Does not apply to the type of culture. Concept of culture

The word “culture” is on the list of the most used in modern language. But this fact testifies not to the knowledge of this concept, but to the polysemy of meanings hidden behind it, used both in Everyday life, and in scientific definitions.

Most of all, we are accustomed to talking about spiritual and material culture. At the same time, it becomes clear to everyone that we're talking about about theater, religion, music, gardening, agriculture and much more. However, the concept of culture is not at all limited to these areas. The versatility of this word will be discussed in this article.

Definition of the term

The concept of culture includes a certain historical level in the development of society, as well as human abilities and powers, which are expressed in the forms and types of organization of life. By this term we also understand spiritual and material values created by people.

The world of culture, any of its phenomena and objects are not the result of natural forces. This is the result of the efforts made by a person. This is why culture and society must be considered unbreakable connection. Only this will allow us to understand the essence of this phenomenon.

Main components

All types of culture that exist in society include three main components. Namely:

Concepts. These elements are usually contained in language, helping a person to order and organize his own experience. Each of us perceives the world through the taste, color and shape of objects. However, it is known that in different cultures reality is organized differently. And in this regard, language and culture become inseparable concepts. A person learns the words that he needs to navigate the world around him through the assimilation, accumulation and organization of his experience. How closely language and culture are connected can be judged by the fact that some peoples believe that “who” is only a person, and “what” is not only inanimate objects of the surrounding world, but also animals. And this is something worth thinking about. After all, people who evaluate dogs and cats as a thing will not be able to treat them in the same way as those who see animals as their smaller brothers.
Relationship. The formation of culture occurs not only through the description of those concepts that indicate to a person what the world consists of. This process also involves certain ideas about how all objects are interconnected in time, in space, according to their purpose. Thus, the culture of the people of a particular country is distinguished by its own views on the concepts of not only the real, but also the supernatural world.
Values. This element is also inherent in culture and represents the beliefs existing in society regarding the goals that a person should strive for. Different cultures have different values. And it depends on the social structure. Society itself makes the choice of what is considered valuable for it and what is not.

Material culture

Modern culture is a rather complex phenomenon, which, for the sake of completeness of the concept, is considered in two aspects - static and dynamic. Only in this case is a synchronous approach achieved, allowing for the most accurate study of this concept.

Statics gives the structure of culture, dividing it into material, spiritual, artistic and physical. Let's look at each of these categories in more detail.

And let's start with material culture. This definition refers to the environment that surrounds a person. Every day, thanks to the efforts of each of us, material culture is improved and updated. All this leads to the emergence of a new standard of living, changing the demands of society.

The peculiarities of culture of a material nature lie in the fact that its objects are means and tools of labor, life and housing, that is, everything that is the result production activities person. At the same time, several of the most important areas are highlighted. The first of these is agriculture. This area includes animal breeds and plant varieties developed as a result of breeding work. This also includes soil cultivation. Human survival directly depends on these links of material culture, since from them he receives not only food, but also raw materials used in industrial production.

The structure of material culture also includes buildings. These are places intended for people to live in which they realize various shapes life and various human activities. The field of material culture also includes structures designed to improve living conditions.

To provide all the variety of types of mental and physical labor, a person uses various tools. They are also one of the elements of material culture. With the help of tools, people directly influence processed materials in all sectors of their activity - communications, transport, industry, agriculture, etc.

Part of the material culture is transport and all available means of communication. These include:

bridges, roads, airport runways, embankments;
all transport – pipeline, water, air, railway, road and horse-drawn vehicles;
railway stations, ports, airports, harbors, etc., built to support the operation of the vehicle.

With the participation of this area of material culture, the exchange of goods and people between settlements and regions is ensured. This, in turn, contributes to the development of society.

Another area of material culture is communication. It includes post and telegraph, radio and telephone, computer networks. Communication, like transport, connects people with each other, giving them the opportunity to exchange information.

Another essential component of material culture is skills and knowledge. They represent technologies that find application in each of the above areas.

Spiritual culture

This area is based on a creative and rational type of activity. Spiritual culture, unlike material culture, finds its expression in subjective form. At the same time, it satisfies the secondary needs of people. The elements of spiritual culture are morality, spiritual communication, art (artistic creativity). Religion is one of its important components.

Spiritual culture is nothing more than the ideal side of human material labor. After all, any thing created by people was originally designed and subsequently embodied certain knowledge. And being called upon to satisfy certain human needs, any product becomes valuable to us. Thus, the material and spiritual forms of culture become inseparable from each other. This is especially evident in the example of any of the works of art.

Due to the fact that the material and spiritual types of culture have such subtle differences, there are criteria for accurately assigning a particular result of activity to a particular area. For this purpose, items are assessed according to their intended purpose. A thing or phenomenon designed to satisfy the secondary needs of people is classified as spiritual culture. And vice versa. If objects are necessary to satisfy the primary or biological needs of a person, then they are classified as material culture.

