Adaptive function of culture. Open Library - open library of educational information

Each person, like each generation, comes into the world at a certain level of cultural development. To live in this world, a person needs all the cultural gains achieved by society. They adapt a person to the world, adapt him to reality, helping him to carry out his life activities. Culture offers everyone a system of actions that connects with the surrounding reality, ways and means of solving the problems that confront them. Society as a whole, in the face of any cataclysms (ecological crisis, destructive war, epidemic, etc.) draws from culture the strength, methods and forms of its revival and further development. For example, at the beginning of the Middle Ages - in V-VI centuries, which are called “dark”, - the destructive power of barbarian tribes destroyed almost all achievements ancient world, cities lay in ruins, many crafts were lost, and what the barbarians did not have time to do was completed by epidemics. Europe returned to the wooden plow and other primitive tools, and wooden construction resumed again. But the cultural memory of humanity has made it possible to restore, develop and improve life European peoples. Already during the reign Charlemagne(742-814), who did not disdain to learn to read and write at the age of 40 and gathered many Eastern scientists and artists at his court, managed to revive many of the achievements of European culture.

2. Cognitive function

Every thing created by people represents objectified knowledge. In order to correctly use a thing, you must first disseminate this knowledge and make it your own (master). Thus, any human activity becomes a source of knowledge. In addition, in society there are forms of preserving knowledge; morality preserves knowledge about human relations; art and religion attempt - each in its own form - to provide systematic knowledge about the world; and, finally, science examines the essential aspects and connections of the world. Culture allows one to successfully master these forms of knowledge in any field of activity.

3. Communication function

Usually the term communication(lat. communicatio<communico“I make it common, I connect, I communicate”) is understood as communication. The fact is that communication “involves direct contact of one person with another,” “an element of personal relationships, a live exchange of something (for example, information, activities).” This form of relations in society is a special case of communication. But there are other levels of such relationships - communication between generations, peoples, eras in time and space. It is culture that makes such communication possible and productive. Culture retains forms and methods of communication and transmission of information, offers certain traditions, accumulated experience, standards, ideals, and more. We can say that culture is communicative in contrast to lack of culture, for which interaction with the world is expressed in a destructive or hostile form, in one conflict or another, and is therefore impossible or difficult.

Culture not only accumulates and stores information (this is primarily the prerogative of cultural heritage). Thanks to culture, current information constantly circulates in society, transferring experience and knowledge. Culture shapes the conditions and means of human communication. In principle, any artifact conveys information. But in culture there are special means of communication - sign systems and, first of all, language. Culture is a field of human communication; it connects and unites people. The development of forms and methods of communication is the most important factor in the cultural history of mankind. Over the course of history, the power and range of communications has grown: from primitive signal drums to satellite television. Writing has been replaced by mass media (MSC), radio and television. In the near future - the development of computer networks covering the whole world and making instant contact with any source of information available. The development of a culture of communication promotes mutual understanding and empathy.

Integrative function.

Thanks to communication and the presence of universal human values, culture unites individuals, social groups, nations and states. People develop a sense of belonging to the cultural community to which they belong. Preservation of cultural heritage, national traditions, historical memory creates a connection between generations. The unity of culture is an important condition for the strength of the state. The unifying role of technology, science and art is high.

As history progresses, contacts between cultures grow, their interaction and interpenetration grows. The World Wide Web weaves different cultures into one whole. The integrative function of culture is not aimed at erasing cultural differences, but at uniting people both within one culture and beyond, at realizing the unity of all humanity.

Adaptive function of culture.

The information and communication capabilities of culture allow it to ensure human adaptation to the environment. But unlike animals, man simultaneously adapts the environment to himself and changes it in accordance with his needs. Human biological unadaptability turned into the ability to master any natural conditions, create a variety of “protective” cultural layers (clothing, housing, weapons, etc.). Different peoples living in different conditions have historically established methods of adaptation to the natural environment in their culture. They constitute the rational basis for many national traditions (for example, in methods of treatment, housing construction, etc.), a lot of things, means and ways are invented to ensure safety and comfort, to fill life with pleasures and entertainment. Life expectancy and population growth are increasing.

To survive, humanity must improve its own nature, its spiritual essence, reducing its dependence on the forces of nature.

Socialization function.

Socialization refers to the inclusion of individuals in public life, their assimilation of social experience, knowledge, values, and norms of behavior appropriate to a given society, social group, and social role.

The process of socialization allows an individual to become a full-fledged member of society. This process is also useful for society and the preservation of the forms of life that have developed in it. Culture determines the content, means and methods of socialization. Socialization begins in childhood. The family also plays a huge role here, the example of parents, peers, teachers, etc. In later life, an important role is played by: school, other educational institutions, the media, work collectives, and informal groups. Self-education is also important .

Socialization has its own uniqueness in various historical and national cultural contexts (Russian, American, Indian, etc.). Not only forms of activity, but also forms of rest, entertainment, mental relaxation (recreational and compensatory) depend on this context. functions of culture): holidays, games, sports, mass art, various “hobbies”. All these forms are regulated by cultural norms and have a ritual character.

In addition to those mentioned, the literature also notes other functions of culture of a more private nature: ensuring the integrity of the social system, ensuring the transition from one social system to another, resolving contradictions between society and nature, harmonizing relations between them, continuity of generations, the function of self-expression, self-affirmation and self-development of the individual and etc.

From all of the above, it becomes obvious that culture plays an important role in life, which consists primarily in the fact that culture acts as a means of accumulation, storage and transmission of human experience.

This role of culture is realized through a number of functions:

Educational function. We can say what exactly culture does. An individual becomes a member of society, a personality, as he socializes, i.e., masters knowledge, language, symbols, values, norms, customs, traditions of his people, his own and all humanity. The level of a person’s culture is determined by his socialization - familiarization with the cultural heritage, as well as the degree of development of individual abilities. Personal culture is usually associated with developed creative abilities, erudition, understanding of works, fluency in native and foreign languages, accuracy, politeness, self-control, high morality, etc. All this is achieved in the process and.

