Fundamental cultural studies

Purpose: theoretical knowledge of the phenomenon of culture, development of a categorical apparatus and research methods

Ontology of culture

Variety of definitions of culture and perspectives of knowledge, social functions and parameters. The ontology of culture is the fundamental principles and concept of the existence of culture

Gnoseology of culture

Foundations cultural knowledge and its place in the system of sciences, internal structure and methodology

Morphology of culture

The main parameters of the functional structure of culture as a system of forms of social organization, regulation and communication, cognition, accumulation and transmission of social experience

Cultural semantics

Ideas about symbols, signs and images, languages ​​and texts of culture, mechanisms of cultural communication

Anthropology of culture

Ideas about the personal parameters of culture, about a person as a "producer" and "consumer" of culture, about a person as a subject of culture.

Sociology of culture

Ideas about social stratification and spatial and temporal differentiation of culture, about culture as a system of social interaction

Social Dynamics of Culture

Ideas about the main types of socio-cultural processes, the genesis and variability of cultural phenomena and systems

Historical dynamics of culture

Ideas about the evolution of forms of socio-cultural organization

Philosophy of culture - considers culture from a certain unified point of view, reflecting the views of one or another author.

Applied Cultural Studies

Purpose: forecasting, designing and regulation of actual cultural processes taking place in social practice

Applied aspects of cultural studies

Ideas about cultural policy, functions of cultural institutions, goals and methods of activity of the network of cultural institutions, tasks and technologies of socio-cultural interaction, including the protection and use of cultural heritage.

Culturology today includes a fairly wide range of disciplines that study culture in its infinitely diverse aspects using various methods.

The structure of cultural studies constitute three layers of sciences about culture:

anthropological , based primarily on ethnology, i.e., a science that studies the composition, origin and cultural and historical relations between the peoples of the world;

humanistic , including the whole complex of the so-called sciences "about the spirit"(philosophy, philology, pedagogy, psychology, etc.);

sociological , where the determining factor is the study of modern mass culture, ways of its production and functioning and society.

Functions of cultural studies as the sciences are in some sense traditional. epistemological(cognitive) function is common to science as a whole. In relation to cultural studies, it has a specificity, due to the need to combine various principles and methods of understanding the world, inherent in science, art, religion, philosophy.

heuristic the function of cultural studies is set based on the understanding of culture as a dialogue. Culture in its various manifestations (for example, the cultivation of cultivated plants and domestic animals, the manufacture of products, crafts, the creation of monuments of artistic culture, etc.) is created not only by an individual learning and activity subject, but also by entire groups of people. This creation is accompanied by mutual understanding, co-creation, collective learning and the invention of new forms of culture. Closely related to heuristic educational cultural function. In other words, collective learning and solving problems facing a given culture is accompanied by the upbringing of individuals entering the world of culture of the past and present, the world of culture of human relations. In turn, the elements of the educational function are aesthetic, ethical and legal functions oriented towards the formation of a person's political, legal and moral culture, that is, what we call a culture of behavior. And one more function of cultural studies should be highlighted - worldview. In fact, it belongs to the philosophy of culture, which is an integral part of cultural studies. The purpose of the ideological function in this case is to identify, as it were, the spiritual core that determines the cultural aspirations of one or another historical era, as well as the formation of artistic, religious or scientific picture peace. For example, for Russian culture of the XIX century. the pivotal problem was the historical fate of Russia, which found such a diverse solution in the work of A. S. Pushkin, the ideological confrontation between Slavophiles and Westerners, in the book of N. Ya. ideas."

The subject of cultural studies

In a broad sense, cultural studies is a complex of individual sciences, as well as theological and philosophical concepts of culture; other elephants, these are all those teachings about culture, its history, essence, patterns of functioning and development, which can be found in the works of scientists representing various options for understanding the phenomenon of culture. In addition, the culturological sciences study the system of cultural institutions through which the upbringing and education of a person is carried out and which produce, store and transmit cultural information.

From this point of view, the subject of cultural studies forms a set of various disciplines, which include history, sociology of culture and a complex of anthropological knowledge. In addition, the subject field of cultural studies in a broad sense should include: the history of cultural studies, the ecology of culture, the psychology of culture, ethnology (ethnography), theology (theology) of culture. However, with such a broad approach, the subject of cultural studies appears as a set of various disciplines or sciences that study culture, and can be identified with the subject of philosophy of culture, sociology of culture, cultural anthropology and other theories of the middle level. In this case, culturology loses its own subject of study and becomes integral part marked disciplines.

A more balanced approach seems to be one that understands the subject of cultural studies in a narrow sense and presents it as a separate independent science, a certain system of knowledge. With this approach, culturology acts as a general theory of culture, based in its generalizations and conclusions on the knowledge of specific sciences, such as the theory of artistic culture, the history of culture and other particular sciences about culture. With this approach, the initial basis is the consideration of culture in its specific forms, in which it manifests itself as an essential characteristic of a person, the form and way of his life.

Thus, subject of cultural studies is a set of questions of the origin, functioning and development of culture as a specific human way life that is different from the natural world. It is designed to study the most general patterns of development of culture, its manifestations that are present in all famous cultures humanity.

With this understanding of the subject of cultural studies, its main tasks are:

• the most profound, complete and holistic explanation of culture, its
• essence, content, features and functions;
• study of the genesis (origin and development) of culture as a whole, as well as individual phenomena and processes in culture;
• determining the place and role of man in cultural processes;
• development of a categorical apparatus, methods and means of studying culture;
• interaction with other sciences studying culture;
• the study of information about culture that came from art, philosophy, religion and other areas related to non-scientific knowledge of culture;
• study of the development of individual cultures.

The purpose of cultural studies

The goal of cultural studies becomes such a study, on the basis of which its understanding is formed. To do this, it is necessary to identify and analyze: the facts of culture, which together constitute a system of cultural phenomena; connections between elements of culture; the dynamics of cultural systems; methods of production and assimilation of cultural phenomena; types of cultures and underlying norms, values ​​and symbols (cultural codes); cultural codes and communications between them.

The goals and objectives of cultural studies determine the functions of this science.

Functions of cultural studies

The functions of cultural studies can be combined into several main groups according to the tasks being implemented:

• cognitive function - the study and understanding of the essence and role of culture in the life of society, its structure and functions, its typology, differentiation into branches, types and forms, the human-creative purpose of culture;
• conceptual and descriptive function - the development of theoretical systems, concepts and categories that make it possible to compose complete picture the formation and development of culture, and the formulation of the rules of description, reflecting the features of the deployment of socio-cultural processes;
• estimated function - the implementation of an adequate assessment of the influence of a holistic phenomenon of culture, its various types, branches, types and forms on the formation of social and spiritual qualities of an individual, social community, society as a whole;
• explaining function - a scientific explanation of the features of cultural complexes, phenomena and events, the mechanisms of functioning of agents and institutions of culture, their socializing impact on the formation of personality on the basis of scientific understanding of the revealed facts, trends and patterns of development of sociocultural processes;
• ideological function - the implementation of socio-political ideals in the development of fundamental and applied problems of the development of culture, regulating the influence of its values ​​and norms on the behavior of the individual and social communities;
• educational(teaching) function - the dissemination of cultural knowledge and assessments, which helps students, professionals, as well as those who are interested in cultural issues, to learn the features of this social phenomenon, its role in the development of man and society.

