Methods of education and their characteristics. Material and spiritual culture The object of material culture is

The first structural element of culture is material culture, which is an objective, material form of expression of spiritual meanings.

Material culture is a set of methods for the production of material goods and values ​​created by human labor at each stage of the development of society.

Value- this is the positive significance of objects, phenomena and ideas. Objects and phenomena become good if they satisfy positive human needs and contribute to social progress. Material culture is based on a rational, reproductive type of activity, is expressed in an objective-objective form, satisfies the primary needs of a person.

Economic culture - this is an activity aimed at creating material conditions for human life as the creator of "second nature". It includes, first of all, economic activity - the means of production, methods of practical activity for their creation (relations of production), as well as creative moments of everyday economic activity of a person.

Economic culture should not be reduced to material production, it characterizes it from the point of view of influencing a person, creating conditions for his life and development of abilities, their implementation in the economic life of society. This culture is embodied not just in production, technology, but in the realization of the creative principle of human material activity.

Traditionally, culturologists distinguish labor culture as objects (forms) of material culture - equipment, structures and tools, means of production, communication systems - ways and means of communication (transport, communications); culture of everyday life - items of clothing, everyday life, food.

All these cultural objects are carriers of cultural information that create an artificial habitat for mankind and are the process and result of human material activity. All these phenomena are connected with the content of productive forces or production relations. However, material culture, being a side of material production, is not identical to it. It characterizes production from the point of view of creating conditions for human life, its development, as well as the realization of human abilities in the process of material activity.

V Spiritual cool.

Spiritual culture - a set of spiritual values ​​of mankind (ideas, ideas, beliefs, beliefs, knowledge); intellectual spiritual activity and its results, which ensure the development of a person as a person at every stage of the development of society.

Spiritual culture is based on a rational, creative type of activity, expressed in a subjective form, satisfies the secondary needs of a person.

Spiritual culture includes forms focused on the development of knowledge and values ​​in the spiritual sphere - this is a complex of ideas, knowledge, ideas, experiences, motives, attractions, beliefs, norms, traditions of human existence. Spiritual activity has a complex structure and includes the following forms of culture:

Religious culture (religious teachings, traditional confessions and denominations, modern cults and teachings);

Moral culture (ethics as a theoretical understanding of morality, morality as its social expression, morality as a personal norm);

Aesthetic culture (art, its types, directions and styles);

Legal culture (judicature, legislation, executive system);

Political culture (traditional political regime, ideology, norms of interaction between political subjects);

Intellectual culture (science, philosophy).

By type of activity, they are all included in cognitive activity (science, philosophy), value-oriented activity (morality, art, religion), regulatory activity (politics, law).

Cognitive activity is based on a person's knowledge of nature, society, himself and his inner world. This activity is most adequately represented by scientific activity. The science- a specialized area of ​​culture focused on knowledge. The main functions of science are to form a system of logically ordered knowledge based on a specially organized theoretical and empirical study of reality; building rational forecasts; control of the studied processes on the basis of experiment.

Transmitted from generation to generation, traditional knowledge, accepted as a "dogmatic banality", not questioned, with the advent of a new intellectual environment - scientific - cease to dominate the minds of people, lead to sharp leaps in the development of the whole culture. Thus, in any society, a system of obtaining, storing, transferring information and knowledge, independent of the individual, is formed.

Value-oriented human activity includes morality (moral culture), art (artistic culture) and religion (religious culture). The meaningful nature of knowledge, understanding of the world implies not just knowledge about it, but an understanding of the value of the person himself as a subject of activity, the value of his knowledge, creations, the values ​​of the very world of culture in which a person lives. The human world is always a world of values. It is filled with meanings and meanings for him.

The first most socially significant sphere of culture is moral culture, which gives a normative-value orientation of the attitude of individuals and social groups to all aspects of society and to each other.

Moral culture - it is the level of humanity achieved by society and the individual, humanity in the relations of social subjects, the attitude towards a person as a supreme goal and value in itself . The moral culture of a person manifests itself as a culture of an act: a motive that corresponds to the concepts of good and evil, justice and human dignity. At the heart of the moral culture of the individual is morality and conscience.

The second form of spiritual culture associated with value activities is artistic and aesthetic culture. Art culture - it is a specific sensory-emotional sphere of cognition, evaluation and artistic transformation of the world according to the laws of beauty. Artistic culture is based on an irrational, creative type of activity, is expressed both in an objective-objective and in a subjective form, satisfies the secondary needs of a person (see art in the system of spiritual culture).

