Artistic culture in cultural studies. Artistic culture and its main directions

The biosphere is the habitat of living beings. The origin of life is closely related to the development of the earth's shells. It began its formation about 4 billion years ago, then the first signs of life appeared on our planet.

The formation of the biosphere and its gradual formation is due to the influence of a number of factors: the effect of cosmic energy on the Earth, the development of living organisms and humanity.

The term biosphere was introduced by the Austrian scientist Suess back in the 19th century; he identified all the shells of the Earth, but made a detailed description of them in the 20th century. domestic scientist V.I. Vernadsky (first president of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences). He described the boundaries of the biosphere and developed a unified doctrine of the biosphere.

Properties of the biosphere necessary for the emergence and continuation of life

• Availability of CO 2 and oxygen;
• water is the source of life on earth, the presence of both fresh and salt water bodies;
• temperature regulation: no sudden changes, ultra-high and low readings;
• providing all living things with food;

There is still no uniform definition. There are three versions of what the biosphere is:

1. The total mass of all living beings that live in the shells of the earth is the biosphere.
2. Organisms and the places where they live together make up the biosphere.
3. This is a consequence of the long life of creatures that lived long before our days.

Geologists consider the first point of view to be correct, since the others do not have theoretical support.

The biosphere extends over the entire surface of the Earth (mountains, fields, rivers, seas, oceans) and creates conditions for the life of all organisms. Man is also a component.

Borders

How are the boundaries of the biosphere determined?

Since the Living is the main component of the biosphere, its boundaries are determined by the ability of individuals to survive in conditions environment. In the upper layers, ultraviolet radiation does not allow living organisms to develop - this determines the upper limit of the biosphere. High temperatures in the depths of the earth set the bottom line of life.

Atmosphere– air layer globe, consists of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, etc. It protects the Earth from overheating, the effects of cosmic radiation, ultraviolet radiation, and meteorites. The atmosphere is divided into: troposphere, stratosphere, and ionosphere.

Troposphere(the ozone layer of the earth) is the upper boundary of the biosphere, located at an altitude of 20 km.

Stratosphere– located at an altitude of 50 km above sea level, the air thins, heats up, ozone concentration increases, conditions become unsuitable for life.

Ionosphere – surface layer atmosphere, susceptible to cosmic radiation, and therefore highly ionized.

Lithosphere– the earth’s crust, a solid layer that goes to a depth of 200 km. The biosphere refers to the upper sphere inhabited by living organisms. The lower limit of the lithosphere reaches 4 km, the depth where bacteria were found. Dropping lower, the temperature increases, reaching 100 degrees, which is incompatible with the existence of living organisms, protein denaturation occurs, and all living things die.

Hydrosphere– a set of ground and groundwater. This is one of the shells of our planet, which surrounds continents and islands, making up 70% of the surface of the globe. The lower boundary of the biosphere is located at a depth of about 11 km. (in the Pacific region).

Layers of the biosphere

Eubiosphere– the main layer of the biosphere. 99.9% of living beings permanently inhabit this layer. The width of the eubiosphere is 12-17 km.

Parabiosphere, metabiosphere– respectively, the upper and lower layers of the bisophere, where life falls by chance, is brought from the eubiosphere.

Apobiosphere And abiosphere- the uppermost and lowermost layers, where life cannot enter even by accident.

Depending on the habitat of living organisms, they are distinguished:

• Aerobiosphere(life is carried out due to atmospheric moisture and solar energy, from the treetops to the stratosphere);
• geobiosphere(organisms inhabit the soil, land surface, trees);
• hydrobiosphere(All water structures inhabited by hydrobionts, excluding groundwater).

Structure of the biosphere and its composition

Living matter Vernadsky described it as the total number of all living organisms inhabiting the planet in a given period of time.

Basic properties:

• It concentrates great amount energy;
• the speed of reactions in a living organism is faster than in artificially created conditions;
• the components of living matter are stable only in a viable organism;
• the ability to exist in different conditions, filling all the space. Vernadsky called this phenomenon “the ubiquity of life”;
• individuals are always part of an ecosystem;
• living matter evolves, acquires new properties, adapts to the variability of the external environment.

Nutrient- products of the vital activity of living things. During their life, organisms repeatedly pass through all the components of the biosphere, which is how deposits of oil, gas, coal, peat, etc. are formed.