The spiritual sphere has complex composition. It includes the following types of culture:

Moral, which includes ethics, morality and ethics;

Religious, which includes modern teachings and cults, ethnographic religiosity, traditional denominations and confessions;

Political, representing traditional political regimes, ideology and norms of interaction between political subjects;

Legal, which includes legislation, legal proceedings, law-abiding and the executive system;

Pedagogical, considered as the practice and ideals of upbringing and education;

Intellectual in the form of science, history and philosophy.

It is worth keeping in mind that cultural institutions such as museums and libraries concert halls and courts, cinemas and educational establishments, also relate to the spiritual world.

This area has one more gradation. It includes the following areas:

Projective activity. She offers drawings and ideal models machines, structures, technical structures, as well as projects for social transformations and new forms political system. Everything that is created has the greatest cultural value. Today, projective activity is classified in accordance with the objects it creates into engineering, social and pedagogical.
The totality of knowledge about society, nature, man and his inner world. Knowledge is essential element spiritual culture. Moreover, they are most fully represented in the scientific sphere.
Value-oriented activities. This is the third area of spiritual culture, which is in direct connection with knowledge. It serves to evaluate objects and phenomena, filling the human world with meanings and meanings. This sphere is divided into the following types of culture: moral, artistic and religious.
Spiritual communication between people. It occurs in all forms determined by the objects of communication. The spiritual contact that exists between partners, during which information is exchanged, is the greatest cultural value. However, such communication occurs not only on a personal level. The results of the spiritual activity of society, constituting its accumulated long years cultural foundation, find expression in books, speech and works of art.

Communication between people is extremely important for the development of culture and society. That is why it is worth considering in a little more detail.

Human communication

The concept of speech culture determines the level spiritual development person. In addition, she talks about the value of the spiritual wealth of society. Speech culture is an expression of respect and love for one’s native language, which is directly related to the traditions and history of the country. The main elements of this area are not only literacy, but also compliance with generally accepted norms of the literary word.

Speech culture includes the correct use of many other means of language. Among them: stylistics and phonetics, vocabulary, etc. Thus, truly cultural speech is not only correct, but also rich. And this depends on a person’s lexical knowledge. In order to improve the culture of speech, it is important to constantly replenish your vocabulary, as well as read works of various thematic and stylistic directions. Such work will allow you to change the direction of thoughts from which words are formed.

Modern speech culture is a very broad concept. It includes more than just a person's linguistic abilities. This area cannot be considered without general culture a person who has his own psychological and aesthetic perception people and the surrounding world.

Communication for a person is one of the most important moments of his life. And to create a normal communication channel, each of us needs to constantly maintain the culture of our speech. IN in this case it will consist of politeness and attentiveness, as well as the ability to support the interlocutor and any conversation. A culture of speech will make communication free and easy. After all, she will allow you to express your opinion without offending or offending anyone. In well-chosen, beautiful words contains power stronger than physical strength. Speech culture and society are in close relationship with each other. Indeed, the level of the linguistic spiritual sphere reflects the way of life of the entire people.

Art culture

As mentioned above, in each of the specific objects of the surrounding world there are simultaneously two spheres - material and spiritual. This can also be said about artistic culture, which is based on the creative, irrational type of human activity and satisfies his secondary needs. What gave rise to this phenomenon? A person’s ability to be creative and have an emotional and sensory perception of the world around them.

Artistic culture is an integral element of the spiritual sphere. Its main essence is to reflect society and nature. For this purpose, artistic images are used.

This type of culture includes:

art (group and individual);
artistic values and works;
cultural institutions that ensure its dissemination, development and preservation (demonstration sites, creative organizations, educational institutions, etc.);
spiritual atmosphere, that is, society’s perception of art, government policy in this area, etc.

IN in the narrow sense art culture expressed in graphics and painting, literature and music, architecture and dance, circus, photography and theater. All these are objects of professional and everyday art. Within each of them works are created artistic character– performances and films, books and paintings, sculptures, etc.

Culture and art, which is its integral part, contribute to the transfer by people of their subjective vision of the world, and also help a person to assimilate the experience accumulated by society and the correct perception of collective attitudes and moral values.

Spiritual culture and art, in which all its functions are represented, are an important part of the life of society. Thus, in artistic creativity there is a transformative human activity. The transmission of information is reflected in culture in the form of human consumption of works of art. Value-oriented activity serves to evaluate creations. Art is open to cognitive activity. The latter manifests itself in the form of a specific interest in works.

Artistic forms also include such forms of culture as mass, elite, and folk. This also includes the aesthetic side of legal, economic, political activity and much more.

World and national culture

The level of material and spiritual development of society has another gradation. It is identified by its carrier. In this regard, there are such main types of culture as world and national. The first of them is a synthesis of the best achievements of the peoples living on our planet.

World culture is diverse in space and time. It is practically inexhaustible in its directions, each of which amazes with its richness of forms. Today, this concept includes such types of cultures as bourgeois and socialist, developing countries, etc.

The pinnacle of world civilization is the achievements in the field of science developed Newest technologies, achievements in art.

