Cultural norms, traditions and values. Cultural traditions, values, norms

Traditions are one of important categories theories of culture. The universality and universality of this category is determined by the fact that traditions are present in all spheres - in material, political, artistic, moral, everyday, physical culture.

Cultural traditions – social and cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation and reproduced in certain societies and social groups for a long time.

Traditions are present in all social and cultural systems and are a necessary condition for their existence. Traditions are inherent in a variety of areas of culture, although their significance in each of these areas is different, they occupy the most important place in religion.

Distinguish strict traditions that do not allow innovations and deviations in behavior. They are characterized by a very long existence, passed on from generation to generation without change.

Another type is plastic, moving traditions. They have a fairly wide range of variability, changeability, although the basis of traditions also remains unchanged. In this case, traditions can “overgrow” with new norms, rules, techniques; they change depending on one or another situation, allowing for behavior options in different circumstances.

Traditions form the “collective memory” of society and social groups, ensuring their continuity in development. Besides, separate groups, classes, layers have their own traditions. Each generation, receiving at its disposal a certain set of samples, not only perceives and assimilates them in ready-made form, but always carries out their own interpretation and choice. In this sense, each generation chooses not only its future, but also its past.

Societies and social groups, accepting some elements of the sociocultural heritage, at the same time reject others, so traditions can be both positive (what and how is traditionally accepted) and negative (what and how is traditionally rejected).

Certain traditions are cultural patterns, institutions, customs, rituals, values, norms, ideas, styles, etc.

Custom- a traditionally established order of behavior. It is based on habit and refers to collective forms of action. Customs are socially approved mass patterns of action that are recommended to be followed. Informal sanctions are applied to violators - disapproval, isolation, censure.

If habits and customs are passed from one generation to another, they become traditions. Some traditions are performed in everyday life, while others are performed in a festive atmosphere.

A type of tradition is ritual- a set of actions established by custom or ritual. They express some religious ideas or everyday traditions. Rituals are not limited to one social group, but apply to all segments of the population. Rituals accompany important points human life associated with birth (baptism, naming), wedding (matchmaking, bride price, engagement), entry into a new field of activity (military oath, initiation into pioneers, students, workers) or transition to another age (initiation) , death (burial, funeral service, commemoration).

Culture, like society, is based on a value system. Values ​​are of great importance in any culture, since they determine a person’s relationship with nature, society, the immediate environment and the environment. Mastering the values ​​of the surrounding world, a person relies on the traditions, norms, and customs established in his culture and gradually forms a system of basic and generally accepted values ​​that govern his life. On this basis, each culture develops its own value system, which shows its specific state in the world.

Cultural values- these are material objects or spiritual principles that have a specific meaning for a given social subject from the standpoint of satisfying his needs and interests.

Values ​​arise as a result of a person’s understanding of the significance for him of certain objects (material or spiritual). Each sphere cultural activities person acquires its characteristic value dimension. There are values material life, economics, social order, politics, morality, art, science, religion. Each type of culture has its own hierarchy of values ​​and value dimensions.

The entire variety of values ​​can be conditionally ordered and classified based on the areas of life in which they are realized. Any classification of values ​​by type and level is conditional due to the fact that it contains social and cultural meanings. For example, B. S. Erasov identifies the following types of values:

Vital (life, health, safety, quality of life, level of consumption, environmental safety);

Economic (equal conditions for commodity producers and favorable conditions for the development of production of goods and services, goals and meaning of economic activity);

Social (social status, hard work, family, wealth, gender equality, personal independence, tolerance);

Political (patriotism, civic engagement, civil liberties, civil peace);

Moral (goodness, goodness, love, friendship, duty, honor, selflessness, honesty, fidelity, love for children, justice, decency, mutual assistance, respect for elders);

Religious (God, faith, salvation, grace, Scripture and tradition);

Aesthetic (beauty, harmony, style, etc.).

Values ​​are relative, changeable and mobile. They are in constant flux and are often revalued within a particular culture. The development of culture and its stability are associated with the reproduction, dissemination, preservation and change of values.