Integrative and disintegrative functions of culture. E. Durkheim paid special attention to these functions in his research. According to E. Durkheim, the development of culture creates in people - members of a particular community a sense of community, belonging to one nation, people, religion, group, etc. Thus, culture unites people, integrates them, and ensures the integrity of the community. But while uniting some on the basis of some subculture, it contrasts them with others, separating wider communities and communities. Cultural conflicts may arise within these broader communities and communities. Thus, culture can and often does perform a disintegrating function.

Regulatory function of culture. As noted earlier, during socialization, values, ideals, norms and patterns of behavior become part of the individual’s self-awareness. They shape and regulate her behavior. We can say that culture as a whole determines the framework within which a person can and should act. Culture regulates human behavior at school, at work, at home, etc., putting forward a system of regulations and prohibitions. Violation of these regulations and prohibitions triggers certain sanctions that are established by the community and supported by the power of public opinion and various forms of institutional coercion.

The function of broadcasting (transferring) social experience often called the function of historical continuity, or information. Culture, which is a complex sign system, transmits social experience from generation to generation, from era to era. Apart from culture, society does not have other mechanisms for concentrating the entire wealth of experience that has been accumulated by people. Therefore, it is no coincidence that culture is considered the social memory of humanity.

Cognitive (epistemological) function is closely related to the function of transmitting social experience and, in a certain sense, follows from it. Culture, concentrating the best social experience of many generations of people, acquires the ability to accumulate the richest knowledge about the world and thereby create favorable opportunities for its knowledge and development. It can be argued that a society is intellectual to the extent that it fully utilizes the wealth of knowledge contained in the cultural gene pool of humanity. All types of society that live on Earth today differ significantly primarily in this regard.

Regulatory (normative) function is primarily associated 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 people’s behavior and regulates their actions and even the choice of certain material and spiritual values. The regulatory function of culture is supported by such normative systems as morality and law.

Sign function is the most important in the cultural system. Representing a certain sign system, 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 acts as the most important means of mastering national culture. Specific languages are needed to understand the world of music, painting, and theater. They also have their own sign systems.

Value-based or axiological, the function reflects the most important qualitative state of culture. Culture as a certain value system forms very specific value needs and orientations in a person. 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.

Social functions of culture

Social features, which culture performs, allow people to carry out collective activities, optimally satisfying their needs. The main functions of culture include:

social integration - ensuring the unity of humanity, a common worldview (with the help of myth, religion, philosophy);
organization and regulation of the joint life activities of people through law, politics, morality, customs, ideology, etc.;
providing people with the means to live (such as cognition, communication, accumulation and transfer of knowledge, upbringing, education, stimulation of innovation, selection of values, etc.);
regulation of certain spheres of human activity (culture of life, culture of recreation, culture of work, culture of nutrition, etc.).

Thus, the cultural system is not only complex and diverse, but also very mobile. Culture is an integral part of the life of both society as a whole and its closely interconnected subjects: individuals, individuals.

Adaptive function

The complex and multi-level structure of culture determines the diversity of its functions in the life of a person and society. But there is no complete unanimity among culturologists regarding the number of functions of culture. Nevertheless, all authors agree with the idea of multifunctionality of culture, with the fact that each of its components can perform different functions.

Adaptive function is the most important function of culture, ensuring human adaptation to the environment. It is known that the adaptation of living organisms to their habitat is a necessary condition for their survival in the process of evolution. Their adaptation occurs due to the work of the mechanisms of natural selection, heredity and variability, which ensure the survival of individuals best adapted to the environment, the preservation and transmission of useful characteristics to subsequent generations. But what happens is completely different: a person does not adapt to his environment, to environmental changes, like other living organisms, but changes his environment in accordance with his needs, remaking it for himself.

When the environment is transformed, a new, artificial world is created - culture. In other words, a person cannot lead a natural lifestyle like animals, and in order to survive, he creates an artificial habitat around himself, protecting himself from unfavorable environmental conditions. Man gradually becomes independent of natural conditions: if other living organisms can live only in a certain ecological niche, then man is able to master any natural conditions at the cost of forming an artificial world of culture.

Of course, a person cannot achieve complete independence from the environment, since the form of culture is largely determined by natural conditions. The type of economy, housing, traditions and customs, beliefs, rites and rituals of peoples depend on natural and climatic conditions. So. the culture of mountain peoples differs from the culture of peoples leading a nomadic lifestyle or engaged in maritime fishing, etc. Southern peoples use a lot of spices when preparing food to delay spoilage in hot climates.

As culture develops, humanity provides itself with increasing security and comfort. The quality of life is constantly improving. But having gotten rid of old fears and dangers, a person comes face to face with new problems that he creates for himself. For example, today there is no need to be afraid of the terrible diseases of the past - the plague or smallpox, but new diseases have appeared, such as AIDS, for which no cure has yet been found, and other deadly diseases created by man himself are waiting in military laboratories. Therefore, a person needs to protect himself not only from the natural environment, but also from the world of culture, artificially created by man himself.

The adaptive function has a dual nature. On the one hand, it manifests itself in the creation of specific means of human protection - the necessary means of protection for a person from the outside world. These are all cultural products that help a person survive and feel confident in the world: the use of fire, storing food and other necessary things, creating productive agriculture, medicine, etc. Moreover, these include not only objects of material culture, but also those specific means that a person develops to adapt to life in society, keeping him from mutual destruction and death - state structures, laws, customs, traditions, moral norms, etc. d.

