What is culture in a broad sense? Concept of culture

Concept of culture originally in ancient Rome meant agriculture. Marcus Porcius Cato the Elder back in the 2nd century BC. wrote a treatise on agriculture, De Agri Cultura. Culture began to be used as an independent term in the 17th century and meant “good breeding” and “education.” In everyday life, culture has retained this meaning.

Culture - it is a set of various manifestations of human activity, including self-expression, self-knowledge, accumulation of skills and abilities. Simply put, culture is everything that is created by man, that is, not nature. Culture as an activity always has a result. Depending on the nature of this result (related to material values ​​or spiritual), culture is distinguished into material and spiritual.

Material culture.

Material culture- this is everything that is related to the material world and serves to satisfy the material needs of a person or society. Essential elements:

• items(or things) - what is primarily meant by material culture (shovels and Cell phones, roads and buildings, food and clothing);
• technologies- methods and means of using objects in order to create something else with their help;
• technical culture- a set of practical skills, abilities and abilities of a person, as well as experience accumulated over generations (an example is a borscht recipe passed down from generation to generation from mother to daughter).

Spiritual culture.

Spiritual culture- This is an activity associated with feelings, emotions, as well as intellect. Essential elements:

• spiritual values(the main element in spiritual culture, as it serves as a standard, ideal, role model);
• spiritual activity(art, science, religion);
• spiritual needs;
• spiritual consumption(consumption of spiritual goods).

Types of culture.

Types of culture are numerous and varied. For example, according to the nature of the attitude towards religion, culture can be secular or religious, according to its distribution in the world - national or global, according to its geographical nature - eastern, western, Russian, British, Mediterranean, American, etc., according to the degree of urbanization - urban, rural , rural, as well as traditional, industrial, postmodern, specialized, medieval, ancient, primitive, etc.

All these types can be summarized in three main forms of culture.

Forms of culture.

1. High culture (elite). fine art high level, creating cultural canons. It is non-commercial in nature and requires intellectual decoding. Example: classical music and literature.
2. Mass culture (pop culture). A culture consumed by the masses, with a low level of complexity. It is commercial in nature and aimed at entertaining a wide audience. Some consider it a means to control the masses, while others believe that the masses themselves created it.
3. Folk culture. Culture of a non-commercial nature, the authors of which, as a rule, are unknown: folklore, fairy tales, myths, songs, etc.

It should be borne in mind that the components of all these three forms constantly penetrate each other, interact and complement each other. Ensemble " Golden ring"is an example of both mass and folk culture.

As an opposition to the concept " nature" (nature). " Cultural" meant - processed, cultivated, artificial as opposed to natural, pristine, wild.

Initially the concept culture used to distinguish plants grown by humans from wild plants. Gradually it began to acquire a broader and more generalized meaning. Cultural began to name objects, phenomena, actions that were above natural, against natural, i.e. everything that was not of divine (natural) origin, but was created by man. It is natural that man himself fell into the sphere of culture, since he created himself and turned out to be the result of the transformation of natural (God-given) material.

However, before the appearance of the Latin word culture there was a concept close to it in meaning. This is an ancient Greek word techne , literally translated as craft, art, craftsmanship(from here - technique). Techne did not have such a broad general meaning as the Latin culture, but in meaning it was close to him: this word in Ancient Greece meant human activity that changes the shape of natural objects and transforms the material world.

Examples of this type of activity many, starting from ancient times (handprints on the walls of caves, engravings on rocks, various signs on objects and bodies, etc.). The main meaning of these drawings is to indicate the presence of a person, his intrusion into natural world, This stamp of human, This signs of the separation of man from nature into culture.

On philosophical level understanding of culture began in the 17th and 18th centuries.(J. Vico, C. Helvetius, B. Franklin, I. Herder, I. Kant).

Man begins to be understood as a being endowed with reason, will, and the ability to create, as an “animal that makes tools,” and the history of mankind is understood as the self-development of man.

Existence, world, reality are understood as two-part: including nature And culture. Nevertheless, for a long time culture was considered not in its integrity, not as a complexly organized system, but in one or another of its specific manifestations (religion, ethics, aesthetics, language, etc.). Hence the almost limitless plurality of approaches, interpretations, and definitions of culture that still persists (there are about 900, but even this figure does not reflect reality).