The subject of cultural studies, its tasks, goals and functions determine general contours cultural studies as a science. Each of them, in turn, requires in-depth study.

The historical path traversed by mankind from antiquity to the present has been complex and contradictory. On this path, progressive and regressive phenomena, the desire for the new and the commitment to familiar forms of life, the desire for change and the idealization of the past were often combined. At the same time, in all situations, the main role in people's lives has always been played by culture, which helped a person adapt to the constantly changing conditions of life, find its meaning and purpose, and preserve the human in a person. Because of this, a person has always been interested in this sphere of the surrounding world, which resulted in the emergence of a special branch of human knowledge - cultural studies and the corresponding academic discipline that studies culture. Cultural studies is primarily the science of culture.. This specific subject distinguishes it from other social, humanitarian disciplines and explains the necessity of its existence as a special branch of knowledge.

The formation of cultural studies as a science

In modern humanities Ah the concept of "culture" refers to the category of fundamental. Among the many scientific categories and terms, there is hardly another concept that would have so many semantic shades and be used in such different contexts. This situation is not accidental, since culture is the subject of research for many scientific disciplines, each of which highlights its own aspects of the study of culture and gives its own understanding and definition of culture. At the same time, culture itself is polyfunctional, therefore, each science singles out one of its aspects or parts as the subject of its study, approaches the study with its own methods and methods, eventually formulating its own understanding and definition of culture.

Attempts to give a scientific explanation of the phenomenon of culture have a short history. The first such attempt was made in

17th century English philosopher T. Hobbes and German jurist S. Puffenlorff, who expressed the idea that a person can be in two states - natural (natural), which is the lowest stage of his development, since he is creatively passive, and cultural, which they considered as a higher stage human development, because it is creatively productive.

The doctrine of culture was developed at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries. in the works of the German educator I.G. Herder, who considered culture in a historical aspect. The development of culture, but in her opinion, is the content and meaning of the historical process. Culture is the disclosure of the essential forces of man, which different peoples differ significantly, so in real life there are different stages and eras in the development of culture. At the same time, the opinion was established that the core of culture is the spiritual life of a person, his spiritual abilities. This situation persisted for quite a long time.

At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. Works began to appear in which the analysis of cultural problems was the main task, and not a secondary one, as it was until now. In many ways, these works were connected with the awareness of the crisis of European culture, the search for its causes and ways out of it. As a result, philosophers and scientists have realized the need for an integrative science of culture. It was equally important to concentrate and systematize the huge and diverse information about the history of the culture of different peoples, the relations of social groups and individuals, styles of behavior, thinking and art.

This was the basis for the emergence of an independent science of culture. Around the same time, the term "culturology" appeared. It was first used by the German scientist W. Ostwald in 1915 in his book "The System of Sciences", but then this term was not widely used. This happened later and is associated with the name of the American cultural anthropologist L.A. White, who in his works "The Science of Culture" (1949), "The Evolution of Culture" (1959), "The Concept of Culture" (1973) substantiated the need to separate all knowledge about culture into a separate science, laid its general theoretical foundations, attempted to isolate it the subject of research, delimiting it from related sciences, to which he attributed psychology and sociology. If psychology, White argued, studies the psychological reaction of the human body to external factors, and sociology studies the patterns of relationships between the individual and society, then the subject of cultural studies should be the understanding of the relationship of such cultural phenomena as custom, tradition, ideology. He predicted a great future for cultural studies, believing that it represents a new, qualitatively higher level in understanding man and the world. That is why the term "culturology" is associated with the name of White.

Despite the fact that culturology gradually occupies an increasingly firm position among other social and human sciences, disputes about its scientific status do not stop. In the West this term was not accepted immediately, and culture there continued to be studied by such disciplines as social and cultural anthropology, sociology, psychology, linguistics, etc. This situation indicates that the process of self-determination of cultural studies as a scientific and educational discipline has not yet been completed. Today, cultural science is in the process of formation, its content and structure have not yet acquired clear scientific boundaries, research in it is contradictory, there are many methodological approaches to its subject. All this suggests that this area of ​​scientific knowledge is in the process of formation and creative search.

Thus, culturology is a young science that is in its infancy. The biggest obstacle for her further development is the absence of a point of view on the subject of this study, with which most researchers would agree. Revealing the subject of cultural studies takes place before our eyes, in the struggle different opinions and points of view.

The status of cultural studies and its place among other sciences

One of the main issues of identifying the specifics of culturological knowledge and the subject of its study is to comprehend the relationship of culturology with other related or close areas of scientific knowledge. If we define culture as everything that is created by man and mankind (such a definition is very common), it becomes clear why determining the status of cultural studies is difficult. Then it turns out that in the world in which we live, there is only the world of culture, which exists by the will of man, and the world of nature, which arose without the influence of people. Accordingly, all the sciences that exist today are divided into two groups - the sciences of nature (natural science) and the sciences of the world of culture - the social and human sciences. In other words, all the social and human sciences are ultimately the sciences of culture—knowledge of the types, forms, and results of human activity. At the same time, it is not clear where among these sciences the place of cultural studies and what it should study.

To answer these questions, the social sciences and humanities can be divided into two unequal groups:

1. sciences about specialized types of human activity, allocated according to the subject of this activity, namely:

• sciences about the forms of social organization and regulation - legal, political, military, economic;
• sciences about the forms of social communication and transmission of experience - philological, pedagogical, art sciences and religious studies;
• sciences about the types of materially transforming human activity - technical and agricultural;

2. sciences about the general aspects of human activity, regardless of its subject, namely:

• historical sciences that study the emergence and development of human activity in any area, regardless of its subject matter;
• psychological sciences that study the patterns of mental activity, individual and group behavior;
• sociological sciences, discovering the forms and methods of uniting and interacting people in their joint life;
• cultural sciences that analyze norms, values, signs and symbols as conditions for the formation and functioning of peoples (culture), showing the essence of man.

We can say that the presence of cultural studies in the system of scientific knowledge is found in two aspects.

First, as a specific culturological method and level of generalization of any analyzed material within the framework of any social or humanitarian science, i.e. as an integral part of any science. At this level, model conceptual constructions are created that describe not how this area of ​​life functions in general and what are the boundaries of its existence, but how it adapts to changing conditions, how it reproduces itself, what are the causes and mechanisms of its orderliness. Within the framework of each science, one can single out a field of research that concerns the mechanisms and methods of organization, regulation and communication of people in the relevant areas of their life. This is what is commonly called economic, political, religious, linguistic, etc. culture.

Secondly, as an independent area of ​​social and humanitarian knowledge of society and its culture. In this aspect, cultural studies can be considered as a separate group of sciences, and as a separate, independent science. In other words, culturology can be considered in a narrow sense and a broad one. Depending on this, the subject of cultural studies and its structure, as well as its connection with other sciences, will be distinguished.

Relationship of cultural studies with other sciences

Culturology arose at the intersection of history, philosophy, sociology, ethnology, anthropology, social psychology, art history, etc., therefore, culturology is a complex socio-humanitarian science. Its interdisciplinary nature corresponds to the general trend of modern science towards integration, mutual influence and interpenetration of various fields of knowledge in the study of a common object of study. In relation to cultural studies, development scientific knowledge leads to the synthesis of cultural sciences, the formation of an interconnected complex scientific ideas about culture as an integral system. At the same time, each of the sciences with which cultural studies is in contact deepens the understanding of culture, supplementing it with its own research and knowledge. The most closely related to cultural studies are the philosophy of culture, philosophical, social and cultural anthropology, the history of culture and sociology.

