in cultural studies
on the topic: "What is culture"
Introduction
1. The concept of culture
2. Common features of different cultures
Ethnocentrism and cultural relativism in the study of culture
Structure of culture
The role of language in culture and society
Cultural conflicts
Forms of culture
Conclusion
Bibliography
Introduction
Culture is the key concept of cultural studies. There are a lot of definitions of what culture is, because each time, speaking about culture, they mean completely different phenomena. You can talk about culture as a "second nature", that is, about everything that is created by human hands and brought into the world by man. This is the broadest approach and, in this case, weapons of mass destruction are also cultural phenomena in a certain sense. You can talk about culture as a kind of production skills, professional virtues - we use such expressions as the culture of work, the culture of playing football, and even the culture of the card game. For many, culture is, first of all, the sphere of spiritual activity of people throughout the entire historical development of mankind. Culture, on the other hand, is always national, historical, specific in its origin and purpose, and the concept of world culture is also very arbitrary and is only the sum of national cultures. The world culture is studied in all its national, social, specific historical manifestations by scientists of various specialties - historians, art critics, sociologists, philosophers.
Culture, from the point of view of a culturologist, is generally recognized non-material values created throughout human history; firstly, class, estate, group spiritual values characteristic of different historical eras, and secondly, which may be especially important, relations between people that develop as a result and in the process of production, distribution and consumption of these values.
In this work, I will try to define the concept of "culture" and consider what functions it performs in our society.
culture ethnocentrism relativism conflict
1. The concept of culture
The word "culture" comes from the Latin word colere, which means to cultivate, or cultivate the soil. In the Middle Ages, this word began to denote a progressive method of cultivating grain, thus the term agriculture or the art of farming arose. But in the 18th and 19th centuries it began to be used in relation to people, therefore, if a person was distinguished by the elegance of manners and erudition, he was considered "cultured". Then this term was applied mainly to aristocrats in order to separate them from the "uncivilized" common people. The German word Kultur also meant a high level of civilization. In our life today, the word "culture" is still associated with the opera house, fine literature, good education.
The modern scientific definition of culture has discarded the aristocratic shades of this concept. It symbolizes the beliefs, values, and expressions (used in literature and art) that are common to a group; they serve to streamline the experience and regulate the behavior of the members of that group. The beliefs and attitudes of a subgroup are often referred to as a subculture. The assimilation of culture is carried out with the help of learning. Culture is created, culture is taught. Because it is not biologically acquired, each generation reproduces it and passes it on to the next generation. This process is the basis of socialization. As a result of the assimilation of values, beliefs, norms, rules and ideals, the formation of the child's personality and the regulation of his behavior take place. If the process of socialization were to stop on a massive scale, it would lead to the death of culture.
Culture forms the personalities of the members of society, thereby it largely regulates their behavior.
How important culture is for the functioning of the individual and society can be judged by the behavior of people who are not covered by socialization. The uncontrolled, or infantile, behavior of the so-called children of the jungle, who were completely deprived of human contact, indicates that without socialization, people are not able to adopt an orderly way of life, master the language and learn how to earn a livelihood. As a result of observing several "creatures that showed no interest in what was happening around, which rhythmically swayed back and forth, like wild animals in a zoo," an 18th-century Swedish naturalist. Carl Linnaeus concluded that they are representatives of a special species. Subsequently, scientists realized that these wild children did not have the development of personality, which requires communication with people. This communication would stimulate the development of their abilities and the formation of their "human" personalities. If culture regulates people's behavior, can we go so far as to call it repressive? Often culture does suppress a person's motives, but it does not exclude them completely. Rather, it determines the conditions under which they are satisfied. The ability of culture to control human behavior is limited for many reasons. First of all, the biological possibilities of the human body are not unlimited. Mere mortals cannot be taught to jump over tall buildings, even if society values such feats highly. In the same way, there is a limit to the knowledge that the human brain can absorb.
Environmental factors also limit the impact of the culture. For example, drought or volcanic eruptions can disrupt the established way of farming. Environmental factors may prevent the formation of some cultural patterns. According to the customs of people living in tropical jungles with a humid climate, it is not customary to cultivate certain areas of land for a long time, since they cannot receive high crop yields for a long time. Maintaining a stable social order also limits the influence of culture. The very survival of society dictates the condemnation of acts such as murder, theft and arson. If these practices were to become widespread, it would be impossible for people to cooperate to collect or produce food, provide shelter, and carry out other essential activities.
Another important part of culture is that cultural values are formed on the basis of the selection of certain behaviors and experiences of people. Each society has carried out its own selection of cultural forms. Each society, from the point of view of the other, neglects the main thing and engages in unimportant matters. In one culture, material values are hardly recognized, in another they have a decisive influence on people's behavior. In one society, technology is treated with incredible disdain, even in areas essential to human survival; in another similar society, constantly improving technology meets the requirements of the time. But each society creates a huge cultural superstructure that covers the whole life of a person - both youth, and death, and the memory of him after death.
As a result of this selection, past and present cultures are completely different. Some societies considered war to be the noblest human activity. In others, she was hated, and the representatives of the third had no idea about her. According to the norms of one culture, a woman had the right to marry her relative. Norms of other culture strongly forbid it. In our culture, hallucinations are considered a symptom of mental illness. Other societies regard "mystical visions" as the highest form of consciousness.
In short, there are a great many differences between cultures.
Even a cursory contact with two or more cultures convinces us that the differences between them are innumerable. We and they travel on different sides, they speak a different language. We have different opinions about what behavior is crazy and what is normal, we have different concepts of a virtuous life. It is much more difficult to determine the common features common to all cultures - cultural universals.
Common features of different cultures
Sociologists distinguish more than 60 cultural universals. These include sports, body decoration, community work, dancing, education, funeral rites, gift giving, hospitality, incest prohibitions, jokes, religious language, tool making, and attempts to influence the weather.
However, different cultures may have different sports, decorations, etc. The environment is one of the factors causing these differences. In addition, all cultural characteristics are conditioned by the history of a certain society and are formed as a result of a unique development of events. On the basis of different types of cultures, different kinds of sports, bans on consanguineous marriages and languages arose, but the main thing is that in one form or another they exist in every culture.
Why do cultural universals exist? Some anthropologists believe that they are formed on the basis of biological factors. These include having two sexes; helplessness of babies; the need for food and warmth; age differences between people; learning different skills. In this regard, there are problems that need to be solved on the basis of this culture. Certain values and ways of thinking are also universal. Every society forbids murder and denounces lying, none of them sanction suffering. All cultures must contribute to the satisfaction of certain physiological, social and psychological needs, although in particular, different options are possible.
Ethnocentrism and cultural relativism in the study of culture
There is a tendency in society to judge other cultures in terms of the superiority of one's own. This tendency is called enthocentrism. The principles of ethnocentrism find clear expression in the activities of missionaries who seek to convert "barbarians" to their faith. Ethnocentrism is associated with xenophobia - fear and hostility to other people's views and customs.