2. Modern interpretations of the concept of “culture”

- “a concept that reveals the essence human existence as the realization of creativity and freedom” (N. A. Berdyaev);

- “culture (from Latin сultura - cultivation, processing) is a historically certain level of development of society, creative powers and abilities of a person, expressed in the types and forms of organization of people’s lives and activities, as well as in the material and spiritual values ​​they create. The concept of “culture” is used to characterize historical eras, specific nationalities and nations, areas of activity (physical education, political culture, etc.). IN in the narrow sense- the sphere of people’s spiritual life” (Soviet Encyclopedic Dictionary);

- “a universal way of creative self-realization of a person through positing the meaning of his life and correlating it with the meaning of Existence, this is a semantic world that is passed on from generation to generation and determines the way of being and worldview of people, uniting them into certain communities - a nation, a religious or professional group” ( Radugin V.P.),

- “a complex that includes knowledge, beliefs, art, laws, morals, customs and other abilities and habits acquired by a person as a member of society” (E. Tylor),

- "unity" artistic style in all manifestations of the life of the people" (F. Nietzsche),

- “unity of all forms traditional behavior"(M. Mead),

- “the cultural aspect of the superorganic universe, covering ideas, values, norms, their interaction and relationships” (P. Sorokin),

- “the social direction that we give to the cultivation of our biological potentialities” (H. Ortega y Gasset),

- “forms of behavior habitual for a group, community of people, society, having material and intangible features” (K. G. Jung),

- “the organization of various phenomena - material objects, bodily acts, ideas and feelings, which consist of symbols or depend on their use” (L. White),

- “that which distinguishes a person from an animal” (W. Oswald),

- “system of signs” (C. Morris),

- “the process of self-progressive self-liberation of a person; language, art, religion, science are different forms of this process” (E. Cassirer),

- “the general context of the sciences and arts, correlated categorically with language, is a structure that pushes a person above himself and gives his nation value” (R. Tshumi),

- “characteristic of the entire set of achievements and institutions that separated our life from the life of our bestial ancestors and served two purposes: protecting man from nature and regulating people’s relationships with each other” (S. Freud),

- “this is the goal of the transformation of Eros, the sublimation of the sexual instinct” (J. Roheim),

- “the totality of intellectual elements available to this person or among a group of people and having some stability associated with the “memory of the world” and society - memory materialized in libraries, monuments and languages” (A. Mol),

- “realization of supreme values ​​through the cultivation of the highest human virtues” (M. Heidegger),

- “in a broad ethnographic sense, this is knowledge, beliefs, art, morality, laws, customs and some other abilities and habits acquired by a person as a member of society” (E. Tylor),

- “a socially inherited set of modes of activity and beliefs that make up the fabric of our lives” (E. Sapir),

- “forms of habitual behavior common to a group, community or society; these forms consist of material and intangible elements” (K. Young),

- “a certain degree of education; another, broader usage gives culture the meaning of everyday life in general (in the case of primitive culture or the culture of such eras and peoples, which, when using the word in the first meaning, should be called uncultured..." (Encyclopedic Dictionary of F. A. Brockhaus and I. A. Efron ).

Analyzing the entire range of definitions presented, we can conclude that there are some essential features of the phenomenon of interest to us that combine the above options.

So, commonplace are the following provisions:

Culture is what distinguishes man from the natural environment (culture is called “second nature”), it is a characteristic of human society;

Culture is not inherited biologically, but involves training, education, cultivation;

Culture is a historically emergent phenomenon; it appears along with human society and develops with it in time and space.

Let's focus on one of the possible options for determining the essence of culture: culture - specific method organization and development of human life, presented in the products of material and spiritual labor, in the system social norms and institutions, in spiritual values, in the totality of people’s relationships to themselves, to society and nature.

In Russia the term “culture” used in accordance with German tradition, the French and English prefer the term "civilization". There are a lot of different judgments in modern cultural studies regarding the distinction between these concepts. As an illustration, here is a quote from an interview with A. I. Solzhenitsyn: “Culture is the cultivation inside a person’s life, his soul, while civilization is the cultivation of the external, material side of his life.”

