Modern cultured person. Are you a cultured person? Test yourself The role of culture in social life

16.06.2019

A cultured person is a rather rare phenomenon today. And the thing is that the concept of a "cultural person" includes many requirements, which, unfortunately, not every one of us meets. Let's consider what kind of person can be called cultural.

Modern cultured person

First of all, one who can be called a cultured person must have courtesy and good manners. Etiquette, the basics of behavior - this is exactly what makes a person cultured. This is by no means innate instinctive knowledge. They are acquired with age, parents, kindergarten, school teach us this. In fact, etiquette is based not on empty, meaningless rules, but on the fundamental basis of life in society. The ability to behave well can be improved by every modern cultured person.

How to become a cultured person?

What defines the concept of a cultured person? It is worth considering the defining features of a cultured person, and then we will find out what it means to be a cultured person. Let us enumerate the main distinguishing qualities of a cultured person, which should prevail in us.

It is difficult to enumerate all the qualities and signs of a cultured person. Everyone means by this characteristic something of their own. However, we have tried to present to you the main features of a cultured person, which can be developed and nurtured in yourself on your own. Strive for excellence and be cultured!

Before understanding what a cultured person is, it is important to give a clear definition of "culture". This concept is difficult to interpret, as it is very multifaceted and manifests itself in completely different guises. According to different approaches, culture needs to be considered:

  • In its general sense. As a set of characteristics inherent in a certain community.
  • In a more specific sense. As a backbone element of social reality.

It will not be superfluous to consider each of them separately.

About the first approach

It involves considering culture as a combination of all the results of the historical development of human communities. In this context, it includes:

  • Features of the mental mindset.
  • Spiritual heritage, including traditions, customs, cult and ritual practices, holidays, everyday life, folklore and art.
  • A system of values ​​developed and established throughout history.

In a broad sense, language and religion are also perceived as constituent elements of culture.

About the second approach

He considers this phenomenon as the main social-forming factor and focuses on such indicators of the individual as:

  • spiritual organization.
  • Full-fledged diversified development.
  • Propensity for epistemological (cognitive) activity.
  • Moral education and moral guidelines.
  • The tendency to interact with other members of society, the aesthetic principle.

Culture, as a socially-forming factor, is an indicator of the development of the indicated indicators for a particular individual and for groups of people that form society. In social psychology, the higher it is, the more developed the given indicators are. In each individual society, the parameters of culture are different. From which a quite logical conclusion follows. And it sounds like this: cultures are heterogeneous, diverse and unique.

The role of culture in social life

Society, or society, is one of the forms of communities. This must be remembered. Each society, in turn, regardless of its size and composition, has distinctive features that ensure its uniqueness. Speaking about the role of culture in social life, it is advisable to resort to systems theory.

Everything is simple here. Social life is a kind of system. And culture in this case is a backbone element. Along with the economic formation, the political system, the form of the state structure in which the society lives.

The fundamental postulate of the theory under consideration is the following statement: “A change or removal of one of the elements of the system inevitably entails a change in the entire structure as a whole and ultimately leads to its collapse.”

But the role of culture in the life of society is vital. And even a theoretical consideration of the exclusion of culture from public life is not only meaningless. It is simply logically impossible.

Levels of manifestation of culture

As already mentioned, the difficulty of understanding and perceiving the concept under study is directly related to the pluralism of the forms of its manifestation.

The highest level of differentiation of cultures is civilizational affiliation. For example, it manifests itself in the difference between the totality of cultures of African and European peoples. The most striking dividing line that separates cultures from each other today is national identity.

Given their diversity, this better demonstrates the contrast of different cultures. There are other, smaller levels of culture that can exist both within one nationality and beyond. Marrying them, they unite people on the basis of common interests, life views and beliefs, ideology, etc.

Such manifestations of culture can be based on completely different foundations. And most often referred to as subcultures. Everyone knows examples - neo-Nazis, the hip-hop community, cosplayers, gamers.