Ethnocentrism marked the activity of the first anthropologists. They were inclined to compare all cultures with their own, which they considered the most advanced. According to the American sociologist William Graham Sumner, a culture can only be understood on the basis of an analysis of its own values, in its own context. This view is called cultural relativism. Readers of Sumner's book were shocked to read that cannibalism and infanticide made sense in societies where such customs were practiced.
Cultural relativism promotes the understanding of subtle differences between closely related cultures. For example, in Germany, the doors in an institution are always tightly closed in order to separate people. The Germans believe that otherwise employees are distracted from work. By contrast, in the United States, office doors are usually open. Americans who work in Germany often complained that closed doors made them feel unwelcoming and alienated. A closed door for an American has a completely different meaning than for a German.
Culture is the cement of the building of social life. And not only because it is transmitted from one person to another in the process of socialization and contact with other cultures, but also because it forms in people a sense of belonging to a certain group. Apparently, members of the same cultural group are more likely to understand each other, trust and sympathize with each other than with outsiders. Their shared feelings are reflected in slang and jargon, favorite foods, fashion, and other aspects of culture.
Culture not only strengthens solidarity between people, but also causes conflicts within and between groups. This can be illustrated by the example of language, the main element of culture. On the one hand, the possibility of communication contributes to the rallying of the members of the social group. A common language brings people together. On the other hand, a common language excludes those who do not speak this language or speak it in a slightly different way. In the UK, members of different social classes use slightly different forms of English. Although everyone speaks "English", some groups use "more correct" English than others. There are literally a thousand and one varieties of English in America. In addition, social groups differ from each other in the peculiarity of gestures, clothing style and cultural values. All this can lead to conflicts between groups.
Structure of culture
According to anthropologists, culture consists of four elements. 1. Concepts (concepts). They are found mainly in the language. Thanks to them, it becomes possible to streamline the experience of people. For example, we perceive the shape, color and taste of objects in the world around us, but in different cultures the world is organized differently.
In the language of the Trobriand Islanders, one word denotes six different relatives: father, father's brother, father's sister's son, father's mother's sister's son, father's sister's daughter's son, father's father's brother's son's son's son, and father's father's sister's son's son. The English language does not even have words for the last four relatives.
This difference between the two languages is due to the fact that the people of the Trobriand Islands need a word that covers all relatives, to whom it is customary to treat with special respect. English and American societies have developed a less complex system of family ties, so the English do not need words for such distant relatives.
Thus, the study of the words of the language allows a person to navigate in the world around him through the selection of the organization of his experience.
Relations. Cultures not only single out certain parts of the world with the help of concepts, but also reveal how these constituent parts are interconnected - in space and time, by meaning (for example, black is the opposite of white), on the basis of causality ("spare the rod - spoil child"). Our language has words for earth and sun, and we are sure that the earth revolves around the sun. But before Copernicus, people believed the opposite was true. Cultures often interpret relationships differently.
Each culture forms certain ideas about the relationship between concepts related to the sphere of the real world and to the sphere of the supernatural.
Values. Values are generally accepted beliefs about the goals that a person should strive for. They form the basis of moral principles.
Different cultures may favor different values (heroism on the battlefield, artistic creativity, asceticism), and each social order dictates what is and is not a value.
Rules. These elements (including norms) regulate people's behavior in accordance with the values of a particular culture. For example, our legal system includes many laws against killing, injuring or threatening other people. These laws reflect how much we value the life and well-being of the individual. In the same way, we have dozens of laws prohibiting burglary, embezzlement, property damage, etc. They reflect our desire to protect personal property.
Values not only need justification themselves, but, in turn, they themselves can serve as justification. They justify the norms or expectations and standards that are realized in the course of interaction between people. Norms can represent standards of conduct. But why do people tend to obey them, even if it is not in their interests? During the exam, the student could copy the answer from a neighbor, but is afraid of getting a bad mark. This is one of several potentially limiting factors. Social rewards (such as respect) encourage adherence to a norm that requires students to be honest. Social punishments or rewards that encourage compliance with norms are called sanctions. Punishments that keep people from doing certain things are called negative sanctions. These include a fine, imprisonment, reprimand, etc. Positive sanctions (for example, monetary reward, empowerment, high prestige) are called rewards for compliance with the norms.
The role of language in culture and society
In the theories of culture, an important place has always been given to language. Language can be defined as a system of communication carried out with the help of sounds and symbols, the meanings of which are conditional, but have a certain structure.
Language is a social phenomenon. It cannot be mastered outside of social interaction, i.e. without interacting with other people. Although the process of socialization is largely based on the imitation of gestures - nodding, smiling and frowning - language is the main means of transmitting culture. Another important feature is that it is almost impossible to unlearn how to speak a native language if its basic vocabulary, rules of speech and structure are learned at the age of eight or ten, although many other aspects of a person's experience can be completely forgotten. This indicates a high degree of adaptability of the language to human needs; without it, communication between people would be much more primitive.
Language includes rules You, of course, know that there is right and wrong speech. The language has many implied and formal rules that determine how words can be combined to express the desired meaning. Grammar is a system of generally accepted rules on the basis of which a standard language is used and developed. At the same time, deviations from grammatical rules are often observed, associated with the peculiarities of various dialects and life situations.
Language is also involved in the process of acquiring the experience of people from the organization. The anthropologist Benjamin Lee Whorf has shown that many concepts take us "for granted" only because they are ingrained in our language. "Language divides nature into parts, forms concepts about them and gives them meanings mainly because we have come to an agreement to organize them in this way. This agreement ... is encoded in the models of our language." It is revealed especially clearly in the comparative analysis of languages. We already know that colors and relationships are denoted differently in different languages. Sometimes there is a word in one language that is completely absent in another.
When using a language, it is necessary to follow its basic grammatical rules. Language organizes the experience of people. Therefore, like the whole culture as a whole, it develops generally accepted meanings. Communication is possible only if there are meanings that are accepted, used by its participants and understood by them. Indeed, our communication with each other in everyday life is largely due to our confidence that we understand each other.
The tragedy of mental disorders such as schizophrenia is, first of all, that patients cannot communicate with other people and are cut off from society.
A common language also supports social cohesion. It helps people coordinate their actions by persuading or judging each other. In addition, between people who speak the same language, mutual understanding and sympathy almost automatically arise. The language reflects the general knowledge of people about the traditions that have developed in society and current events. In short, it contributes to the formation of a sense of group unity, group identity.
The leaders of developing countries where there are tribal dialects are striving to ensure that a single national language is adopted, so that it spreads among groups that do not speak it, understanding the importance of this factor for uniting the entire nation and combating tribal disunity.
Although language is a powerful unifying force, at the same time it is capable of dividing people. The group using this language considers everyone who speaks it as their own, and people who speak other languages or dialects as strangers.
Language is the main symbol of the antagonism between the English and the French living in Canada. The struggle between supporters and opponents of bilingual teaching (English and Spanish) in some parts of the US suggests that language can be an important political issue.