There is an assertion that “culture” is a word that is both too broad and too narrow to be of any use. Margaret Archer notes that “of all the key concepts” in socio-humanities, the concept of culture has demonstrated “the weakest analytical development and played the most ambiguous role in theory.”

In the 1970s, the semiotic direction in the humanities was very popular. In the light of this theory, culture began to be viewed as practices signification. Clifford Geertz spoke of “the web of signification in which humanity is suspended.” Raymond Williams wrote about "a system of signification through which...social order is communicated, transmitted, reproduced, experienced, and studied."

All social systems imply signification. Housing is a matter of need, but it is included in the system of signification as soon as these needs begin to appear within social differences. Lunch in a luxury restaurant cannot be reduced to satisfying the basic need for food, this is already a realm of signification, etc.

Terry Eagleton proposes to describe culture "as the complex of values, customs, beliefs and practices that make up the way of life of a specific group." The famous formulation of E.B. Tylor, proposed to anthropologists in his "Primitive Culture", states that "culture is composed as a whole of knowledge, beliefs, art, morality, laws, customs and some other abilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society."

Stuart Hall: culture is everything that is not transmitted genetically; they are “lived practices” or “practical ideologies that enable a society, group or class to experience, define, interpret and make sense of the conditions of existence.”

The definition given to culture by Raymond Williams (an outstanding theorist of the second half of the twentieth century) reveals its dual nature - material reality associated with lived experience: “culture is a structure of feeling.” In his different jobs The following definitions are found: standard of perfection; mental habit; art; general intellectual development; holistic lifestyle; signification system; the relationship of elements in a lifestyle.

T. Eagleton notes, that the conflict between the broad and narrow meaning of the term “culture” today has led to the fact that the expansion this concept has no boundaries. We hear about “culture of service”, “culture of pain”, “culture of football”, “culture of drinking beer”... Exactly the same is true with the term “philosophy”: “philosophy of photography”, “philosophy of fishing”, “philosophy of war”...

Broad understanding of the term relies on recognition universal character culture as a form of subjectivity (the subject is understood broadly - from the individual to the nation). In this sense, culture means the value field in which people exist and which they share by virtue of their human nature. Culture-as-art is a concentrated form of this field. “High culture has a position like that of the Almighty - it looks from everywhere and from nowhere.”

Eagleton suggests separating Culture And culture . The essence of Culture is that it is devoid of culture: its values ​​relate not to any specific form of life, but to human life in general. Because the values ​​of Culture universal, but not abstract(!), it requires a local refuge for it to flourish. There cannot be a special Korean version of Kant's categorical imperative. Culture is ironic about its historical environment: if it needs precisely this scene for its own fulfillment, it is Culture precisely because it overcomes this environment in the movement towards the universal. Just as form binds the elements of a work into a coherent whole, culture denotes the connection between a particular civilization/culture and universal humanity.

Culture as a universal form of human existence gravitates toward the individual, and culture as identity gravitates toward a particular collectivity, no matter how paradoxical it may sound. It is in uniqueness that the universal potential is revealed, and it also interferes with conventional agreements within a particular community. Eagleton: “Culture is the spirit of humanity, which has found concrete expression in specific works, its discourse connects the individual “I” and the truth of the Human without the mediation of the historically particular. Particulars - pure chance, combinatorics, contingency.

So, the main term of the 18th century was NATURE, of the 19th - SOCIETY, HISTORY. In the 20-21 centuries - CULTURE.

Pushkin had no words“culture” (hereinafter - K.), there was only civilization (hereinafter - C.). Towards the cultural sciences as special type Society only came into contact with knowledge in the twentieth century. Cultural studies, philosophy of culture, cultural anthropology, and the culture of everyday life have emerged. All these are separate disciplines.

The main discovery of all these disciplines- there is no one culture for everyone. There are universals, but they work differently in every context. For example, in Europe there was not one Renaissance, but at least two (Italian and northern).

Claude Lévi-Strauss has a job“Three Humanisms”, where he highlights: 1st Renaissance - the legalization of pagan antiquity in Europe; 2nd - metaphysical discovery of the East by Europeans (18th century); 1871 - Taylor’s book “Primitive Culture” was published (primitiveness was legalized as a full-fledged part of the culture system). Now this is obvious, but then it was an important revolution in consciousness.

