The development of the national sector of mass culture. From national culture to the culture of mass

The development of the national sector of mass culture. From national culture to the culture of mass

at the same time, it is necessary to take into account that in Hula-XIX century. None of the designated social subcultures or their mechanical amount (on the scale of one ethnic or state) cannot be called the national culture of the state. At that time, there were no uniform nationwide standards of social adequacy and the mechanisms of socialization mechanisms unified for the entire culture. All this is born only in a new time due to the processes of industrialization and urbanization, the formation of capitalism in its classical, postclacical and even alternative (socialist) forms, transformation of class societies into national and erosion of class partitions, separating people, the dissemination of universal literacy of the population, the degradation of many forms of traditional ordinary culture of pre-industrial type, development of technical means of replication and broadcasting information, liberalization of life styles of society, the growth of political elites from the state of public opinion, and the production of mass consumption products - from the sustainability of the customer demand regulated by fashion, advertising, etc.

Under these conditions, equally relevant steel and tasks of standardization of sociocultural installations, interests and needs of the majority of the population, the intensification of the processes of manipulating the human person, its social claims, political behavior, ideological orientations, consumer demand for goods, services, ideas, their own image, etc. P. In the old epochs of the monopoly on such a consciousness management at a more or less mass scale belonged to the church and political power. In a new time, private manufacturers of information, goods and mass consumption services entered the rivalry for consciousness of people. All this led to the need for a change in the mechanisms of general socialization and the inculturation of a person who prepare a person to free realization not only by their productive work, but also their sociocultural interests.

If in traditional communities, the task of general socialization of the individual was solved mainly by means of personal broadcast knowledge, norms and samples of consciousness and behavior (activity) from parents to children, from the teacher (master) to the student, from the priest to neighbor, etc. (and in the content of the broadcast Social experience has a special place belonged to the personal life experience of the educator and its personal sociocultural orientation and preferences), then at the stage of education of national cultures, such mechanisms for social and cultural reproduction of the individual begin to lose their effectiveness. There is a need for greater universalization of the broadcast experience, value orientations, samples of consciousness and behavior; the formation of national norms and standards of social and cultural adequacy of a person, initiating its interest and demand for standardized forms of social benefits; Improving the efficiency of the work of social regulation mechanisms through the UNIFI-influential impact on the motivation of human behavior, social claims, images of prestigidity, etc. This, in turn, caused the need to create a channel broadcast channel, concepts, socio-cultural norms and other socially significant information to the wide masses of the population, canal , covers the entire nation, and not only its individual formed layers. The first steps in this direction was the introduction of universal and mandatory initial, and later secondary education, and then - the development of the media (media), democratic political procedures covering all the large masses of people, and IN.1 formation of national culture does not cancel its distribution On the described social subcultures. National culture complements the system of social subcultures, turning to a unifying superstructure over them, which reduces the severity of the socio-value voltage between various groups of people, determines the universal standards of some sociocultural features of the nation. Of course, before the establishment of nations, there were same unifying signs of ethnic culture, primarily a language, religion, folklore, some household rituals, elements of clothing, household items, etc. At the same time, ethnographic cultural features are inferior to national culture primarily in terms of universality (due to the overwhelming nonsensestsіonalisnosti). The forms of ethnic culture are very plastic and variable in the practice of various groups of the population. Often even the language and religion in the aristocracy and the plebs of the very ethnos are far from being identical. The national culture asks fundamentally the same standards and standards, which are introduced by publicly available specialized cultural institutions: general education, press, political organizations, mass forms of artistic culture, etc. For example, certain forms of fiction exist in all nations with writing, but to historical transformation The ethnos to the nation before him does not arise the problem of the formation of a nationwide literary language from the language that exists in different regions in the form of local dialects. One of the essential characteristics of the national culture is that, in contrast to ethnic culture, which is predominantly memorial, it reproduces the historical tradition of collective forms of the people of the people, the national culture is primarily prognostic. It produces a lot of goals than the results of development, knowledge, norms, composition and content of the modernization orientation, filled with paphos intensification of all parties to social life.