But national culture is the highest form of development of ethnic culture, which is appreciated by world civilization. This includes the totality of spiritual and material assets of a particular people, as well as the methods of interaction they practice with the social environment and nature. Manifestations of national culture can be clearly seen in the activities of society, its spiritual values, moral standards, lifestyle and language characteristics, as well as in the work of state and social institutions.

Types of crops according to the principle of distribution

There is another gradation of material and spiritual values. According to the principle of their distribution, they are distinguished: dominant culture, subculture and counterculture. The first of them includes a set of customs, beliefs, traditions and values that guide the majority of members of society. But at the same time, any nation includes many groups of a national, demographic, professional, social and other nature. Each of them develops its own system of rules of behavior and values. Such small worlds are classified as subcultures. This form can be youth and urban, rural, professional, etc.

A subculture may differ from the dominant one in behavior, language, or outlook on life. But these two categories are never opposed to each other.

If any of the small cultural layers is in conflict with the values that dominate society, then it is called counterculture.

Gradation of material and spiritual values by level and origins

In addition to those listed above, there are such forms of culture as elite, folk and mass. This gradation characterizes the level of values and their creator.

For example, elite culture (high) is the fruit of the activities of a privileged part of society or professional creators who worked on its orders. This is the so-called pure art, which in its perception is ahead of all artistic products existing in society.

Folk culture, in contrast to elite culture, is created by anonymous creators who have no professional training. That is why this type culture is sometimes called amateur or collective. In this case, the term folklore is also applicable.

Unlike the two previous types, mass culture is not the bearer of either the spirituality of the people or the delights of the aristocracy. The greatest development of this direction began in the mid-20th century. It was during this period that the penetration of mass media into most countries began.

Mass culture is inextricably linked with the market. This is art for everyone. That is why it takes into account the needs and tastes of the entire society. The value of mass culture is incomparably lower than elitist and folk culture. She satisfies the immediate needs of members of society, quickly responding to every event in the life of the people and reflecting it in her works.

Physical Culture

This is a creative, rational type of human activity, expressed in bodily (subjective) form. Its main focus is improving health while simultaneously developing physical abilities. These activities include:

culture of physical development from general health exercises to professional occupation sports;
recreational culture that supports and restores health, which includes tourism and medicine.

In cultural studies, there is no consensus on what should be considered types, forms, types, or branches of culture. The following conceptual diagram can be proposed as one option.

Industries cultures should be called such sets of norms, rules and patterns of human behavior that constitute a relatively closed area within the whole. Economic, political, professional and other types of human activity give grounds to distinguish them into independent branches of culture. Thus, political, professional or pedagogical cultures are branches of culture, just as in industry there are branches such as the automobile industry, machine tool industry, heavy and light industries, the chemical industry, etc.

Types of culture should be called such sets of norms, rules and patterns of human behavior that constitute relatively closed areas, but are not parts of one whole. For example, Chinese or Russian culture are such original and self-sufficient phenomena that do not belong to a really existing whole. In relation to them, only the culture of all humanity can play the role of the whole, but it is more of a metaphor than a real phenomenon, since next to the culture of humanity we cannot place the culture of other living beings and compare with it. We must classify any national or ethnic culture as a cultural type.

Ethnic culture- this is a culture of people connected by a common origin and living together (so to speak, united by “blood and soil”). Its main feature is local limitation, strict localization in social space. It is dominated by the power of tradition, once and for all accepted customs, passed on from generation to generation at the family or neighborhood level. Being a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of an ethnos, ethnic culture ceases to be such in relation to the existence of a nation. It is necessary to distinguish between ethnicity and nation, without thereby reducing ethnic culture to national culture.

Unlike the first one, national culture unites people living over large areas and not necessarily related to each other by consanguinity or tribal relations. The boundaries of a national culture are set by the strength, the power of this culture itself, its ability to spread beyond the boundaries of communal tribal and local territorial formations. National culture arises due to a fundamentally different method of interhuman cultural communication, directly related to the invention of writing.

The term “type” suggests that national cultures - Russian, French or Chinese - we can compare and find in them typical features. Types of culture include not only regional-ethnic formations, but also historical and cultural ones. In this case, Latin American culture, post-industrial culture, or hunter-gatherer culture should be called cultural types.

Forms of culture belong to such sets of rules, norms and patterns of behavior of people that cannot be considered completely autonomous entities; Nor are they constituent parts of any whole. High or elitist culture, folk culture and massive culture are called forms of culture because they represent a special way of expressing artistic content. High, folk and mass culture differ in the set of techniques and visual means of a work of art, authorship, audience, means of conveying artistic ideas to viewers, and the level of performing skills.

Elite, high culture (elite, French - chosen, best, chosen, chosen) - written culture; created primarily by the educated part of society for their own consumption; proactively uses artistic techniques that will be perceived by wider layers later, with a cultural delay; at first it is avant-garde, experimental in nature, remaining alien to the broad masses. Its essence is associated with the concept of elite and is usually contrasted with popular and mass cultures.