The third form of spiritual culture, value-related activity religious culture, based on religious activity as the ascent of man to God . Religious culture is embodied by cult and religious actions, the meaning of which is determined by the corresponding system of values, the main of which is God as the spiritual and moral Absolute.

In spiritual culture, two more forms can be distinguished that are focused on the regulatory form of activity - these are politics (political culture) and law (legal culture), associated with the state and its institutions and the legal system of society.

Spiritual culture grows as an ideal side of material activity. However, under certain conditions, fixed in the mechanisms of social memory spiritual culture actsas a stable matrix of spiritual life, stereotype of perception and thinking, the mentality of society. It can play a leading role at different stages of the development of society.

To the peculiarities of spiritual culture, which is focused on the development of knowledge and values, it is necessary to include the following:

1. Spiritual culture is a special spiritual world created by the power of human thought, which is richer than the real, material world (for example, the art of painting - the direction of surrealism - the artist S. Dali).

2. Spiritual culture gives a person the greatest freedom of creativity (the conscious creativity of a person is what distinguishes the world of culture from the world of nature).

3. Spiritual culture is needed in itself, and not for the sake of achieving any goals.

4. Spiritual culture is the most "fragile" area of ​​culture, it is more sensitive to changes in the socio-cultural space, it suffers more than all other areas during social cataclysms and needs the support of society.

It should be noted that the concept of "spiritual culture" also includes material objects that include the world of spiritual culture: libraries, museums, theaters, cinemas, concert halls, educational institutions, courts, etc. Any object of material culture is the embodiment of certain human intentions, and in real life the material and the ideal in culture are always intertwined.

Spiritual culture is science, morality, morality, law, religion, art, education. Material - these are tools and means of labor, equipment and structures, production (agricultural and industrial), ways and means of communication, transport, household items.

Material culture is one of the parts of an integral human culture, the results of creative activity in which a natural object and its material are embodied in objects, properties and qualities and which ensure the existence of a person. Material culture includes a variety of means of production: energy and raw materials, tools, production technology and infrastructure of the human environment, means of communication and transport, buildings and structures for domestic, office and entertainment purposes, various means of consumption, material and subject relations in the field of technology. or the economy.

Spiritual culture is one of the parts of an integral human culture, the total spiritual experience of mankind, intellectual and spiritual activity and its results, which ensure the development of a person as a person. Spiritual culture exists in various forms. Customs, norms, patterns of behavior, values, ideals, ideas, knowledge that have developed in specific historical social conditions are forms of culture. In a developed culture, these components turn into relatively independent areas of activity and acquire the status of independent social institutions: morality, religion, art, politics, philosophy, science, etc.

Material and spiritual culture exist in close unity. In fact, everything material, obviously, turns out to be the realization of the spiritual, and this spiritual is impossible without some material shell. However, there is a significant difference between material and spiritual culture. First of all, it is a difference in subject matter. It is clear, for example, that tools and, say, musical works are fundamentally different from each other and serve different purposes. The same can be said about the nature of activity in the sphere of material and in the sphere of spiritual culture. In the sphere of material culture, human activity is characterized by a change in the material world, and a person deals with material objects. Activities in the field of spiritual culture involve some work with the system of spiritual values. From this follows the difference in the means of activity and their results in both spheres.

In domestic social science, for a long time, the point of view dominated, according to which material culture is primary, and spiritual culture has a secondary, dependent, "superstructural" character. This approach assumes that a person must first satisfy his so-called "material" needs, in order to then move on to satisfying "spiritual" needs. But already the most elementary "material" human needs, such as food and drink, are fundamentally different from the seemingly exactly the same biological needs of animals. The animal, absorbing food and water, really only satisfies its biological needs. In humans, unlike animals, these actions also perform a symbolic function. There are dishes and drinks that are prestigious, ceremonial, mourning and festive, etc. And this means that the corresponding actions can no longer be considered the satisfaction of purely biological (material) needs. They are an element of sociocultural symbolism and, therefore, are related to the system social values and norms, i.e. to spiritual culture.

The same can be said about all other elements of material culture. For example, clothes not only protect the body from adverse weather conditions, but also indicate age and gender characteristics, the place of a person in the community. There are also working, everyday, ritual types of clothing. A human dwelling has a multi-level symbolism. The enumeration can be continued, but the examples given are quite enough to conclude that it is impossible to single out purely biological (material) needs in the human world. Any human action is already a social symbol that has a meaning that is revealed only in the sphere of culture.