The concept of “values” is related to the concept of “value orientation”. Value orientation acts as an indicator of a person’s spiritual activity at the personal and group level, as well as the corresponding socio-psychological formations that have a positive assessment. Indicators of value orientation can be ideas, knowledge, interests, motives, needs, ideals, as well as attitudes, stereotypes, etc.

Cultural norms – certain patterns, rules of behavior, actions, knowledge. In the emergence of cultural norms big role traditional and subliminal aspects play. In a revised form, cultural norms are embodied in ideology, ethical teachings, and religious concepts.

Thus, moral norms arise in the very practice of mass mutual communication between people. Moral standards are cultivated daily by force of habit, public opinion, evaluations of loved ones. A huge role in the formation of cultural norms characteristic of a given society is played by the approval and condemnation expressed by others.

Norms perform very important functions in society. On the one hand, norms are the duties of one person towards another or other persons.

On the other hand, norms are expectations: others expect completely unambiguous behavior from a person who follows a given norm.

Cultural norms:

Regulate the general course of socialization;

Unite individuals into groups, and groups into society;

Control deviant behavior;

They serve as models and standards of behavior.

Thus, norms perform their functions depending on the quality in which they manifest themselves: as standards of behavior (responsibilities, rules) or as expectations of behavior (the reaction of other people).

Exist various ways classification of norms, for example, by scope (in a small or large social group), depending on the severity of their compliance, etc.

The most famous classification of cultural norms belongs to the American sociologist William Graham Sumner (1840-1910). He identified the following types of norms: customs (folk-ways); morals (mores); laws. They form the basis regulatory system culture. At the same time, it should be noted that the list of cultural norms is constantly expanding and updating. For example, T. Parsons identifies the following four groups of norms: social, economic, political and cultural.

Today, the typology of cultural norms takes into account traditions, customs, habits, mores, taboos, laws, fashion, taste and hobbies, beliefs and knowledge, etc.

Norms are historically variable, they depend on characteristic features those areas public life, in which they develop.

Stable norms are preserved for many generations, receive moral justification, and often norms are preserved long after they have lost their effectiveness.

The effect of any norm is not absolute; the norm goes through a period of inception and approval, then loses stability and begins to collapse. The process of destruction of cultural norms (anomie) is always accompanied by the creation of new ones (norm-making).

Anomie is the ancient Greek “anomos”, meaning “lawless”, “normless”, “ungovernable”. Anomie can be defined as the destruction of an individual’s sense of belonging to society: a person is not restrained by his moral principles, for him there are no longer any moral standards, but only incoherent impulses, he has lost a sense of continuity, duty, and a sense of the existence of other people. Anomie causes an increase in deviant forms of human behavior, i.e., an increase in crime, an increase in the number of divorces, promiscuity in sexual relations, an increase in drug addiction and suicide, and mental disorders occur as a result of a violation of the unity of culture. Anomie is a tendency towards social death; in its extreme forms it means the death of society.

Thus, traditions, values ​​and cultural norms act as motivation cultural behavior person, incentives to achieve goals and protect certain value acquisitions. With their help, standards of cultural assessments are formed in society, the priorities of life goals and the choice of methods for achieving them are determined.

I think that such concepts as life values ​​and norms are the basis of culture and are of great importance in the life of every person.

Although they have values common ground with the norms, but these concepts are still different. And the difference between them is expressed in this way: norms are rules of behavior, and values ​​are abstract ideas about what good and evil, right and wrong are.

Values is what justifies and gives meaning to norms. For example, human life is a value, and its protection is the norm.

No society can survive without values.

But this does not mean that they are the same for every person.

Someone who considers art, honesty and decency to be the highest values, for another, money and his career come first.

At the same time, in every society there is some generalized, sufficiently sustainable system values.

I would call it the basis. Such values ​​include family, marriage, etc.

We live in the 21st century. Now everything is changing rapidly. This also applies to the value system. Take family and love, for example.

Previously, this was taken more seriously. Nowadays, few people care about love. Open relationships are much easier and faster.

Norms show how people should behave in different situations.

Standards of behavior are also reflected in the concepts of morality and ethics.

American sociologist William Graham Sumner (1840-1910) identified the following types of norms: customs, mores, laws. But the typology of norms is constantly changing and expanding.

All social norms can be classified depending on the severity of their observance.