Anthropologists of the late 19th century were inclined to compare culture with a huge collection of "cuts and scraps", having no special connections between themselves and collected by chance. Benedict (1934) and other anthropologists of the 20th century. argue that the formation of different models of one culture is carried out on the basis of common principles.
The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Cultures do have predominant features, but they are not exhausted, not a single culture, there is also diversity and conflicts.
Cultural conflicts
There are at least three types of conflicts associated with the development of culture: anomie, cultural delay and alien influence. The term "anomie", denoting a violation of the unity of culture due to the lack of clearly formulated social norms, was first introduced by Emile Durkheim back in the 90s of the last century. At that time, the anomie was caused by the weakening of the influence of religion and the policy of increasing the role of commercial and industrial circles. These changes led to the disintegration of the system of moral values, which in the past was distinguished by its stability. Since then, social scientists have repeatedly noted that the increase in crime, the increase in the number of divorces occurred as a result of a violation of unity and culture, especially in connection with the instability of religious and family values.
At the turn of the century, William Fielding Ogborn (1922) introduced the notion of cultural lag. It is observed when changes in the material life of society outstrip the transformation of non-material culture (customs, beliefs, philosophical systems, laws and forms of government). This leads to a constant discrepancy between the development of material and non-material culture, and as a result, many unresolved social problems arise. For example, progress in the woodworking industry is associated with the destruction of vast forest areas. But gradually society realizes the vital need for their preservation. Similarly, the invention of modern machines has led to a significant increase in industrial accidents. It took a long time before legislation providing for compensation for work-related injury was introduced.
A third kind of cultural conflict, caused by the dominance of a foreign culture, was observed in pre-industrial societies that were colonized by the peoples of Europe. According to B.K. Malinovsky (1945), many opposite elements of culture hampered the process of national integration in these societies. Studying the societies of South Africa, Manilovsky revealed the conflict between two cultures, formed in completely different conditions. The social life of the natives before colonization was a single whole. On the basis of the tribal organization of society, a system of kinship ties, an economic and political structure, and even methods of warfare were simultaneously formed. The culture of the colonial powers, mainly Great Britain, arose under different conditions. But when European values were imposed on the natives, what happened was not a union of the two cultures, but their unnatural, fraught with tension mixing. According to Malinovsky, this mixture turned out to be unstable. He correctly predicted that there would be a long struggle between these two cultures, which would not stop even after the colonies gained independence. It will be supported by the desire of Africans to overcome tensions in their culture. At the same time, Malilovsky believed that Western values would eventually win.
Thus, models of culture are formed in the course of a constant struggle between opposing tendencies - towards unification and separation. In most European societies by the beginning of the 20th century. there are two forms of culture.
Forms of culture
High culture - fine arts, classical music and literature - was created and perceived by the elite.
Folk culture, which included fairy tales, folklore, songs and myths, belonged to the poor. The products of each of these cultures were intended for a specific audience, and this tradition was rarely broken. With the advent of mass media (radio, mass print media, television, recordings, tape recorders), the distinctions between high and popular culture were blurred. This is how a mass culture emerged, which is not associated with religious or class subcultures. The media and popular culture are inextricably linked.
A culture becomes "mass" when its products are standardized and distributed to the general public.
In all societies, there are many subgroups with different cultural values and traditions. The system of norms and values that distinguish a group from the majority of society is called a subculture. A subculture is shaped by factors such as social class, ethnicity, religion, and location. The values of the subculture influence the formation of the personality of the members of the group.
Some of the most interesting research on subcultures is about language. For example, William Labov (1970) tried to prove that the use of non-standard English by children from the Negro ghetto did not indicate their "linguistic inferiority". Labov believes that Negro children are not deprived of the ability to communicate like whites, they just use a slightly different system of grammatical rules; over the years, these rules have become ingrained in the Negro subculture.
Labov proved that in appropriate situations, both black and white children say the same thing, although they use different words. However, the use of non-standard English inevitably causes a problem - the disapproving reaction of the majority to the so-called violation of generally accepted rules. Teachers often consider the use of the Negro dialect as a violation of the rules of the English language. Therefore, Negro children are undeservedly criticized and punished.
The term "subculture" does not mean that this or that group opposes the culture that dominates the society. However, in many cases, the majority of society treats the subculture with disapproval or distrust. This problem can arise even in relation to respected subcultures of doctors or the military. But sometimes the group actively seeks to develop norms or values that are in conflict with core aspects of the dominant culture. On the basis of such norms and values, a counterculture is formed. A well-known counterculture in Western society is Bohemia, and the most striking example in it is the hippies of the 60s. Counterculture values can be the cause of long-term and irresolvable conflicts in society. However, sometimes they penetrate the mainstream culture itself. Long hair, inventiveness in language and dress, and hippie drug use have become widespread in American society, where, as often happens, mainly through the media, these values have become less provocative, therefore attractive to the counterculture and, accordingly, less threatening to the dominant culture
Conclusion
Culture is an integral part of human life. Culture organizes human life. In human life, culture to a large extent performs the same function that genetically programmed behavior performs in the life of animals.
Culture is powerless to give true meanings of being: it contains only possible meanings and has no criterion of authenticity. If meaning nevertheless breaks into a person's life, it comes in addition to culture - personally, addressing a specific person. Therefore, the usefulness of culture is only in the preparation for meaning. By teaching a person to see symbols, she can address him to what is behind the symbolism. But she can also confuse him. A person can accept meanings as ultimate reality and be content with only cultural existence, without even knowing what true reality is. The culture is inconsistent. In the end, she is just a tool they need to be able to use and not turn this skill into an end in itself.
Bibliography
1. Culturology. Textbook for students of higher educational institutions. M.: Phoenix. 1995. - 576 p.
2. Smezler N. Sociology: per. from English. - M.: Phoenix. 1994.- 688 p.
"Civilizations" edited by M.A. Barg 1 and 2 editions.
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Another meaning of the concept of "culture" is its interpretation as a socio-cultural historical community of people.
The presence of many local cultures makes scientists think about the problems of their interaction. Let's consider some of them. A number of culturologists believe that local cultures develop according to their own internal laws and are impenetrable to outside influences, therefore it is impossible to talk about the planetary unity of mankind. Other experts argue that the uniqueness of each of the local cultures does not at all exclude their interaction, cultural synthesis. Thus, the Russian thinker N. Ya. Danilevsky in his book “Russia and Europe” argued that each of the 25 cultures he singled out in the history of mankind develops organically (similar to nature): it is born, passes through certain periods of its existence, and dies. But in the process of development, individual cultures interact, there is a translation of values. N. Ya. Danilevsky identified several ways of cultural interaction, the simplest of which is colonization. Thus, the Phoenicians transferred their culture to Carthage, the ancient Greeks - to South Italy and Sicily, the Northern Black Sea region, the Dutch, and later the British - to North America. Danilevsky called another way "grafting a cutting on someone else's tree", when the cutting remains a foreign element, hardly capable of enriching the culture on which it was grafted. The thinker called the Hellenistic culture of Alexandria in the context of Egyptian culture an example of such a “shank”. Another way of interaction of cultures, according to Danilevsky, their mutual equal dialogue, the result of which is an exchange of values.