And this means that the position on the primacy of material culture cannot be recognized as justified for the simple reason that no material culture in its "pure form" simply exists.

Thus, the material and spiritual components of culture are inextricably linked with each other.

After all, creating the objective world of culture, a person cannot do this without changing and transforming himself, i.e. without creating itself in the process of its own activity.

Culture is not only activity as such, but a way of organizing activity.

Everything that a person does, he does in the end for the sake of solving this problem.

At the same time, the development of a person appears as the improvement of his creative forces, abilities, forms of communication, etc.

Culture, if it is considered in a broad sense, includes both material and spiritual means of human life, which are created by man himself.

Material and spiritual things created by human creative labor are called artifacts.

This approach makes it possible to use the cognitive possibilities of the most various methods studies created by representatives of the sciences that study culture and have high heuristics.

— its production, distribution and preservation. In this sense, culture is often understood as the artistic creativity of musicians, writers, actors, and painters; organizing exhibitions and directing performances; museum and library activities, etc. There are even narrower meanings of culture: the degree of development of something (the culture of work or nutrition), the characteristics of a particular era or people (Scythian or Old Russian culture), the level of upbringing (the culture of behavior or speech), etc.

In all these interpretations of culture, we are talking about both material objects (pictures, movies, buildings, books, cars) and intangible products (ideas, values, images, theories, traditions). Material and spiritual values ​​created by man are called, respectively, material and spiritual culture.

material culture

Under material culture usually refers to artificially created objects that allow people to optimally adapt to the natural and social conditions of life.

Items of material culture are created to satisfy the diverse and therefore are considered as values. Speaking about the material culture of a particular people, they traditionally mean such specific items as clothing, weapons, utensils, food, jewelry, housing, and architectural structures. Modern science, exploring such artifacts, is able to reconstruct the lifestyle of even long-disappeared peoples, which are not mentioned in written sources.

With a broader understanding of material culture, three main elements are seen in it.

• Actually object world, created by man - buildings, roads, communications, appliances, objects of art and everyday life. The development of culture is manifested in the constant expansion and complication of the world, "domestication". Life modern man hard to imagine without the most complex artificial devices- computer, television, mobile phones etc., which underlie the modern information culture.
• Technologies - means and technical algorithms for creating and using objects of the objective world. Technologies are material because they are embodied in concrete practical methods of activity.
• Technical culture - These are specific skills, abilities, . Culture preserves these skills and abilities along with knowledge, transmitting both theoretical and practical experience from generation to generation. However, in contrast to knowledge, skills and abilities are formed in practical activities, usually by a real example. At each stage of the development of culture, along with the complication of technology, skills also become more complex.

spiritual culture

spiritual culture unlike the material one, it is not embodied in objects. The sphere of her being is not things, but an ideal activity associated with intellect, emotions,.

• Ideal Shapes The existence of a culture does not depend on individual human opinions. These are scientific knowledge, language, established norms of morality, etc. Sometimes this category includes the activities of education and mass communication.
• Integrating forms of the spiritual cultures combine disparate elements of public and personal consciousness into a whole. At the first stages of human development, myths acted as such a regulating and unifying form. In modern times, its place was taken, and to some extent -.
• Subjective spirituality represents a refraction of objective forms in the individual consciousness of each individual person. In this regard, we can talk about the culture of an individual (his baggage of knowledge, ability to make moral choices, religious feelings, culture of behavior, etc.).

The combination of spiritual and material forms common space of culture as a complex interconnected system of elements, constantly passing into each other. So, spiritual culture - ideas, ideas of the artist - can be embodied in material things - books or sculptures, and reading books or observing art objects is accompanied by a reverse transition - from material things to knowledge, emotions, feelings.

The quality of each of these elements, as well as the close relationship between them, determine level moral, aesthetic, intellectual, and in the end - cultural development any society.

The relationship of material and spiritual culture

material culture- this is the whole area of ​​material and production activity of a person and its results - the artificial environment surrounding a person.