So, for violating some norms, there is a mild punishment - disapproval, a grin, an unfriendly look, and for violating other norms there are harsh sanctions - imprisonment, even the death penalty.

But the rules are not always observed. Violation of etiquette, ritual of conversation, marriage, traffic rules and even murder.

A cultural norm is followed when a person is motivated to do so.

There is no internal interest - and there is no fulfillment of the norm.

For example, an employee wants to get a promotion and he will comply with the dress code and the norms of communication with his superiors. Also with students. You need a test - you go to classes, lectures, do homework.

To summarize, I would like to note that the norms and values ​​in each country and culture are different. That is, different cultures may give preference to different values, and each society itself has the right to determine what is a value and what is not.

Cultural traditions. In Ancient Rome in the III - I centuries. BC. Roman civil festivals were held, which were games.

According to tradition, games lasted from 14 - 15 days to 6 - 7 days. The total duration of all holidays of these games reached 76 days a year.

Each holiday consisted of several sections:

1) a solemn procession led by a magistrate - the organizer of the games, which was called a pomp;

2) directly competitions in the circus, horse racing, etc.;

3) stage performances in the theater of plays by Greek and Roman authors.

Among the Eastern Slavs in the 8th - 9th centuries. the traditions were completely different. They were mainly associated with holidays.

One of these holidays is the holiday of Kolyada. According to the ideas of the Eastern Slavs, on the day of this holiday the new life of the sun began.

The traditions of celebrating this holiday were associated with fire.

The lights in the houses went out, and then people made a new fire by friction, lit candles and hearths, glorified the beginning of a new life for the sun, wondered about their fate, and made sacrifices.

The holiday of the spring equinox was traditional. On this day, according to tradition, the Slavs burned an effigy of winter, cold, and death.

One of the traditions of the Slavs was calling for rain in order to ripen the harvest faster. This invocation took place on June 23, when the national holiday of Kupala was celebrated; birthdays, weddings, and funerals were also traditional among the Slavs.

Currently, traditions are not only folk, national, but also family. These traditions can be annual, monthly or daily.

For example, the whole family gets together to celebrate the New Year together - this is an annual tradition, i.e. Each family member must observe this or another tradition.

Intercultural communication- communication between representatives of different human cultures (personal contacts between people, less often - indirect forms of communication (such as writing) and mass communication).

Peculiarities intercultural communication are studied at an interdisciplinary level and within the framework of such sciences as cultural studies, psychology, linguistics, ethnology, anthropology, sociology, each of which uses its own approaches to studying them.

Initially, the so-called was used to describe intercultural communication. classical understanding of culture as a more or less stable system of conscious and unconscious rules, norms, values, structures, artifacts - national or ethnic culture.

Currently, the so-called dynamic understanding of culture as a way of life and a system of behavior, norms, values, etc. of any social group (for example, urban culture, generational culture, organizational culture).

The dynamic concept of culture does not imply strict stability cultural system, it can, to a certain extent, change and be modified depending on the social situation.

As a scientific discipline, intercultural communication is in its formation stage and is distinguished by two characteristic features: applied character (the goal is to facilitate communication between representatives of different cultures, reduce the potential for conflict) and interdisciplinarity.

Research on intercultural communication has recently become increasingly important in connection with the processes globalization and intense migration.

FACULTY OF TAXATION AND MANAGEMENT

Speciality "Organisation management"

Department_______Taxation and management_______ __
Discipline______ Culturology_________________ ____

ABSTRACT
ON THE TOPIC OF:
« Cultural values ​​and norms"

Completed
student 1 course
group no. 314
Vankova Olga Sergeevna

Checked:
_________________________
_________________________

Rostov-on-Don
2010/2011 academic year

Plan:

The concept of "culture"
Cultural Norms

Introduction

Culture is an integral part of human life.