On the other hand, there are non-specific means of human protection - culture as a whole, existing as a picture of the world. Understanding culture as a “second nature”, a world created by man, we emphasize the most important property of human activity and culture - the ability to “double the world”, highlighting sensory-objective and ideal-imaginative layers in it. By connecting culture with the ideal-shaped world, we obtain the most important property of culture - to be a picture of the world, a certain network of images and meanings through which the world around us is perceived. Culture as a picture of the world makes it possible to see the world not as a continuous flow of information, but as ordered and structured information. Any object or phenomenon of the external world is perceived through this symbolic grid, it has a place in this system of meanings, and it is often assessed as useful, harmful or indifferent to a person.

Sign function

Significant, significative function(naming) is associated with culture as a picture of the world. The formation of names and titles is very important for a person. If some object or phenomenon is not named, does not have a name, is not designated by a person, they do not exist for him. By giving a name to an object or phenomenon and assessing it as threatening, a person simultaneously receives the necessary information that allows him to act to avoid danger, since when labeling a threat, it is not just given a name, but it fits into the hierarchy of existence. Let's give an example. Each of us has been sick at least once in our lives (not with a mild cold, but with some fairly serious illness). In this case, a person experiences not only painful sensations, feelings of weakness and helplessness. Usually, in such a state, unpleasant thoughts come to mind, including about a possible death, and the symptoms of all the diseases that we have heard about are recalled. The situation is exactly according to J. Jerome, one of the heroes of whose novel “Three in a Boat, Not Counting a Dog,” while studying a medical reference book, found all the diseases in himself, except for puerperal fever. In other words, a person experiences fear because of the uncertainty of his future, because he feels a threat, but knows nothing about it. This significantly worsens the general condition of the patient. In such cases, a doctor is called, who usually makes a diagnosis and prescribes treatment. But relief occurs even before taking medication, since the doctor, having made a diagnosis, gave a name to the threat, thereby entering it into the picture of the world, which automatically provided information about possible means of combating it.

We can say that culture as an image and picture of the world is an orderly and balanced scheme of the cosmos, and is the prism through which a person looks at the world. It is expressed through philosophy, literature, mythology, ideology and in human actions. Most members of the ethnos are fragmentarily aware of its content; it is fully accessible only to a small number of cultural specialists. The basis of this picture of the world are ethnic constants - the values and norms of ethnic culture.

Cognitive function

Cognitive (epistemological) function manifests itself most fully in science and scientific knowledge. Culture concentrates the experience and skills of many generations of people, accumulates rich knowledge about the world and thereby creates favorable opportunities for its knowledge and development. Of course, knowledge is acquired not only in science, but also in other spheres of culture, but there it is a by-product of human activity, and in science, obtaining objective knowledge about the world is the most important goal.

Science for a long time remained a phenomenon only of European civilization and culture, while other peoples chose a different path to understanding the world around them. Thus, in the East, the most complex systems of philosophy and psychotechnics were created for this purpose. They seriously discussed such ways of understanding the world, unusual for rational European minds, as telepathy (transfer of thoughts at a distance), telekinesis (the ability to influence objects with thought), clairvoyance (the ability to predict the future), etc.

Accumulation function

Information accumulation and storage function is inextricably linked with the cognitive function, since knowledge and information are the result of understanding the world. The need for information on a variety of issues is a natural condition for the life of both an individual and society as a whole. A person must remember his past, be able to evaluate it correctly, admit his mistakes; must know who he is, where he comes from and where he is going. To answer these questions, people have created sign systems that collect, systematize and store the necessary information. At the same time, culture can be represented as a complex sign system that ensures historical continuity and the transfer of social experience from generation to generation, from era to era, from one country to another, as well as the synchronous transfer of information between people living at the same time. Various sign systems help a person not only understand the world, but also record this understanding and structure it. Humanity has only one way to preserve, increase and distribute accumulated knowledge in time and space - through culture.

The means of storing, accumulating and transmitting information are the natural memory of the individual, the collective memory of the people, enshrined in language and spiritual culture, symbolic and material means of storing information - books, works of art, any objects created by man, since they are also texts. Recently, electronic means of information storage have begun to play an increasingly important role. The society has also created special institutions to perform this cultural function - libraries, schools and universities, archives, and other services for collecting and processing information.

Communication function

Communicative function of culture ensures that people communicate with each other. A person cannot solve any complex problem without the help of other people. People enter into communication in the process of any type of work activity. Without communication with others like themselves, a person cannot become a full-fledged member of society and develop his abilities. A long separation from society leads an individual to mental and spiritual degradation, turning him into an animal. Culture is the condition and result of human communication. Only through the assimilation of culture do people become members of society. Culture provides people with a means of communication. In turn, by communicating, people create, preserve and develop culture.

Nature has not endowed man with the ability to establish emotional contacts, exchange information without the help of signs, sounds, writing, and for communication man has created various means of cultural communication. Information can be transmitted by verbal (verbal) methods, non-verbal (facial expressions, gestures, postures, communication distance, information transmitted through material objects, for example through clothing, especially uniforms) and paraverbal (rate of speech, intonation, volume, articulation, pitch of voice and so on.).

To communicate with other people, a person uses natural languages, artificial languages and codes - computer, logical, mathematical symbols and formulas, road signs, as well as various technical devices.

The communication process consists of three stages:

encoding of information that must be transmitted to the recipient, i.e. translation into some symbolic form;
transmission via communication channels, which may result in interference and loss of some information;
decoding of the received message by the addressee, and due to differences in ideas about the world, different individual experiences of the sender and recipient of the message, decoding occurs with errors. Therefore, communication is never 100% successful; greater or lesser losses are inevitable. The effectiveness of communication is ensured by a number of cultural conditions, such as the presence of a common language, channels for transmitting information, appropriate motivation, ethical, semiotic rules, which ultimately determine to whom, what, when and how can be communicated and from whom and when to expect a response message.