However, the main complexity in the spread of national culture is that modern knowledge, norms, cultural samples and content are produced almost exclusively in the depths of highly specialized sectors of social practice. They are more or less successfully understood and assimilated by the relevant specialists; For the main mass of the population, the language of modern specialized culture (political, scientific, artistic, engineering, etc.) is almost inaccessible to understand. Society needs a system of means to adapt the content, "translation" of translated information from the language of highly specialized areas of culture to the level of ordinary understanding of unprepared people, funds for the "interpretation" of this information by the mass consumer, a certain "infantilization" of its figurative embodiments, as well as the "Management" of consciousness of mass consumer in the interests of the manufacturer of this information offered goods, services, etc.

Such adaptation has always been required for children when in the processes of education and general education "adult" content was transferred to the language of fairy tales, parable, entertaining stories, simplified examples, etc., more accessible to children's consciousness. Now such interpretative practice has become necessary for a person throughout his life. A modern man, even very educated, remains a narrow specialist, and its level of specialіalisnosti (at least in elite and bourgeois subcultures) from century to the century rises. In other areas, she needs a permanent "state" of commentators, interpreters, teachers, journalists, advertising agents and other guides, whose task is to conduct it on the limitless sea of \u200b\u200binformation about goods, services, political events, artistic innovations, social conflicts, economic problems et al. It is impossible to argue that modern person has become less intelligent or more infantile than her ancestors. It's just his psyche, obviously, cannot process such a number of information, to carry out such a multifactorial analysis of such a number of problems at the same time, with the necessary efficiency to use its social experience and others. We will not forget that the speed of processing information in computers is many times higher than the possibility of human brain. .

This situation requires the introduction of new methods of intellectual search, scanning, selection and systematization of information, "pressing" it into large blocks, developing new technologies for forecasting and decision-making, as well as mental training of people to work with such volumetric information flows. After the current "information revolution", that is, improving the efficiency of transmission and processing information, as well as making management decisions with the help of computers, humanity, rather, expects a "prognostic revolution" - the jump-shaped increase in the efficiency of forecasting, calculating the probable, factor analysis, and the like. However, we will not be predicted, with what technical means (or methods of artificial stimulation of brain activity) can occur.

In the meantime, people need a way that neutralized excessive mental tension from information flows, turned the complex intellectual problems on primitive dual oppositions ("good - bad", "ours - others", etc.), and also gave the opportunity to "rest" from social responsibility, personal choice, dissolved him in the crowd of the audience "soap operas" or mechanical consumers of advertised goods, ideas, slogans, etc.

A mass culture has become an innovative. It cannot be said that she completely frees a person from personal responsibility, rather it is about to remove the problem of self-selection. The structure of Being (at least that part of the individual as applies to the individual) is given to a person as a set of more or less standard situations, where everything is already scheduled for those the most "guides" - journalists, advertising agents, public politicians, show business stars, etc. . In mass culture, everything is already known to be known: "The right" political system, the only true teaching, leaders, sports stars and pop, fashion for the image of the "class wrestler" or "sexy symbol", movies where "ours" is always right and definitely defeat , etc.

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Mass culture as a social phenomenon

Sociology

Mass culture as a social phenomenon

Mass culture, concept covering the diverse and heterogeneous phenomena of the culture of the XX century, which was distributed due to the scientific and technical revolution and the constant updating of the media. Production, distribution and consumption of mass culture products is industrial-commercial. The semantic range of mass culture is very wide of primitive kitche (Early comic, melodrama, pop hat, "soap opera") to complex, substantially saturated forms (some types of rock music, "intellectual" detective, pop art). For aesthetics, mass culture is characterized by constant balancing between the trivial and original, aggressive and sentimental, vulgar and sophisticated. Updated and predicting the expectations of the mass audience, the mass culture meets its needs in leisure, entertainment, game, communication, emotional compensation or discharge, etc.

Introduction

Mass culture, being one of the most vivid manifestations of the sociocultural being of modern developed communities, remains a relatively indifferent phenomenon from the point of view of the general theory of culture. Interesting theoretical foundations of the study of social cultural functions (and including mass) were developed in recent years by E. Orlova. In accordance with its concept in the morphological structure of the culture, two areas can be distinguished: ordinary culture, masterful in the process of its total socialization in a living environment (primarily in the processes of education and general education), and specialized culture, the development of which requires special (professional) education . The intermediate position between these two areas with the function of the translator of cultural meanings from a specialized culture to the everyday human consciousness and occupies a mass culture. A similar approach to the phenomenon of mass culture is very heuristic. In this paper, the purpose of in-depth reflection on the socio-functional characteristics of the mass culture in line with this concept and correlating it with the concept of social subcultures.