Culturology and Philosophy of Culture

As a branch of knowledge separated from philosophy, culturology has retained its connection with the philosophy of culture, which acts as an organic component of philosophy, as one of the relatively autonomous networks of theories. Philosophies as such, seeks to develop a systematic and holistic view of the world, tries to answer the question of whether the world is cognizable, what are the possibilities and boundaries of cognition, its goals, levels, forms and methods, and philosophy of culture should show what place culture occupies in this general picture of being, seeks to determine the originality and methodology of cognition of cultural phenomena, representing the highest, most abstract level of the study of culture. Acting as the methodological basis of cultural studies, it determines the general cognitive guidelines for cultural studies, explains the essence of culture and poses problems for it that are significant for human life, for example, about the meaning of culture, about the conditions for its existence, about the structure of culture, the reasons for its changes, etc.

The philosophy of culture and cultural studies differ in the attitudes with which they approach the study of culture. Culturology considers culture in its internal relations as an independent system, and the philosophy of culture analyzes culture in accordance with the subject and functions of philosophy in the context of philosophical categories such as being, consciousness, cognition, personality, society. Philosophy considers culture in all specific forms, while in cultural studies the emphasis is on explaining the various forms of culture with the help of philosophical theories middle level, based on anthropological and historical materials. With this approach, culturology allows you to create a holistic picture human world taking into account the diversity and diversity of the processes taking place in it.

Culturology and cultural history

Story studies human society in its specific forms and conditions of existence.

These forms and conditions do not remain unchanged once and for all; uniform and universal for all mankind. They are constantly changing, and history studies society in terms of these changes. That's why cultural history identifies historical types of cultures, compares them, reveals the general cultural patterns of the historical process, on the basis of which it is possible to describe and explain specific historical features of the development of culture. A generalized view of the history of mankind made it possible to formulate the principle of historicism, according to which culture is seen not as a frozen and unchanging entity, but as a dynamic system. local cultures which are in development and replacing each other. We can say that the historical process acts as a set of specific forms of culture. Each of them is determined by ethnic, religious and historical factors and therefore represents a relatively independent whole. Each culture has its own original history, determined by a complex of peculiar conditions of its existence.

Culturology in turn, studies the general laws of culture and reveals its typological features, develops a system of its own categories. In this context, historical data help to construct a theory of the emergence of culture, to reveal the laws of its historical development. To do this, cultural studies studies the historical diversity of the facts of the culture of the past and present, which allows it to understand and explain modern culture. It is in this way that the history of culture is formed, which studies the development of the culture of individual countries, regions, peoples.

Cultural studies and sociology

Culture is a product of human social life and is impossible outside of human society. Being a social phenomenon, it develops according to its own laws. In this sense, culture is the subject of study for sociology.

Sociology of culture explores the process of functioning of culture in society; tendencies of cultural development, manifested in the consciousness, behavior and way of life of social groups. IN social structure In society, groups of different levels are distinguished - macrogroups, layers, estates, nations, ethnic groups, each of which is distinguished by its cultural characteristics, value preferences, tastes, style and way of life, and many microgroups that form various subcultures. Such groups are formed on various grounds - gender, age, professional, religious, etc. The multiplicity of group cultures creates a "mosaic" picture of cultural life.

The sociology of culture in its research relies on many special sociological theories that are close in terms of the object of study and significantly complement the ideas about cultural processes, establishing interdisciplinary connections with various branches of sociological knowledge - the sociology of art, the sociology of morality, the sociology of religion, the sociology of science, the sociology of law, ethnosociology, the sociology of age and social groups, the sociology of crime and deviant behavior, the sociology of leisure, the sociology of the city, etc. Each of them is unable to create a holistic view of cultural reality. Thus, the sociology of art will provide rich information about the artistic life of society, and the sociology of leisure shows how different groups of the population use their free time. This is very important, but partial information. Obviously more is needed high level generalizations of cultural knowledge, and this task is performed by the sociology of culture.

Cultural Studies and Anthropology

Anthropology - the field of scientific knowledge, within which the fundamental problems of human existence in the natural and artificial environment are studied. Today, several directions stand out in this area: physical anthropology, the main subject of which is man as a biological species, as well as modern and fossil anthropoid primates; social and cultural anthropology, the main subject of which is the comparative study of human societies; philosophical and religious anthropology, which are not empirical sciences, but a combination of philosophical and theological teachings about human nature, respectively.

Cultural anthropology deals with the study of a person as a subject of culture, will give a description of the life of various societies at different stages of development, their way of life, mores, customs, etc., studies specific cultural values, forms of cultural relationships, mechanisms for transmitting cultural skills from person to person. This is important for cultural studies, because it allows us to understand what is behind the facts of culture, what needs are expressed by its specific historical, social or personal forms. We can say that cultural anthropology is engaged in the study of ethnic cultures, describing their cultural phenomena, systematizing and comparing them. In fact, it explores a person in terms of expressing his inner world in facts. cultural activities.

Within the framework of cultural anthropology, the historical process of the relationship between man and culture, the adaptation of man to the surrounding cultural environment, the formation of the spiritual world of the individual, the embodiment of creative potentials in activity and its results are studied. Cultural anthropology reveals the "nodal" moments of socialization and inculturation of a person, the specifics of each stage of the life path, studies the influence of the cultural environment, education and upbringing systems and adaptation to them; the role of the family, peers, generation, paying special attention to the psychological substantiation of such universal phenomena as life, soul, death, love, friendship, faith, meaning, the spiritual world of men and women.

There are dozens of such components. Often such familiar phrases as national culture, World culture, urban culture, Christian culture, social culture, artistic culture, personal culture, etc. Morphology of culture involves the study of all possible variations of cultural forms and artifacts, depending on their historical, geographical and social distribution.

The structure of culture. In accordance with modern ideas, the following structure of culture can be outlined. In a single field of culture, two levels are distinguished: specialized and ordinary. Ordinary culture - a set of ideas, norms of behavior, cultural phenomena associated with the daily life of people. Specialized culture level subdivided into cumulative(accumulation of professional and socio-cultural experience) and translational. At the cumulative level, culture acts as a relationship of elements, each of which is a consequence of a person's predisposition to a certain activity. These include: economic culture, political culture, legal culture, philosophical culture, religious culture, scientific and technical culture, artistic culture. Each of these elements at the cumulative level corresponds to an element of culture at the ordinary level. They are closely related and influence each other. At the translational level, interaction between the cumulative and everyday levels takes place, and cultural information is exchanged.

The American culturologist T. Eliot, depending on the degree of awareness of culture, singled out two levels in its vertical section: the highest and the lowest, understanding culture as a certain way of life, which can only be led by the elite - the "elite". The Spanish culturologist J. Ortega y Gasset in his works "The Revolt of the Masses", "Art in the Present and the Past", "Dehumanization of Art" put forward the concept of mass society and mass culture. If an elite culture is oriented towards a select, intellectual public, then Mass culture it is not the “average” level of development of mass consumers that is oriented, it often encourages the primitive inclinations of people.