And if there are many “cultures”, then knowledge about K. and existence/being in K. do not coincide. Just because I KNOW about Taoism does not mean I belong to it. Therefore, in the process of studying the discipline “Theory and History of Culture”, it is important not only to gain KNOWLEDGE about culture/cultures, but to form CULTURAL SELF-AWARENESS (the process takes a lifetime).

Culturology gives knowledge about culture and different cultures, and philosophy/theory of culture answers the questions - where am I in this diversity? What do you consider yours? The task of a cultural theorist is to see today’s day from the perspective of the WHOLE HISTORY OF CULTURE and “count” the meanings.

The sciences of culture took shape in contrast to the “natural sciences”. The problems of cultural theory are addressed to one degree or another by: history, philosophy, anthropology (social, cultural), psychology, sociology, ethnography, archeology, linguistics, art history. Thus, the APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF CULTURE is interdisciplinary.

AN OBJECT- culture in all its diversity, in the unity and uniqueness of the processes occurring in it.

SUBJECT FIELD OF DISCIPLINE- forms and types of culture; ways of its existence; historical dynamics culture.

level, degree of development achieved in any branch of knowledge or activity (work culture, speech culture...) - the degree of social and mental development inherent in someone.

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

CULTURE

a historically determined level of development of society, creative powers and abilities of a person, expressed in the types and forms of organization of people’s lives and activities, in their relationships, as well as in the material and spiritual values ​​they create. K. is a complex interdisciplinary general methodological concept. The concept of "K." used to characterize a certain historical era(for example, ancient K.), specific societies, nationalities and nations (K. Maya), as well as specific spheres of activity or life (K. labor, political, economic, etc.). There are two spheres of K. - material and spiritual. Material culture includes the objective results of people’s activities (machines, structures, results of knowledge, works of art, moral and legal norms, etc.), spiritual culture unites those phenomena that are associated with consciousness, intellectual and emotional-psychic human activity (language, knowledge, skills, level of intelligence, moral and aesthetic development, worldview, methods and forms of human communication). Material and spiritual K. are in organic unity, integrating into a certain unified type of K., which is historically changeable, but at each new stage of its development inherits everything that is most valuable created by the previous K. The core of K. consists of universal human goals and values, as well as historically established ways of perceiving and achieving them. But acting as a universal phenomenon, K. is perceived, mastered and reproduced by each person individually, determining his formation as an individual. The transfer of knowledge from generation to generation includes the mastery of the experience accumulated by mankind, but does not coincide with the utilitarian mastery of the results of previous activity. Cultural continuity is not automatic; it is necessary to organize a system of upbringing and education based on scientific research into the forms, methods, directions and mechanisms of personality development. The assimilation of K. is a mutually directed process for which all basic principles are valid. patterns of communicative activity. - a high level of something, high development, skill (eg, work culture, speech culture). (Chernik B.P. Effective participation in educational exhibitions. - Novosibirsk, 2001.) See also Culture of behavior, Culture of speech

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

The word "culture" is on the list of most used in modern language. But this fact does not indicate that this concept has been studied, but rather 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 are talking 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. That is why culture and society must be considered inextricably linked. 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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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, 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 of human production activity. 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. From these links material culture Human survival directly depends on them, 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, runway airports, 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. 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 material and spiritual views cultures have such subtle differences, there are criteria for accurately assigning one or another result of activity to one or another 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 a 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 institutions also belong to the spiritual world.

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

1. Projective activity. She offers drawings and ideal models machines, structures, technical structures, as well as projects for social transformation and new forms of the 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.
2. The body 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.
3. 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.
4. 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 cultural fund accumulated over many years, find their 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, 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 correct use and 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 his life. And to create a normal communication channel, each of us needs to constantly maintain the culture of our speech. 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, public policy in this area, etc.

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. So, in artistic creativity there is 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 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 funds began mass media to most countries.

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

Culture

Basically, culture refers to human activity at its most different manifestations, including all forms and methods of human self-expression and self-knowledge, the accumulation of skills and abilities by man and society as a whole. Culture also appears as a manifestation of human subjectivity and objectivity (character, competencies, skills, abilities and knowledge).

Culture is a set of stable forms human activity, without which it cannot reproduce, and therefore cannot exist.