Since the decomposition of primitive society, the beginning of the division of labor, social stratification in human groups and the addition of the first urban civilizations and the corresponding differentiation of culture, determined by the difference in social functions of various groups of people associated with their lifestyle, material means and social benefits, as well as the emerging ideology and symbols of social prestigidity. These differentiated segments of the overall culture of a historical community have become called social subcultures over time. In principle, the number of such subcultures can be correlated with the number of specialized areas available in the community (specialties, professions), but the tasks of this article do not require such small structuring of culture. It is enough to distinguish only a few major social and class (estate) subcultures that unite large groups of people in accordance with their role and functions in the production of physical and social existence of a person, in maintaining or violating the social organization and regulation of society (order).

Types of subculture

First of all, we are talking about the subculture of rural producers, called the folk (in socio-demographic plan), or ethnographic (in terms of the greatest concentration of the corresponding specific features). This culture is functionally producing mainly the means of maintaining the physical (vital) existence of people - primarily food. From the point of view of the main characteristics, this subculture is characterized by a low level of specialization in a separate profession ("Classic" peasant, as a rule, a universal worker: both the farmer, and a cattle breeder, and a fisherman, and a carpenter at the same time, if only the special conditions of the landscape do not specialize it more narrowly); Low level of individual social advisions of people; A minor gap between the ordinary culture of peasant being and specialized knowledge and skills of agricultural labor. Accordingly, the method of social reproduction of this subculture is mainly not beyond the framework of a simple inter-flow broadcast of the local tradition of environmental management and the paintings of peace, beliefs, rational knowledge, the norms of social relations, rites, etc., the transfer of which is carried out in the forms of ordinary education of children In the family and does not require any special education.

Some other functions have a subculture of urban manufacturers, which at the dawn of civilization was formed as craft-trading, and later began to be called bourgeois (burgher), industrial, proletarian, postburge-public (socialist), etc., although it was functionally remained the same. This culture produces funds not so much vital, how much social existence of people - tools, weapons, household items, energy, transport, communications, city habitat, knowledge of the world and man, means of exchange (money) and mechanisms of their functioning, trade, Aesthetic values, etc. And all this is usually made in commodity volumes.

For this subculture, a relatively high and steadily rising level of professional specialization of its subjects is characterized (even an antique temporary agent - a more or less narrow specialist in his business, not to mention later masters, engineers, doctors, scientists, artists, etc.); The moderate level of personal social claims (those representatives of the city subculture, which are distinguished by increased social ambitions, usually tend to go into elite or criminal spheres, and the ambitions of medium-sized urban manufacturers are usually relatively moderate). The gap between the ordinary and specialized components of this culture in antiquity was small (the specialty of the artisan or merchant was mastered in the process of home education), but as scientific and technical development, it increased (especially in high-tech professions). The processes of social reproduction of this subculture were appropriately separated: the ordinary culture of the Middle Citizen is reproduced within the framework of family education and through the institutions of the National Educational Standard (which will be discussed below), and specialized - through a network of secondary special and higher educational institutions.

The third social subculture is elitar. Under this word, it is usually implied by special refinement, complexity and high quality of cultural products. But this is not the most important feature of the elite subculture. Its main function is the production of social order (in the form of law, authorities, the structures of the social organization of society and legitimate violence in the interests of maintaining this organization), as well as substantiating this procedure for ideology (in the forms of religion, social philosophy and political thought). The elite subculture is distinguished by a very high level of specialization (the preparation of clergy - shamans, priests, etc., is obviously a victipious special professional education); The highest level of social claims of personality (love for power, wealth and glory is considered the "normal" psychology of any elite). The gap between the ordinary and specialized components of this social subculture is as well as in the bourgeois subculture, until recently it was not very large. The knowledge and skills of aristocratic education learned from childhood, as a rule, allowed without additional training to perform the duties of a knight, officer, courtier, official of any rank, and a monarch. Perhaps only the functions of the priests demanded special training. Such a situation was kept in Europe until the XVIII-XIX centuries, when the elite subculture began to merge with the bourgeois, turning into the highest layer of the latter. At the same time, the requirements for the vocational training of elite functions were significantly increased, which led to the emergence of relevant educational institutions (military, diplomatic, political and administrative).