The development of forms and methods of communication is the most important aspect of the formation of culture. In the early stages of human history, the possibilities of communication were limited to direct contacts between people and in order to transmit information they had to move closer to the distance of direct visibility and hearing. Over time, people found the opportunity to increase the communication range, for example, with the help of special devices. This is how signal drums and bonfires appeared. But their capabilities were limited to transmitting only a few signals. Therefore, the most important stage in the development of culture was the invention of writing, which made it possible to transmit complex messages over long distances. In the modern world, mass communication media are becoming increasingly important, primarily television, radio, print, as well as computer networks, which come to the fore as a means of communication between people.

In modern conditions, the importance of the communicative function of culture is growing faster than any other function. The development of communication capabilities leads to the erasure of national characteristics and contributes to the formation of a single universal civilization, i.e. processes of globalization. These processes, in turn, stimulate intensive progress in means of communication, which is expressed in an increase in the power and range of communication means, an increase in information flows, and an increase in the speed of information transfer. Along with this, people’s mutual understanding and their ability to sympathize and empathize are progressing.

Integrative function of culture is related to communication and is related to the fact that culture unites any social communities - peoples, social groups and states. The basis for the unity of such groups is: a common language, a common system of values and ideals that creates a common outlook on the world, as well as common norms governing the behavior of people in society. The result is a sense of community with people who are members of the in-group, as opposed to others who are perceived as “outsiders.” Because of this, the whole world is divided into “us” and “strangers”, into Us and They. As a rule, a person has more trust in “his own” than in “strangers” who speak an incomprehensible language and behave incorrectly. Therefore, communications between representatives of different cultures are always difficult, and there is a high risk of mistakes that give rise to conflicts and even wars. But recently, due to the processes of globalization, the development of media and communication, intercultural contacts are strengthening and expanding. This is largely facilitated by modern mass culture, thanks to which books, music, achievements of science and technology, fashion, etc. become available to many people in different countries. The Internet plays a particularly important role in this process. We can say that the integrative function of culture has recently contributed to the unity of not only individual social and ethnic groups, but also humanity as a whole.

Normative (regulatory) function culture manifests itself as a system of norms and requirements of society for all its members in all areas of their lives and activities - work, everyday life, family, intergroup, interethnic, interpersonal relationships.

In any human community, it is necessary to regulate the behavior of the individuals composing them in order to maintain balance within the community itself and for the survival of each individual. The cultural products that a person has at his disposal outline the field of his possible activities, allow him to predict the development of various events, but do not determine how

a person must act in a given situation. Each person must consciously and responsibly carry out his actions, based on the norms and requirements for the behavior of people that have historically developed in society and are clearly entrenched in our consciousness and subconscious.

Norms of human behavior, both permissive and prohibitive, are an indication of the acceptable limits and boundaries within which a person must act in order for his behavior to be positively assessed by other people and society as a whole. Each culture has its own norms of behavior. There are cultures with a strong normative side (China) and cultures in which normativity is weaker (European cultures). The question of the existence of universal human norms remains debatable.

Through norms, culture regulates and coordinates the actions of individuals and human groups, develops optimal ways to resolve conflict situations, and provides recommendations for solving vital issues.

Regulatory function culture is carried out at several levels:

morality and other norms that are strictly observed, despite the absence of special monitoring institutions; violation of these norms is met with sharp condemnation from society;
rules of law, which are set out in detail in the constitution and laws of the country. Their compliance is controlled by specially created institutions - the court, the prosecutor's office, the police, the penitentiary system;
customs and traditions, which represent a stable system of people’s behavior in different areas of life and different situations, which has become the norm and is passed on from generation to generation. As a rule, they take the form of a certain stereotype and are stable over the centuries with any social changes;
norms of human behavior at work, at home, in communication with other people, in relation to nature, including a wide range of requirements - from basic neatness and adherence to the rules of good manners to general requirements for the spiritual world of a person.

Axiological (evaluative) function culture is associated with its value orientations. Cultural regulation of human activity is carried out not only normatively, but also through a system of values—ideals that people strive to achieve. Values imply the choice of a particular object, state, need, goal in accordance with the criterion of their usefulness for human life and help society and people to separate good from bad, truth from error, fair from unfair, permissible from forbidden, etc. The selection of values occurs in the process of practical activity. As experience accumulates, values form and disappear, are revised and enriched.

Values provide the specificity of each culture. What is important in one culture may not be important in another. Each nation develops its own hierarchy of values, although the set of values has a universal human character. Therefore, we can conditionally classify the core values as follows:

vital values - life, health, safety, welfare, strength, etc.;
social - social status, work, profession, personal independence, family, gender equality;
political - freedom of speech, civil liberties, legality,
civil peace;
moral - goodness, goodness, love, friendship, duty, honor, selflessness, decency, loyalty, justice, respect for elders, love for children;
aesthetic values - beauty, ideal, style, harmony, fashion, originality.

Each society, each culture is guided by its own set of values, which may lack some of the values listed above. In addition, each culture represents certain values in its own way. Thus, the ideals of beauty vary quite widely among different nations. For example, in medieval China, aristocratic women, in accordance with the then existing ideal of beauty, should have tiny feet; the desired was achieved through painful foot-binding procedures, which girls were subjected to from the age of five and as a result of which they became literally crippled.

People's behavior is oriented through values. A person cannot treat the opposites that make up the world in the same way; he must give preference to one thing. Most people believe that they strive for good, truth, love, but what seems good to some may turn out to be evil to others. This again leads to cultural specificity of values. Based on our ideas about good and evil, all our lives we act as “evaluators” of the world around us.