Inert substance– is formed without the participation of living matter (non-biogenic rocks, minerals).

Bioinert substance– created by the interaction of living and nonliving things (water, ground atmosphere, soil).

Living matter is not evenly distributed over the vast expanses of the earth; its concentration increases near the equatorial plane; there is little life at the poles of the planet.

Accumulations of living organisms are located at the boundaries of the layers of the biosphere: at the bottom of the ocean - there is a boundary between the lithosphere and the hydrosphere, in surface waters The oceans of the world are the boundary between the hydrosphere and the atmosphere; on the border of the lithosphere and atmosphere there is soil - the habitat of microorganisms, insects, and other animals. In these places they are created favorable conditions for existence: high concentration of oxygen, access to sunlight, moisture, nutrients.

The ratio of species of living organisms shows the predominance of vegetation, it occupies 99% of all living things, animals - 1%, people - 0.0002%.

Functions of the biosphere

Energy– accumulation of solar radiation during the process of photosynthesis (energy transfer sunlight with the help of plant pigments into organic bonds) and its transformation, with subsequent distribution between all living organisms.

Gas-forming– maintaining a stable gas composition of the atmosphere (emission of oxygen, absorption of carbon dioxide).

Concentration- concentrated in the body chemical substances, subsequently forming minerals.

Cycle of matter in the biosphere

In the process of growth and development, plants use minerals from the soil, adsorb water with the help of roots, process solar energy, form organic substances from inorganic ones, from atmospheric air Leaves absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen through photosynthesis.

Animals and humans breathe oxygen and use organic substances formed by plants. After death, accumulation organic matter plants and animals decompose under the influence of microorganisms and turn into an inorganic state.

The process of transforming energy and matter begins again - this is the cycle of life.

Biosphere (from Greek bios - life, sphaira - sphere)- the shell of planet Earth in which life is present. The development of the term “biosphere” is associated with the English geologist Eduard Suesse and the Russian scientist V.I. Vernadsky. The biosphere, together with the lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere, forms the four main shells of the Earth.

Origin of the term "biosphere"

The term "biosphere" was first coined by geologist Eduard Suess in 1875 to refer to the space on the Earth's surface where life exists. A more complete definition of the concept “biosphere” was proposed by V.I. Vernadsky. He was the first to assign life the dominant role of the transformative force of our planet, taking into account the vital activity of organisms both in the present and in the past. Geochemists define the term "biosphere" as the total sum of living organisms ("biomass" or "biota" as biologists and ecologists call it).

Boundaries of the biosphere

Every part of the planet, from polar ice to the equator, inhabited by living organisms. Recent advances in the field of microbiology have shown that microorganisms live deep below the earth's surface and perhaps their total biomass exceeds the biomass of the entire animal and flora on the surface of the Earth.

At present, the actual boundaries of the biosphere cannot be measured. Typically, most bird species fly at altitudes between 650 and 1,800 meters, and fish have been found as deep as 8,372 meters in the Puerto Rico Trench. But there are also more extreme examples of life on the planet. The African vulture, or Rüppel's vulture, has been seen at altitudes of over 11,000 meters, mountain geese usually migrate to altitudes of at least 8,300 meters, wild yaks live in the mountainous regions of Tibet at an altitude of about 3,200 - 5,400 meters above sea level, and mountain goats live at altitudes up to 3000 meters.

Microscopic organisms are capable of living in more extreme conditions, and if we take them into account, the thickness of the biosphere is much greater than we imagined. Some microorganisms have been discovered in the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere at an altitude of 41 km. It is unlikely that microbes are active at altitudes where temperature and air pressure are extremely low and ultraviolet radiation is very intense. Most likely, they were transported to the upper atmosphere by winds or volcanic eruptions. Also, single-celled life forms were found in the deepest part of the Mariana Trench at a depth of 11,034 meters.

Despite all the above examples of the extremes of life, in general the layer of the Earth's biosphere is so thin that it can be compared to the peel of an apple.

Structure of the biosphere

The biosphere is organized into a hierarchical structure in which individual organisms form populations. Several interacting populations make up a biocenosis. Communities of living organisms (biocenosis) living in certain physical habitats (biotope) form an ecosystem. is a group of animals, plants and microorganisms that interact with each other and with their environment in such a way as to ensure their existence. Therefore, the ecosystem is the functional unit of sustainability of life on Earth.