Culture is a set of codes that prescribe to a person certain behavior with his inherent experiences and thoughts, thereby exerting a managerial influence on him. Therefore, for every researcher the question cannot but arise about starting point research in this regard.

Different definitions of culture

The variety of philosophical and scientific definitions of culture existing in the world does not allow us to refer to this concept as the most obvious designation of an object and subject of culture and requires a clearer and narrower specification: Culture is understood as...

History of the term

Antiquity

IN Ancient Greece close to the term culture was paideia, which expressed the concept of “internal culture,” or, in other words, “culture of the soul.”

In Latin sources, the word first appears in the treatise on agriculture by Marcus Porcius Cato the Elder (234-149 BC) De Agri Cultura(c. 160 BC) - himself early monument Latin prose.

This treatise is devoted not just to cultivating the land, but to caring for the field, which presupposes not only cultivation, but also a special emotional attitude towards it. For example, Cato gives the following advice on acquiring land plot: you need not to be lazy and walk around the plot of land you are buying several times; If the site is good, the more often you inspect it, the more you will like it. This is the “like” you should definitely have. If he doesn't exist, then there won't be any good care, i.e. there will be no culture.

Marcus Tullius Cicero

IN Latin the word has several meanings:

The Romans used the word culture with some object in genitive case, that is, only in phrases meaning improvement, improvement of what was combined with: “culture juries” - development of rules of behavior, “culture lingual” - improvement of language, etc.

In Europe in the 17th-18th centuries

Johann Gottfried Herder

In the meaning of an independent concept culture appeared in the works of the German lawyer and historian Samuel Pufendorf (1632-1694). He used this term in relation to “artificial man”, brought up in society, as opposed to “natural” man, uneducated.

In philosophical, and then scientific and everyday use, the first word culture launched by the German educator I. K. Adelung, who published the book “An Experience in the History of the Culture of the Human Race” in 1782.

We can call this human genesis in the second sense whatever we want, we can call it culture, that is, cultivation of the soil, or we can remember the image of light and call it enlightenment, then the chain of culture and light will stretch to the very ends of the earth.

In Russia in the 18th-19th centuries

In the 18th century and in the first quarter of the 19th, the lexeme “culture” was absent from the Russian language, as evidenced, for example, by N. M. Yanovsky’s “New Interpreter, Arranged Alphabetically” (St. Petersburg, 1804. Part II. From K to N.S. 454). Bilingual dictionaries offered possible translations of the word into Russian. The two German words proposed by Herder as synonyms to denote a new concept had only one correspondence in the Russian language - enlightenment.

Word culture entered Russian only in the mid-30s of the 19th century. The presence of this word in the Russian lexicon was recorded by I. Renofantz, published in 1837, “A Pocket Book for an Enthusiast of Reading Russian Books, Newspapers and Magazines.” The said dictionary distinguished two meanings of the lexeme: firstly, “plowing, farming”; secondly, “education”.

A year before the publication of the Renofantz dictionary, from the definitions of which it is clear that the word culture has not yet entered the consciousness of society as scientific term, as a philosophical category, a work appeared in Russia, the author of which not only addressed the concept culture, but also gave it a detailed definition and theoretical justification. We are talking about the essay by academician and emeritus professor of the Imperial St. Petersburg Medical-Surgical Academy Danila Mikhailovich Vellansky (1774-1847) “Basic outlines of general and particular physiology or physics organic world" It is from this natural philosophical work of a medical scientist and Schellingian philosopher that one should begin not only with the introduction of the term “culture” into scientific use, but also with the formation of cultural and philosophical ideas in Russia.

Nature, cultivated by the human spirit, is Culture, corresponding to Nature in the same way that a concept corresponds to a thing. The subject of Culture consists of ideal things, and the subject of Nature consists of real concepts. Actions in Culture are carried out with conscience, works in Nature occur without conscience. Therefore, Culture has an ideal quality, Nature has a real quality. - Both, in their content, are parallel; and the three kingdoms of Nature: fossil, vegetable and animal, correspond to the regions of Culture, containing the subjects of the Arts, Sciences and Moral Education.

Material objects of Nature correspond ideal concepts Cultures, which, according to the content of their knowledge, are physical qualities and mental properties. Objective concepts relate to the study of physical objects, while subjective concepts relate to the occurrences of the human spirit and its aesthetic works.