Things- the result of the material and creative activity of man - are the most important form of its existence. Like the human body, a thing simultaneously belongs to two worlds - natural and cultural. As a rule, things are made from natural materials, and become part of the culture after human processing. This is exactly how our distant ancestors once acted, turning a stone into an axe, a stick into a spear, the skin of a dead animal into clothes. At the same time, the thing becomes very important quality- the ability to satisfy certain human needs, to be useful to man. It can be said that useful thing- the initial form of existence of a thing in culture.

But things from the very beginning were also carriers of socially significant information, signs and symbols that connected the human world with the world of spirits, texts that store information necessary for the survival of the team. This was especially characteristic of primitive culture with its syncretism - the integrity, indivisibility of all elements. Therefore, along with practical utility, there was a symbolic utility that made it possible to use things in magical rites and rituals, as well as to give them additional aesthetic properties. In ancient times, another form of things appeared - a toy intended for children, with the help of which they mastered the necessary experience of culture, prepared for adulthood. Most often these were miniature models of real things, sometimes having an additional aesthetic value.

Gradually, over the course of millennia, the utilitarian and value properties of things began to separate, which led to the formation of two classes of things - prosaic, purely material, and things-signs used for ritual purposes, for example, flags and emblems of states, orders, etc. There has never been an insurmountable barrier between these classes. So, in the church, a special font is used for the rite of baptism, but if necessary, it can be replaced with any basin that is suitable in size. Thus, any thing retains its iconic function, being a cultural text. By the passage of time everything greater value began to acquire the aesthetic value of things, so beauty has long been considered one of their most important characteristics. But in an industrial society, beauty and usefulness began to be separated. Therefore, a lot of useful, but ugly things appear and at the same time beautiful expensive trinkets, emphasizing the wealth of their owner.

We can say that a material thing becomes a carrier of spiritual meaning, since the image of a person of a particular era, culture, social status, etc. is fixed in it. So, a knight's sword can serve as an image and symbol of a medieval feudal lord, and in a modern complex household appliances it is easy to see a man of the beginning of the 21st century. Toys are also portraits of the era. For example, modern technically complex toys, including many models of weapons, quite accurately reflect the face of our time.

Social organizations are also the fruit of human activity, yet another form of material objectivity, material culture. The formation of human society took place in close connection with the development of social structures, without which the existence of culture is impossible. In primitive society, due to the syncretism and homogeneity of primitive culture, there was only one social structure - the tribal organization, which ensured the entire existence of a person, his material and spiritual needs, as well as the transfer of information to future generations. With the development of society, various social structures began to form, which were responsible for the daily practical life of people (labor, public administration, war) and for satisfying their spiritual needs, primarily religious ones. Already in the Ancient East, the state and the cult are clearly distinguished, at the same time schools appeared as part of pedagogical organizations.

The development of civilization, associated with the improvement of technology and technology, the construction of cities, the formation of classes, required a more efficient organization of social life. As a result, social organizations appeared in which economic, political, legal, moral relations, technical, scientific, artistic, and sports activities were objectified. In the economic sphere, the first social structure was the medieval workshop, which in modern times was replaced by manufactory, which today has developed into industrial and commercial firms, corporations and banks. In the political sphere, in addition to the state, political parties and public associations appeared. The legal sphere created the court, the prosecutor's office, and the legislature. Religion has formed an extensive church organization. Later there were organizations of scientists, artists, philosophers. All cultural spheres that exist today have a network of social organizations and structures created by them. The role of these structures increases over time, as the importance of the organizational factor in the life of mankind increases. Through these structures, a person exercises control and self-government, will create the basis for the joint life of people, for the preservation and transfer of accumulated experience to the next generations.

Things and social organizations together create a complex structure of material culture, in which several important areas are distinguished: Agriculture, buildings, tools, transport, communications, technology, etc.

Agriculture includes plant varieties and animal breeds bred as a result of breeding, as well as cultivated soils. Human survival is directly connected with this area of ​​material culture, since it provides food and raw materials for industrial production. Therefore, man is constantly concerned about breeding new, more productive species of plants and animals. But especially important correct handling soil, maintaining its fertility at a high level - mechanical processing, fertilization with organic and chemical fertilizers, reclamation and crop rotation - the sequence of cultivating different plants on one piece of land.

building— habitats of people with all the variety of their activities and being (housing, premises for management activities, entertainment, educational activities), and construction- the results of construction, changing the conditions of economy and life (premises for production, bridges, dams, etc.). Both buildings and structures are the result of construction. A person must constantly take care of keeping them in order so that they can successfully perform their functions.