Origin of the biosphere

The biosphere has existed for about 3.5-3.7 billion years. The first forms of life were prokaryotes - single-celled living organisms that could live without oxygen. Some prokaryotes have developed a unique chemical process that we know as . They were able to use sunlight to make simple sugar and oxygen from water and carbon dioxide. These photosynthetic microorganisms were so numerous that they radically transformed the biosphere. Over a long period of time, an atmosphere formed from a mixture of oxygen and other gases that could support new life.

The addition of oxygen to the biosphere allowed more complex life forms to rapidly develop. Millions of different plants and animals appeared that ate plants and other animals. evolved to decompose dead animals and plants.

Thanks to this, the biosphere has made a huge leap in its development. The decomposed remains of dead plants and animals released nutrients into the soil and ocean, which were reabsorbed by plants. This exchange of energy allowed the biosphere to become a self-sustaining and self-regulating system.

The role of photosynthesis in the development of life

The biosphere is unique in its kind. So far there have been no scientific facts, confirming the existence of life in other places in the Universe. Life on Earth exists thanks to the Sun. When exposed to energy from sunlight, a process called photosynthesis occurs. As a result of photosynthesis, plants, some types of bacteria and protozoa convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and organic compounds such as sugar under the influence of light. The vast majority of animal, fungal, plant and bacterial species depend directly or indirectly on photosynthesis.

Factors influencing the biosphere

There are many factors influencing the biosphere and our life on Earth. There are global factors such as the distance between the Earth and the Sun. If our planet were closer or further away from the Sun, then the Earth would be too hot or cold for life to arise. The angle of inclination of the earth's axis is also an important factor influencing the planet's climate. Seasons and seasonal climate changes are direct results of the Earth's tilt.

Local factors also have an important impact on the biosphere. If you look at a certain area of ​​the Earth, you can see the influence of climate, daily weather, erosion and life itself. These small factors constantly change space and living organisms must respond accordingly, adapting to changes in their environment. Even though people can control most of their immediate environment, they are still vulnerable to natural disasters.

The smallest of the factors influencing the appearance of the biosphere are changes occurring at the molecular level. Oxidation and reduction reactions can change the composition of rocks and organic matter. There is also biological degradation. Tiny organisms such as bacteria and fungi are capable of processing both organic and inorganic materials.

Biosphere reserves

People play an important role in maintaining the energy exchange of the biosphere. Unfortunately, our impact on the biosphere is often negative. For example, oxygen levels in the atmosphere are decreasing and carbon dioxide levels are rising due to people over-burning fossil fuels, and oil spills and industrial waste discharges into the ocean cause enormous damage to the hydrosphere. The future of the biosphere depends on how people interact with other living things.

In the early 1970s, the United Nations established a project called Man and the Biosphere (MAB), which promotes sustainable development balanced. There are currently hundreds of biosphere reserves around the world. The first biosphere reserve was created in Yangambi, Democratic Republic Congo. Yangambi is located in the fertile Congo River Basin and is home to some 32,000 species of trees and animals, including endemic species such as the forest elephant and brush-eared pig. Yangambi Biosphere Reserve supports important activities such as sustainable agriculture, hunting and extraction.

Extraterrestrial biospheres

Until now, the biosphere has not been discovered outside the Earth. Therefore, the existence of extraterrestrial biospheres remains hypothetical. On the one hand, many scientists believe that life on other planets is unlikely, and if it exists somewhere, it is most likely in the form of microorganisms. On the other hand, there can be a lot of analogues of the Earth, even in our galaxy - the Milky Way. Considering limited opportunities our technologies, it is currently unknown what percentage of these planets are capable of having a biosphere. It is also impossible to exclude the possibility that artificial biospheres will be created by humans in the future, for example, on Mars.

The biosphere is a very fragile system in which every living organism is an important link in a huge chain of life. We must realize that man, as the most intelligent creature on the planet, is responsible for preserving the miracle of life on our planet.

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The Earth's biosphere is a complex global complex that unites all living organisms and that part of inanimate nature that exchanges energy with living matter, influences it and is itself influenced by it. The term “biosphere” appeared in science thanks to J. Lamarck and E. Suess back in the 19th century. However, the doctrine of the biosphere was created only at the beginning of the 20th century, and a huge contribution to its development belonged to the outstanding Soviet scientist V.I. Vernadsky. He was the first to consider the functioning of all living things and their interaction with the planet as a complex dynamic process.