The presence of many cultures that have functioned throughout the history of mankind and in the modern world, recognized by all experts as an obvious fact, raises a logical question about the comparative contribution of individual cultures to world cultural wealth, i.e., about the hierarchy of world culture. Some researchers simply give up trying to compare the weight of individual crops. (What are the criteria for comparing, for example, the culture of Egypt and the culture of India?) Others believe that
the significance and degree of development of individual cultures are not the same. With all the variety of ideas about the hierarchy of cultures, there are several stable worldviews that manifest themselves both at the level of theory and at the level of everyday consciousness.
One of these settings is eurocentrism. From the course of ancient history, you remember that the first in Europe to oppose themselves to the rest of the world were the ancient Greeks, who invested in the concept of "barbarians" a very definite value coloring. The idea of the chosenness of the West is very popular today. It is assumed that other peoples, of course, develop their original culture, but they have not yet reached the necessary civilizational level and they should be guided by the cultural system of the West.
The modern world is also faced with such an ideological attitude as americancentrism, whose representatives actively preach the idea of a special cultural mission of America. Known to you the history of the development of the North American continent, the circumstances of the political history of America led to the birth of the myth about the historical, and possibly divine destiny of the nation and its culture, born in the struggle for freedom, in opposition to the culture of the Old World, to bring freedom and true values to the rest of the world.
For a long time, the world was dominated by representatives of the white race. The struggle against colonialism gave rise in the 20th century. installation Afrocentrism (Negritude), whose supporters attributed to the Negro race all the highly cultured peoples of the Ancient World, for example, the Sumerians, Egyptians, Babylonians, and Phoenicians. Afrocentrism aims to elevate African culture. One of the founders of negritude is the outstanding statesman and cultural figure of Senegal Senghor, who described the features of the Negro-African personality in this way: the African lives in harmony with nature, he is open to receiving external impulses - all feelings are extremely sharpened. The African lives by emotions, not by reason, which distinguishes him from the dry, rationalistic Europeans. A child of nature, he is intuitive, aimed at complicity with another person, trusting, which whites often abused. This emotional attitude to the world, according to Senghor, permeates the entire Negro culture. In the modern world, along with non-gritude, Arab nationalism and Islamic fundamentalism are actively declaring themselves.
It is obvious that all the listed worldview attitudes presuppose a certain discrimination of another culture, the exaltation of one’s own at the expense of the humiliation of other cultures.
Tour. The entry of mankind into the post-industrial period, the growing globalization, including the globalization of the cultural space, require other solutions to the problem of correlation and interaction of cultures.
DIALOGUE OF CULTURES
Obvious signs of the crisis of culture, which appeared in the 20th century, drew the attention of cultural figures to the search for ways and means to reach a new qualitative level of its development. According to the Russian thinker V. S. Bibler, the 20th century gave rise to an unthinkable variety of cultures, the most bizarre variants of their synthesis, denoting the urgent need for their dialogue: “Typologically different “cultures” (integral crystals of works of art, religion, morality ...) are drawn into one temporary "space", strangely and painfully conjugate with each other ... that is, they exclude and presuppose each other. Therefore, it is extremely important that the chaotic interaction of different cultures be transformed into a meaningful and mutually beneficial dialogue.
Researchers consider culture as an immense polyphonic (polyphonic) space. This property of culture was reflected, in particular, by the Russian culturologist M. M. Bakhtin, who wrote that culture can only exist on the borders: on the verge of the past, present and future; in the clash of ethnic cultures, different author's positions; in the variety of forms of human creativity, etc.
Dialogue of cultures implies interaction, interpenetration of various cultural formations within the framework of large cultural zones, as well as communication, spiritual convergence of huge cultural regions that formed a unique complex of specific features at the dawn of human civilization. It should be noted that the dialogue of cultures is not limited only to humanitarian contacts of cultural formations of various scales, it is also about the familiarization of an individual with these cultural worlds, the internal rethinking of the values of a "foreign" culture.
TOLERANCE
You understand that modern humanity exists in a heterogeneous cultural environment - there are many subcultures, countercultures. The society is also multi-religious - people hold different religious views. Such diversity, on the one hand, gives rise to social conflicts, and on the other hand,
Encourages to look for ways and forms of interaction. It is this setting of non-conflict interaction in a multicultural multi-confessional world that is tolerance.
Tolerance is based on humanistic principles - the recognition of the enduring value of a person, including the traits of human individuality. Cultural diversity is directly related to the diversity of human types, qualities, therefore tolerance is seen as a civilized compromise, recognition of the right of individuals, social groups, cultures to be different, otherness.
Tolerance is a complex strategy of behavior, including the readiness to accept other views without protest; respect for freedom (including freedom of thought, creativity, conscience) of another person; a measure of compassion, generosity and patience.
Tolerance has various forms: personal tolerance is manifested in the social interactions of individual individuals; public forms reflected in social psychology, consciousness, moral standards and mores; state the form of tolerance is reflected in legislation, in particular in the approval of the principle of freedom of conscience, which you will read about below, as well as in political practice. Although tolerance implies a tolerant attitude towards manifestations of dissent in any area of social interactions, this does not mean an indifferent, conniving attitude towards extremist, misanthropic ideas. It is criminal and immoral to ignore the existence and dissemination of such ideas and ways of doing things.
YASH Basic concepts: culture, material and spiritual culture, dialogue of cultures, tolerance. YANterms: continuity, innovation, subculture, counterculture, Eurocentrism, Americanocentrism, Afrocentrism (negritude).
Test yourself
1) What is culture? 2) What sciences study culture? 3) Why is the separation of material and spiritual culture recognized by scientists as conditional? 4) What does the concept of "material culture" mean? 5) What is meant by spiritual culture? 6) What are the ways of developing spiritual culture? 7) What is a subculture? Under what conditions does it become a counterculture? 8) Support with examples the statement about the plurality of cultures in the modern world (or in another period of human history). 9) What problems does the recognition of cultural diversity give rise to? Briefly
Describe each of them. 10) Why is the question of the dialogue of cultures especially relevant in the conditions of modern society? What is a dialogue of cultures?
Think, Discuss, Do
1. Famous worker of Russian science Grigory Lan
Dow noticed the following feature of culture: “In the culture of wasps
the summit is the novelty.” Explain the thought of G. Landau,
confirm the correctness of the scientist with two or three arguments.
2. Scientists have been arguing about the origin for centuries
culture. Some believe that culture arose from the game.
Others associate the emergence of culture with religious
human practice. Give some examples in
statement of each of the above points of view. are
are they mutually exclusive? Explain your answer.
3. Illustrate the non-break with concrete examples
new connection between material and spiritual culture.