To date, the discrepancy between the ordinary and specialized layers of the elite subculture has become very significant, because the ruling circles of most countries are now replenished by people, as a rule, not received home aristocratic education. Although convincing signs of sustainable reproduction of traditions of ordinary elite culture in most developed societies of our time is not observed (the relic of the Russian intelligentsia, apparently, has been preserved precisely at the expense of its controversial antagonism with socialist utopia), nevertheless, talk about "death »The aristocratic tradition is still premature. It is simply the political and intellectual elite itself became another, almost not related to the hereditary aristocracy of the previous times. And if its specialized forms are more or less continuity in relation to the historically established former, then at the ordinary level a new "elitarian style", which unites the aristocratic and bourgeois tradition, is still far from harmony and its forms even in the United States and Western Europe.

And finally, another social subculture is criminal. This is a culture of a targeted violation of the dominant social orders and ideology. There are many specific specializations in it: theft, murder, hooliganism, prostitution, poor, fraud, national extremism, political terrorism, a revolutionary underground, an illegitimate sectarianism, heretism, crime on sexual soil, alcoholism, drug addiction and further in all articles of the Criminal Code, as well as Lists of forms of mental abnormalities, social inadequacy, etc. This subculture always existed and, apparently, it is based on some features of human psyche, leading to one or another forms of protest against the absolute regulation of social existence (exhaled, naturally, elitar culture ). The parameters of this subculture you are interested in are very contradictory (amorphous, unstructured) characteristics. Here are found both highly specialized (terrorism) and completely non-specialized (hooliganism, alcoholism) of the manifestation of criminalality, and any sustainable distance between these components, as well as a pronounced trend towards raising the level of specialization, is not visible. Social ambitions of subjects of criminal subculture are also varying from extremely low (homeless, beggars) to extremely high (charismatic leaders of extremist political movements and sects, political and financial scampers, etc.). The criminal subculture has developed its own special reproduction institutions: thieves of the doors, places of detention, public houses, a revolutionary underground, totalitarian sects, etc.

Causes of mass culture

Thus, it can be assumed that the traditional opposition to the folk and elite subcultures in terms of understanding their social functions is completely unconvincing. The opposition of the People's (peasant) subculture seems to be urban (bourgeois), and a countercultitude towards the elitar (culture of social standards) is seen by criminal (social disorder culture). Of course, it is impossible to the population of any country to completely "sink" in one way or another social subcultures. A certain percentage of people for various reasons is always in an intermediate state of either social growth (transition from a rural subculture to urban or bourgeois in elitar), or social degradation (dropping from the bourgeois or elitar "on the bottom" to criminal).

One way or another, the allocation of groups of people as representatives of a particular social subculture seems to be the most reasonable primarily by the specific features of the ordinary culture implemented in the appropriate lifestyle forms. The lifestyle, of course, is determined among other things and the birth of professional human practices (the diplomat or bishop is inevitably different images of life, rather than a peasant or pocket thief), the aboriginal traditions of the place of residence, but most of all - the social status of a person, its class or class affiliation . It is social status that determines the focus of the economic and cognitive interests of the person, the style of its leisure, communication, etiquette, information aspirations, aesthetic tastes, fashion, image, domestic rituals and rituals, prejudice, prestigious images, ideas about their own dignity, social adequacy standards, global institutions , social philosophy, etc., which constitutes the main array of the features of an ordinary culture.

An ordinary culture is not studied by a person specifically (with the exception of emigrants, purposefully mastering the language and customs of the new homeland), but assimilate them more or less spontaneously in the process of child education and general education, communicating with relatives, social medium, colleagues by profession, etc. and is adjusted. Throughout the life of the individual as its social contacts are intensity. Owned culture is the possession of the usual life of the social and national environment, in which a person lives and socially self-realizes. The process of mastering by an ordinary culture is called in sciences with general socialization and the incultation of the person, including a person not just into the national culture of any people, but also - in obligatory - in one of its social subcultures, which are discussed above.