Material and spiritual incarnations

Considering the concept of a cultured person, they should also be noted with attention. There is a place to be both material and spiritual hypostasis. And in completely different aspects of life.

Material culture is embodied in paintings, architectural monuments, in works of cinema, music and poetry, recognized as classic and included in the historical and national heritage.

Material culture manifests itself even in specific brands, drinks, names of musical groups. The last three cases are examples of the manifestation of popular culture - like the American Coca-Cola, Metallica, McDonald's at the turn of the nineties and two thousandths. Or Apple, Microsoft, Starbucks these days. It also manifests itself in national attire, hairstyles, cuisine, etc. These are no longer just components of a cultured person, but a manifestation of the identity of the society to which he belongs.

What about non-material manifestations of culture? They most often reveal themselves as signs used by sociologists and philosophers in describing the psychosocial characteristics of different societies. This will be discussed in more detail later.

Who is a cultured person?

This concept can now be considered in detail. In the modern sense, he embodies a person who is constantly striving to satisfy the balance of needs, including the desire for spiritual, mental, moral and aesthetic self-improvement.

In the intention to harmonize and equally develop these 4 elements, a person grows culturally. Spiritual self-improvement implies the priority of interests in creativity, art and other products of the cognitive-constructive activity of the individual over material values. This desire is a key quality of a cultured person.

What about mental development? It implies the desire to increase and expand knowledge. Moral self-improvement is the cultivation of the main benefactors in oneself. Such as honesty, loyalty, justice, modesty.

Aesthetic self-improvement - love and awareness of the value of beauty. It implies a penchant for beauty, or a craving for beauty. This refers not only to a weakness for the beautiful from the outside, but also a commitment to individual ennoblement. All these are the qualities of a cultured person.

Signs of a cultural personality

Also an interesting topic, and it is worth touching on. In fact, at the first meeting with a particular person, it is impossible to determine exactly that this is a cultured person. After all, spiritual, mental and moral wealth is not always able to clearly manifest itself during the first communication. At the same time, there are a number of distinctive qualities and features that a cultured person certainly possesses.

This is, first of all, the presence of the correct upbringing that meets the norms of the society in which he lives. And also observance of the rules of etiquette in interaction with other people, moderate behavior and a negative attitude towards pretentiousness and shocking.

An obligatory "attribute" of a cultured person is taking into account and respecting the comfort of others. And also the tendency not to respond to obvious provocations, the ability to protect one's own dignity without resorting to baseness and without losing self-control.

Physical, visually noticeable signs of a cultured person can also be features of the wardrobe. Such a person, as a rule, avoids variegation and obscene clothing. Because this can create an image of a frivolous, immature individual.

In some cases, asceticism in everyday life and image can be a quality of a cultured person. Not to be confused with bad taste, low quality and disregard for one's own appearance. A cultured person skillfully projects personal inner virtues on his external image.

social culture

About this - in the end. Previously, it was agreed - what is culture and a cultured person, the qualities and signs that define it were described. But! Adding the concept of sociality to the formula "cultured person" implies the inclusion of an individual with pronounced spiritual, mental, moral and aesthetic characteristics in the system of interpersonal relationships within an organized community.

This is if you delve into the study of the concept. In other words, a socio-cultural person is one who is able to apply his developed qualities in the process of interaction with other members of society, thereby contributing to the progressive movement in the process of social development.

Rules and generally accepted models of norms of behavior in society are a kind of philistine code of honor. In principle, this is the “duties” of a “cultured person” for society and end.

A cultured person as a social object

The modern one chooses a style of behavior that reflects his personality, meets the requirements of behavior in society and is not based on the desire to stand out. Own conscience and beliefs help to remain as one really is, not to hide shortcomings and expose dignity. A cultured person always behaves naturally and naturally, not paying attention to the social status of others. Manners of behavior and internal qualities of a person are not striking, but constitute the essence of such a person.

The upbringing of a cultured person is not limited to a good education, the right habits. The main thing is to have a rich spiritual culture, constantly engage in self-education, respect other people.