Tools, fixtures And equipment designed to provide all types of physical and mental labor person. So, tools directly affect the material being processed, devices serve as additions to tools, equipment is a complex of tools and devices located in one place and used for one purpose. They differ depending on the type of activity they serve - agriculture, industry, communications, transport, etc. The history of mankind testifies to the constant improvement of this area of ​​material culture - from a stone ax and a digging stick to modern, most complex machines and mechanisms that ensure the production of everything necessary for human life.

Transport And communication routes ensure the exchange of people and goods between different regions and settlements, contributing to their development. This area of ​​material culture includes: specially equipped means of communication (roads, bridges, embankments, airport runways), buildings and structures necessary for the normal operation of transport (railway stations, airports, ports, harbors, gas stations, etc.), all types of transport (horse, road, rail, air, water, pipeline).

Connection is closely connected with transport and includes post, telegraph, telephone, radio and computer networks. It, like transport, connects people, allowing them to exchange information.

Technologies - knowledge and skills in all the above areas of activity. The most important task is not only the further improvement of technologies, but also the transfer to the next generations, which is possible only through a developed system of education, and this indicates a close connection between material and spiritual culture.

Knowledge, values ​​and projects as forms of spiritual culture.Knowledge are a product of human cognitive activity, fixing the information received by a person about the world around him and the person himself, his views on life and behavior. We can say that the level of culture of both an individual and society as a whole is determined by the volume and depth of knowledge. Today, knowledge is acquired by man in all spheres of culture. But gaining knowledge in religion, art, everyday life, etc. is not a top priority. Here, knowledge is always associated with a certain system of values, which they justify and protect: in addition, they are figurative in nature. Only science is special area spiritual production aims to obtain objective knowledge about the world. It arose in antiquity, when there was a need for generalized knowledge about the surrounding world.

Values ​​- the ideals that a person and society aspire to achieve, as well as objects and their properties that satisfy certain human needs. They are associated with a constant assessment of all objects and phenomena surrounding a person, which he produces according to the principle of good-bad, good-evil, and arose even within the framework of primitive culture. In the preservation and transmission of values ​​to the next generations, myths played a special role, thanks to which values ​​became an integral part of rites and rituals, and through them a person became a part of society. As a result of the collapse of the myth with the development of civilization, value orientations began to be fixed in religion, philosophy, art, morality and law.

Projects - plans for future human action. Their creation is connected with the essence of man, his ability to perform conscious purposeful actions to transform the world around him, which is impossible without a preliminary plan. This realizes the creative ability of a person, his ability to freely transform reality: first - in his own mind, then - in practice. In this, a person differs from animals, which are able to act only with those objects and phenomena that exist to the present and are important for them at a given time. Only a person has freedom, for him there is nothing inaccessible and impossible (at least in fantasy).

In primitive times, this ability was fixed at the level of myth. Today, projective activity exists as a specialized activity and is divided according to the projects of which objects should be created - natural, social or human. In this regard, the design is distinguished:

• technical (engineering), inextricably linked with scientific and technological progress, which occupies an increasingly important place in culture. Its result is the world of material things that create the body of modern civilization;
• social in creating models of social phenomena - new forms of government, political and legal systems, ways of managing production, school education, etc.;
• pedagogical to create human models, ideal images of children and students, which are formed by parents and teachers.
• Knowledge, values ​​and projects form the foundation of spiritual culture, which includes, in addition to the named results of spiritual activity, the very spiritual activity for the production of spiritual products. They, like the products of material culture, satisfy certain human needs and, above all, the need to ensure the life of people in society. To do this, a person acquires the necessary knowledge about the world, society and himself, for this, systems of values ​​are created that allow a person to realize, choose or create forms of behavior approved by society. This is how the varieties of spiritual culture that exist today were formed - morality, politics, law, art, religion, science, philosophy. Consequently, spiritual culture is a multi-layered formation.

At the same time, spiritual culture is inextricably linked with material culture. Any objects or phenomena of material culture basically have a project, embody certain knowledge and become values, satisfying human needs. In other words, material culture is always the embodiment of a certain part of spiritual culture. But a spiritual culture can exist only if it is reified, objectified, and has received this or that material incarnation. Any book, painting, musical composition, as well as other works of art that are part of spiritual culture, need a material carrier - paper, canvas, paints, musical instruments etc.