Mass culture- a form of culture, the works of which are standardized and distributed to the general public without regard to regional and religious differences.

Elite culture includes fine arts, classical music, and literature produced by professionals for the educated and upper class.

folk culture created by creators from the people, remains nameless, reflects the spiritual searches of the people, includes myths, fairy tales, proverbs, legends, songs and dances.

material culture represents the culture of labor and material production; culture of life; the culture of the topos (i.e. the place of residence); culture of attitude to one's own body; physical culture.

spiritual culture acts as a multi-layered formation and includes: intellectual culture; moral; artistic; legal; pedagogical; religious.

According to L.N. Kogan and other culturologists, there are types of cultures that cannot be attributed only to material or spiritual. They represent a "vertical section" of culture, penetrating its entire system. These are economic, political, environmental, aesthetic culture. Within the framework of the culture of society, one can distinguish subcultures: systems of symbols, values, beliefs, patterns of behavior that distinguish this or that community or some social group from the culture of the majority society. It is possible to single out Western, Eastern, national, professional, confessional religious subcultures.

According to the content and influence, culture is divided into progressive And reactionary. Such a division is quite legitimate, because culture, as a human-forming phenomenon, can educate a person not only moral, but also immoral. The structure of culture includes substantial elements that are objectified in its values ​​and norms, and functional elements that characterize the process of cultural activity itself, its various aspects and aspects. The substantive block that makes up the "body" of culture, its substantive basis, includes the values ​​of culture - its works of a given cultural era, as well as the norms of culture, its requirements for each member of society. This includes the norms of law, religion, morality, the norms of everyday behavior and communication of people. The functional block reveals the process of culture movement. It includes: traditions, rituals, customs, rituals, taboos that ensure the functioning of culture. In folk culture, these means were the main ones, because. it is non-institutional. Thus, the structure of culture is a complex, multifaceted formation. At the same time, all its elements interact with each other, forming a single system of such a universal phenomenon as culture appears before us.

The dominant features of each of the elements form the so-called "core" of culture, which acts as its fundamental principle expressed in science, art, philosophy, ethics, religion, law, economics, politics, mentality and way of life. Each culture has its own unique value core that embodies its chronotype, i.e. the specifics of its localization in the world (North, South, East, West, sea, mountains, plains, etc.) and its stay in the flow of world history. Thanks to the value core, the integrity of this culture, its unique appearance is ensured. Cultures maintain the continuity of existence by transforming their values. The condition for the existence of culture is its ability to optimally balance universal and specific values, which allows, on the one hand, to preserve its originality and originality, and on the other hand, to find an opportunity for interaction with other cultures.

Functions of culture. You should also pay attention to the main functions , which culture performs in the life of the human community. Let's consider some of them.

The most important - broadcast function(transfer) of social experience. It is often called the function of historical continuity, or information. It is no coincidence that culture is considered the social memory of mankind.

Another leading function is cognitive (gnoseological). A culture that concentrates the best social experience of many generations of people accumulates the richest knowledge about the world and thereby creates favorable opportunities for their development.

Regulatory (normative) function culture is connected, first of all, with the regulation of various aspects of social and personal activities of people. Culture, one way or another, influences the behavior of people and regulates their actions, actions and assessments.

The transformative function of culture(the development and transformation of the surrounding reality is a fundamental human need). Man immanently inherent in the desire to go beyond the limits of the given in the transformation and creativity.

The protective function of culture is a consequence of the need to maintain a certain balanced relationship between man and the environment, both natural and social. The expansion of the spheres of human activity inevitably entails the emergence of more and more new dangers, and this requires the culture to create adequate protection mechanisms (environmental protection, medicine, public order, technological advances, etc.). The need for one type of protection stimulates the emergence of others. For example, the extermination of agricultural pests damages the environment and requires environmental protection. Threat ecological disaster currently brings this function of culture to a number of paramount.

semiotic, or sign function - the most important in the system of culture. Representing a certain sign system, culture implies knowledge, possession of it. It is impossible to master the achievements of culture without studying the corresponding sign systems. So, language (oral or written) is a means of communication between people, literary language- the most important means of mastering the national culture. Specific languages ​​are needed for knowing the special world of music, painting, theater. Natural Sciences(physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology) also have their own sign systems.

valuable, or axiological function contributes to the formation of a person's well-defined needs and orientations. By their level and quality, they most often judge the level of culture of a person.

Humanistic function- the formation of the moral image of the individual (culture as a way of human socialization, a way of developing a person, his abilities, skills, his physical and spiritual qualities).

CHAPTER 3. TYPOLOGY OF CULTURES.

Typology of cultures- the doctrine of the specific differences between cultures, the main types of world culture. For the first time, the idea of ​​the existence of certain and independent "cultural-historical types" was proposed by a Russian thinker of the 19th century. N.Ya.Danilevsky. However, typological ideas about culture became widespread only in the 20th century. In general, three main principles for highlighting cultural differences can be distinguished: 1) geographical - the localization of cultures in geographic space; 2) chronological - the allocation of independent stages in historical development, i.e. localization in time; 3) national - the study of the distinctive features of culture throughout its historical development. All the rest follow from these three basic concepts.

The typology of cultures proposed by O. Spengler is that there are different types of cultures that have not historically changed, but only coexisted next to each other, remaining impenetrable to one another. Spengler identifies only eight cultures of equal maturity, covering the main parts of the planet: Egyptian, Indian, Babylonian, Chinese, Apollonian (antique), magical (Arabic), Mayan culture, Faustian culture (Western European). This approach to the typology of cultures is called the theory of "local civilizations".

We can also highlight the theory of "evolutionary monism" (Hegel) - all countries are included in a single scheme historical movement on the way from the lower, undeveloped, to the higher, developed forms. Hegel considered the Eastern world to be the lowest stage in the development of the spirit in the realization of freedom.

K. Jaspers creates the theory of "axial time" - the axis of world history is chronologically located between the 8th and 2nd centuries BC, when a sharp turn in the history of development takes place all the way from the West to Asia: the struggle of rational experience - Logos with myth, begins, basic concepts and categories are developed, the foundations of world religions are laid. At this time, an individualistic consciousness is formed, the development of rational experience. Those cultures where the transition from mythological consciousness to rational did not take place could not “step over” the axial time. Such cultures had an indirect impact on modern ones through the cultural traditions that have come down to us, literary and archaeological sites.

Domestic researchers, such as L.S. Vasiliev, M.K. Petrov, L.S. Sedov, considered this problem from the point of view of the East-West antithesis.

Despite the presence of many different approaches to the typology and periodization of culture, in modern cultural studies there are several real historical stages and forms of culture: archaic culture; pre-axial culture of ancient local civilizations; culture of East and West in the "axial time"; culture of East and West in the Christian era.

There can be many criteria or grounds for the typology of cultures. In cultural studies, there is no consensus on what to consider as types, forms, types, branches of culture.

Branches of culture should be called such sets of norms, rules and models of human behavior, which constitute a relatively closed area as part of the whole.

Types of culture it is necessary to name such sets of norms, rules and models of human behavior that constitute relatively closed areas, but are not parts of one whole.

Any national or ethnic culture we have to refer to cultural types. The types of culture should include not only regional-ethnic formations, but also historical and economic ones.

