage transmitted from generation to generation and preserved in certain societies and social groups for a long time. Ways of accumulation of cultural values: a) vertically (continuity, transfer from one generation to another of elements, parts of previous theories); b) horizontally (not individual elements, actual ideas, parts of the theory are inherited, but a complete work of art).

Cultural accumulation– accumulation of cultural potential and heritage.

Diversity of cultures

Subculture- Part general culture, a system of values ​​inherent in a large social group (youth, women’s, professional, criminal). Components: knowledge, values, style and lifestyle, social institutions as a system of norms, skills, abilities, methods of implementation, methods; social roles and statuses; needs and inclinations. youth subculture– a culture of conspicuous consumption, most often developing on the basis of styles in clothing and music.

Counterculture- a subculture that is not just different from dominant culture, but opposes, is in conflict with it (underground), seeks to displace it; value system of asocial groups (“new left”, hippies, beatniks, yuppies, etc.). Within the framework of the elite culture there is its own “counterculture” - the avant-garde.

Hierarchy of world culture

* Eurocentrism– various concepts trying to present Europe as the spiritual center of the planet and a role model in solving economic, environmental, political, social, national, ethical, creative, religious, demographic and other universal problems.

* Americacentrism- the concept that America is the spiritual center of humanity.

* Oriental-centrism (pan-Islamism, pan-Mongolism)– a worldview (view), according to which the East is the center of world culture and civilization.

* Afrocentrism– the concept according to which Africa is the spiritual center of humanity.

* Negritude- a concept that affirms the idea of ​​a special independent spiritual, cultural and political development African peoples.

Interaction of cultures

Dialogue of cultures– continuity, interpenetration and interaction different cultures of all times and all peoples, enrichment and development on this basis national cultures and universal human culture; same as acculturation.

Acculturation– 1) in a narrow sense: processes of mutual influence of cultures, as a result of which the culture of one people fully or partially perceives the culture of another people, usually more developed; 2) in a broad sense: the process of interaction of cultures, cultural synthesis.

Cultural contact– a precondition for intercultural interaction, presupposing stable contact in the social space of two or more cultures.

Cultural diffusion– mutual penetration (borrowing) cultural traits and complexes from one society to another when they come into contact (cultural contact). Channels of cultural diffusion: migration, tourism, missionary activities, trade, war, scientific conferences, trade exhibitions and fairs, exchange of students and specialists, etc.

Globalization of culture– acceleration of the integration of nations into the world system in connection with the development of modern Vehicle And economic ties, the formation of transnational corporations and the world market, thanks to the impact on people of means mass media. Globalization of culture has positive benefits (communication, expansion of cultural contacts in modern world) and negative aspects.

N. Danilevsky about the interaction of cultures: 1) colonization (the Phoenicians transferred their culture to Carthage); 2) “grafting a cutting onto a foreign tree” (Hellenistic culture of Alexandria inside Egyptian culture); 3) mutual equal dialogue (exchange of values).

Culture shock– the initial reaction of an individual, group or mass consciousness to meet a different cultural reality.

Ways to overcome culture shock: 1) Colonization: aggressive demonstration and propaganda of one’s own cultural guidelines and behavior patterns, radical rejection of the traditional values ​​of the “local” culture and their displacement to the periphery of the cultural space. 2) Ghetto(t)ization: the creation of compact places of residence of “alien” (emigrants, refugees, guest workers) or “local” (US Indians) carriers of a different culture, where they have the opportunity to preserve and maintain their cultural microenvironment in within strict limits local closed spaces (ghettos). 3) Assimilation: an extreme form of cultural conformism, a conscious rejection of one’s own cultural identity in favor of complete adaptation to the “alien” culture. The last “bastion” in the fight against foreign culture is language, with the loss of which the assimilated culture also dies. 4) Diffusion: combining elements of “one’s own” and “foreign” cultures.

Tolerance– tolerance for other people’s opinions, beliefs, behavior. Forms of tolerance: a) personal (social interactions of individuals); b) social (social psychology, consciousness, moral norms and mores); c) government (legislation, political practice).