4. Analyze the cultural life of your region,
identify existing subcultures and countercultures. So
put a detailed description of the specifics, values of one
from subcultures and countercultures, justify the attribution of the description
vayable cultures to one or another type.
5. In addition to the term "counterculture", to the value mustache
dances of certain groups of society, some products
niyam, the word “anti-culture” is used. Are these
terms synonymous? Justify your answer with support
on the facts of social life.
Work with the source
Read an excerpt from "Cultural Dissatisfaction" by the Austrian physician and psychologist Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), the founder of the system of psychoanalysis.
Now is the time to address the essence of that culture whose value as a source of happiness has been questioned. Let us not seek to find a formula that defines this essence in a few words before we learn something from our study. Therefore, we confine ourselves to repeating that the term “culture” means the whole sum of achievements and institutions that distinguish our life from the life of our ancestors from the animal world and serve two purposes: protecting man from nature and regulating relations between people ... we recognize as inherent in culture all forms of activity and values that benefit mankind, contribute to the development of the earth, protect it from the forces of nature, etc. There is the least doubt about this aspect of culture. Looking far enough into the past, we can say that the first acts of culture were
Whether the use of tools, the taming of fire, the construction of dwellings. Among these achievements stands out as something extraordinary and unparalleled taming of fire, as for others, then with them a person entered the path on which he has been continuously following ever since; one can easily guess the motives that led to their discovery. With the help of his tools, man improves his organs - both motor and sensory - or pushes the limits of their capabilities ...
No other feature of culture allows us, however, to characterize it better than its respect for the highest forms of mental activity, for intellectual, scientific and artistic achievements and concern for them, than the leading role that it assigns to the significance of ideas in human life. Among these ideas, at the head are ... ideas about the possible perfection of an individual, an entire people or all of humanity and the requirements put forward on the basis of these ideas.
Freud 3. Dissatisfaction with culture // Culturology: a reader / Comp. prof. P. S. Gurevich. - M.: Gardariki, 2000. - S. 141-145.
Questions and assignments to the source. 1) Zach defines the concept of "culture" 3. Freud? 2) What features of culture did he single out? 3) Explain the author's idea that culture distinguishes a person from his "ancestors from the animal world." 4) Illustrate with examples the statement 3. Freud: "With the help of his tools, a person improves his organs - both motor and sensory - or pushes the limits of their capabilities." 5) Suggest why, according to Freud, the value of culture as a source of happiness can be questioned.
Spiritual life is a sphere of activity of man and society, which embraces the wealth of human feelings and achievements of the mind, unites both the assimilation of accumulated spiritual values and the creative creation of new ones.
Quite often, for convenience, scientists separately consider the spiritual life of society and the spiritual life of the individual, each of which has its own specific content.
The spiritual life of society (or the spiritual sphere of society) covers science, morality, religion, philosophy, art, scientific institutions, cultural institutions, religious organizations, and the corresponding activities of people.
This activity is characterized by a division into two types: spiritual-theoretical and spiritual-practical. Spiritual and theoretical activity is the production of spiritual goods and values. Its products are thoughts, ideas, theories, ideals, artistic images that can take the form of scientific and artistic works. Spiritual and practical activity is the preservation, reproduction, distribution, distribution, as well as the consumption of created spiritual values, i.e., activity, the end result of which is a change in people's consciousness.
The spiritual life of a person, or, as they say, the spiritual world of a person, usually includes knowledge, faith, needs, abilities and aspirations of people. Its integral part is the sphere of human emotions and experiences. One of the main conditions for a full-fledged spiritual life of an individual is the mastery of the knowledge, skills, values accumulated by society in the course of history, that is, the development of culture.
WHAT IS CULTURE
Culture is the most important element that determines the scope of spiritual life. Despite the fact that we are already familiar with this concept, we still have to penetrate deeper into its meaning. Let's try to answer the question: "where does culture begin?"
On the surface lies the consideration that it is necessary to look for it where nature ends and man begins - a thinking and creative being. For example, ants, erecting the most complex buildings, do not create culture. For millions of years they have been reproducing the same program laid down in them by nature. Man, in his activity, constantly creates something new, transforming both himself and nature. Having already cut a stone and tied it to a stick, he created something new, namely, an object of culture, that is, something that had not existed in nature before. Thus, it becomes clear that the basis of culture is the transformative, creative activity of man in relation to nature.
The term “culture” itself originally in Latin meant “cultivation, tillage”, that is, even then it implied changes in nature under the influence of man. In a meaning close to the modern understanding, this word was first used in the 1st century. BC e. Roman philosopher and orator Cicero. But only in the 17th century. it began to be widely used in an independent sense, meaning everything that was invented by man. Since then, thousands of definitions of culture have been given, but there is still no single and generally accepted definition and, most likely, never will be. In its most general form, it can be represented as follows: culture is all types of transformative activities of a person and society, as well as all its results. It is a historical set of industrial, social and spiritual achievements of mankind.
From another, narrower point of view, culture can be represented as a special sphere of social life, where the spiritual efforts of mankind, the achievements of the mind, the manifestation of feelings and creative activity are concentrated. In this form, the understanding of culture is very close to the definition of the spiritual sphere of society. Often these concepts can easily replace each other and are studied as a whole.
The science of culture is primarily concerned with the study of culture. But along with this, various phenomena and aspects of cultural life are the subject of study of many other sciences - history and sociology, ethnography and linguistics, archeology and aesthetics, ethics and art history, etc.
Culture is a complex, multifaceted and dynamic phenomenon. The development of culture is a twofold process. It requires, on the one hand, the summation, accumulation of experience and cultural values of previous generations, i.e., the creation of traditions, and, on the other hand, overcoming these same traditions by increasing cultural wealth, i.e., innovation. Traditions are a stable element of culture; they accumulate and preserve the cultural values created by mankind. Innovation, on the other hand, informs the dynamics and pushes cultural processes towards development.
Human society, through the creative efforts of its best representatives, constantly creates new patterns that take root in people's lives, becoming traditions, a guarantee of the integrity of human culture. But culture cannot stop. As soon as it freezes, the process of its degradation and degeneration begins. Traditions become stereotypes and patterns, mindlessly reproduced for the simple reason that "it has always been like this." Such cultural development invariably leads to a dead end. The complete denial of all previous achievements is also unpromising. The desire to destroy everything to the ground, and then build something new ends, as a rule, with a senseless pogrom, after which, with great difficulty, it is necessary to restore the remains of the destroyed. Innovation gives a positive result only when it takes into account all previous achievements and builds a new one on their basis. But this process is far from painless. Remember at least the French Impressionist painters. How much they had to listen to ridicule and abuse, censure of official art criticism and bullying! However, time passed, and their canvases entered the treasury of world culture, became a role model, that is, they merged into the cultural tradition.
WHY CULTURE IS NEEDED
It seemed like a strange question. Everything is clear anyway: “Culture is needed in order to ...” But try to answer it yourself, and you will understand that everything is not so simple.