In Russia in the 19th-20th centuries

Berdyaev, Nikolai Alexandrovich

The contrast and juxtaposition of nature and culture in Vellansky’s work is not the classical opposition of nature and “second nature” (man-made), but a correlation between the real world and its ideal image. Culture is a spiritual principle, a reflection of the World Spirit, which can have both a physical embodiment and an ideal embodiment - in abstract concepts (objective and subjective, judging by the subject to which knowledge is directed).

Culture is connected with a cult, it develops from a religious cult, it is the result of the differentiation of a cult, the unfolding of its content in different directions. Philosophical thought, scientific knowledge, architecture, painting, sculpture, music, poetry, morality - everything is organically contained in the church cult, in a form that has not yet been developed and differentiated. The most ancient of Cultures - the Culture of Egypt began in the temple, and its first creators were the priests. Culture is associated with the cult of ancestors, with legend and tradition. It is full of sacred symbolism, it contains signs and similarities of another, spiritual reality. Every Culture (even material Culture) is a Culture of the spirit, every Culture has a spiritual basis - it is a product creative work spirit over natural elements.

Roerich, Nikolai Konstantinovich

Expanded and deepened the interpretation of the word culture, his contemporary, Russian artist, philosopher, publicist, archaeologist, traveler and public figure- Nicholas Konstantinovich Roerich (1874-1947), who devoted most of his life to the development, dissemination and protection of culture. He more than once called Culture “worship of Light”, and in the article “Synthesis” he even split the lexeme into parts: “Cult” and “Ur”:

The cult will always remain the veneration of the Good Beginning, and the word Ur reminds us of an old eastern root meaning Light, Fire.

In the same article he writes:

...Now I would like to clarify the definition of two concepts that we encounter every day in our everyday life. It is significant to repeat the concept of Culture and Civilization. To our surprise, we have to notice that these concepts, which seem so refined by their roots, are already subject to reinterpretation and distortion. For example, many people still believe it is quite possible to replace the word Culture with civilization. At the same time, it is completely missed that the Latin root Cult itself has a very deep spiritual meaning, while civilization fundamentally has a civil, social structure of life. It would seem to be absolutely clear that each country goes through a degree of publicity, that is, civilization, which in a high synthesis creates the eternal, indestructible concept of Culture. As we see in many examples, civilization can perish, can be completely destroyed, but Culture in indestructible spiritual tablets creates a great heritage that feeds future young shoots.

Every manufacturer of standard products, every manufacturer, of course, is already civilized man, but no one will insist that every factory owner is already a cultured person. And it may very well turn out that the lowest worker in a factory can be the bearer of undoubted Culture, while its owner will be only within the boundaries of civilization. You can easily imagine a “House of Culture,” but it will sound very awkward: “House of Civilization.” The name “cultural worker” sounds quite definite, but “civilized worker” will mean something completely different. Every university professor will be quite satisfied with the title of cultural worker, but try telling the venerable professor that he is a civilized worker; For such a nickname, every scientist, every creator will feel internal awkwardness, if not resentment. We know the expressions “civilization of Greece”, “civilization of Egypt”, “civilization of France”, but they in no way exclude the following, highest in its inviolability, expression when we talk about great culture Egypt, Greece, Rome, France...

Periodization of cultural history

In modern cultural studies, the following periodization of the history of European culture is accepted:

• Primitive culture (up to 4 thousand BC);
• The culture of the Ancient World (4 thousand BC - 5th century AD), in which the culture of the Ancient East and the culture of Antiquity are distinguished;
• Culture of the Middle Ages (V-XIV centuries);
• Culture of the Renaissance or Renaissance (XIV-XVI centuries);
• Culture of the New Time (16th-19th centuries);

The main feature of the periodization of cultural history is the identification of the culture of the Renaissance as independent period development of culture, while in historical science this era is considered the late Middle Ages or early modern times.

Culture and nature

It is not difficult to see that the removal of man from the principles of rational cooperation with the nature that generates him leads to the decline of the accumulated cultural heritage, and then to the decline of civilized life itself. An example of this is the decline of many developed states of the ancient world and the numerous manifestations of the cultural crisis in the life of modern megacities.