Moreover, it is often difficult to understand what kind of culture - material or spiritual - this or that object or phenomenon belongs to. So, we will most likely attribute any piece of furniture to material culture. But if we are talking about a 300-year-old chest of drawers exhibited in a museum, we should talk about it as an object of spiritual culture. The book - an indisputable object of spiritual culture - can be used to kindle the furnace. But if objects of culture can change their purpose, then criteria must be introduced to distinguish between objects of material and spiritual culture. In this capacity, an assessment of the meaning and purpose of an object can be used: an object or phenomenon that satisfies the primary (biological) needs of a person belongs to material culture, if they satisfy secondary needs associated with the development of human abilities, it is considered the subject of spiritual culture.

Between material and spiritual culture there are transitional forms - signs that represent something different from what they themselves are, although this content does not apply to spiritual culture. The most famous form of the sign is money, as well as various coupons, tokens, receipts, etc., used by people to indicate payment for various services. Thus, money - the universal market equivalent - can be spent on buying food or clothing (material culture) or buying a ticket to a theater or museum (spiritual culture). In other words, money acts as a universal mediator between objects of material and spiritual culture in modern society. But there is a serious danger in this, since money equalizes these objects, depersonalizing the objects of spiritual culture. At the same time, many people have the illusion that everything has its price, that everything can be bought. In this case, money divides people, belittles the spiritual side of life.

In fact, the question is quite complex, and in my time in the study of sociology, I spent more than one night trying to figure it out. In general, I will try to state what I have learned and, I hope, it will be useful to someone. :)

What is material culture

This concept includes those objects that were created artificially to meet the social and natural needs of man. For example, it can be clothes or weapons, jewelry or the dwelling itself. All this is included in the concept of the material culture of a certain people. In a broad sense, this includes the following elements:

• objects - devices or roads, objects of art and dwellings;
• technologies - because they are a material reflection of thought;
• technical culture - this includes skills or certain skills that are passed on to subsequent generations.

What is spiritual culture

She did not find a reflection in objects - not things are subject to her, but everything related to feelings and intellect. It includes:

• ideal forms - for example, language or generally accepted principles. Sometimes this includes education;
• subjective forms - in this case we are talking about the knowledge possessed by individual representatives of the people;
• integrating forms - this concept includes various elements of both a personal nature and public consciousness, for example, legends.

The relationship of spiritual and material

Naturally, both forms cannot but interact; moreover, they are closely intertwined with many interconnections. For example, the thoughts of an architect, that is, the spiritual component finds its imprint in the material - the building. At the same time, a material object - a beautiful building - finds expression in feelings and emotions - spiritual.

Of particular interest is the fact of displaying the spiritual in the material - things that receive the status of an object of culture after being processed by human hands. At the same time, they relate to both the material and the spiritual, having, in addition to practical benefits, also a certain spiritual meaning. This is typical for a primitive society, when things symbolized spirits or stored information in the form of an engraved text.

Exist various ways analysis of the structure of culture. Since culture acts, first of all, as a prerequisite for all types of socially significant activities, the main elements of its structure are the forms of fixation and transmission of social experience. In this context, the main components of culture are: language, customs, traditions, values ​​and norms.

Language is a system of conventional symbols that correspond to certain objects. Language plays an important role in the process of socialization of the individual. With the help of language, cultural norms are assimilated, social roles are mastered, and behavior patterns are formed. Each person has his own cultural and speech status, indicating belonging to a specific type of linguistic culture: high literary language, vernacular, local dialect.

Tradition is a form of sociocultural reproduction associated with the transmission from generation to generation of the basic elements of normative culture: symbols, customs, manners, language. The need to preserve these basic norms is determined by the very fact of their existence in the past.

social norm - this is a form of socio-cultural regulation in a certain social sphere, characterizing the individual's belonging to a given social group. The social norm establishes the permissible boundaries of the activities of representatives of specific social groups, provides predictability, standard behavior of people in accordance with their social status.

Value is a category that indicates the human, social and cultural significance of certain phenomena of reality. Each historical epoch is characterized by a specific set and a certain hierarchy of values. Such a system of values ​​acts as the highest level of social regulation, forms the basis for the formation of personality and the maintenance of normative order in society.

Material and spiritual culture.