Forms of culture refer to such sets of rules, norms and models of human behavior that cannot be considered completely autonomous entities; neither are they constituent parts of any whole. High or elite culture, folk culture and mass culture are called forms of culture because they are a special way of expressing artistic content.

Types of culture should be called such sets of rules, norms and behaviors that are varieties of a more general culture. We will refer to the main types of culture:

A) the dominant (nationwide) culture;

B) rural and urban cultures;

C) ordinary and specialized culture.

Need a special conversation spiritual And material culture. They cannot be attributed to branches, forms, types or types of culture, since these phenomena combine all four classification features to varying degrees. Spiritual and material culture it is more correct to consider them as combined, or complex, formations, standing aside from the general conceptual scheme.

The proposed typology of cultures is not necessarily the ultimate truth. It is very approximate and not strict. Nevertheless, it has undoubted advantages: logical validity and consistency.

CHAPTER 4. CULTURE AND CIVILIZATION.

WITH An important place in the theory of culture is occupied by the question of the relationship between the concepts of culture and civilization. The concept of "civilization" appeared in antiquity to reflect the qualitative difference between the ancient Roman society and the barbarian environment, but, as the French linguist E. Benveniste established, the word civilization took root in European languages ​​in the period from 1757 to 1772. It was closely associated with a new way of life, the essence of which was urbanization and the growing role of material and technical culture. It was then that the still relevant understanding of civilization as a certain form of the state of culture, an interethnic cultural and historical community of people with mutual language, political independence and established, developed forms of social organization. However, a unified view of the relationship between the concepts of culture and civilization has not yet been developed. Interpretations vary from their complete identification to categorical opposition. Philosophers of the Enlightenment, as a rule, insisted on the inextricable positive connection of these concepts: only high culture gives rise to civilization, and civilization, respectively, is an indicator of cultural development and viability. The only exception was, perhaps, only Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The call put forward by him is well known: “Back to nature!”. Rousseau, not only in civilization, but also in culture itself, found a lot of negative, distorting the nature of man. He contrasted the civilized man of the 18th century with the "Natural Man", who lives in harmony with the world and with himself. Rousseau's ideas found supporters among the romantics. At the turn of the XVIII-XIX centuries. the contradictions that existed between culture and civilization became obvious to many: culture easily turns into its opposite if the material, mass, quantitative principle begins to prevail in it.

For German philosopher-culturologist O. Spengler, the entry into the phase of civilization predetermines the death of a culture that is unable to develop harmoniously in the conditions of mechanistic and artificial civilization. The American ethnographer R. Redfield believed that culture and civilization are completely independent spheres of human existence: culture is an integral part of the life of all, even the smallest and most undeveloped communities of people, the simplest "folk communities", and civilization is the sum of the acquired skills of people living in very complex and changing societies.

The ratio of these concepts in cultural studies is the cornerstone. Both of these concepts have multiple meanings. In the interpretation of their relationship, there are three main trends: identification, opposition and partial interpenetration. The essence of each of these trends is determined by the interpretation of the content of these concepts. In scientific everyday life there is a rather large number of definitions of culture as a set of values, sometimes material and spiritual (Freud, Tylor), and sometimes only spiritual (Berdyaev, Spengler). The concept of civilization arose in the 18th century and its use is associated with the name of Holbach. The word "civilization" French descent, but originates from the Latin root civilis - civil, state. There are a number of definitions of the concept of civilization. Of these, the following can be cited: civilization is a synonym for culture; level and degree community development; the era following barbarism; a period of degradation and decline of culture; the degree of domination of man and society over nature through the tools of labor and means of production; a form of social organization and orderliness of the world, based on the priority of the development of new technologies. There is a certain logic in trying to equate culture and civilization. They are due to similarities, which include:

The social nature of their origin. Neither culture nor civilization can exist outside of the human principle. These characteristics are alien to virgin nature.

Civilization and culture are the result of human activity and, in fact, are an artificial human habitat, in other words, second nature.

Civilization and culture is the result of satisfying human needs, but in one case predominantly material and in the other - spiritual.

Finally, civilization and culture are different aspects of social life. They cannot be separated without causing damage, preparation is possible only at a theoretical level.

Z. Freud stood on the position of identifying culture and civilization, who believed that both distinguish a person from an animal.

O. Spengler, N. Berdyaev, T. Marcuse and other thinkers insisted on the position of opposition. Spengler bred these concepts purely chronologically, culture for him is replaced by civilization, which leads it to decline and degradation. “Civilization is a totality of extremely external and extremely artificial states… civilization is completion” 1 .

N. Berdyaev believed that almost throughout its existence, culture and civilization develop synchronously, with the exception of the source, which made it possible for the philosopher to draw a conclusion about the primacy of civilization, because. the satisfaction of material needs anticipated the satisfaction of spiritual ones. N. Berdyaev reveals, first of all, the differences, emphasizes special features and culture and civilization. In his opinion, the spiritual, individual, qualitative, aesthetic, expressive, aristocratic, stably stable, sometimes conservative principle is emphasized in culture, and the material, social-collective, quantitative, replicated, publicly accessible, democratic, pragmatic-utilitarian, dynamic- progressive. Berdyaev notes that the origin of civilization is mundane, it was born in the struggle with nature outside the temples and cult.

The position of opposing the content essence of civilization and culture is also characteristic of T. Marcuse, who believed that civilization is a hard, cold, everyday reality, and culture is an eternal holiday. Marcuse wrote: “The spiritual work of culture is opposed to material labor civilization as the weekday is opposed to the day off, work to leisure, the realm of necessity to the realm of freedom” 1 . Thus, according to Marcuse, civilization is everyday routine, a hard necessity, and culture is an eternal holiday, a kind of ideal, sometimes a utopia. But, in essence, culture as a spiritual phenomenon is not only an illusion, but also a reality. Spengler, Berdyaev, Marcuse, putting civilization in opposition to culture as antipodal concepts, nevertheless understood that they are interdependent and interdependent.

Thus, civilization and culture coexist together and are the result of human activity to transform nature and man. Civilization allows a person to solve the issue of social organization and orderliness of the surrounding world, and culture - spiritual and value orientation in it. Russian writer M. Prishvin noted that civilization is the power of things, and culture is the connection of people. For Prishvin, culture is a union of creative individuals, the antithesis of a civilization based on a standard. Both - both culture and civilization - coexist in his view in parallel and consist of different series of values. The first includes "personality - society - creativity - culture", and the second - "reproduction - state - production - civilization" 2 .

The main direction of the influence of culture on civilization is carried out through its humanization and the introduction of awareness of the creative aspect into human activity. Civilization, with its pragmatic attitudes, often crowds culture, compresses its spiritual space. In various historical periods culture and civilization occupied different specific gravity. In the 20th century, there is a noticeable tendency to increase the space of civilization in comparison with culture. Currently, the question of the search for real mechanisms, their mutual fruitful coexistence, is relevant.

CHAPTER 5. ORIGINALITY OF CULTUROLOGY AS A COMPLEX SCIENCE.