The study of the ordinary culture of rural producers on the current tradition is mainly engaged in ethnography (including cultural anthropology, ethnic ecology, etc.), and the common layer of culture of other social stratas due to necessity is a common story (historical anthropology, etc.), philology (social semiotics, " Moscow-Tartus semiotic school), sociology (sociology of culture, urban anthropology), but most of all, of course, cultural studies.

At the same time, it is necessary to take into account that until the XVIII-XIX centuries, none of the described social subcultures, nor even their mechanical amount (on the scale of one ethnos or the state) cannot be called the national culture of the relevant state. First of all, because there has not yet been common nationwide standards of social adequacy and unified personality mechanisms for the entire culture. All this is born only in a new time during the processes of industrialization and urbanization, the formation of capitalism in its classical, post-classical and even alternative (socialist) forms, transformation of class societies into national and erosions of the texts, separating people, the development of universal literacy of the population, the degradation of many forms The traditional ordinary culture of the pre-industrial type, the development of technical means of replication and broadcast information, the liberalization of morals and life styles of communities, the increasing dependence of the political elites from the state of public opinion, and the production of mass consumption products - from the sustainability of customer demand regulated by fashion, advertising, etc.

A special place here is the processes of mass migration of the population in the city, massization of the political life of communities (the emergence of multi-million armies, trade unions, political parties and electorates). In recent decades, the twenty of the technological revolution was added to the listed factors - the transition from the industrial stage of development (intensification of mechanical manipulation of working bodies) to the post-industrial stage (intensification of management processes - receiving and processing information and decision-making).

Under these conditions, equally relevant steel and tasks of standardization of sociocultural installations, interests and needs of the majority of the population, the intensification of the processes of manipulating the human person, its social claims, political behavior, ideological orientations, consumer demand for goods, services, ideas, their own image, etc. P. In the previous epochs of the monopoly on this kind of management of consciousness in a more or less mass scale belonged to the church and political power. In a new time, private manufacturers of information, goods and mass consumption services entered the rivalry for consciousness of people. All this demanded changes in the mechanisms of general socialization and the inculturation of a person who prepare the personality to the free realization of not only its productive work, but also their sociocultural interests.

If in traditional communities, the task of general socialization of the individual was solved mainly by means of personal broadcast knowledge, norms and samples of consciousness and behavior (activity) from parents to children, from the teacher (master) to the student, from the priest to a parishioner, etc. (and in the content of the broadcast Social experience special place was held by the personal life experience of the educator and his personal sociocultural orientations and preferences), then at the stage of addition of national cultures, such mechanisms for social and cultural reproduction of the individual begin to lose their effectiveness. There is a need for greater universalization of the broadcast experience, value orientations, samples of consciousness and behavior; in the formation of nationwide norms and standards of social and cultural adequacy of a person; In initiating his interest and demand for standardized forms of social benefits; In increasing the efficiency of work of social regulation mechanisms due to the uniform effect on the motivation of human behavior, social claims, images of prestigidity, etc. This, in turn, caused the need to create a channel broadcast channel, concepts, socio-cultural norms and other socially significant information population covering the whole nation, and not only its individual formed class. The first steps in this direction were the introduction of universal and mandatory initial, and later secondary education, and then - the development of media and information (media), democratic political procedures involving all the large masses of people in their orbit, etc.

It should be noted that in national culture (as opposed to class), the children, say, the British Queen and the children of the working and subsidiary of the County Suffolk receive general secondary education on more or less similar programs (National Educational Standard), read the same books, The same English laws are studying, the same television programs are watching, they are sick for the same football team, etc., and the quality of their knowledge in Shakespeare poetry or British history to greater extent depends on their personal abilities than from differences in programs general education. Of course, when it comes to obtaining a special education and profession, the possibilities of compared children differ significantly and depend on the social circumstances of their lives. But the National Standard at the level of general secondary education, uniformity in the content of the general socialization and inculturation of community members, the development of the media and the gradual liberalization of information policy in modern countries more or less ensure the national cultural unity of citizens and the unity of the norms of their social adequacy. This is a national culture, in contrast to the class, where even social behavior norms were varied for different social groups.