Considering culture by its carrier, material and spiritual culture are distinguished.

material culture includes all spheres of material activity and its results: dwellings, clothing, objects and means of labor, consumer goods, etc. That is, those elements that serve the natural organic needs of a person belong to material culture, which in the literal sense satisfies these needs.

spiritual culture includes all spheres of activity and its products: knowledge, education, enlightenment, law, philosophy, religion, art. Spiritual culture is associated, first of all, not with the satisfaction of needs, but with the development of human abilities, which are of universal importance.

The same objects can belong to both material and spiritual culture at the same time, and also change their purpose in the process of existence.

Example. Household items, furniture, clothes in Everyday life satisfy natural human needs. But, being exhibited in the museum, these things already serve to satisfy the cognitive interest. According to them, you can study the life and customs of a certain era..

Culture as a reflection of the spiritual abilities of the individual.

According to the form of reflection of spiritual abilities, as well as the origin and nature of culture, the following three forms can be conditionally distinguished: elite, popular And mass.

Elite, or high culture includes classical music, fine literature, poetry, fine arts, etc. It is created by talented writers, poets, composers, painters and is aimed at a select circle of connoisseurs and connoisseurs of art. This circle can include not only “professionals” (writers, critics, art critics), but also those who highly appreciate art and get aesthetic pleasure from communicating with it.

Folk culture arises spontaneously to a certain extent and most often does not have specific authors. It includes a variety of elements: myths, legends, epics, songs, dances, proverbs, ditties, crafts and much more - everything that is commonly called folklore. We can distinguish two components of folklore: it is localized, i.e. associated with the traditions of a certain area, and democratic, since everyone takes part in its creation.

Mass culture begins to develop from the middle of the nineteenth century. It is not distinguished by high spirituality, on the contrary, it is mainly of an entertaining nature and currently occupies the main part of the cultural space. This is the area without which it is impossible to imagine the life of modern young people. The works of mass culture are, for example, modern pop music, cinema, fashion, modern literature, endless television series, horror films and action films, etc.

Sociological approach to understanding culture.

In the context of the sociological approach, culture is a system of values ​​and norms inherent in a certain social community, group, people or nation. Main categories: dominant culture, subculture, counterculture, ethnic culture, national culture. Considering culture as a characteristic of the characteristics of the life of various social groups, the following concepts are distinguished: dominant culture, subculture And counterculture.

Dominant culture is a set of beliefs, values, norms, rules of conduct that are accepted and shared by the majority of members of society. This concept reflects the system of norms and values ​​that are vital for society and form its cultural basis.

Subculture is a concept by which sociologists and culturologists single out local cultural complexes that arise within the culture of the whole society.

Any subculture implies its own rules and patterns of behavior, its own style of clothing, its own manner of communication, reflects the peculiarities of the lifestyle of various communities of people. Russian sociologists are currently paying particular attention to the study of youth subculture.

As the results of specific sociological studies show, the subcultural activity of young people depends on a number of factors:

The level of education (for people with a lower level of education, for example, students of vocational schools, it is noticeably higher than for university students);

From age (peak activity 16 - 17 years, by 21 - 22 years it is significantly reduced);

From the place of residence (typical to a greater extent for the city than for the village).

A counterculture is understood as such a subculture that is in a state of open conflict in relation to the dominant culture. Counterculture means the rejection of the basic values ​​of society and calls for the search for alternative forms of life.

Specificity of modern mass culture.

Back in the 19th century, philosophers who studied culture turned to an analysis of the essence and social role of mass and elite culture. Mass culture in those days was unequivocally considered as an expression of spiritual slavery, as a means of spiritual oppression of a person, as a way of forming a manipulated consciousness. She was opposed to high classical culture, which was perceived as a way of life characteristic of the privileged strata of society, intellectuals, aristocrats of the spirit, i.e. "colours of mankind".

In the 40-50s of the twentieth century, a point of view took shape on mass information as a new stage of culture. It was successfully developed in the writings of the Canadian researcher Herbert Marshal McLuhan (1911-1980). He believed that all existing cultures differ from one another by means of communication, because it is the means of communication that form the consciousness of people and determine the characteristics of their life. As noted by many culturologists, the concept of McLuhan and his followers is a typical optimistic concept of mass culture.

The main function of mass culture is compensatory and entertaining, which is complemented by a socially adaptive function, implemented in an abstract, superficial version. In this regard, Western researchers have repeatedly emphasized that mass culture turns people into curious observers of life, considering the illusory world of video images as an objectively existing reality, and the real world as an illusion, an annoying hindrance to being. The consumption of samples of mass culture, according to many psychologists, returns adults to the infantile stage of perception of the world, and turns young consumers of this culture into passive creators, indiscriminately absorbing the ideological "rations" prepared by them.