Culturology, a complex science that studies all aspects of the functioning of culture, from the causes of origin to various forms of historical self-expression, has become one of the most significant and rapidly developing in Lately humanitarian disciplines. This, of course, has its own, quite obvious reasons. The subject of culturology is culture, and the clearly marked interest in the phenomenon of culture is easily explained by certain circumstances. Let's try to describe some of them:

1.Modern civilization is rapidly transforming the environment, social institutions, household style. In this regard, culture attracts attention as inexhaustible source public innovations. Hence the desire to reveal the potential of culture, its internal reserves, to find opportunities for its activation. Considering culture as a means of human self-realization, one can identify new inexhaustible impulses capable of influencing the historical process, on the person himself.

2. The question of the relationship between the concepts of culture and society, culture and history is also relevant. What impact does the cultural process have on social dynamics? What will the movement of history bring to culture? In the past, the social cycle was much shorter than the cultural one. When a person was born, he found a certain structure of cultural values. It has not changed for centuries. In the 20th century, the situation changed dramatically. Now for one human life several cultural cycles pass, which puts a person in an extremely difficult position for him. Everything changes so quickly that a person does not have time to comprehend and appreciate certain innovations and finds himself in a state of loss and uncertainty. In this regard, it is of particular importance to identify the most significant features of the cultural practice of past eras in order to avoid moments of primitivization of modern culture.

All of the above is far from exhausting the reasons explaining the rapid development of cultural studies in our days.

Gradually, the terminological apparatus of this science, consisting of the categories of cultural studies, is also being formed. The categories of culturology include the most essential concepts of patterns in the development of culture as a system, reflect the essential properties of culture. On the basis of the categories of cultural studies, the phenomena of culture are being studied.

The main components of cultural studies are the philosophy of culture and the history of culture, areas of humanitarian knowledge that began to exist quite a long time ago. Merged together, they formed the basis of cultural studies. In cultural studies, historical facts are subjected to philosophical analysis and generalization. Depending on the aspect on which the main attention is focused, various cultural theories and schools are created. Philosophy of culture is a branch of cultural studies that studies the concepts of the origin and functioning of culture. The history of culture is a branch of cultural studies that studies the specific features of cultures of various cultural and historical stages.

Newer sections of cultural studies, the main parameters of which are still being formed, are culture morphology And theory of culture.

Culture becomes the object of close attention of researchers in the 18th century, the century of the Enlightenment.

The German philosopher Herder considered the human mind not as an innate reality, but as a result of education and comprehension of cultural images. By gaining reason, according to Herder, a person becomes the son of God, the king of the earth. He considered animals as slaves of nature, and in people he saw her first freedmen.

For Kant, culture is a tool for preparing a person for the implementation of moral duty, a path from the natural world to the realm of freedom. According to Kant, culture characterizes only the subject, and not the real world. Its carrier is an educated and morally developed person.

According to F. Schiller, culture consists in reconciling the physical and moral nature of a person: “Culture must do justice to both - not only to one rational impulse of a person as opposed to the sensual, but also to the latter as opposed to the first. Thus, the task of culture is twofold: firstly, the protection of sensibility from the seizure of freedom, and secondly, the protection of the individual from the power of feelings. The first it achieves by the development of the faculty of feeling, and the second by the development of the mind.”

Among Schiller's younger contemporaries, F.V. Schelling, brothers A.V. and F. Schlegel etc. - the aesthetic significance of culture comes to the fore. Its main content proclaims the artistic activity of people, as a means of divine overcoming in them of the animal, natural principle. aesthetic views Schelling are most fully set out in his book “Philosophy of Art” (1802 - 1803), where the desire to show the priority of artistic creativity over all other types of human creative activity, to put art both above morality and science is clearly seen. In a somewhat simplified way, culture was reduced by Schelling and other romantics to art, first of all, to poetry. To a reasonable and moral person, they, to a certain extent, opposed the power of a human artist, a human creator.)

In the works of G.F.V. Hegel, the main types of culture (art, law, religion, philosophy) are represented by the stages of development of the "world mind". Hegel creates a universal scheme for the development of the "world mind", according to which, any culture embodies a certain stage of its self-expression. The “world mind” is also manifested in people. Originally in the form of language, speech. The spiritual development of the individual reproduces the stages of self-knowledge of the “world mind”, starting with “baby talk” and ending with “absolute knowledge”, i.e. knowledge of those forms and laws that govern from within the entire process of the spiritual development of mankind. From Hegel's point of view, the development of world culture reveals such integrity and logic that cannot be explained by the sum of the efforts of individual individuals. The essence of culture, according to Hegel, is manifested not in the overcoming of biological principles in man and not in creative fantasy prominent personalities, but in the spiritual familiarization of the individual with the "world mind", subjugating both nature and history. “The absolute value of culture lies in the development of the universality of thought,” wrote Hegel.

If we proceed from Hegel's culturological scheme, then at present humanity is somewhere halfway between its childhood age of ignorance and the final mastery of the “absolute idea”, “absolute knowledge”, which also determines its “absolute culture”. Despite the fact that Hegel did not devote a single work directly to culture, his views can be regarded as one of the first holistic and fairly convincing precultural concepts. Hegel not only discovered the general patterns of the development of world culture, but also managed to fix them in the logic of concepts. In his works Phenomenology of Spirit, Philosophy of History, Aesthetics, Philosophy of Law, Philosophy of Religion, he essentially analyzed the entire path of development of world culture. No other thinker has done this before him. However, Hegel's philosophy of culture is not cultural studies. In the works of Hegel, culture does not yet appear as the main subject of study. Hegel actually replaces the concept of culture with the concept of the history of the self-disclosure of the "world mind".

Of particular interest to specialists in the field of philology and linguistics are the views of Hegel's contemporary - the German aesthetician, linguist and philosopher W. von Humboldt, who used the Hegelian concept of "spirit" in relation to the culture of individual peoples. He considered each culture as a unique spiritual whole, the specificity of which is expressed mainly in language. Emphasizing the creative nature of language as a form of expression national spirit, Humboldt studied it in close connection with the cultural life of the people. Humboldt's works, to a certain extent, marked a transition from a predominantly philosophical understanding of culture (Voltaire, Rousseau, Kant, Schiller, Schelling, Hegel) to its more substantive study.

However, the work is adequate modern idea about cultural studies, appear only in the 2nd floor. XIX century. One of these can rightfully be considered the book of the Englishman E. B. Tylor "Primitive Culture" (1871) . Arguing that "the science of culture is the science of reforms," ​​he viewed culture as a process of continuous progressive development. Tylor gives one of the first definitions of culture of a generalizing nature, which is considered to this day one of the most objective: “Culture or civilization in a broad, ethnographic sense is composed in its whole of knowledge, beliefs, art, morality, laws, customs and some other abilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.

In 1869 and 1872 two works appear that are now invariably included among the most significant for the course of cultural studies. This is "Russia and Europe" by the Russian researcher N.Ya. Danilevsky and "The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music" by the German philosopher F. Nietzsche. Here all the signs of a true cultural study are already present: the material on the history of culture is philosophically interpreted and accompanied by calculations of a general theoretical order. And most importantly, culture and its forms are the main object of consideration. The views of Danilevsky and Nietzsche on culture will be discussed in the next chapter. It should only be noted that the fact of the emergence of cultural studies did not yet mean the emergence of science itself. Neither Danilevsky nor Nietzsche called themselves culturologists, and they hardly suspected that they were becoming the forefathers of a new science. Danilevsky perceived himself more as a historian, although he was a biologist by education, and Nietzsche quite naturally acted as a philosopher.