Recreational function of culture(mental release) is the opposite of the normative function. Regulation and regulation of behavior are necessary, but their consequence is the restriction of the freedom of individuals and groups, the suppression of some of their desires and inclinations, which leads to the development of hidden conflicts and tensions. A person comes to the same result due to excessive specialization of activity, forced loneliness or excess communication, unsatisfied needs for love, faith, immortality, intimate contact with another person. Not all of these tensions can be rationally resolved. Therefore, culture faces the task of creating organized and relatively safe ways of detente that do not violate social stability.

The simplest, most natural individual means of relaxation are laughter, crying, fits of anger, confession, declarations of love, and honest conversation. Specifically cultural, collective forms of detente, fixed by tradition, are holidays and leisure, freed from direct participation in production. On holidays, people do not work, do not observe everyday norms of life, and organize processions, carnivals, and feasts. The meaning of the holiday is the solemn collective renewal of life. During the holiday, the ideal and the real seem to merge; a person who is familiar with the holiday culture and knows how to celebrate experiences relief and joy. Holidays also take place according to certain rules - observing the appropriate place and time, playing stable roles. With the destruction of these formalities and the strengthening of sensual inclinations, physiological pleasure can become an end in itself and will be achieved at any cost; as a result, alcoholism, drug addiction and other vices will appear.

Rituals also represent a means of collective release and regulate the most important moments in people’s lives that relate to the sphere of the sacred (sacred) in a given culture. Among the ritual events are birth and death, marriage, rites of growing up (initiation), especially important in primitive and traditional cultures. This group also includes religious rituals and ceremonies, the implementation of which is one of the best ways of compensation created by culture. Rituals are characterized by special solemnity and cultural richness.

Also, a game that satisfies drives through symbolic means is effectively used as a collective release. The symbolism of the game will create a special psychological attitude, when a person both believes and does not believe in what is happening, it encourages him to use all his strength and skill to achieve the goal. Play allows you to defuse unconscious impulses that are prohibited or unclaimed by culture. Thus, many games contain competitive, sexual motives - sports, lottery, competitions, dancing. In games such as collecting, accumulative drives are realized, which are assessed in everyday life as a manifestation of greed. Finally, there are games that play on the meaning of death - bullfighting, gladiator fights.

On the one hand, today we can talk about the humanization of games, the replacement of many past entertainments, such as street fist fights and public executions, with sports, television, and cinema. But on the other hand, cinema and television show many scenes of violence in films and programs, traumatizing the psyche of people, especially children.

Function of socialization and inculturation, or human-creative function, is the most important function of culture. Socialization is the process of assimilation by a human individual of certain knowledge, norms and values necessary for life as a full member of society, and enculturation is the process of assimilation of skills and knowledge necessary for life in a particular culture. These similar processes are possible only with the help of specially created cultural systems of upbringing and education. Outside of society, these processes are impossible, so Mowgli or Tarzan would never have turned out to be a real person. Children who, for some reason, grow up among animals themselves remain animals forever.

The processes of socialization and enculturation presuppose the active internal work of the person himself, striving to master the information necessary for life. Therefore, having mastered the complex of knowledge required for a given culture, a person begins to develop his individual abilities, his natural inclinations. This could be the development of musical or artistic abilities, mathematical or technical knowledge, something that can be useful in mastering a future profession or will become a person’s leisure activity.

Socialization and enculturation continue throughout a person's life, but the most important learning is acquired during childhood. Then the child learns to speak his native language, assimilates the norms and values of his culture. Basically, this happens automatically when the child first copies the behavior of his parents, and then his peers, teachers and other adults. This is how the social experience accumulated by the people is assimilated, the cultural tradition is preserved and passed on from generation to generation, which ensures the stability of the culture.

1. CULTURE AS A CONCEPT OF CULTURAL STUDIES.................................................. 3

2. FUNCTIONS OF CULTURE.................................................... ........................... 6

2. 1. Adaptive function of culture.................................................... ................... 6

2. 2. Significative function.................................................... ........................... 7

2. 3. Cognitive (epistemological) function.................................................... 8

2. 4. Communicative function of culture.................................................... ....... 10

2. 5. Integrative function of culture.................................................... ............. 12

2. 6. Normative (regulatory) function.................................................. ......... 12

2. 7. Axiological function................................................. ........................ 14

2. 8. Function of socialization and enculturation.................................................. ... 15

LITERATURE................................................. ............................................. 18

1. CULTURE AS A CONCEPT OF CULTURAL STUDIES

The concept of “culture” is interpreted ambiguously in domestic and foreign scientific literature. Knowledge of the possible uses of this concept in history will help us understand its many shades of meaning and definitions, as well as understand what culture really is.

More than 2 thousand years have passed since the Latin word “colere” was used to denote cultivation of the soil. But the memory of this is still preserved in the language in numerous agricultural terms - agriculture, potato culture, cultivated pastures, etc.

Already in the 1st century. BC e. Cicero applied this concept to man, after which culture began to be understood as the upbringing and education of a person, an ideal citizen. At the same time, it was believed that the signs of a cultured person are a voluntary limitation of one’s desires, spontaneous actions and bad inclinations. Therefore, the term “culture” then denoted the intellectual, spiritual, aesthetic development of man and society, emphasizing its specificity, distinguishing the world created by man from the natural world.

In everyday life, we usually attach approval to the word “culture”, understanding this word as a certain ideal or ideal state with which we compare the facts or phenomena being evaluated. Therefore, we often talk about professional culture, about the culture of performing a certain thing. From the same positions we evaluate people's behavior. Therefore, it has become customary to hear about a cultured or uncultured person, although in fact most often we mean well-educated or poorly educated, from our point of view, people. Entire societies are sometimes assessed in the same way if they are based on law, order, and gentleness of morals, as opposed to a state of barbarism. We should also not forget that in everyday consciousness the concept of “culture” is mainly associated with works of literature and art. Therefore, this term denotes the forms and products of intellectual and, above all, artistic activity.