Culture is an integral part of society with its own tasks and goals, designed to perform its inherent functions.
The function of adapting to the environment. We can say that this is the oldest function of culture. It was thanks to her that human society found protection from the elemental forces of nature and forced them to serve itself. Already primitive man made clothes from animal skins, learned to use fire and, as a result, was able to populate vast territories of the globe.
The function of accumulation, storage and transfer of cultural values. This function allows a person to determine his place in the world and, using the knowledge accumulated about him, develop from the lowest to the highest. It is provided by the mechanisms of cultural traditions, which we have already talked about. Thanks to them, culture preserves the heritage accumulated over the centuries, which remains the invariable foundation of the creative searches of mankind.
The function of goal-setting and regulation of the life of society and human activity. As part of this function, culture creates values and guidelines for society, consolidates what has been achieved and becomes the basis for further development. Culture-created goals and patterns are the perspective and blueprint of human activity. The same cultural values are established as the norms and requirements of society for all its members, regulating their lives and activities. Take, for example, the religious doctrines of the Middle Ages, known to you from the course of history. They simultaneously created the values of society, defining “what is good and what is bad”, indicated what should be striven for, and also obliged each person to lead a completely specific lifestyle, set by patterns and norms.
function of socialization. This function enables each specific person to acquire a certain system of knowledge, norms and values that allow him to act as a full member of society. People excluded from cultural processes, for the most part, cannot adapt to life in human society. (Remember Mowgli - people found in the forest and raised by animals.)
communicative function. This function of culture provides interaction between people and communities, promotes the processes of integration and unity of human culture. It becomes especially evident in the modern world, when a single cultural space of mankind is being created before our eyes.
The main functions listed above, of course, do not exhaust all the meanings of culture. Many scholars would add dozens more to this list. And the very separate consideration of functions is rather conditional. In real life, they are closely intertwined and look like an indivisible process of cultural creativity of the human mind.
ARE MANY CULTURES?
Imagine a huge tree with all its branches and twigs intertwined and out of sight. The tree of culture looks even more complicated, because all its branches are constantly growing, changing, connecting and diverging. And, in order to understand how they grow, you need to know and remember how they looked before, that is, you must constantly take into account the entire vast cultural experience of mankind.
Plunging into history, we see in the mists of time the historical cultures of ancient civilizations, the threads from which stretch in our time. Remember, for example, what the modern world owes to the cultures of Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece.
Looking at the map of the world, we understand that cultures can be defined by racial and national characteristics. And a single interethnic culture can be historically formed on the territory of one state. Take, for example, India, a country that has united many peoples with different customs and religious beliefs into a single cultural space.
Well, if, tearing our eyes away from the map, we plunge into the depths of society, then here we will see a lot of cultures.
In society, they can be divided, say, according to gender, age and professional characteristics. After all, you will agree that the cultural interests of teenagers and the elderly differ from each other, just as the cultural and everyday life of miners differs from the lifestyle of actors, and the culture of provincial cities is not similar to the culture of capitals.
It is difficult to understand this diversity. At first glance, it may seem that culture as a whole simply does not exist. In fact, all these particles are connected and fit into a single mosaic. Cultures intertwine and interact with each other. And over time, this process only accelerates. For example, today no one will be surprised by an Indian sitting on a bench in a Moscow park and reading Sophocles in an English translation.
In the world around us, there is a constant dialogue of cultures. This is especially evident in the example of the interpenetration and mutual enrichment of national Cultures. Each of them is inimitable and unique. Their differences are due to individual historical development. But history transcends national and regional boundaries, it becomes global, and culture, like a person, simply cannot be isolated, it needs constant communication and the opportunity to compare itself with others. Without this, its full development is impossible. Domestic scientist, academician D.S. Likhachev wrote: “The real values of culture develop only in contact with other cultures, grow on rich cultural soil and take into account the experience of neighbors. Can a grain grow in a glass of distilled water? Maybe! - but until the grain's own strength is exhausted, then the plant dies very quickly.
Now there are practically no isolated cultural communities left on Earth, except somewhere in the inaccessible equatorial forests. Scientific and technological progress, related information technologies, the development of transport, the increased mobility of the population, the global division of labor - all this entails the internationalization of culture, the creation of a single cultural space for different nations and peoples. It is easiest to assimilate the achievements of technology, natural science, exact sciences in interethnic communication. Innovations in the field of literature and artistic creation are somewhat more difficult to take root. But even here we can see examples of integration. So, let's say, Japan, with its age-old literary traditions, eagerly absorbs and assimilates the experience of European writers, and the whole world, in turn, is experiencing a real boom, reading out the works of Japanese literature.
We are living in an era of the formation of a universal international culture, the values of which are acceptable to people all over the planet. However, like any other phenomenon on a global scale, the process of cultural internationalization generates a lot of problems. Difficulties arise with the preservation of their own national cultures, when the age-old traditions of the people are replaced by new values. This issue is especially acute for small peoples, whose cultural heritage can be buried under foreign influences. An instructive example is the fate of the North American Indians, who are becoming more and more absorbed into American society and culture.
Among the problems of globalization, it becomes obvious how carefully it is necessary to treat the core of the native culture - folk traditions, since they are its basis. Without its cultural baggage, no people can enter the world culture on an equal footing, they will have nothing to put into the common treasury, and they will be able to offer themselves only as a consumer.
Folk culture is a very special layer of national culture, its most stable part, a source of development and a repository of traditions. This is a culture created by the people and existing among the masses of the people. It includes the collective creative activity of the people, reflects its life, views, values. Her works are rarely written down, more often they are passed from mouth to mouth. Folk culture is generally anonymous. Folk songs and dances have performers, but no authors. And that is why it is the fruit of collective creativity. Even if author's works become her property, their authorship is soon forgotten. Remember, for example, the well-known song "Katyusha". Who is the author of its words and music? Not all of those who perform it will answer this question.
When we talk about folk culture, we first of all mean folklore (with all its legends, songs and fairy tales), folk music, dances, theater, architecture, fine and decorative arts. However, it doesn't end there. This is just the tip of the iceberg. The most important component of folk culture is mores and customs, everyday phraseology and ways of housekeeping, home life and traditional medicine. Everything that the people, by virtue of long traditions, regularly uses in their everyday life is folk culture. Its distinguishing feature is that it is in constant use. While grandmothers are telling fairy tales, folk culture is alive. But, as soon as something from it ceases to be used, at the same moment the living phenomenon of culture disappears, it becomes just an object for the study of folklorists. Folk culture as a whole is permanent and indestructible, but the particles that make it up are very fragile and require careful and careful handling.
MASS AND ELITE CULTURE
Among that variety of cultures. that passed before us. there is one division. especially important for our days is the existence of mass and elite cultures. It is this opposition that largely determines the cultural picture of modern society.
Mass culture is a rather young phenomenon in the history of mankind. It took shape in the 20th century. In connection with the blurring of territorial and social boundaries in an industrial society. For the emergence of mass culture, several conditions were required: a sufficient level of education of the masses, the availability of free time and free funds for the consumer to pay for their leisure, as well as means of communication capable of copying, replicating and conveying cultural products to the masses.