The concept of "culture"

Concept "culture" is one of the fundamental ones in modern social science. It is difficult to name another word that would have such a variety of semantic shades. For us, such phrases as “culture of mind”, “culture of feelings”, “culture of behavior”, “physical culture” sound quite familiar. According to the calculations of American culturologists Alfred Kroeber And Klige Kluckhohn With 1871 By 1919 only 7 definitions of culture were given, then with 1920 By 1950 they counted 157 definitions of this concept. Later, the number of definitions increased significantly. L.E.Kertman counted more than 400 definitions.
It is believed that the word "culture" derived from Latin word « colere", which means to cultivate, or cultivate the soil. In the Middle Ages, this word came to mean a progressive method of cultivating grains, thus the term " agriculture"- the art of agriculture. But in XVIII and XIX centuries. they began to use it in relation to people - if a person was distinguished by elegance of manners and erudition, he was considered "cultural". At that time, the term was applied mainly to aristocrats in order to separate them from the “uncultured” common people. German word "Kultur" also meant a high level of civilization.
In an extremely broad sense, culture embraces everything created by people - from science and religious beliefs to methods of making stone axes.
Culture - this is, first of all, a set of meanings and meanings that guide people in their lives.
Culture – accumulated, acquired experience, passed on from generation to generation, provides a person with the knowledge and patterns of behavior necessary for survival, which are not inherited genetically, but are transmitted through teaching and upbringing.
Culture - is a creative reflection and transformation of nature into
human activity, stage of social consciousness.
Culture - is a set of methods and techniques of human
activities (both material and spiritual), expressed in objects,
on tangible media and passed on to subsequent generations.
Culture is the process of creating material and spiritual benefits.
Today under culture broadly understand all types
transformative human activity, as well as its results.
In the narrow sense, under culture understand creative activity
related to art.
Culture - this is also a collection values ​​and norms regulating human behavior.

Cultural Norms

Norms – these are the community’s ideas about acceptable behavior, behavioral standards. Norms make people's behavior more or less predictable and regulate social interaction. Like values, norms vary widely across cultures.
Norms(rules) define how a person should behave in order to live in accordance with the values ​​of his culture. The assimilation of certain norms is necessary for a person to successfully adapt to society. The normative side of culture includes wide circle requirements. This includes basic neatness, hygiene, and observance accepted rules behavior, and moral (moral) norms, and legal norms (laws). Compliance with norms is ensured by various forms of coercion, starting with public opinion and ending with state institutions.
The presence of norms does not exclude, and, one might say, even implies, the possibility of deviation from them, designated in sociology and psychology as “deviation.” According to E. Durkheim , deviation from norms and especially the subsequent punishment play a very important role: strengthening the normative order and social integration. Norms are related to the values ​​that exist in a culture. Legal standards that protect private property “work” in a society where there is, firstly, awareness of the value of law, and secondly, the value of private property. If both aspects are absent in a culture, then laws protecting private property, even if introduced, will not be respected by people.
The reactions of the social environment to compliance or non-compliance with norms are called sanctions. Sanctions may be positive(approval, encouragement) and negative(isolation, punishment). People tend to follow norms, since basic norms, like values, are learned by the individual in childhood and, as a rule, are not questioned. However, if there is heterogeneity and uncertainty of norms in a society, this naturally entails uncertainty of behavior and an increase in deviance.
There are different typologies of norms. Highlight: norms and rules
(the execution of which is mandatory) and norms-expectations(performance
which are desirable, but deviation is also acceptable); proscriptive
(prohibiting one or another type of behavior) and prescriptive
(prescribing a certain type of behavior) norms; norms formal
(clearly formulated and documented) and
informal(having the nature of expectations and existing only in
collective consciousness), etc.