Vernadsky also paid attention to the era when the biosphere arose, that is, the earliest stages of the history of the Earth.

Limits of the distribution of life on Earth

The boundaries of the biosphere are determined by the suitability of physical and chemical conditions for the existence of living organisms. The lower limit of the distribution of life is considered to be the 100 °C isotherm in the lithosphere, located at a depth of about 6 km, or the ocean floor (about 11 km). However, these estimates may be underestimated, since there are deep-sea extremophile organisms that can tolerate temperatures above 200 °C (water does not boil there at high pressure). So the lithosphere can theoretically be inhabited much deeper, but in general, active life is hardly possible below 3-4 km.

The upper boundaries of the biosphere are determined by the height of the ozone layer and do not rise above 15-20 km. In fact, living organisms can be active at altitudes up to 8-9 km. In general, life is very diverse and can adapt to a wide variety of conditions. But when and how did all this wealth arise?

Laboratory on a young planet

Primary organic synthesis could well have taken place in a gas-dust protoplanetary cloud on early stages formation of the solar system. So the newborn Earth probably already contained a sufficient amount of simple organic matter.

There is also geological evidence that the temperature regime of the Earth from the very beginning (the age of our planet is 4.5-4.6 billion years) allowed the existence of water in the liquid phase. Degassing of the subsoil must have taken place quite actively, since the planet did not yet have a thick crust. Volcanoes created the primary atmosphere and hydrosphere and supplied chemically active substances. Meteorites and comets fell to the surface. The geochemical cycle involved many substances that continuously entered into reactions, transformed into new compounds, and those, in turn, reacted with each other.

Autocatalysis - the engine of progress

But how could even the most primitive living system emerge from such a mixture of ingredients? For a long time Many scientists generally considered the search for an answer to this question to be futile. The problem has moved from dead center only in the early 1980s, when the theory of self-organizing systems was involved in solving it.

Let several reactions take place on one substrate. Then the slower ones will begin to fade and stop, that is, they will be supplanted by the fast-flowing ones. Thus, already at the very early stages of prebiological evolution, natural selection begins to act. Chain (autocatalytic) reactions accelerated by their own products have an advantage. At the next levels of organization - autocatalytic cycles and hypercycles - processes are also selected for efficiency and complexity, since after reaching a certain level the complexity of the system becomes self-sustaining and can increase.

It should be noted that classical thermodynamics is powerless to help with the question of how and when the biosphere arose, and all these conclusions were made by scientists within the framework of nonequilibrium, Prigogine thermodynamics. In this context, life is defined as a process of chemical self-organization based on autocatalysis of high molecular weight carbon compounds under non-equilibrium conditions, and one can consider a living primitive environment - a puddle in which the mentioned reactions take place. It is literally living matter - without creatures. Such a primary biosphere is practically the same age as the Earth. In any case, if it is younger than our planet, then not by much.

The RNA world and the first living beings

According to a very promising and successfully developed Lately theories, the first organisms, isolated from the external environment, appeared on the basis of RNA cycles. They still had neither DNA nor proteins.

DNA in modern organisms stores hereditary information, proteins perform active work in the cell, RNA generally serves as a kind of intermediary - it reads information and ensures protein synthesis. Both DNA and protein are helpless without each other and without RNA, but she can do everything - admittedly, worse than “narrow specialists,” but at first this may not have been a critical drawback. Otherwise, we will have to admit that at some stage chemical evolution immediately created DNA, RNA, proteins, enclosed them in the first cells and strictly distributed functions - the probability of this is really vanishingly small.

The first primitive RNAs, in any case, were synthesized much more efficiently from low molecular weight organic matter than a complex “double helix”. In parallel, there was a process of formation of coacervates - water-lipid droplets, precursors of the cell membrane. And as soon as the “living solution” of RNA wrapped itself in a coacervate shell, the first autonomous organism arose. The membrane film maintained a chemical gradient between the internal cavity and the environment, preventing living matter from dissipating - this became a huge advantage.

During further development In the biosphere, the baton in storing hereditary information was taken over by DNA, which ensures greater accuracy; the catalytic activity was taken over by proteins stamped with the same RNA, but the latter did not remain idle. After all, without it the cell is dead.