Folk culture - the sphere of non-specialized (non-professional) cultural activity of the oral tradition, existing according to folklore type in past And present, passed on from generation to generation in the process of direct interaction (joint labor, ceremonial, ritual, festive actions). Created by anonymous creators, usually without professional training.

Mass culture - a type of “cultural industry” that produces cultural products on a daily basis on a large scale, intended for mass consumption, distributed through channels that include technologically advanced media and communications; a product of the industrial and post-industrial era, associated with the formation mass society. The time of its origin is the first half to the middle of the 20th century. Mass culture appears as a universal, cosmopolitan culture, moving into the phase of global culture. As a rule, it has less artistic value than elite And folk

Types of culture we will call such sets of rules norms and behavior patterns, which are varieties of moregeneral culture. For example, a subculture is a type of dominant (national) culture that belongs to a large social group and is distinguished by some originality. Thus, the youth subculture was created by the age group of people from 13 to 19 years old. They are also called teenagers.

The youth subculture does not exist in isolation from the national one; it constantly interacts and is fueled by it. The same can be said about the counterculture. This name is given to a special subculture that is antagonistic towards the dominant culture.

TO main types of culture we will refer to:

Dominant (national, national or ethnic) culture, subculture and counterculture;

Rural and urban culture;

Ordinary and specialized cultures. Dominant culture - a set of values, beliefs,

traditions and customs that guide the majority of members of a given society.

Subculture - part of the general culture, a system of values, traditions, customs inherent in a large social group; is part of the dominant culture, but has distinct or opposing features, adding to the range of values of the dominant culture new ones that are characteristic only of it.

Counterculture- a subculture that is in conflict with the dominant values of the dominant culture.

Rural culture- culture of the peasantry, village culture, characterized by uneven workload throughout the year, personification of interpersonal relationships, lack of anonymity of behavior and the presence of informal control over the lives of members of the local community, the dominance of intra-community information over official state information.

Urban culture- industrial, urban culture, characterized by high population density, diverse cultural space, anonymity of social relations, individual choice of style of social contacts, and a uniform work rhythm.

Everyday culture - this is the totality of all unreflective, syncretic aspects of social life, mastery of the customs of everyday life social environment in which a person lives (mores, customs, traditions, rules of everyday behavior). This is a culture that has not received institutional reinforcement. The process of a person’s assimilation of everyday culture is called general socialization or personal enculturation.

Specialized culture - the sphere of social division of labor, social statuses, where people manifest themselves in social roles; culture that has become institutionalized (science, art, philosophy, law, religion).

Enculturation -the process of assimilation of traditions, customs, values and norms of behavior in a particular culture; studying Andtransmission of culture from one generation to another.

Socialization -the process of mastering basic social roles, norms, language, and national character traits in modern society.

Spiritual and material culture cannot be classified as branches, forms, types or types of culture, since these phenomena combine all four classification features to varying degrees. It is more correct to consider spiritual and material culture as combined or complex formations standing apart from general conceptual scheme. They can be called cross-cutting phenomena, permeating industries, types, forms, and types of culture. A variety of spiritual culture is artistic, and a variety of material culture is physical culture.

Depending on the scale and forms of interaction of various subjects with the environment, forms and types of culture are distinguished. Sociologists primarily identify two special forms culture:

1) material- a set of objectified results human activity, which includes both physical objects created as a result of human activity (residential buildings, tools, books, food, clothing, jewelry, etc.), and natural objects, used by people. The first ones are called artifacts . Artifacts always have a certain value for a person, a certain symbolic meaning, perform certain functions.

2) spiritual- a set of results of activity, which includes intangible objects created by the mind and feelings of a person (speech, knowledge, traditions, myths, symbols, etc.) They exist in the human mind, are supported by human communication, but they cannot be touched or physically felt. Intangible objects require material intermediaries: knowledge is contained in books, the tradition of congratulations is embodied in a handshake.

Depending on who creates the culture and what its level is, it is distinguished kinds.

So, universal culture is the culture produced by humanity throughout the history of its existence. It is based on universal human values - truth, goodness, beauty, justice, etc. Within a particular society there are following forms cultures, both elite, folk and mass.

Elite culture - a collection of artifacts that, due to their sophistication, are mainly accessible to a narrow circle of people, the cultural elite.

Belongs to elite, or high, culture classical music, highly intellectual literature, refined art, that they are intended for highly educated people. An elite culture is created by high-class specialists.

Folk culture (it is also called amateur, or folklore) is a primitive culture. It is created by amateur creators who do not have professional training, and is connected with the life of the broad masses. It is represented by fairy tales, legends, myths, songs, dances, paintings. According to the form of manifestation, elements of folk culture can be individual, group, or mass.

IN modern society under the influence of the media, another one arose, the so-called Mass culture, which appeals to everyone and is designed for mass consumption. It is spread by the media and appeared in the middle of the twentieth century, when the media became available to all segments of the population. Mass culture is replacing both elite and popular culture. It is characterized by number of floors, standardization, unification. She has less artistic value and enriches the personality spiritually much less than the elitist folk culture. Of course, there are exceptions.