Cultural values

Values - these are ideas inherent in a particular culture about what one should strive for. Success, holiness, wealth, freedom, fame, love are all examples of values. Values – these are spiritual guidelines that set the general strategy of an individual’s behavior in society.
Values have pronounced cultural specificity: what is valuable for one society may not be valuable in another. Thus, the hallmark of Western European cultures is the recognition of the value of individual freedom. But in most non-Western cultures there was no such value, and the idea of ​​the need for individual freedom developed as a result of Western cultural influence.
Cultural specificity can manifest itself in the peculiarities of the hierarchy of values ​​inherent in a particular society. Thus, the value of life is an example of universal value. There is not a single culture that denies life and strives for death. However, not all cultures have the same position in the value hierarchy. For the ancient Greek, gaining good fame meant more than saving his life. For an Indian yogi, life is an illusion, a painful dream from which you need to wake up. For a Christian ascetic, monk or layperson earthly life- only a prologue to eternal life in the Kingdom of God has no independent value.
People often sacrifice their lives (not to mention the lives of others) for the sake of such seemingly abstract concepts as “truth”, “freedom”, “state interests”, “people”, “race”, “party”, etc. d. This may seem strange, but in fact it is impossible to find a culture where the value of human life absolutely dominates other values.
For the bearers of a certain culture, its inherent values ​​are objects of faith. It is impossible to rationally justify the superiority of some values ​​over others, the falsity of some values ​​and the truth of others.
Our values ​​seem obvious and natural to us. To force a person to accept new values, he must not only be “convinced,” he must be “converted,” even if we are not talking about religion itself.
In Russian cultural studies, until recently, values ​​were traditionally divided into material And spiritual. Under material assets refers to material products human labor(buildings, clothing, furniture, tools, etc.), spiritual values appear as beliefs shared by society or groups of people regarding the goals to be strived for in life (for example, moral values).
Currently, cultural scientists provide more developed classifications of values. The following types of values ​​are distinguished:

vital(life, health, safety, welfare, etc.);
social (social status, hard work, wealth, work, etc.);
political(freedom of speech, civil liberties, rule of law, order);
moral(goodness, benefit, love, friendship, honor, honesty, loyalty, etc.);
religious(God, divine law, salvation, faith);
aesthetic(beauty, beauty, harmony, etc.);
family-related(family comfort, interconnection and mutual understanding between generations) and some others.

Conclusion

The most important components of the picture of the world, along with intuitive ideas, archetypes, and ways of perceiving the world, are cultural norms and values. Cultural norms there are certain patterns, rules of behavior, actions, and cognitions. They take shape and are approved already in everyday life society. At this level, traditional and subconscious aspects play a large role in the emergence of cultural norms. Customs and ways of perception have evolved over thousands of years and are passed on from generation to generation. In a revised form, cultural norms are embodied in ideology, ethical teachings, and religious concepts.

Thus, moral norms arise in the very practice of mass mutual communication between people. Moral standards are developed daily by the force of habit, public opinion, and the assessments of loved ones. Already a small child, based on the reaction of adult family members, determines the boundaries of what is “possible” and what is “not allowed.” A huge role in the formation of cultural norms characteristic of a given society is played by the approval and condemnation expressed by others, the power of personal and collective example, and visual patterns of behavior (both described in verbal form and in the form of real norms of behavior). The normativity of culture is maintained in the course of interpersonal, mass relationships between people and as a result of the functioning of various social institutions. The education system plays a huge role in the transmission of spiritual experience from generation to generation. An individual entering life acquires not only knowledge, but also principles, norms of behavior and perception, understanding and attitude towards the surrounding reality.

Cultural norms are changeable, culture itself is open in nature. It reflects the changes that society is undergoing. For example, in the 20th century. There have been fundamental shifts in the attitude of man to family. This has a huge

meaning, since it is in it that the personality is formed and the norms of culture are mastered.

In a patriarchal family, children began their working life. First of all, they were the guarantor of a secure old age for their parents, the breadwinners of their livelihood. Now children are, first of all, the greatest value of the family; the family budget is being redistributed in their favor. In other words, a change in spiritual orientation in the family leads to a shift in the content and direction of national consumer spending. Working heads of families, who have the opportunity to satisfy any needs with money, transfer these funds to the family, because it is the emotional and cultural center of personal development. For young people, this change in cultural family norms means the opportunity to “extend childhood,” join the heights of world culture, and perceive new spiritual values.

The cultural picture of the world, both in its genesis and content, includes value judgments. Values arise as a result of a person’s comprehension of the significance for him of certain objects (material or spiritual). Each sphere of human cultural activity acquires its own value dimension. There are values ​​of material life, economics, social order, politics, morality, art, science, religion. Each type of culture has its own hierarchy of values ​​and value dimensions. Thus, in antiquity, of all value dimensions, the aesthetic approach to the world comes first, in the Middle Ages - the religious and moral one, in modern times - the scientific and value approach. The process of cultural development is always accompanied by a revaluation of values.