The first step towards the emergence of mass culture was the introduction in England in the 1870s-1890s. compulsory literacy law. In 1895 cinematography was invented. which has become a means of mass art, accessible to everyone and does not require even an elementary ability to read. The next steps were the invention and introduction of gramophone records. Then came radio, television, the ability to replicate audio and video recordings at home, the Internet.
In the twentieth century, with rising living standards and the further development of technological progress. man wanted to fill his leisure. The mechanisms of the market immediately turned on: since there are needs, therefore, they must be satisfied. The market responded with the emergence of mass culture, or, as it is otherwise called, the entertainment industry, commercial culture, pop culture, the leisure industry, etc.
The mass culture that has developed in this way has its own characteristic features. First of all, it is distinguished by a commercial orientation, the content of this culture acts as commodities capable of making a profit when sold. The main feature of mass culture is an orientation towards the tastes and demands of the mass consumer. In terms of content, being “an anti-fatigue culture, it is simple, accessible, entertaining and standardized. It does not require effort to master, allows you to relax by consuming its products. The simplicity and accessibility of mass culture are obvious, otherwise it simply loses demand. Moreover, both aristocrats and ordinary workers can be its consumers, in this sense it is universal and democratic. So, the well-known "agent 007" James Bond was the favorite of US President John F. Kennedy and English Prince Charles.
Popular culture uses images and themes that are understandable to everyone: love, family, sex, career, success, adventure, heroism, horror, crime and violence. But all this is presented in a simplified, sentimental and standardized way. Evaluations of mass culture are always obvious, it is clear where are “friends” and where are “strangers”, who is “good” and who is “evil” and “good guys” will certainly defeat the “bad” ones. Mass culture focuses not on the individual, but on the standard image of the consumer - a teenager, a housewife, a businessman, etc. Through the mechanisms of fashion and prestige, it influences the way of life of people. In this sense, advertising - an indispensable part of mass culture - has long ceased to offer goods. Today she is already advertising a lifestyle: if you want to look like the same cheerful guy, then buy this and that.
Mass culture, you guessed it, is inseparable from the mass media (media). Thanks to them, the systematic dissemination of cultural products through the press, radio, television, cinema, global computer networks, sound recording, video recording, electronic media, etc. is ensured. All culture, and not just mass culture, somehow passes through the media. Having made a qualitative leap in the 1960s, they became a universal means of disseminating information. Already in 1964, the Beatles' performance at Carnegie Hall in New York was listened to not only by 2,000 visitors to the hall, but also by 73 million people on television. Now the possibilities of the media have become much wider. The ability to quickly and almost completely reach the widest audience has turned the media into the most important factor in modern culture.
Mass culture is opposed to elitist culture, designed for a narrow circle of consumers prepared to perceive works that are complex in form and content. For example, these are the novels of J. Joyce and M. Proust, the paintings of M. Chagall and P. Picasso, the films of A. A. Tarkovsky and A. Kurosawa, the music of A. Schnittke and S. Gubaidulina, etc.
The elite, which is the consumer of such a culture, is the part of society most capable of spiritual activity, endowed with creative inclinations. It is she who ensures cultural progress, therefore the artist quite consciously turns to her, and not to the masses, since without her response and appreciation, any work in the field of high art is impossible. Obtaining commercial benefits is not an indispensable goal for the creators of works of elite art - they strive for self-expression and the embodiment of their ideas, but at the same time their works often become popular and bring significant income to the authors.
Elite culture is a source of ideas, techniques and images for mass culture. You can easily give many examples of this yourself. These cultures are not antagonistic. Mass culture cannot exist without feeding the elite, and the elite needs to be disseminated, popularized and financed by the mass. It is their dialogue and interaction that allows modern culture to exist and develop.
No one is forcing anyone to choose between the masses and the elite, to become an adherent of one type of culture and an opponent of another. Culture does not tolerate compulsion and edification. It is always based on free choice, each person decides for himself what he likes and what not. By choosing cultural priorities and values, a person shapes and defines himself. Nature gives us only a biological beginning, and only culture turns a person into a cultural and historical being, into a unique human personality. And in this sense, it represents the measure of the human in man.
PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS
1 Culture is a complex phenomenon, the development of which requires certain experience and systematic work. Philistine ideas about culture often distort its meaning.
2 Complex forms of culture require the ability to competently assess its phenomena. Learn not to reject what is not clear to you from a nervous glance, try to figure it out. A cultured person is tolerant and tolerant.
3 Try to determine your personal position in relation to any cultural phenomena, but at the same time try to avoid unequivocal hasty conclusions. This not only goes against the very spirit of the culture, but often just looks stupid.
4 Remember that tolerance for manifestations of foreign forms of culture is a hallmark of a cultured person.
Document
Fragment from the essay of Academician D. S. Likhachev "Notes on Russian".
To a certain extent, losses in nature are recoverable... The situation is different with cultural monuments. Their losses are irreplaceable, because cultural monuments are always individual, always associated with a certain era, with certain masters. Each monument is destroyed forever, distorted forever, wounded forever.
The "reserve" of cultural monuments, the "reserve" of the cultural environment is extremely limited in the world, and it is being depleted at an ever-progressing rate. Technique, which is itself a product of culture, sometimes serves more to kill culture than to prolong its life. Bulldozers, excavators, construction cranes, operated by thoughtless, ignorant people, destroy both what has not yet been discovered in the earth, and what is above the earth, which has already served people. Even the restorers themselves ... Sometimes they become more destroyers than guardians of the monuments of the past. Destroy monuments and city planners, especially if they do not have clear and complete historical knowledge. It becomes crowded on the ground for cultural monuments, not because there is not enough land, but because builders are attracted to old places, inhabited and therefore seem especially beautiful and tempting for city planners ...
Questions and tasks for the document
1. Identify the main idea of the given passage.
2. Explain why the loss of cultural monuments is irreplaceable.
3. How do you understand the author's expression "moral settled way of life"?
4. Recall the content of the paragraph and reasonably explain why it is necessary to preserve cultural monuments. What cultural mechanisms are involved in these processes?
5. Pick up examples of barbarian attitude towards cultural monuments.
SELF-CHECK QUESTIONS
1. What is the spiritual life of society? What components does it include?
2. What is culture? Tell us about the origin of this concept.
3. How do traditions and innovation interact in culture?
4. Describe the main functions of culture. On the example of one of the phenomena of culture, reveal its functions in society.
5. What kind of “cultures within a culture” do you know? Describe a situation in which the interaction of several cultures would manifest itself.
6. What is the dialogue of cultures? Give examples of the interaction and interpenetration of various national cultures, using the knowledge gained in the courses of history and geography.