Every society has some set cultural models, which are perceived by all members of society. Such a collection is called dominant culture.

In the same time separate groups societies develop certain cultural complexes that are not perceived by all members of society, that is, they form their own culture, which differs from the dominant one and is called subculture. It's self-sufficient holistic education within the dominant culture (values, norms, beliefs, patterns of behavior, etc.), modified in accordance with the age, professional, class, territorial and other characteristics of a certain social group, community. For example, ethnic or professional subculture, organizational subculture, etc. Professional culture closely related to content professional activity, the role it plays in society, the organization of the workplace of representatives of this profession. Has an effect on her big influence vocational education and training.. Subcultures differ from the dominant culture by certain specific features that meet the living conditions of the community or group. In a subculture, the principles of the dominant culture and its scale of values are preserved, but additional elements, for example, norms that ensure the regulation of connections in the relevant social institutions- military, medical, educational, family subcultures.

There are subcultures that focus on specific features life activities of their subjects: urban and rural subcultures, subculture of Hutsuls, Galicians, Polishchuks. Subcultures may arise based on different understandings of the ways of development of society, etc. A type of subculture is deviantculture. For example, the lifestyle and behavior of drug addicts, alcoholics, prostitutes, Satanists. Representatives of various subcultures focus on different values, organize their leisure time differently, read different books etc.

A subculture may be very different from the dominant culture of society, but cannot resist it. When this happens, then we are talking about counterculture. There is a counterculture in every civilized society. An example of counterculture can be subcultures of groups of the underworld, terrorists, various youth groups (punks, hippies, neo-fascists), which do not recognize the legal norms of society, ignore public morality, traditions, rules of behavior, actively deny the official, “state” culture and often try to destroy.

So, the culture of society includes a significant number of positive and negative subcultures, and this indicates its richness, dynamism, and ability to adapt to new social conditions.

The task of sociology is to analyze the coexistence of all these types of cultures, to identify contradictions between them, to study their perception by different social communities. Sociologists should know: or peacefully coexist different cultures, do there arise between them cultural conflicts- situations when the values of one culture (counterculture or subculture) conflict with the values of another (dominant). They are interested in what consequences a cultural conflict will have, whether the emergence of new ones in it will contribute to positive changes in the dominant culture, best models, constituent elements.

Scientists give the greatest importance to the study of national culture.

National culture - this is a set of symbols, values, norms, patterns of behavior, beliefs that characterize a specific community (nationality, nation) of a certain state, country. One national culture can only exist in a country in which linguistic and ethnic unity reigns. Most modern states have several, or even many, national cultures - subcultures of the national majority and subcultures of national minorities.

The task of sociology is to study the possible distortion of subcultures, the mechanism of state cultural policy.

As a rule, national minorities need to make a lot of effort to preserve their identity and protect their national values in an environment where the national majority lives, the culture of which exerts significant pressure on other cultures. This situation was observed in the former USSR, when the peoples that were part of it, in particular the Ukrainian people, found it very difficult to preserve their national treasures and your national culture.

Correct cultural policy government, the state has a significant influence on other aspects of public life, for example, on the economy, general welfare and social tranquility in the state.

Of particular importance for the social peace of the state is confessional culture, which is formed on common beliefs, belonging to the same denomination, church. This gives rise to a commonality of symbols, values, ideals and behavior patterns.

The most common religious cultures in the world are Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist. Each of them has branches - subcultures. For example, Christian culture has such subcultures as Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant. In turn, these subcultures have their own subcultures.

There are several Christian and many other religious subcultures in Ukraine. Unfortunately, not all of them find a common language with each other.

Sociology must study the relationship between dominant cultures, subcultures, countercultures, contradictions between them, and their assessment by various social groups. An important sociological problem is the property ethnic identity perceive and evaluate other cultures through the prism of their own standards ethnic group, make judgments about them from a position of superiority own culture. This phenomenon is called ethnocentrism.

According to American sociologist V. Summer, due to ethnocentrism, a certain group in society is considered central, and all others are compared and correlated with it, as with some universal body.

To a certain extent, ethnocentrism is inherent in all societies and peoples; it unites them. Ethnocentrism is a necessary condition appearance national identity. Without ethnocentrism, patriotism is impossible.

However, extreme manifestations of ethnocentrism also occur, for example nationalism, disdain for other cultures. These phenomena, unfortunately, are very common today and are manifested in the imposition of one’s system of values and one’s way of life on someone. A striking example of this is the USA and Russia.

However, basically ethnocentrism appears in more loyal forms, and its main setting is as follows: I prefer my own customs, although I understand that certain customs of other cultures may be better in some ways. The phenomena of ethnocentrism are observed everywhere and always when a person compares himself with people of a different gender, age, representatives of another organization or another region. Each time she puts herself at the center of culture and examines its other manifestations, constantly comparing them with examples of her cultural environment.

When we talk about the significant role of ethnocentrism in the process of rallying individuals around certain cultural models, it should also be noted its conservative role. It can hinder the development of culture. Indeed, if culture is considered the best in the world, then why change or improve something in it?