And finally, we use the word “culture” when we talk about different peoples in certain historical eras, pointing to the specificity of the way of existence or way of life of a society, group of people or a certain historical period. Therefore, very often you can find phrases - the culture of Ancient Egypt, the culture of the Renaissance, Russian culture, etc.

In modern domestic cultural studies, it is customary to distinguish three approaches to defining culture - anthropological, sociological and philosophical.

The essence anthropological approach is to recognize the intrinsic value of the culture of each people, which underlies the way of life of both an individual and entire societies. This means that culture is the way of existence of humanity in the form of numerous local cultures. This approach equates the culture and history of the entire society.

Sociological The approach considers culture as a factor in the education and organization of social life. The organizing principle is the value system of each society. Cultural values are created by society itself, but then they also determine the development of this society. What begins to dominate a person is what he himself created.

Philosophical the approach seeks to identify patterns in the life of society, to establish the causes of the origin and features of the development of culture. In line with this approach, not just a description or enumeration of cultural phenomena is given, but an attempt is made to penetrate into their essence. As a rule, the essence of culture is seen in the conscious activity of transforming the surrounding world to satisfy human needs.

Also distinguished functional definitions of culture that characterize it through the functions that it performs in society, and also consider the unity and interconnection of these functions. For example, a short but succinct definition is very popular among intercultural communication specialists E. Hall: culture is communication, communication is culture. Russian culturologists have similar definitions. Among them one should name one of the greatest Russian philosophers MM. Bakhtin, author of the dialogue concept of culture. It comes from a fundamental idea: culture never exists on its own, but only manifests itself in interaction with other cultures. Any culture has a viewer, or a researcher, and this is not some abstract subject observing the culture from the position of an impassive automaton, recording any of its manifestations.

Thus, in all the considered definitions there is a rational grain, each pointing to some more or less significant features of culture. At the same time, one can point out the shortcomings of each definition, its fundamental incompleteness. As a rule, these definitions cannot be called mutually exclusive, but simply summing them up will not give any positive result.

Culture is an essential characteristic of a person, something that distinguishes him from animals that adapt to the environment, and do not purposefully change it, like humans.

There is also no doubt that as a result of this transformation an artificial world is formed, an essential part of which are ideas, values and symbols. He is opposed to the natural world. And finally, culture is not inherited biologically, but is acquired only as a result of upbringing and education taking place in society, among other people.

2. FUNCTIONS OF CULTURE

The complex and multi-level structure of culture determines the diversity of its functions in the life of society and individuals. But there is no complete unanimity among culturologists on the question of the number of cultural functions. Nevertheless, they all agree with the idea of multifunctionality of culture, with the fact that each of its components can perform different functions. A comparison of different points of view on this issue allows us to conclude that the main functions of culture include adaptive, symbolic (significative), cognitive, informational, communicative, integrative, regulatory, axiological and etc.

2. 1. Adaptive function of culture

The most important function of culture is adaptive, allowing a person to adapt to the environment, which is a necessary condition for the survival of all living organisms in the process of evolution. But man does not adapt to changes in the environment, as other living organisms do, but changes his environment in accordance with his needs, adapting it to himself. At the same time, a new, artificial world is created - culture. In other words, a person cannot lead a natural lifestyle like animals, and in order to survive, he creates an artificial habitat around himself.

Of course, a person cannot achieve complete independence from the environment, since each specific form of culture is largely determined by natural conditions. The type of economy, housing, traditions and customs, beliefs, rites and rituals of peoples will depend on natural and climatic conditions.

As culture develops, humanity provides itself with increasing security and comfort. But, having gotten rid of previous fears and dangers, a person comes face to face with new threats that he creates for himself. So, today there is no need to be afraid of such formidable diseases of the past as the plague or smallpox, but new diseases have appeared, such as AIDS, for which no cure has yet been found, and in military laboratories other deadly diseases created by man himself are waiting in the wings. Thus, a person needs to protect himself not only from the natural environment, but also from the world of culture.

The adaptive function has a dual nature. On the one hand, it manifests itself in the creation of the necessary means of protection for a person from the outside world. These are all cultural products that help primitive, and later civilized man to survive and feel confident in the world: the use of fire, the creation of productive agriculture, medicine, etc. These are the so-called specific means of protection person. These include not only objects of material culture, but also those specific means that a person develops to adapt to life in society, keeping him from mutual destruction and death. These are government structures, laws, customs, traditions, moral standards, etc.

There are also nonspecific means of protection human being is culture as a whole, existing as a picture of the world. Understanding culture as a “second nature”, a world created by man, we emphasize the most important property of human activity and culture - the ability to “double” the world, highlighting sensory-objective and ideal-imaginative layers in it. Culture as a picture of the world makes it possible to see the world not as a continuous flow of information, but to receive this information in an ordered and structured form.

2. 2. Significative ffunction

Culture as a picture of the world is connected with another function of culture - iconic, significative, those. naming function. The formation of names and titles is very important for a person. If some object or phenomenon is not named, does not have a name, is not designated by a person, they do not exist for us. By assigning a name to an object or phenomenon and assessing it, for example, as threatening, we simultaneously receive the necessary information that allows us to act to avoid danger. After all, when labeling a threat, we not only give it a name, but enter it into the hierarchy of existence.

Thus, culture as an image and picture of the world represents an orderly and balanced scheme of the cosmos, serving as the prism through which a person looks at the world. This scheme is expressed through philosophy, literature, mythology, ideology, as well as in the actions of people. Its content is understood fragmentarily by the majority of members of the ethnos; it is fully accessible only to a small number of cultural specialists. The basis of this picture of the world are ethnic constants - the values and norms of ethnic culture.

2. 3. Cognitive (epistemological) function.