External attractiveness will quickly disappear if a person lacks his own thoughts, mind, sincerity, sense of humor. The beauty of a person is hidden in charm, the external manifestation of the beauty of the inner world.

The manifestation of cynicism is unusual for a truly cultured person. No matter how handsome in appearance, smart and educated, observing the rules of decency, a person may be, arrogance and shamelessness, a dismissive attitude towards other people unconditionally exclude him from the category of cultured personalities.

Health is culture and tradition. Not words in books, but your real actions, the culture that creates your way of life. The foundations of health are laid in the earliest periods of life, when the child unconsciously copies the behavior of significant adults, primarily parents. Therefore, health education is not only good for you - it is a cultural investment that is a cultural value of your family and can be passed down through generations.


We used to think that culture is statues and ancient works. Living culture is the culture of our daily activities, traditions, attitudes of the environment and society. The culture of health is a thousand-year experience accumulated by mankind in the field of health. True, the mechanical transfer of someone else's experience must be approached very carefully. For example, the healing system of yoga in India is not only physical exercises, it is also a way of life, and a nutrition system, it is also a whole religion. The use of these, of course, effective exercises, torn from the integral system of healing, can only give a moderate healing effect, and sometimes harm, since it is often not taken into account that learning one exercise can take a whole month and is usually carried out under the supervision of an experienced guru (teacher).

Culture of health- this is a social heredity, it accumulates the socially progressive creative activity of mankind in the field of health, it determines the system of values ​​and priorities of a person and society, a social group and nationality, a nation and humanity.

Like other cultures, a culture of health is alive when it lives in families. Unfortunately, over the past hundred years we have seen a significant destruction of traditions, local cultures within the framework of ethnocide. But not all is lost, you can learn the culture of health yourself. Even if you grew up in a hostile environment. From Pestalozzi's point of view, man is a "work of nature", "a work of society", and "a work of himself". According to this, a person in his life experiences to a certain extent three states, which do not necessarily replace each other in time sequence - a natural state, a social state and an ideal state in which a person becomes completely himself.

The culture of health is acquired.

Culture is daily action, not passive knowledge. Knowing about the culture of health is not enough, such a culture is not limited to knowledge, it is characterized, first of all, by the ability to apply this knowledge in practice in everyday life throughout life. The culture of health is the desire and ability to make the best achievements of world experience our personal property in painstaking self-improvement, the reward for which will be not only physical health, but also clarity of mind, fullness of feelings and a constant influx of vigor.

The culture of health is acquired by labor and consists in the habit and constant need of a person to do something at all. The practical culture of health is the result of “the discipline of the habit of objective activity and generally significant skills. An example of a developed culture of health is Greece, where there was a cult of health. “When there is no health, wisdom is silent, art cannot flourish, strength does not play, wealth is useless and the mind is sick,” writes Herodotus.


The culture of health is part of your overall culture.

The culture of health is an integral part of the general culture of an educated person. Today, a person with a secondary or higher education, but who knows practically nothing about his health and how to maintain it, can be considered uncultured.

An indicator of health culture is the general culture of a person, expressed in a sufficient level of physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development. Currently, having curable chronic diseases is a sign of a low health culture, and being sick should be ashamed (at least a little) and certainly not proud of it.

The use of thousands of years of experience accumulated by mankind in maintaining and strengthening their health would today allow us to live long, happily and without getting sick. Unfortunately, modern medicine mainly deals only with human diseases and practically does not deal with human health.

Culture of health as a manifestation of a developed universal culture, includes a person's awareness of the high value of his health. It provides for an understanding of the need to protect health and its strengthening as an indispensable condition for the successful self-realization of a person. The culture of human health is, first of all, an ecological culture in its broadest sense, based on the harmony of all manifestations of human activity and its relationship with the surrounding society and nature.