The formation of national culture does not cancel its division into the social subcultures described above. National culture complements the system of social subcultures, it is built as a unifying superstructure over them, which reduces the severity of socio-value stresses between different groups of people, asking certain universal standards of some sociocultural traits of the nation. Of course, before adding nations, there was a place of the same kind of unifying different estimates of ethnic culture: first of all the language, religion, folklore, some household rites, elements of clothing, items, etc., at the same time, ethnographic cultural traits Given national culture primarily in terms of versatility (due to its preferential non-relationalization). The forms of ethnic culture are very plastic and variable in the practice of different classes. Often, even the language and religion at the aristocracy and the places of the same ethnos were far from being identical. The national culture sets fundamentally uniform standards and standards implemented by publicly available specialized cultural institutions: general education, press, political organizations, mass forms of artistic culture, etc. For example, some forms of fiction exist in all peoples with written culture, but Prior to the historical transformation of the ethnos to the nation in front of it and is not worth the problem of the formation of a nationwide literary language, which exists in different regions in the form of various local dialects. One of the most significant characteristics of the national culture is that, unlike ethnic culture, which is the advantage of a memorial, reproducing the historical tradition of collective forms of people's life, the culture of the national is primarily the prognostic, articulating target rather than the results of the development of knowledge, norms , content and sense of modernization orientation, imbued with paphos intensification of all sides of social life.

However, the main complexity in the spread of national culture is that modern knowledge, norms, cultural samples and meanings are produced almost exclusively in the depths of highly specialized areas of social practice. They are more or less successfully understood and assimilated with relevant specialists; For the main mass of the population, the languages \u200b\u200bof modern specialized culture (political, scientific, artistic, engineering, etc.) are almost inaccessible to understand. Society requires a means of means of semantic adaptation, transfer of broadcast information from the language of highly specialized areas of culture to the level of ordinary understanding of unprepared people, on "extracting" of this information to its mass consumer, a certain "infantilization" of its shaped embodiments, as well as the "management" of the consciousness of the mass consumer in the interests of the manufacturer of this information offered goods, services, etc.

This kind of adaptation has always been required for children when in the processes of education and general education "adults" senses were translated into a language of fairy tales, parable, entertaining stories, simplified examples, etc., more accessible to children's consciousness. Now such an interpretative practice has become necessary for a person throughout his life. A modern man, even being very educated, remains a narrow specialist in some one area, and the level of its specialization (at least in the elite and bourgeois subcultures) from century to the century rises. In the rest of the regions, he needs a permanent "state" of commentators, interpreters, teachers, journalists, advertising agents and other types of "guides", leading it to the boundless sea of \u200b\u200binformation about goods, services, political events, artistic innovations, social conflicts, economic problems, and t . P. It is impossible to say that modern man becomes more stupid or infantive than his ancestors. It's just his psyche, apparently, cannot process such a number of information, to carry out such a multifactorial analysis of such a number of simultaneously arising problems, with due diligence to use its social experience, etc. Let's not forget that the speed of information processing in computers is many times higher than the corresponding The possibilities of the human brain.

This situation requires the emergence of new methods of intelligent search, scanning, breeding and systematization of information, the pressing of it in larger blocks, the development of new technologies for forecasting and decision-making, as well as the mental preparedness of people to work with such voluminous information flows. It can be assumed that after the current "information revolution", i.e., increase the efficiency of transmission and processing information, as well as making management decisions, with the help of computers, humanity expects a "prognostic revolution" - the jump-shaped increase in the efficiency of prediction, probabilistic calculation, factor analysis, etc. p., although it is difficult to predict, with what technical means (or artificial stimulation methods of brain activity) can occur.

In the meantime, people need a certain remedy that removes the excess mental tension from the information flows that arouses them, reducing complex intellectual problems to primitive dual oppositions ("good-bad", "our strangers", etc.), which gives the opportunity to "relax "From social responsibility, personal choice, to dissolve him in the crowd of the audience" soap operas "or mechanical consumers of advertised goods, ideas, slogans, etc. It is a mass culture of this kind of needs and became a mass culture.