7. What is the internationalization of culture? What are her problems?
8. Describe the manifestations of folk culture.
9. What is mass culture? Tell me about her symptoms.
10. What is the role of mass media in modern society? What problems and threats can be associated with their spread?
11. What is an elite culture? How is its dialogue with the masses?
TASKS
1. Name at least ten sciences that study certain aspects of culture.
WHY CULTURE IS NEEDED
It seemed like a strange question. Everything is clear anyway: "Culture is needed in order to ..." But try to answer it yourself, and you will understand that everything is not so simple.
Culture is an integral part of society with its own tasks and goals, designed to perform its inherent functions.
Function adaptations to the environment. We can say that this is the oldest function of culture. It is thanks to her that human society has found protection from the elemental forces of nature and forced them to serve itself. Already primitive man made clothes from animal skins, learned to use fire and, as a result, was able to populate vast areas of the globe.
Function accumulation, storage and transfer of cultural values. This function allows a person to determine his place in the world and, using the knowledge accumulated about him, develop from the lowest to the highest. It is provided by the mechanisms of cultural traditions, which we have already talked about. Thanks to them, culture preserves the heritage accumulated over the centuries, which remains the invariable foundation of the creative searches of mankind.
Function goal-setting and regulation of the life of society and human activity. As part of this function, culture creates values and guidelines for society, consolidates what has been achieved and becomes the basis for further development. Culture-created goals and patterns are the perspective and blueprint of human activity. The same cultural values are established as the norms and requirements of society for all its members, regulating their lives and activities. Let's take, for example, the religious doctrines of the Middle Ages, known to you from the course of history. They simultaneously created the values of society, defining "what is good and what is bad", indicating what to strive for, and also obliged each person to lead a completely specific lifestyle, set by patterns and norms.
Function socialization. This function makes it possible for each specific person to assimilate a certain system of knowledge, norms and values that allow him to act as a full member of society. People excluded from cultural processes, for the most part, cannot adapt to life in human society. (Remember Mowgli - people found in the forest and raised by animals.)
Communicative function. This function of culture provides interaction between people and communities, promotes the processes of integration and unity of human culture. It becomes especially evident in the modern world, when a single cultural space of mankind is being created before our eyes.
The main functions listed above, of course, do not exhaust all the meanings of culture. Many scholars would add dozens more to this list. And the very separate consideration of functions is rather arbitrary. In real life, they are closely intertwined and look like an indivisible process of cultural creativity of the human mind.
LOTLICROPS?
Imagine a huge tree with all its branches and twigs intertwined and out of sight. The tree of culture looks even more complicated, because all its branches are constantly growing, changing, connecting and diverging. And, in order to understand how they grow, you need to know and remember how they looked before, that is, you must constantly take into account the entire vast cultural experience of mankind.
Plunging into history, we see in the mists of time the historical cultures of ancient civilizations, the threads from which stretch in our time. Remember, for example, what the modern world owes to the cultures of Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece.
Looking at the map of the world, we understand that cultures can be defined by racial and national characteristics. And a single interethnic culture can be historically formed on the territory of one state. Take, for example, India, a country that has united many peoples with different customs and religious beliefs into a single cultural space.
Well, if, taking our eyes off the map, we plunge into the depths of society, then here we will see a lot of cultures.
In society, they can be divided, say, according to gender, age and professional characteristics. After all, you see, the cultural interests of teenagers and the elderly differ from each other, just as the cultural and everyday way of life of miners differs from the lifestyle of actors, and the culture of provincial cities is not similar to the culture of capitals.
It is difficult to understand this diversity. At first glance, it may seem that culture as a whole simply does not exist. In fact, all these particles are connected and fit into a single mosaic. Cultures intertwine and interact with each other. And over time, this process only accelerates. For example, today no one will be surprised by an Indian sitting on a bench in a Moscow park and reading Sophocles in an English translation.
In the world around us, there is a constant dialogue of cultures. This is especially evident in the example of interpenetration and mutual enrichment of national cultures. Each of them is inimitable and unique. Their differences are due to individual historical development. But history transcends national and regional boundaries, it becomes global, and culture, like a person, simply cannot be isolated, it needs constant communication and the opportunity to compare itself with others. Without this, its full development is impossible. Domestic scientist, academician D.S. Likhachev wrote: “The real values of culture develop only in contact with other cultures, grow on rich cultural soil and take into account the experience of neighbors. Can a grain grow in a glass of distilled water? Maybe! - but until the grain's own strength is exhausted, then the plant dies very quickly.
Now there are practically no isolated cultural communities left on Earth, except somewhere in the inaccessible equatorial forests. Scientific and technological progress, related information technologies, the development of transport, the increased mobility of the population, the global division of labor - all this entails internationalization culture, the creation of a single cultural space for different nations and peoples. The easiest way to assimilate the achievements of technology, natural sciences, exact sciences in interethnic communication. Innovations in the field of literature and artistic creation are somewhat more difficult to take root. But even here we can see examples of integration. So, let's say, Japan, with its age-old literary traditions, eagerly absorbs and assimilates the experience of European writers, and the whole world, in turn, is experiencing a real boom, reading the works of Japanese literature.
We are living in the era of the formation of a universal human international culture, the values of which are acceptable to the people of the entire planet. However, like any other phenomenon on a global scale, the process of cultural internationalization generates a lot of problems. Difficulties arise with the preservation of their own national cultures, when the age-old traditions of the people are replaced by new values. This issue is especially acute for small peoples, whose cultural baggage can be buried under foreign influences. An instructive example is the fate of the North American Indians, who are becoming more and more absorbed into American society and culture.
Among the problems of globalization, it becomes obvious how carefully it is necessary to treat the core of the native culture - folk traditions, since they are its basis. Without their cultural baggage, no nation can enter the world culture on an equal footing, it will have nothing to put into the common treasury, and it will be able to offer itself only as a consumer.
Folk culture is a very special layer of national culture, its most stable part, a source of development and a repository of traditions. This is a culture created by the people and existing among the masses of the people. It includes the collective creative activity of the people, reflects their life, views, values. Her works are rarely written down, more often they are passed from mouth to mouth. Folk culture is generally anonymous. Folk songs and dances have performers, but no authors. And that is why it is the fruit of collective creativity. Even if author's works become her property, their authorship is soon forgotten. Remember, for example, the well-known song "Katyusha". Who is the author of its words and music? Not all of those who perform it will answer this question.
When we talk about folk culture, we first of all mean folklore (with all its legends, songs and fairy tales), folk music, dances, theater, architecture, fine and decorative arts. However, it doesn't end there. This is just the tip of the iceberg. The most important component of folk culture are customs and habits, household phraseology and ways of housekeeping, home life and folk medicine. Everything that the people, by virtue of long-standing traditions, regularly uses in their everyday life is folk culture. Its distinguishing feature is that it is in constant use. While grandmothers tell stories, folk culture is alive. But, as soon as something from it ceases to be used, at the same moment the living phenomenon of culture disappears, it becomes just an object for the study of folklore scientists. Folk culture as a whole is permanent and indestructible, but the particles that make it up are very fragile and require careful and careful handling.