The opposite in meaning is cultural relativism, which proclaims the absolute originality of any culture. According to this principle However, culture can only be understood in its own context and only when assessed by its own standards in its entirety. This thesis was formulated
G. Sumner and subsequently developed G. Benedict.

In our opinion, we should proceed from the fact that any culture is an achievement of a common civilization, and it should be considered in the system of all cultures with an orientation towards the development trends of universal human culture. And this is a combination of ethnocentrism and cultural relativism in the perception of culture. With this approach, the individual not only feels pride in the culture of his group or society, is a supporter of its basic models, but is also able to understand other cultures, the behavior of members of other social groups and recognizes their right to exist.

Classification of main forms of culture

Any culture is multifaceted and multifaceted, its content is expressed in different forms. Emphasizing the unity, integrity and versatility of culture, in cultural studies there are many concepts that divide culture on different grounds.

Firstly, tradition, dating back to archaeologists, distinguishes two parts of culture - material and spiritual culture. These are two large groups of cultural objects, in which the main thing is either their material-objective, material form and utilitarian function ( material culture) – or them symbolically rich spiritual content (spiritual culture). Ultimately, any cultural object has symbolic content introduced by man and a material form of consolidation. A book, a painting, music are also material objects, but their symbolic function predominates in them: they embody, preserve and transmit from generation to generation the experience of intellectual and moral development, aesthetic value and religious faith. At the same time, house, clothes, weapons, etc. also symbolically rich cultural objects, although their utilitarian function predominates in them. Therefore, the division of culture into material and spiritual is not absolute, and gives little in the cultural study of culture. Even the use of the terms “material culture” and “spiritual culture” depends on which direction or school in cultural studies this or that researcher belongs to. For example, P. Sorokin distinguished material and ideational (religious) culture; A.Ya. Flier distinguishes socially determined and intellectually determined culture; etc. That is, many cultural scientists are focused on different terminology and other bases for cultural differentiation.

Much attention Today we are focusing on identifying and researching the following structural elements of culture:

1. Mass and elite culture – peculiar and opposing phenomena of social differentiation of modern culture.

Mass culture - this is the culture that created professionally and replicated using modern technical means for daily consumption by large masses of people. Typically wears commercial nature and is designed for the “average” person with his tastes, needs, intellectual abilities, etc. It is available to every person, regardless of their financial situation, education, place of residence, etc. This accessibility is its main advantage.

Although functional and formal analogues of mass culture (culture for all) are found in history, starting with the most ancient civilizations, genuine mass culture is associated with the formation industrial society, when the necessary technical means appear, on the one hand, and the need to prepare the population for life in a technological environment, on the other hand. Urbanization, transformation of class societies into national ones, laws on universal literacy of the population, degradation of many forms traditional culture agricultural type, release is relative large quantity free time and, accordingly, the formation of the need for leisure among broad sections of the population - all this prepared the way for the emergence of mass culture in in every sense words. Mass culture took a special place in the life of modern society as a result of the transition to the information process of technological development in the second half of the twentieth century.

Mass culture is a contradictory phenomenon and is assessed ambiguously. TO positive qualities popular culture includes:

Simple and available a form for everyone that does not require much intellectual effort;

A way accessible to everyone adaptation to modern society, his problems and opportunities, his knowledge and forms of communication; with the help of modern information systems, a person receives a fairly complete picture of his society and the world in which he lives;

Mass culture is focused on the diversity of people, their needs, conditions, etc., and therefore is very diverse; here every person will find something interesting and necessary for him right now;

Mass culture is not only simple in form, but entertaining; one of her most important functions is entertainment, and she has enormous experience in this matter;

Mass culture is capable of performing a psychologically important function - a compensatory function, allowing a person to be distracted from the problems of his own life, its injustice (lack of money, success, recognition) and, empathizing with the hero of a work of art, to identify himself with a prosperous hero. It is no coincidence that Hollywood is called the “factory of dreams,” which are so important for the “little man.” This is especially important during unfavorable periods in the life of society;

Without being strictly tied to national forms of culture, mass culture is universal character and promotes bringing peoples closer together, their mutual understanding.

Giving credit where credit is due positive qualities mass culture, it is actively criticized, assessed as a means of alienation and oppression of the human personality. At the same time, the negative aspects of mass culture include:

Focusing on the universal accessibility of its products, mass culture has developed standards, which satisfy, first of all, the primitive and base tastes of the masses, without encouraging a person to intellectual and spiritual growth ;

Taking into account the real interests and needs of people, mass culture simultaneously forms standard tastes, stereotypes of thinking and behavior, which are beneficial to those who pay; stimulates mass consumer demand for a prestigious mass-produced “product”; mass culture is one of the most profitable sectors of the economy;

Having a well-developed mechanism for forming standards and stereotypes of mass consciousness, producers of mass culture are not interested in spending a lot, reducing its profitability; therefore, mass culture products are very often examples of low artistic quality and simply hackwork , What negatively affects the formation of aesthetic tastes the masses (this does not exclude the possibility of the appearance of highly artistic works, but this is much less common);

Mass culture also plays an important role in the formation of the political and ideological orientation of the masses, manipulating in the interests of the ruling elite and ensuring the spread mass social mythology.