Traces of ancient life in stone and genes

Answers to questions about how and when the biosphere arose, what it is like early history, scientists are forced to look in theoretical models and laboratory experiments, since the primary surface of the Earth has long been destroyed by subsequent geological processes.

The oldest traces of life to date have been found in Greenland, Canada, and Australia. The most reliable of them date back to 3.7 billion years ago and indicate that even then there were complex communities of microorganisms, some of them photosynthetic (cyanobacteria or their predecessors).

Another direction of research lies in the field of molecular biology. Because everything is now existing species- relatives, it is possible, by constructing a phylogenetic tree of species, to approximately establish the time when the “last universal common ancestor"(English: Last Universal Common Ancestor, LUCA). This is not the first organism on Earth, but it lived a very long time ago - according to scientists, about 4 billion years ago. For this organism, the exact set of genes it had was determined, but it is not known whether “Luka” was a separate species of microorganisms or a community of species exchanging hereditary material.

Life is transforming the planet

Even in the early stages of its existence, the biosphere actively participated in the evolution of the Earth. The most important merit of the ancient Precambrian unicellular organisms is, of course, the creation of a stable oxidizing atmosphere. But life also had a huge impact on the nature of sedimentation and ore formation. For example, the most important iron ore deposits, such as the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly, were formed due to the activity of photosynthetic bacteria in the oceans of the Paleoproterozoic era 2.5-2 billion years ago.

Having reached land, life began to work on landscapes. Actually, it was the biosphere that created the land as such. After all, until soils arose and spread higher plants, there was no clear land-reservoir boundary, the flow of water into the oceans was area-based, and there were no stable river beds.

Everyone knows about oil and coal. But the mountain ranges of the Himalayas, Alps, Caucasus - they are composed of limestones, and most of This breed is of biogenic origin. These mountains were once sea animals. Their shells, from the smallest to the largest, formed some of the most common sedimentary rocks.

Functions of the biosphere

We looked at several examples of how life is changing the face of the planet. Let us summarize what is known about the functions of the biosphere.

Firstly, it is involved in changing and maintaining the composition of the atmosphere and natural waters. Secondly, it transfers, as well as accumulates or disperses, that is, it redistributes various substances. Thirdly, it performs an environment-forming function. All this can be summarized as a process of ordering and stabilizing the geochemical cycles of the Earth. It is carried out due to the absorption, transformation, accumulation and release of solar energy by structural components identified by Vernadsky in his doctrine of the biosphere: a set of living organisms, biogenic, bioinert and inert matter.

Inseparable from the Earth

From the moment when the biosphere arose (although there was most likely no exact moment), all its components closely interact with each other and with the rest of the geological shells of the planet - the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere. The Earth-biosphere system is covered by many positive and negative feedbacks at a variety of levels - from individual biogeocenoses to global processes on geological time scales.

II. Statement of the problem “What is culture? Who can we call cultured person?”

2.1. Working with the topic's conceptual dictionary

World artistic culture – what is behind every word? –

A) Students expressing their opinions

B) Working with Dahl’s and Ozhegov’s dictionaries to find the interpretation of these words (students can print out a page from the dictionary that contains these words, thereby facilitating the search down to the page, or give already selected interpretations of concepts on a separate sheet - this will depend on those children who will come to class))

Compiling a dictionary of MHC - what concepts could we attribute to MHC? – writing words on the board from the students’ words (the teacher distributes them on the board in such a way that types of art are placed separately, art monuments are placed separately, etc.)

III. Development of group work skills of a research nature, development of the ability to extract information from visual images.

Work in groups. The class is divided into several working groups of 4-5 people, who are given the following task:

Look at the illustrative series placed in the envelope and divide the illustrations into groups.

Identify the main features on the basis of which you divided the illustrations.

How many groups did you manage? What will you call them?