The whole variety of values ​​can be conditionally ordered and classified based on identifying those areas of life in which they are realized:

• vital values: life, health, safety, quality of life. Level of consumption, environmental safety;
• economic values: the presence of equal conditions for commodity producers and favorable conditions for the development of production of goods and services, entrepreneurship;
• social values: social status, hard work, family, wealth, gender equality, personal

independence, ability to achieve, tolerance: political values: patriotism, civic engagement, civil liberties, civil peace;

• moral values: goodness, goodness, love, friendship, duty, honor, selflessness, honesty, fidelity, love for children, justice, decency, mutual assistance, respect for elders;
• religious values: God, faith, salvation, grace, Scripture and tradition.
• aesthetic values: beauty, harmony, style, etc.

Ticket 19. Myth as a cultural phenomenon.
Myth is a form of culture, a way human existence. Myth is not only the historically first form of culture, but in a sense it is eternal, for the mythological dimension is present in every culture. Studies of myth as a form of culture and measurement human soul occupies an important place in cultural studies. Fundamental contributions to the understanding of myth were made by Hegel, Freud, Jung, Fraser, and Lévi-Strauss. The most ancient, original form of mental experience is myth, therefore all archetypes, one way or another, are associated with mythological images and experiences. Myth lies at the very basis of the human soul, including the soul modern man, - this is Jung’s conclusion. Myth is a way of human existence and the world of sensation, entirely based on the semantic connection between man and the world; a person here perceives psychological meanings as the original properties of things and views and experiences natural phenomena as animate beings. Myth is not intended to give an objective picture of the world, it is intended to invent meaning for the world, and it successfully fulfills this purpose. Myth is historically the first and therefore very limited realization of creative human spirit when this spirit is undeveloped and not ready to cope with its own freedom. Myth is a conservative and stable system. The myth is destroyed as a person gains the opportunity to exercise the freedom hidden within him. Myth is not intended to regulate the life of a free person, and therefore the realization of freedom undermines the foundations of the world and becomes a source new form culture. The functions that myth performed are transformed and are now performed by religion, art and philosophy. Mythology reflects all the main stages of man’s separation from nature and the formation of culture. Mythological texts reproduce various stages of human cultivation of the environment. On the one hand, these are stories that tell about the emergence of natural landscapes and the cyclical variability of nature. On the other hand, this is a story about the exploits cultural heroes, about the creation of a world of material and spiritual cultures. Myth is a work of oral folk art, which preserved the experience of poetic understanding of reality; it is a way of living, thinking, feeling. Mythological images and plots are not difficult to find in those forms of art that are far from verbal embodiment - in sculpture, in painting, in architecture.

V. Rudnev’s “Dictionary of Culture” notes that in the 20th century, myth became one of the most important cultural categories. Indeed, it was the 20th century that showed the exceptional importance of mythology not only for consciousness primitive peoples, but also for the culture of humanity at all times. Roland Barthes considered modernity a privileged environment for mythologizing, arguing that in the 20th century myth turned into an instrument of political demagoguery.

It became obvious that mass consciousness is mythological in nature, and any culture is based on its own myth.

According to researcher E.M. Meletinsky, “myth is one of the central phenomena in the history of culture and the oldest way of conceptualizing the surrounding reality and human essence. Myth is the primary model of any ideology and the syncretic cradle various types culture - literature, art, religion and, to a certain extent, philosophy and even science."

Myth is aimed at maintaining the harmony of personal, social, natural; it exercises control over the social and cosmic order. The myth is dominated by the pathos of overcoming chaos into space, protecting space from the remaining forces of chaos.

Myth holds culture together; it is stable as long as the myth exists.

According to E.M. Meletinsky, some features of mythological thinking (especially the concrete-sensual and personal expression of abstractions, symbolism, idealization of the “early time” as a “golden age” and the persistent assumption of the meaning and purposeful direction of everything that happens) are preserved in mass consciousness, in political ideological systems, in artistic poetic fantasy.

According to researcher S. Yu. Neklyudov, mythology is not some separately existing part of spiritual life - it permeates all cultural, artistic and ideological practice, including positively rational areas (relating to politics, economics, medicine, etc.), i.e. and they, in turn, rely on certain value guidelines and metaphors of generalized empirical observations.