You can probably also name negative and positive qualities of mass culture, but these characteristics also give an idea of the ambiguity of this phenomenon. There is no escaping mass culture today. It penetrates into all spheres of society: media, education, art, leisure culture, etc. But a person striving for self-development should not isolate himself only within the framework of mass culture, accustoming himself to independent intellectual and spiritual work; do not allow yourself to get used to lighter forms of culture: “the soul must work!”

In opposition to popular culture is elitist culture, which is created and consumed by the privileged part of society (the elite). The elite is represented, firstly, by the part of society most capable of individual spiritual creativity in art, science, etc., and secondly, by a group of political leaders, large businessmen, etc., who, due to their position in society, can afford the cultural products of the highest quality: education, works of art, participation in the development of new and diverse forms of culture, etc. In the confrontation between mass and elite culture, it is the latter that is associated with the process of cultural development, the creation of new forms of culture and the identification of new paths in the development of culture.

It should be noted that just belonging to the stratum of rich people or among politicians does not automatically make a person a representative of the elite and elite culture. People often use wealth and power solely for the purpose of maximizing the consumption of things and services, completely in the spirit of mass consumer culture, without burdening themselves with fundamental education, constant self-education, serious work of thought and creativity. Therefore, it is probably necessary to distinguish between the creative elite and the ex-elite, whose place in culture is very different.

2. Subcultures and countercultures - the largest components of an integral local culture, which are associated with the specific living conditions and interests of individual social groups. Interest in these cultural phenomena is very great today, although their research is just beginning.

Subculture(from the Latin “sub” - “under”) - this is social group culture within (subordinate position) the dominant culture in society, which is different some specific value orientations, patterns of behavior, speech characteristics, forms of leisure, etc., What makes her stand out from a number of other subcultures and indicates specificity in relation to the dominant culture.

The main sign that we are dealing with a subculture, and not with a completely independent culture, is that any culture consists of many elements that make up its specificity (language, religion, customs, morals, art, economic structure, etc.). etc.), and the subculture in the bulk of these elements is identical or very close to the dominant culture, differing only in some features.

The existence of subcultures is due to the fact that almost every specific historical community is internally heterogeneous, and includes, in addition to the main ethnic and social core, certain inclusions - groups with specific ethnographic, class, confessional and other characteristics. The specificity of these characteristics can be generated by the relatively isolated residence of this group (for example, Russian Kamchadals), special religion (Old Believers in Russia), special class and professional functions (Cossacks), etc. There are many subcultures associated with age and professional specifics. For example, the youth subculture, the subculture of pensioners, the subculture of the artistic intelligentsia, the subculture of doctors, lawyers, etc.

Level of specificity of subcultures in relation to the main one national culture in each specific case is unique, as well as the tendency of their convergence or even greater separation from the dominant culture. Thus, three centuries ago, France consisted of two dozen ethnic groups with unique cultures, and only the subculture of the city of Paris and its environs was actually French. Today, almost no trace remains of this local diversity; everything has merged into a single national French culture.

In the twentieth century, of particular interest are youth subcultures. This is partly due to the cultural crisis, which led to increased processes of differentiation of society and the erosion of traditional value orientations. Young people are the most active part of the population, demonstrating their desire for self-determination. In addition, young people are the most sensitive to everything new - both good and bad. As a result, in the twentieth century there arose informal groups youth who created their own specific subcultures: hippies, beatnik rockers, goths and many others. They are often associated with various hobbies in the field of leisure, and this is indicative: young people have more free time and the importance of self-determination in this area is increasing. Among youth subcultures, the most famous ones are associated with certain genres of music, and the image of informals is largely formed in imitation of the stage image of performers popular in this group.

This does not mean that youth subcultures do not have their own ideology. The emergence of the hippie subculture was already associated not only with a passion for rock music, but also with the promotion of pacifism. With the strengthening of their own oppositional ideology, subcultures develop into counterculture. Counterculture– a type of subculture when it becomes openly opposed to the dominant culture, denies its values, moral norms and ideals.

Counterculture can be not only a youth subculture. Thus, Christianity once developed as a counterculture in relation to ancient culture. Christianity denied the entire value system of antiquity: instead of polytheism - monotheism, instead of reason - faith, instead of harmony of body and spirit, the unconditional priority of the spirit, etc. This was the reason for the mass persecution of Christians in Ancient Rome. But gradually the new value system of Christianity begins to spread throughout the territory of the Roman Empire, which was experiencing a deep spiritual crisis, and in the 4th century AD. Christianity becomes state religion Rome, and later the spiritual basis of the dominant culture in Western Europe.

Not many countercultures have such a victorious fate. Most of them either lose their critical edge, becoming a subculture, or cease to exist altogether.