Modern understanding of culture

In practice, the concept of culture refers to all the best products and actions, including in the fields of art and classical music. From this point of view, the concept of “cultural” includes people who are in some way connected with these areas. At the same time, people involved in classical music are, by definition, at a higher high level than rap fans from working-class neighborhoods or Australian aborigines.

However, within the framework of this worldview, there is a current - where less “cultured” people are seen, in many ways, as more “natural”, and the suppression of “human nature” is attributed to “high” culture. This point of view is found in the works of many authors since the 18th century. They emphasize, for example, that folk music (as created by ordinary people) more honestly expresses the natural way of life, while classical music appears superficial and decadent. Following this opinion, people outside the " Western civilization" - "noble savages" not corrupted by Western capitalism.

Today, most researchers reject both extremes. They do not accept either the concept of the “only correct” culture or its complete opposition to nature. In this case, it is recognized that the “non-elite” can have the same high culture, as “elite”, and “non-Western” people can be just as cultured, it’s just that their culture is expressed in different ways. However, this concept makes a distinction between “high” culture as the culture of the elite and “mass” culture, which implies goods and works aimed at the needs of ordinary people. It should also be noted that in some works both types of culture, “high” and “low”, simply refer to different subcultures.

Artifacts, or works of material culture, are usually derived from the first two components.

Examples.

Thus, culture (assessed as experience and knowledge), when assimilated into the sphere of architecture, becomes an element of material culture - a building. A building, as an object of the material world, affects a person through his senses.

When assimilating the experience and knowledge of a people by one person (the study of mathematics, history, politics, etc.), we get a person who has a mathematical culture, political culture, etc.

Subculture concept

The subculture has the following explanation. Since the distribution of knowledge and experience in society is not uniform (people have different mental abilities), and experience that is relevant for one social stratum will not be relevant for another (the rich do not need to save on products, choosing what is cheaper), in this regard, culture will have fragmentation.

Changes in culture

Development, change and progress in culture are almost identically equal to dynamics; it acts as a more general concept. Dynamics is an ordered set of multidirectional processes and transformations in culture, taken within a certain period

• any changes in culture are causally determined by many factors
• dependence of the development of any culture on the measure of innovation (the ratio of stable elements of culture and the scope of experiments)

• Natural resources
• communication
• cultural diffusion (mutual penetration (borrowing) cultural traits and complexes from one society to another when they come into contact (cultural contact)
• economic technologies
• social institutions and organizations
• value-semantic
• rational-cognitive

Cultural studies

Culture is a subject of study and reflection within a number of academic disciplines. Among the main ones are cultural studies, cultural studies, cultural anthropology, philosophy of culture, sociology of culture and others. In Russia, the main science of culture is considered to be culturology, while in Western, predominantly English-speaking countries, the term culturology is usually understood in a narrower sense as the study of culture as cultural system. A common interdisciplinary field of study of cultural processes in these countries is cultural studies. cultural studies) . Cultural anthropology studies the diversity of human culture and society, and one of its main tasks is to explain the reasons for the existence of this diversity. The sociology of culture is engaged in the study of culture and its phenomena using the methodological means of sociology and the establishment of dependencies between culture and society. Philosophy of culture is a specifically philosophical study of the essence, meaning and status of culture.