In the future, the study of problems related to culture becomes more and more familiar. Scientists are finding more and more aspects in this truly limitless phenomenon. V. Dilthey is the initiator of the use of hermeneutics to understand the images of culture. He believes that the method of explanation is not suitable for the study of phenomena associated with human creativity, and should be replaced by a more subtle and psychological method of understanding. Hermeneutics was originally a method of classical philology, which made it possible to meaningfully interpret and translate monuments of ancient literature. Dilthey proposes using this method to investigate cultural epochs recreating them psychological structure. “We explain nature,” Dilthey believed, “and we understand spiritual life (i.e. culture).” Hermeneutical developments became the basis of the "spiritual-historical school" in cultural studies.

G. Simmel pays special attention to the conflict moments in the culture of the turn of the 19th - 20th centuries, trying to give them a deep objective interpretation. The subject of history, he considers the evolution of cultural forms, which is carried out in a certain direction. At the beginning of the twentieth century, from the point of view of the philosopher, there is a sharp deviation of the line of development of culture from the previous paths. In The Conflict of Modern Culture (1918), Simmel explains the desire to destroy all old forms of culture with new ones, characteristic of this historical period, by the fact that in recent decades humanity has lived without any unifying idea, as it was up to mid-nineteenth century. Many new ideas arise, but they are so fragmented and incompletely expressed that they cannot meet an adequate response in life itself, they cannot rally society around the idea of ​​culture. “Life in its immediacy seeks to embody itself in phenomena, but due to their imperfection, it reveals a struggle against any form,” Simmel writes, substantiating his vision of the cause of crisis phenomena in culture. Perhaps the philosopher managed to discover one of the most significant indicators of the cultural crisis as such: namely, the absence of a global socially important idea capable of uniting all cultural processes.

Simmel's point of view is also extremely interesting because it was expressed precisely at the time when culturology was finally turning into an independent science. The feeling of crisis, characteristic of the assessment of the state of culture by various thinkers, to a certain extent, predetermined the completion of the formation of the science of culture. The formation of cultural studies was completed under the influence of certain events in European culture. They testified to a profound turning point in history, which had not been equaled in previous centuries. World War I and revolutions in Russia, Germany, Hungary, new type organization of people's lives, due to the industrial revolution, the growth of man's power over nature and the disastrous consequences of this growth for nature, the birth of an impersonal "man of the masses" - all this obliged us to take a different look at the nature and role of European culture. Many scientists, as well as Simmel, considered her situation to be extremely deplorable and no longer considered European culture as a kind of cultural standard, they spoke of a crisis and the collapse of its foundations.

At the end of 1915, the Russian philosopher L.M. Lopatin prophetically said that the modern world is going through a huge historical catastrophe - so terrible, so bloody, so fraught with the most unexpected prospects, that before it the thought goes numb and the head is spinning ... In the now raging unprecedented historical storm, not only blood flows in rivers, not only States are collapsing... not only are peoples dying and rising, something else is happening... Old ideals are crumbling, old hopes and persistent expectations are fading... And most importantly, our very faith in modern culture is irreparably and deeply its foundations suddenly peeped out at us such a terrible bestial face that we involuntarily turned away from him with disgust and bewilderment. And the persistent question is raised: what, in fact, is this culture? What is its moral, even just life value?

Subsequent events in Europe and in the world showed that Lopatin did not in the least exaggerate the significance of crisis phenomena in culture. It became obvious that a person and culture itself can develop in a completely different way than it once seemed to the figures of the Enlightenment and the humanists of the Renaissance, that the ideal of a self-developing creative personality in the 20th century looked like a mere utopia. It turned out that even educated people are capable of acts of vandalism and mass destruction of their own kind. There was a paradoxical situation: historical development continued, and cultural development slowed down, turned back, as it were, reviving in man the ancient instincts of destruction and aggression. This situation could not be explained on the basis of traditional ideas about culture, according to which it is a process of organizing and ordering history itself.

Consequently, culturology as a worldview science finally strengthened its position as a result of the awareness of the crisis state of culture of the early twentieth century by the general public, just as the boom that culturology is now experiencing is explained by the crisis of the state of culture of its end.

The attention of the outstanding German sociologist Max Weber was attracted by the problems of religion and culture. Within the framework of historical sociology, Weber made a grandiose attempt to study the role of the Protestant ethic in the genesis of Western European capitalism. His work "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" (1904-1905) subsequently caused a whole series of studies related to the sociological study of the "economic role" of world religions.

Another representative of the Weber family, Alfred, analyzed crisis phenomena in culture, insisting on the integrity of world culture, as opposed to the popular ideas of cyclists, while recognizing the existence of the deepest general crisis of European culture in the first half of the 20th century.

The feeling of discomfort and uncertainty was so strong that the first volume of O. Spengler's book "The Decline of Europe" published in 1918 was met with unprecedented interest. The book was read and discussed not only by specialists: philosophers, historians, sociologists, anthropologists, etc., but by all educated people. It has become an integral part of many university programs. And this despite significant criticism of many of the provisions expressed by Spengler. The question of the reasons for such interest in this work is legitimate. After all, Spengler literally repeated some moments from the work of Danilevsky “Russia and Europe” written half a century earlier, which was noticed only by a narrow circle of professionals.

Undoubtedly, it was a cultural and historical situation. The very name "The Decline of Europe" sounded as relevant as possible. Most of Spengler's contemporaries really felt that they were living in a world of the collapse of old habitual cultural norms and inevitably questioned whether this meant the end European civilization in general, or is the beginning of the next round in its development. Reading Spengler, people tried to find the answer to the painful question about the fate of culture.

The above statements by Simmel and Lopatin about the general cultural situation of the early twentieth century quite accurately reflect the essence of the issue, but for the consciousness of the layman, all the subtleties indicated by both philosophers may not have been so obvious. But even at the philistine level, the culture of that time carried such a number of innovations that it was extremely difficult to comprehend them and develop a certain attitude towards them. And outside of cultural attitudes, a person cannot exist safely. Recall that the beginning of the century was a time of widespread and rapid introduction of electricity into life, and the radio, telephone, and telegraph associated with it. Gramophone recording and cinematography appear. A car from a curiosity becomes commonplace. Aircraft (airplanes and airships) are created. Much of what seemed like fantasy and a dream becomes commonplace, but does not bring much happiness to humanity. There is also a radical breakdown of the usual social structures.

The painful perception by a person of the whole complex of significant changes was clearly manifested in artistic creativity. The culture of the avant-garde swept away all the attitudes of the past, some of which had existed uncontested for more than one millennium. First of all, this is the principle of memesis, or life imitation, which was considered unshakable for literature and visual arts since the time of Aristotle. Visitors to art exhibitions, accustomed to contemplating recognizable images of contemporaries or familiar images of nature, felt extremely insecure in front of the canvases of the cubists or abstractionists. Considering the fact that until now the tastes of most people are inclined towards realistic art, it is easy to imagine what bewilderment those who first came into contact with avant-garde techniques experienced. More about the basics modernist art will be discussed in the chapter on new trends in the culture of the twentieth century. In the context of this chapter, the mention of abstractionism is necessary as another argument in favor of confirming the sharp breakdown of traditional forms of culture, characteristic of the time of the formation of cultural studies.