Students are offered handouts with illustrations of paintings for consideration (see. application no. 1)

1. Sydney Opera theatre
2. Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the Moat (St. Basil's Cathedral)
3. the great Wall of China
4. Eiffel Tower
5. Stonehenge
6. Taj Mahal
7. Notre Dame de Paris
8. Bryullov K.P. The last day of Pompeii
9. Aivazovsky I. The Ninth Wave
10. Icon of the Savior not made by hands
11. Serov V. Girl with Peaches
12. Leonardo da Vinci Mona Lisa (La Gioconda)
13. Shishkin I.I. Rye
14. Head of Nefertiti
15. E.M. Falcone. Monument to Peter I ( Bronze Horseman)
16. Marcos Monument to Minin and Pozharsky
17. Michelangelo Buonarotti David
18. Sculpture of Christ the Redeemer on Mount Corcovado
19. Z. Tsereteli Composition on Manezhnaya Square

IV. Development of reasoned speaking skills.

After completing the group work, reasoned speeches from representatives of each of the working groups are heard. During the discussion, the works included in each of the groups are clarified based on artistic and expressive means:

Architecture– the art of designing and constructing buildings and structures. The basis is the artistic organization of space.

Painting- view visual arts, an image in which is created on the surface of a canvas, board, wall and other surfaces using paints. The language of painting is color. It is based on the artistic organization of the plane.

Sculpture- art, tongue-speaking plasticity, volume. A distinction is made between round sculpture (statue, group, bust) and relief. The basis is the artistic organization of volume.

V. Characteristics of types of art and Analytical work students to identify common characteristics of various types of art.

In addition to the three main types of art, 9 more types are distinguished (students can name them, explaining what this type of art consists of and what its distinctive features are):

graphics is a type of fine art that includes drawing and printed materials based on it works of art(engraving, lithography, etc.). Graphics speak the language of line, stroke, spot.

literature – in the broad sense of the word: the totality of any written texts. Most often, literature is understood as fiction, that is, literature as art form.

music – Each art speaks its own language. The language of music is sounds organized using melody, intonation, rhythm, timbre, harmony.

dance is the oldest of arts, rhythmic movements to music, conveying emotions through your body.

In history ancient world All important events in human life were expressed in dances: birth, healing, marriage ceremonies, harvest festivals. Dance technique is the level of mastery own body in performing basic movements to music. Most dances have basic movements that have performance criteria, unlike dance improvisation.

theater - Like any other form of art, theater has its own special characteristics. This is a synthetic art: a theatrical work (performance) consists of the text of the play, the work of the director, actors, artist and composer.

cinema – Cinematography appeared when the need arose for it. This is a child of the technological age - and the muse of cinema is sometimes called Techne. Cinema by its nature is a synthetic art. The film image, as its constituent organic elements, includes literature, painting, and theater.

design (DPI) is an art that creates beauty that surrounds us in everyday life.

circus is a type of entertainment art, according to the laws of which an entertaining performance is built.

photography - Photographic art is the creation by chemical and technical means of a visual image of documentary significance, artistically expressive and authentically capturing an essential moment of reality in a frozen image.

VI. Performance by group members. Discussion of the output:

To summarize, we are saying that World artistic culture is a type of public culture, which is based on the figurative and creative reproduction of society and people, as well as living and inanimate nature through the means used by professional art and folk artistic culture. These are also phenomena and processes of spiritual practical activities, creating, distributing and mastering material objects and works of art that have aesthetic value.

World culture can be defined as the totality of the achievements of mankind in the material and spiritual sphere - the totality of the fruits of efforts to recreate, re-create the world.

World artistic culture includes the pictorial, sculptural, architectural heritage and monuments of decorative and applied arts, as well as all the diversity of works created by the people and their individual representatives.

There are 12 types of art, which have their own characteristics of expression and artistic organization.

VII. Summing up the lesson. Evaluation of the performance of each team.

Quote: The variety of types of art makes it possible to aesthetically master the world in all its complexity and richness. There are no major and minor arts, but each type has its own weak and strengths in comparison with other types of art.

Homework.

• Find and write down 5 quotes about art, World artistic culture, expressed by famous people.
• Find and paste the corresponding illustrations onto the album sheet various types art (make a card index)

The word "culture" is on the list of 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. 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 related can be judged by the fact that some peoples believe that “who” is only a person, and “what” is not only inanimate objects 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 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:

1. 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.
2. The body of knowledge about society, nature, man and his inner world. Knowledge is the most important element of 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 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, 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 your speech culture, it is important to constantly replenish your lexicon, 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 a general culture of the individual, which has its 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 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.

Art 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 a narrow sense, artistic culture is expressed by 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 order. 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. Value popular culture incomparably lower than elitist and popular. 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.