3. Marginal subcultures – another structural element that is now attracting the attention of researchers. Marginal culture (from the Latin “marginalis” - located on the edge, on the border) is a set of cultural values in which combines elements of diverse lifestyles. Marginal cultures are formed as a result of processes in society (migration, modernization social systems, social mobility etc.), when people, being carriers of certain cultural traditions, are forced to assimilate cultural values alien to them and social roles. The contradictory position of marginalized strata is accompanied by blurred value orientations, uncertainty in ideas and assessments of behavior, which often leads to deviant forms of behavior, even criminal ones. And this applies not only to declassed people or homeless people. Thus, the appearance of “new Russians” in Europe was accompanied by scandals, since they simply did not know cultural forms behavior adopted in Europe. It seemed that big money gave the right to any behavior: we pay! It turned out that this was not the case. Owners ski resorts, where the “new Russians” began to travel, suffered enormous damage, since traditional European tourists stopped going there, shocked by the behavior of the marginalized.

We have not named all possible structural elements of culture, highlighting those that today attract the attention of researchers as the most relevant. But we remind you that there are other approaches to identifying them. For example, the division of culture based on the bearer of culture (world, national, ethnic, etc.), according to the main spheres of human life, etc.

All social heritage can be considered as a synthesis of material and immaterial cultures.
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Intangible culture is always primary.

In the game of hockey, for example, the pads, puck, sticks and uniform of hockey players are elements of material culture. Intangible culture in this case contains the rules and elements of the game strategy, the skill of the players, as well as the traditionally accepted behavior of players, judges and spectators. Comparing both of these types of culture with each other, we can come to the conclusion that material culture should be considered as the result of non-material culture and should not be created without it. If the game of hockey is forgotten, then for our descendants the stick will be just a wooden stick. The destruction caused by the Second World War was the greatest in human history, but despite this, bridges and cities were quickly rebuilt because people did not lose the knowledge and skill necessary to rebuild them.

Material culture reflects the values of society and its technology. The more complex the technology, the more people are able to transform the world to satisfy their own needs.

Material formations Sociologists call human hands cultural artifacts(from lat. artefactum- artificially created). These are human-made objects such as tools, clothing, household items or housing. In order for a man-made object to be considered an artifact, it must carry a certain symbolic content. Thus, for example, they have archaeological excavations, museum exhibits, objects of painting and architecture. Οʜᴎ are cultural evidence of fugitive eras, and allow new generations of people to better understand the culture and lifestyle of previous generations.

The many ways of living in the world and within a particular society are called cultural diversity. Every society has a certain set of cultural patterns that are accepted and shared by all members of the society. This totality is usually called the dominant culture. Dominant culture- ϶ᴛᴏ combination basic elements cultures that are accepted and shared by all members of society.

At the same time, in society there are subcultures- certain cultural complexes that distinguish any social group(for example, social stratum), one or another community (national, religious, professional, youth).

Immigrant groups, for example, develop a mixed culture that consists of cultural complexes the country where they live at this time, and the cultural complexes adopted at their former place of residence.

Each of the groups of people who stand at different economic levels in the process of distribution of the social product usually develops patterns of behavior that distinguish this group from the rest of the society, as well as its own culture.

For example, young people have their own specific style of behavior, which is expressed in clothing, a certain style of communication, which adults cannot always understand - thus, a youth culture is created.

Due to a number of social, political or economic circumstances, a subculture may cultivate patterns of behavior that are contrary to the dominant culture. Οʜᴎ represent the counterculture of society. Counterculture – it is a set of symbols, values and norms of behavior that oppose the dominant culture and cultural conflicts that give rise to.

Particularly revealing was the contrast cultural values subculture societies in the hippie movement, popular in the 70s in the West. Hippies preached a culture in which work was seen as undesirable, abstinence as an unnecessary and will-limiting righteousness, patriotism as an abnormality, and the pursuit of material wealth as baseness.

So, if, with the help of subcultures, an individual can perceive and realize the basic values of society in different ways, then counterculture means an individual rejection of the basic samples of society’s culture.

Some sociologists distinguish such types of culture in modern society as elite, folk and mass. Main criterion such division - belonging to one or another social class. Typically, “culture” refers to such types of art as classic literature, music, dance and painting.

We call those who regularly attend the opera or drama theater, cultural, believing that they are able to appreciate the “subtle matters of life”. We judge other people less complacently, considering everyday culture to be of a lower class.

Elite culture is aimed at a specific prepared audience. Its elements are created by professionals. Elite culture contains fine arts, so-called serious music, and highly intellectual literature. The circle of its consumers is a highly educated part of society.

Folk culture. Created by anonymous creators. Its creation and functioning are practically inseparable from everyday and practical life. It includes myths, legends, tales, epics, fairy tales, songs, dances, etc. Folklore is another name for folk art.

Mass culture(a phenomenon of 20th century society) is created by professionals, but is publicly accessible and oriented to a wide audience. Consumption of its products does not require special preparation. These are cinema, print, pop music and fashion. Distributed mainly through electronic media.

Types of culture - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Types of culture" 2017, 2018.