Many scientists involved in different aspects humanitarian knowledge, considered it a matter of honor to take part in the creation of a general theory of culture, reflecting the multidimensionality and complexity of this concept. The term "culturology" did not appear immediately. It was introduced around the 40s. at the initiative of the American cultural researcher and anthropologist L.E. White. In the works “The Science of Culture” (1949), “The Evolution of Culture” (1959). “The Concept of Culture” (1973) and others. White argued that cultural studies are a qualitatively higher level of human comprehension than others. social Sciences and predicted a great future for her. He considered culture as a kind of integral system of material and spiritual elements, and formulated the general law of the development of culture with almost mathematical precision: “Culture moves forward as the amount of harnessed energy per capita increases, or as efficiency or economy increases. in energy controls, or both.” It so happened that by the time White introduced the name, science itself was already actively functioning.

At the same time, one cannot ignore the fact that cultural studies to this day remains the most controversial and diverse science. To create a science of culture, equal in logic, internal unity, fundamentality to other humanities, turned out to be an extremely difficult task: the object of study itself is too multifaceted. This explains the variety of interpretations of its specificity and constituent components.

“Culturology is focused on the knowledge of the common that connects various forms of cultural existence of people... The historical and theoretical ways of considering the forms of cultural existence of a person are in unity in cultural studies. Based on this understanding, culturology can be considered as knowledge about past and modern culture, its structure and functions, development prospects, ”writes the Russian culturologist S.Ya. Levit in the article“ Culturology as an integrative field of knowledge ”, and his position seems to be quite reasonable which fully reflects the essence of this most interesting science.

Topic 1.

Structure and composition of modern cultural knowledge

1. Place of cultural studies in the system of sciences, object, subject, goals of cultural studies. Related disciplines. Sections of cultural studies.

2. The concept of "culture", the classification of culture

3. Functions of culture

Until the 20th century the study of culture was within the framework of the philosophical and historical sciences. Allocation of cultural studies as a separate scientific block at the end of the 20th century. associated with the accumulation of a large amount of knowledge about culture and the need to systematize it.

The term "culturology" is derived from the Latin. cultura (which in turn comes from colo, cultum, colere - “cultivate, process”) and from the Greek. logos (word, concept, doctrine, theory, mind, thought, knowledge). If we take translation as "knowledge about culture" as a basis, then this means that cultural studies studies both the theory of culture and the history of culture, but if we take it as "theory of culture", then only theory. For the first time, the word "culturology" was proposed to be used as a scientific term by the American researcher Leslie White.

There are several views on the question of the status of cultural knowledge:

1. Culturology is an academic discipline, which examines a person, society and culture, using the knowledge of various sciences: philosophy, aesthetics, ethics, history, art history, religious studies, ethnography, archeology, psychology, linguistics, etc. This humanitarian discipline was introduced in Russia under specific conditions (1980s), when the Marxist system of social science was in crisis, and it was intended mainly for students of non-humanitarian universities. After acquiring economics, political science, sociology, philosophy of its own place and significance in the system of humanitarian knowledge, cultural studies began to play the role preparatory course disciplines of the social and humanitarian cycle.

2. Cultural studies- an independent branch of scientific knowledge, which has its own object and subject of knowledge, methods and approaches of research., i.e. cultural studies is the science about culture (only in Russia).

Object of study:

o socio-cultural environment (including culture)

o the most common patterns of culture;

o principles of functioning of culture in society;

o interrelation and dialogue of different cultures;

o common trends in the cultural development of mankind.

Subject of study:

the result of people's activities;

models of culture;

installations that regulate the life of society, manifesting themselves in customs, laws, norms and values;

· communication links between people, forming special languages ​​of interpersonal communication;

The goals of cultural studies:

1. Forecasting and designing the spiritual processes of social development, analysis of the socio-cultural consequences of social processes;

2. Search for new methods of socialization (social formation) and inculturation (ie development of the content of culture) of the individual;

3. Providing knowledge about national culture;

4. Comparative analysis of cultures (comparative method of cultural research).

Disciplines related to cultural studies

Anthropology of culture (cultural anthropology) shows that the theory of culture deals with ethnic communities that have their own original culture. Focuses on the social structure, political organization, economic system, kinship system, features of food, housing, clothing tools, religion, mythology of a particular culture. Cultural anthropology is based on a large ethnographic material.

Philosophy of culture (cultural philosophy)- acting as an independent direction, it remains a section in philosophy aimed at understanding the essence and significance of culture. The philosophy of culture is the highest possible level of generalization of cultural processes. He studies culture in the context of fundamental philosophical problems - being (ontology of culture), consciousness, society, personality.

Sociology of culture- a specific branch of knowledge, which is located at the intersection of the fields of sociology and culture and, accordingly, studies social patterns in human activity. In sociology, the concept of “culture” refers to an artificial environment created by people: things, symbolic systems, customs, beliefs, values, norms that are expressed in the subject environment, behavior patterns that are assimilated by people, passed on from generation to generation, are an important source of communication , regulation of social interaction and behavior.

Allocate 2 sections in cultural studies

Fundamental cultural studies studies the processes and forms of integration and interaction of people on the basis of their common values, creates a categorical apparatus.

1. Applied Cultural Studies studies, plans and develops a methodology for purposeful forecasting and management of socio-cultural processes within the framework of state, social and cultural policy. Purpose: forecasting and regulation of current cultural processes, development of social technologies for the transfer of cultural experience, management and protection of culture, cultural, educational and leisure activities.

Today there are about 600 definitions of the term "culture", the word "culture" is one of the most used in the modern language. But this speaks more about its ambiguity than its study. Why so much?

– The diversity of the phenomenon of culture

– The definition was given by scientists from different fields of knowledge

– Definitions were formulated on the basis of different methodological grounds

The term "culture" is of Latin origin, which means "cultivation", "processing", "care". Cicero (1st century BC) said: "Culture is the cultivation of the human mind in the process of purposeful action." That is, the main object of "cultivation" is the person himself, his inner world. And consequently, the very concept of “culture” begins to narrow to its size: by it they begin to understand only spiritual culture - the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe highest achievements of man in the spiritual sphere.

A broader and dominant approach in understanding culture is when the emphasis is shifted to the surrounding world of a person and thus culture expands, covering along with the spiritual and material spheres. Thus, culture can be defined as a set of achievements (and losses) of mankind in the material and spiritual spheres.

Similar information.

Culturology: Textbook for universities Apresyan Ruben Grantovich

2.3. The structure of cultural studies

2.3. The structure of cultural studies

Modern culturology combines a number of disciplines, each of which ensures the fulfillment of the tasks facing this science. These disciplines can be very conditionally divided into theoretical and historical.

The theoretical branch includes:

– philosophy of culture which studies the most general problems of the existence of culture;

– theory of culture studying the patterns of development and functioning of culture;

– culture morphology - the study of various forms of existence of culture, such as, for example, language, myth, art, religion, technology, science.

The historical branch, in turn, includes:

– cultural history, which deals with the typology of cultures, a comparative analysis of the development of various cultural and historical types;

– sociology of culture which explores the functioning of culture in society, the relationship of social and cultural processes.

– practical cultural studies, which determines at what level human activity acquires a cultural character. Obviously, this level is unique for each historical epoch.