An important function of culture is also cognitive (epistemological) function. Culture concentrates the experience and skills of many generations of people, accumulates rich knowledge about the world and thereby creates favorable opportunities for its further knowledge and development. This function manifests itself most fully in science and scientific knowledge. Of course, knowledge is acquired in other areas of culture, but there it is a by-product of human activity, and in science, obtaining objective knowledge about the world is the main goal.

Cognitive function is inextricably linked with function of accumulation and storage of information, since knowledge and information are the results of cognition of the world. A natural condition for the life of both an individual and society as a whole is the need for information on a variety of issues. We must remember our past, be able to evaluate it correctly, and admit our mistakes. A person must know who he is, where he comes from and where he is going. In connection with these issues, the information function of culture was formed.

Culture has become a specifically human form of production, accumulation, storage and transmission of knowledge. Unlike animals, in which the transfer of information from one generation to another occurs mainly genetically, in humans information is encoded in a variety of sign systems. Thanks to this, information is separated from the individuals who obtained it and acquires an independent existence without disappearing after their death. It becomes a public property, and each new generation does not start its life journey from scratch, but actively masters the experience accumulated by previous generations.

Information is transmitted not only in a temporal aspect - from generation to generation, but also within one generation - as a process of exchange of experience between societies, social groups, and individuals. Exist reflective(conscious) and unreflective(unconscious) forms of translation of cultural experience. Reflexive forms include targeted training and education. Non-reflective - spontaneous assimilation of cultural norms, which occurs unconsciously, through direct imitation of others.

Sociocultural experience is transmitted through the action of such social institutions as the family, the education system, mass media, and cultural institutions. Over time, the production and accumulation of knowledge proceeds at an ever faster pace. In the modern era, information doubles every 15 years. Thus, culture, performing an information function, makes possible the process of cultural continuity, the connection of peoples, eras and generations.

2. 4. Communication functionculture

Very important communicative function culture. A person cannot solve any complex problem without the help of other people. Without communication with others like themselves, a person cannot become a full-fledged member of society and develop his abilities. Through communication, complex actions are coordinated, and social life itself becomes possible.

At the same time, nature has not endowed humans with the ability to establish emotional contacts and exchange information without the help of signs, sounds, and writing. Therefore, to communicate with others like themselves, people have created various means of cultural communication. Information can be transmitted verbally (verbal), nonverbal and paraverbal methods. TO nonverbal means of communication include facial expressions, gestures, postures, communication distance with other people, information that is transmitted through various material objects. Thus, a large amount of information can be transmitted through people’s clothing, especially uniforms. TO paraverbal means of communication include speech rate, intonation, volume, articulation, voice pitch, etc.

The communication process itself is very complex. Information must first be encoded, i.e. clothed in some symbolic form. Then, during transmission through communication channels, interference and loss of some information are possible. When a message is received by the addressee, it must be decoded, and due to differences in ideas about the world, as well as the individual experiences of the sender and recipient of the message, decoding occurs with errors. Therefore, communication is never 100% successful - larger or smaller losses are inevitable. The effectiveness of communication is ensured by a number of cultural conditions, such as the presence of a common language, channels for transmitting information, appropriate motivation, ethical, semiotic rules, which ultimately determine to whom, what, when and how we can communicate and from whom and when to expect a response message .

The development of forms and methods of communication is the most important aspect of the formation of culture. In the early stages of human history, the possibilities of communication were limited to direct contacts between people, when in order to transmit information they had to come close to a distance of direct visibility and audibility. Gradually, people began to find the opportunity to increase the communication range with the help of special devices. This is how signal drums and bonfires appeared. But their capabilities were limited to transmitting only a few signals. Therefore, the most important stage in the development of culture was the invention of writing, which made it possible to transmit complex messages over long distances.

In modern conditions, the rapid expansion of communication capabilities leads to the erasure of national characteristics and contributes to the formation of a single universal civilization, i.e. to the processes of globalization. These processes stimulate intensive progress in the means of communication - the number of information flows that can connect more and more distant corners of the Earth is constantly growing, and the speed of information transfer is increasing. And at the same time, mutual understanding between people deepens, giving rise in their souls to sympathy and empathy for “other people’s” sorrows and joys.

2. 5. Integrative functionculture

Integrative functionculture is close to communicative: culture unites peoples, social groups and states, i.e. any social community. The unity of such groups is based on: a common language, a common system of values and ideals, and hence a common outlook on the world, as well as common norms governing people’s behavior. This is how a feeling of kinship, community with people - members of your group, arises, as opposed to other people whom we perceive as “strangers”. As a result, the whole world is divided into “us” and “strangers”, into “us” and “them”. As a rule, a person has more trust in “his own” than in “strangers” who speak an incomprehensible language and behave, from our point of view, incorrectly. Therefore, communications between representatives of different cultures are always difficult, and there is a high risk of mistakes that give rise to conflicts and even wars.

Nevertheless, recently, due to the processes of globalization, the development of media and communication, intercultural contacts have been expanding. This is largely facilitated by modern mass culture, which makes books, music, achievements of science and technology, fashion, etc. accessible to a large number of people in different countries. The Internet plays a particularly important role in this process.

Thus, we can say that the integrative function of culture, along with the communicative one, helps to unite not only individual social and ethnic groups, but also all of humanity as a whole.

2. 6. Normative (regulatory) function

Plays a huge role in the life of society normative (regulatory) function culture. Any human community needs to regulate the behavior of its constituent individuals. This is necessary to maintain balance within the community itself and for the survival of each individual. The cultural products that a person has at his disposal outline the field of his possible activities and allow him to predict the development of events. But they do not determine how a person should act in a given situation. Every conscious and responsible person acts based on the norms and requirements for the behavior of people that have historically developed in society and are clearly entrenched in our consciousness and subconscious.