Notes

1. *Culturology. XX century Encyclopedia in two volumes / Chief editor and compiler S.Ya. Levit. - St. Petersburg. : University Book, 1998. - 640 p. - 10,000 copies, copies. - ISBN 5-7914-0022-5
2. Vyzhletsov G.P. Axiology of culture. - St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg State University. - P.66
3. Pelipenko A. A., Yakovenko I. G. Culture as a system. - M.: Languages ​​of Russian culture, 1998.
4. Etymology of the word “culture” - Cultural Studies mailing archive
5. "cultura" in translation dictionaries - Yandex. Dictionaries
6. Sugai L. A. The terms “culture”, “civilization” and “enlightenment” in Russia XIX- beginning of the 20th century // Proceedings of GASK. Issue II. World of Culture.-M.: GASK, 2000.-p.39-53
7. Gulyga A.V. Kant today // I. Kant. Treatises and letters. M.: Nauka, 1980. P. 26
8. Renofants I. A pocket book for those who like to read Russian books, newspapers and magazines. St. Petersburg, 1837. P. 139.
9. Chernykh P.Ya Historical and etymological dictionary of the modern Russian language. M., 1993. T. I. P. 453.
10. Vellansky D.M. Basic outlines of general and particular physiology or physics of the organic world. St. Petersburg, 1836. pp. 196-197.
11. Vellansky D.M. Basic outlines of general and particular physiology or physics of the organic world. St. Petersburg, 1836. P. 209.
12. Sugai L. A. The terms “culture”, “civilization” and “enlightenment” in Russia in the 19th - early 20th centuries // Proceedings of GASK. Issue II. World of Culture.-M.: GASK, 2000.-pp.39-53.
13. Berdyaev N. A. The meaning of history. M., 1990 °C. 166.
14. Roerich N.K. Culture and civilization M., 1994. P. 109.
15. Nicholas Roerich. Synthesis
16. White A Symbolism as a worldview C 18
17. White A Symbolism as a worldview C 308
18. Article “Pain of the Planet” from the collection “Fiery Stronghold” http://magister.msk.ru/library/roerich/roer252.htm
19. New philosophical encyclopedia. M., 2001.
20. White, Leslie "The Evolution of Culture: The Development of Civilization to the Fall of Rome." McGraw-Hill, New York (1959)
21. White, Leslie, (1975) "The Concept of Cultural Systems: A Key to Understanding Tribes and Nations", Columbia University, New York
22. Usmanova A. R. “Cultural research” // Postmodernism: Encyclopedia / Mn.: Interpressservice; Book House, 2001. - 1040 p. - (World of Encyclopedias)
23. Abushenko V.L. Sociology of culture // Sociology: Encyclopedia / Comp. A. A. Gritsanov, V. L. Abushenko, G. M. Evelkin, G. N. Sokolova, O. V. Tereshchenko. - Mn.: Book House, 2003. - 1312 p. - (World of Encyclopedias)
24. Davydov Yu. N. Philosophy of culture // Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Literature

• Georg Schwarz, Kulturexperimente im Altertum, Berlin 2010.
• Etymology of the word "culture"
• Ionin L. G. History of the word “culture”. Sociology of culture. -M.: Logos, 1998. - p.9-12.
• Sugai L. A. The terms “culture”, “civilization” and “enlightenment” in Russia in the 19th - early 20th centuries // Proceedings of GASK. Issue II. World of Culture.-M.: GASK, 2000.-pp.39-53.
• Chuchin-Rusov A. E. Convergence of cultures. - M.: Master, 1997.
• Asoyan Yu., Malafeev A. Historiography of the concept “cultura” (Antiquity - Renaissance - Modern times) // Asoyan Yu., Malafeev A. Discovery of the idea of ​​culture. Experience of Russian cultural studies mid-19th- beginning of the 20th century. M. 2000, p. 29-61.
• Zenkin S. Cultural relativism: Towards the history of an idea // Zenkin S. N. French romanticism and the idea of ​​culture. M.: RSUH, 2001, p. 21-31.
• Korotaev A. V., Malkov A. S., Khalturina D. A. Laws of history. Mathematical modeling of the development of the World System. Demography, economics, culture. 2nd ed. M.: URSS, 2007.
• Lukov Vl. A. Cultural history of Europe in the 18th–19th centuries. - M.: GITR, 2011. - 80 p. - 100 copies. - ISBN 978-5-94237-038-1
• Leach Edmund. Culture and communication: the logic of the relationship of symbols. Towards the use of structural analysis in anthropology. Per. from English - M.: Publishing house " Eastern literature" RAS, 2001. - 142 p.
• Markaryan E. S. Essays on the history of culture. - Yerevan: Publishing house. ArmSSR, 1968.
• Markaryan E. S. Theory of culture and modern science. - M.: Mysl, 1983.
• Flier A. Ya. History of culture as a change in dominant types of identity // Personality. Culture. Society. 2012. Volume 14. Issue. 1 (69-70). pp. 108-122.
• Flier A. Ya. Vector cultural evolution// Observatory of Culture. 2011. No. 5. P. 4-16.
• Shendrik A.I. Theory of culture. - M.: Publishing house of political literature "Unity", 2002. - 519 p.

see also

• World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development

Links

• Vavilin E. A., Fofanov V. P.