The basis for the education of a culture of health is the formation of an active, active, hardworking and creative personality, aimed at a healthy lifestyle, successful self-development and full disclosure of one's potential. Culture of health and a healthy lifestyle are categories of a broad ideological transformative impact on the formation of a developing personality.

"Cultured person" is a phrase that can often be heard on the street, in public places and so on. What kind of person can be called a cultured person? Today, being cultured is the duty of every individual who lives in society and interacts with other people. Of course, in order for a person to be ranked at this high rank, he must have a very impressive list of skills, abilities and qualities, as well as comply with many norms that have historically developed in the social environment. But it is necessary to start reasoning on this topic with a definition of what “culture” is.

culture

There are over thirty definitions of this term. For example, a literal translation from Latin says that this is “education” or “education”. But if you choose the most convenient and concise definition, then you can choose the following: the human world, its values, knowledge, skills, traditions, and the like.

A cultured person is not an innate trait, but an essential component of human existence deserved by hard work throughout life. Culture is instilled in a child from the first days of his life in the family, kindergarten, school. But this process continues with maturity.

Modern cultured person

First of all, a modern cultured person must master manners and be polite towards others. The behavior of a person often indicates whether a person is cultured or not. As they say in textbooks on sociology, a person is a bio-psycho-social being, and the last component is extremely important for his culture. After all, if it were not there, everyone would behave like an animal, guided only by an instinctive base. Children are taught to have etiquette from early childhood, as mentioned earlier, but this science is so complex that even adults often cannot master it perfectly.

By the way, it is worth saying that a cultured person around the world is represented differently. The rules of etiquette in one part of the planet are very different from those in another. Therefore, this topic is extremely complex, although, of course, there is a general outline. So what kind of person can be called a cultured person?

In order to answer this question, it is necessary to decide what kind of knowledge and skills an individual should have in his arsenal in order for him to be considered cultural.

External signs

As the well-known Russian proverb says, “they are greeted by their clothes, but they are escorted by their minds,” so it’s worth talking about external signs. What kind of person can be called cultured in this case? Presentation and neatness in dress is very important. Seeing a person who looks according to the situation, behaves appropriately, in which there is no vulgarity, others immediately understand that he is cultured.

Internal signs

It is worth mentioning the internal characteristics, such as character traits. A spiritually cultured person must be responsible, merciful, polite to others, sincere, generous, courageous, but able to control himself in any situation, confident in himself and in his abilities. All this appears in people with age. In addition, such a person must be tolerant, have a sense of proportion, never be rude to other people, respect everyone, sympathize, compassion, help as much as possible to everyone who needs it.

Self-development

Culture is not taken by itself in a person. This is a difficult and methodical work of parents, educators, teachers and teachers. But the most important person who drives the process of socialization of the individual is himself - a civilized person.

There are many examples of Mowgli children in the world who were found in the jungle, but since socialization did not occur for a long time, even the most talented teachers could not help them become cultured people. A person personally must be aware of what is necessary for his formation as a cultural personality. It is possible to become erudite, educated, educated and civilized only if you make efforts yourself.

Cooperation with other people

A cultured person is part of society, so he must be able to cooperate and get along with others. Such a person must at times forget about his own good for the sake of others cultural. Helping a comrade is constantly present in the fate of cultured people.

Patriotism and citizenship

What kind of person can be called cultured in the context of this trait? It is extremely important for someone who wants to be called cultural, to know the history of his state, to be aware of himself as a citizen, to love his homeland and honor the laws that are present on its territory. You can not be "Ivans who do not know their forefathers." These qualities, of course, depend on education, what was laid down in the family, or on the traditions that are present around the individual.

It is impossible to enumerate all the signs that a cultured person should have in our time. And after all, everyone in this case will highlight something of their own, which they consider more important. But several obligatory traits were mentioned above, they can be developed in oneself on one's own or try to get rid of their antipodes within oneself, the main thing is to strive for perfection. And it is also important to remember that culture is determined not by words, but by deeds, so talk about your actions, done or planned, and be cultured!



Similar articles