American researchers of popular culture claim that today it performs the function of a spiritual drug. By plunging the mind of a person into a world of illusions, mass culture becomes a school of stereotypes that form not only mass consciousness, but also the corresponding behavior of people. Defending such a position, they often proceeded from the fact that the inequality of people is natural, and it will exist forever. That there will always be an elite in any society, that it is she who constitutes the intellectual ruling minority, which has a high level of activity and a developed intellect.

civil liberties;

Spread of literacy in all segments of the population;

National psychology and self-consciousness, most pronounced in national art.

Scientists distinguish two levels of national culture:

Expressed in the national character and national psychology;

Represented by literary language, philosophy, high art.

Ways of mastering the national culture:

Unlike an ethnic group, each nation creates specialized cultural institutions: museums, theaters, concert halls, etc.

The formation of national self-consciousness is promoted by the national education system: schools, higher educational institutions.

Today, the main goal of national education is the moral education of the individual, instilling such socially significant qualities as love, humanism, altruism, tolerance as a desire for freedom and justice, equality of rights and opportunities, and a tolerant attitude towards the most diverse manifestations of human essence.

Culture and civilization.

In cultural studies, next to the concept of culture, there is the concept of civilization. This term arose later than the concept of "culture" - only in the eighteenth century. According to one version, its author is the Scottish philosopher A. Ferrugson, who divided the history of mankind into eras:

wildness,

barbarism,

civilizations,

meaning by the last, highest stage of social development.

According to another version, the term "civilization" was coined by the French philosophers of the Enlightenment and used by them in two senses: in a broad and narrow sense. The first meant a highly developed society based on the principles of reason, justice and religious tolerance. The second meaning was closely intertwined with the concept of "culture" and meant a combination of certain qualities of a person - an outstanding mind, education, politeness, refinement of manners, etc., the possession of which opened the way to the elite Parisian salons of the 18th century.

Modern scientists define civilization by the following criteria, How:

Historical time (antique, medieval, etc.);

Geographical space (Asian, European, etc.);

Technology (industrial, post-industrial society);

Political relations (slave-owning, feudal civilizations);

Specificity of spiritual life (Christian, Muslim, etc.).

Civilization means a certain level of development of material and spiritual culture.

In the scientific literature, the definition of civilization types is carried out according to the following criteria:

Commonality and interdependence of historical and political fate and economic development;

Interpenetration of cultures;

The presence of a sphere of common interests and common tasks in terms of development prospects.

Based on these features, three types of civilization development are defined:

Non-progressive forms of existence (natives of Australia, Indians of America, many tribes of Africa, small peoples of Siberia and northern Europe),

Cyclical development (countries of the East) and

Progressive development (Greek-Latin and modern European).

At the same time, cultural studies have not developed a unity of views on understanding the essence of civilization as a scientific category. So from the position of A. Toynbee, civilization is seen as a certain stage in the development of the culture of individual peoples and regions. From the standpoint of Marxism, civilization is interpreted as a specific stage of social development that has come in the life of the people after the era of savagery and barbarism, which is characterized by the appearance of cities, writing, the formation of national-state formations. K. Jaspers understands civilization as “the value of all cultures”, thereby emphasizing their common universal character.

A special place is occupied by the concept of civilization in the concept of O. Spengler. Here, civilization is interpreted as the final moment in the development of the culture of a particular people or region, meaning its “decline”. Contrasting the concepts of "culture" and "civilization", in his work "The Decline of Europe" he writes: "... civilization is the inevitable fate of culture. Here the very peak is reached, from the height of which it becomes possible to solve the most difficult problems of historical morphology.

Civilization is the most extreme and most artificial state of which a higher type of people is capable. They are... completion, they follow becoming as it has become, life as death, development as torpor, mental old age and petrified world city after village and sincere childhood. They are the end without the right to appeal due to internal necessity always turn out to be a reality ”(Spengler O. The Decline of Europe. Essays on the Morphology of World History: in 2 vols. M., 1998. Vol. 1., S. 164.).

With all the diversity of existing points of view, they largely coincide. Most scholars understand civilization as a fairly high level of development of material culture and social relations, and consider the emergence of cities, the emergence of writing, the stratification of society into classes and the formation of states as the most important signs of civilization.

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