The actual regulatory function of culture manifests itself as a system of norms and requirements of society for all its members in all areas of their lives and activities - work, everyday life, family, intergroup, interethnic, interpersonal relationships. Norms can be either permissive or prohibitive. Each culture has its own norms of behavior. Through these norms, culture regulates and coordinates the actions of individuals and social groups, finds optimal ways to resolve conflict situations, and provides recommendations for solving vital issues.

The regulatory function of culture is carried out at several levels. The highest of them is represented by morality and its norms, which are strictly observed, despite the absence of special control institutions, and violation of moral norms is met with sharp condemnation from society. Another level of regulation is represented by legal norms, which are set out in detail in the constitutions and laws of different countries. Their compliance is monitored with the help of specially created institutions - the court, the prosecutor's office, the police, and the penitentiary system. Another level of normative function is customs and traditions. They represent a stable system of people’s behavior in different areas of life and different situations, which has become the norm and is passed on from generation to generation. They, as a rule, take the form of a certain stereotype, maintaining their stability and conservatism over the centuries, despite any social changes. Finally, the lowest level of regulation is the norms of human behavior at work, at home, in communication with other people, and in relation to nature. This level of normativity includes a wide range of requirements - from a reminder of the need to maintain basic neatness, to general requirements for the spiritual world of a person.

2. 7. Axiological function

People's value orientations are related to axiological (evaluative) function their cultures. Since the degree of significance of objects and phenomena of the surrounding world for the life of people is not the same, a certain system of values of a society or social group is formed. Values imply the choice of a particular object, state, need, goal in accordance with the criterion of their usefulness for human life. Values serve as the foundation of culture, helping society and each person to separate good from bad, truth from error, fair from unfair, permissible from forbidden -

The selection of values occurs in the process of practical activity. As experience accumulates, values form and disappear, are revised and enriched. Different peoples have different concepts of good and evil; it is the values that provide the specificity of each culture. What is important to one culture may not be important to another. Each nation develops its own pyramid, hierarchy of values, although the set of values itself is of a universal human nature. The core values can be roughly divided (classified) into:

vital- life, health, safety, welfare, strength, etc.;

social- position in society, status, work, profession, personal independence, family, gender equality;

political- freedom of speech, civil liberties, legality, civil peace;

moral- goodness, goodness, love, drrkba, duty, honor, selflessness, decency, loyalty, justice, respect for elders, love for children;

aesthetic- beauty, ideal, style, harmony, fashion, originality.

Many of the values mentioned above may not be present in a given culture. In addition, each culture represents certain values in its own way. Thus, the ideals of beauty differ quite greatly among different nations. For example, according to the ideal of beauty in medieval China, aristocratic women were expected to have tiny legs. The desired was achieved through painful foot-binding procedures, subjecting girls from the age of five to it, as a result of which these women became crippled.

With the help of values, people navigate the world, society, determine their actions, their attitude towards others. Most people believe that they strive for goodness, truth, and love. Of course, what seems good to some people may be evil to others. And this again indicates the cultural specificity of values. All our lives we act as “evaluators” of the world around us, based on our own ideas about good and evil.

2. 8. Function of socialization and enculturation.

The most important function of culture is function of socialization and enculturation. Socialization is the process of assimilation by a human individual of certain knowledge, norms and values necessary for life as a full member of society. At the same time, socialization ensures the stability of society. In society, as in nature, there is a constant change of generations, people are born and die. But unlike animals, humans do not have innate action programs. He receives these programs from culture, learns to live, think and act in accordance with them.

The acquisition of social experience by an individual begins in early childhood. The patterns of behavior that parents demonstrate are consciously or unconsciously adopted by children, thereby determining their behavior for many years to come. Children are also greatly influenced by examples of behavior demonstrated by peers, teachers, and adults in general. Childhood is the most important period of socialization; it is in childhood that almost 70% of personality is formed. But socialization does not end there. It is a continuous process that does not stop throughout human life. This is how the social experience accumulated by the people is assimilated, the cultural tradition is preserved and passed on from generation to generation, which ensures the stability of the culture.

Each person, by the will of circumstances, finds himself immersed in a certain cultural environment, from which he absorbs and assimilates a system of knowledge, values, and norms of behavior. This process of acquiring the skills and knowledge necessary to live in a particular culture is called inculturation.

The processes of socialization and enculturation consist not only in the formation of the environment surrounding a person, they presuppose the active internal work of the person himself, striving to master the information necessary for life. Therefore, having mastered the complex of knowledge required for a given culture, a person begins to develop his individual abilities - be it musical or artistic inclinations, interest in mathematics or technology, in a word, everything that may be useful in the future - no matter whether it becomes a profession or an occupation in leisure hours.

The given classification of the main functions of culture is one of the possible ones. However, in any classification (for whatever reasons) the delimitation of the functions of culture will be quite conditional. Indeed, in real life, all functions are closely intertwined and practically represent a single process, generally ensuring cultural dynamics.

LITERATURE

1. Gurevich P.S. Philosophy of culture. M., 1995.

2. Ionin A.G. Sociology of culture. M., 2004.

3. Kagan M.S. Philosophy of culture. St. Petersburg, 1996.

4. Culture and cultural studies: Dictionary. M., 2003.

5. Culture: theories and problems / T.F. Kuznetsova et al. M., 2005.

6. Cultural studies. XX century: Encyclopedia: In 2 volumes. St. Petersburg, 1998.

7. Oganov A.A., Khangeldieva I.G. Theory of culture. M., 2001.

8. Rozhdestvensky Yu.V. Introduction to cultural studies. M., 2000.

9. Sadokhin A.P. Culturology: theory and history of culture: Textbook. - M.: Eksmo, 2007.

10. Flier A.Ya. Culturology for culturologists. M., 2002.