The meanings of the main mythological ideas and images are comparable with the ancient sensations of man, with his orientation in the natural environment and in the community of his own kind, with his “basic” emotions (joy, surprise, anger, fear, hunger, sexual attraction etc.), with psychological universals and archetypes of social consciousness. Moreover, if these ideas themselves are universal, then the traditions of national mythology are expressed through the text, and the structure of its images, embodying mythological meanings, is determined precisely by the characteristics of the national culture.

20. Elite culture.

The concept of “m.k” reflects significant shifts in the mechanism of bourgeois culture: the development of means mass media- radio, cinema, television, large circulation newspapers, cheap “pocket books”, magazines, gramophone records. Through the mass communication system "m.k." covers the vast majority of members of society; through a single mechanism of fashion, it orients and subordinates all sides human existence: from lifestyle and clothing and type of hobby. Serial products "m.k." has a number of specific features: primitive characteristics of relationships between people, reduction social conflicts to plot-driven, entertaining clashes between “good” and “bad” people, whose goal is to achieve their own good at any cost, entertainment, comic book fun, commercial cinema with a naturalistic relish of violence and sex; focus on the subconscious, instincts-sense of ownership, racial prejudice, cult of success, cult strong personality. The fruit of this type of development is the so-called “one-dimensional person”, who has lost integrity and is deformed. inner world.
In addition, especially with a pronounced sociological approach to the study of culture, so-called subcultures, “sub”-cultural formations that arise within a particular culture, can be structurally distinguished. They retain the leading characteristics of the main cultural form, but at the same time they have local differences that give them some peculiarity. Some informal youth associations can be called similar subcultures. IN currently elitist culture also becomes like this. The culture of the “new Russians,” which some time ago was a vibrant subcultural community, is beginning to gradually merge with the official culture

A subculture of privileged groups of the society, characterized by fundamental closedness, spiritual aristocracy and value-semantic self-sufficiency. Appealing to a select minority of its subjects, who, as a rule, are both its creators and addressees (in any case, the circle of both almost coincides), E.K. consciously and consistently opposes the culture of the majority, or mass culture in the broad sense (in all its historical and typological varieties - folklore, folk culture, official culture of a particular estate or class, the state as a whole, the cultural industry of technocratic society -va 20th century, etc.). Moreover, E.k. needs constant context popular culture, since it is based on the mechanism of repulsion from the values ​​and norms accepted in mass culture, on the destruction of existing stereotypes and templates of mass culture (including their parody, ridicule, irony, grotesque, polemics, criticism, refutation), on demonstrative self-isolation of the whole national. culture. In this regard, E.k. - a characteristically marginal phenomenon within any history. or national type of culture and is always secondary, derivative in relation to the culture of the majority.

Many cultural scientists consider elite culture as the antipode of mass culture. Producer and consumer elite culture is the highest privileged layer of society - the elite (from the French elite - the best, selected, chosen). However, in philosophy and cultural studies the understanding elite as a special layer of society endowed with specific spiritual abilities. There is an elite in every social class. The elite is the part of society most capable of spiritual activity, gifted with high moral and aesthetic inclinations. It is she who ensures social progress, so art should be focused on meeting her demands and needs. The main elements of the elitist concept of culture are already contained in philosophical works A. Schopenhauer and F. Nietzsche.

In his seminal work “The World as Will and Representation” by A. Schopenhauer sociologically divides humanity into two parts: "people of genius"(i.e. capable of aesthetic contemplation and artistic creative activity) And “people of benefit” (i.e., focused only on purely practical, utilitarian activities).

End of work -

This topic belongs to the section:

Culturology as a science, its subject and connection with other humanities disciplines

In this era, the basic categories with which we think to this day were developed, the foundations of world religions were laid and today they determine life.. this process forced many to reconsider, question and question.. the mythological era with its calm stability came to an end the basic ideas of the Greek Indian Chinese..

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Value orientations. Culture is a set of values ​​and value orientations, ways of their creation and consumption. Therefore, none of the researchers doubt the invaluable role of values ​​in culture. In cultural studies it is difficult to do without the concept of “value”. Moreover, most often culture as a social phenomenon is defined precisely through value orientations. The authors of the sociological study “Youth of Germany and Russia” believe: “Value orientations are a relatively stable socially conditioned selective attitude of a person to the totality of material and spiritual public goods, cultural phenomena, which are considered as an object, goals and means that serve to satisfy the needs of an individual’s life” (“Youth of Germany and Russia.” Sociological Research. M., 1994). Each person is a bearer of certain values, they form a certain system on which a person’s behavior in a given situation largely depends

Value for a person is everything that has a certain significance for him, personal or social in nature. “Value is the positive or negative significance of objects of the surrounding world for a person, class, group, society as a whole, determined not by their properties in themselves, but by their involvement in the sphere of human life, interests and needs, social relations; a criterion and method for assessing this significance, expression in moral principles and norms, ideals, attitudes, goals"

Cultural values ​​are objects of material and spiritual human activity that have social beneficial properties and characteristics through which the diverse needs of people can be satisfied. Value is understood as a generally accepted norm, formed in a certain culture, which sets patterns and standards and influences the choice between possible behavioral alternatives, allows for the polarity of decisions, which indicates the ambivalent, dual nature of value. Values ​​help a person and society to define good and bad, beautiful and ugly, essential and unimportant. The priority of certain values ​​reflects the degree of spirituality of a person.

Human values ​​presuppose, first of all, an understanding of unity human race. There are absolutes that are significant for the entire human race, without them the unity of humanity would not be so total. Christianity made a colossal revolution in the understanding of universal connections, proclaiming the commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” From now on, each person is involved in another, universal intimacy is strengthened between people, based on a single belonging to the human race.

universal human values ​​presuppose the preservation of the total spiritual experience. The shrines of the human race include, for example, the Socratic trinity of Truth, Goodness and Beauty. This triad is a historically established highest value. These absolutes reflect the heritage of the entire human race.

There is no culture where murder, lying, and theft are not negatively assessed, although there are differences in ideas about the limits of tolerance. Modern culture that unites humanity is based on universal human values: movement for the protection of individual rights, its respect, recognition of its merits, freedom, conscience, humanity, mutual enrichment of national cultures, scientific knowledge and advanced technologies and ecological attitude to life and environment. Universal human culture is also the best forms of creative activity of people.

Material values ​​are material goods intended to satisfy vital needs. Material needs, of course, are decisive, but they, especially in the age scientific and technological progress can be satisfied quite quickly, if we talk about reasonable needs. But, as it says folk wisdom“Man does not live by bread alone.” Spiritual values ​​play an important role in human life, society, and culture. They are thoughts, ideas, theories, norms, ideals, images that can take the form of scientific and works of art, works of architecture, painting, music, films, television programs, which carry high ideas, images, feelings and perceptions. Museums, libraries, schools, radio, etc. are guardians and distributors of spiritual values. Concern for the increase in the material and spiritual values ​​of society, for the cultural growth of a person, and awareness of the necessary conditions for introducing him to these values ​​is one of the laws of the development of society.

The concept of cultural norm. Associated with the concept of values ​​is the concept of norms. To deal with other people, a person must adhere to some rules of relationships, have an idea of ​​​​right and wrong behavior, how to express and restrain oneself. In the absence of such ideas, concerted action cannot be achieved. Such general ideas that regulate people's behavior are developed in a particular culture and are called cultural norms.

There are social norms accepted in any culture, in any society, i.e. general cultural moral norms: “don’t steal”, “don’t kill”... They help to morally improve the public and personal life of citizens. Live humanely. Living in society, a person should strive not to infringe on the rights of another, which means building his behavior so that it corresponds to the behavior of that person. social group, in which he is located, lives, works. When norms are violated, a person’s behavior becomes antisocial and anticultural. Living in a particular environment, a person must master its spiritual values, recognize them, master and use them, otherwise he will find himself cut off from this culture or come into conflict with it.

Thus, cultural norms are certain rules of behavior that regulate human actions in the most important aspects social life, providing guarantees of the integrity and sustainability of society. Therefore, in them to a greater extent than in values, there is a commanding element, a requirement to act in a certain way. Compliance with norms is ensured in two ways: through their internalization (transformation external requirements into the internal need of the individual) and through institutionalization (incorporation of norms into the structure of society and social control).