Mass culture

It cannot be said that the mass culture generally frees a person from personal responsibility; Rather, it is about removing the problem of self-selection. The structure of being (at least that part of the individual is related to the individual) as a set of more or less standard situations, where everything is already chosen by the "guides" in life: journalists, advertising agents, public politicians, show business stars and others. In mass culture, everything is already known to be known: "Right" political system, the only true teaching, leaders, place in the ranks, sports stars and pops, fashion for the image of the "class wrestler" or "sexy symbol", movies where "ours "Always right and definitely won, etc.

The question is subject to: And did not problems with the broadcast of ideas and the meanings of a specialized culture on the level of ordinary understanding did not arise? Why did the mass culture appeared only in the last one and a half or two centuries and what cultural phenomena performed this function earlier? Apparently, the fact is that before the scientific and technical coup of the last centuries, there really was no such rupture between specialized and ordinary knowledge (as it is still almost not in the peasant subculture). The only obvious exception to this rule was religion. It is widely known how great was the intellectual gap between the "professional" theology and mass religiousness of the population. Here really was needed "translation" from one language to another (and often in a literal sense: from Latin, Church Slavonic, Arab, Hebrew, and others to the national languages \u200b\u200bof believers). This task and in linguistic and substantial plans were resolved by a sermon (both from the ammon and missionary). It was the preaching that, in contrast to worship, was uttered on an absolutely understandable language and was in a greater or less reduction of religious dogmatics to publicly available images, concepts, parables, etc. Obviously, the church preaching and can be considered the historical predecessor of the phenomena of mass culture.

Of course, some elements of specialized knowledge and samples from elite culture have always fallen into people's consciousness and, as a rule, we have undergone a specific transformation in it, by sometimes fantastic or chesting forms. But this is the transformation of the spontaneous, "mistaken", "on misunderstanding." The phenomena of the same mass culture is usually created by professional people, deliberately reducing complex meanings to the primitive "for uneducated" or at best for children. It is impossible to say that this kind of infantilization is so simple to execute; It is well known that the creation of artistic works designed for a children's audience, in many ways more complex creativity "for adults", and the technical skills of many stars of show business causes a sincere admiration for the representatives of "artistic classics". Nevertheless, the focus of this kind of semantic reductions is one of the main phenomenological signs of mass culture.

Among the main manifestations and directions of the mass culture of our time, the following can be allocated:

industry "Childhood subculture" (artwork for children, toys and industrially produced games, products of specific children's consumption, children's clubs and camps, militarized and other organizations, technologies of collective education of children, etc.), pursuing the goals of explicit or camouflared standardization of content and the forms of education of children, introduce into their consciousness of unified forms and skills of social and personal culture, ideologically oriented mining reports that lay the foundations of basic value installations officially promoted in this society;

the mass general education school, which is closely correlated with the settings of the "subculture of childhood", introducing students to the basics of scientific knowledge, philosophical and religious ideas about the world around the world, to the historical sociocultural experience of the collective life of people, to the value orientation adopted in the community. At the same time, it standardizes the listed knowledge and presentation on the basis of typical programs and reduces the broadcast knowledge to the simplified forms of children's consciousness and understanding;

the media (printed and electronic) broadcasting the wide segments of the population current relevant information, "extinguishing" an ordinary person, the meaning of the events, judgments and actions of figures from various specialized areas of social practice and interpret this information in the "necessary" for the gagging of the Customer's Media , i.e., actually manipulating people's consciousness and forming public opinion on one or another issues in the interests of their customer (in principle, the possibility of existence of non-commissioned journalism is not excluded, although almost this is the same absurdity as "an independent army);

the system of national (state) ideology and propaganda, "patriotic" education, etc., controlling and forming political and ideological orientations of the population and its individual groups (for example, political and educational work with military personnel), manipulating people's consciousness in the interests of the ruling elites, providing political The fragility and the desired electoral behavior of citizens, the "mobilization readiness" of the Company to possible military threats and political shocks, etc.;

mass political movements (party and youth organizations, manifestations, demonstrations, propaganda and elected campaigns, etc.), initiated by the ruling or oppositional elites in order to engage in political shares of wide segments of the population, mostly far distant from the political interests of the elite, little understanding the meaning of the proposed political programs, to support which people mobilize the method of injection of political, nationalist, religious and other psychosis;

mass social mythology (national-chauvinism and hysterical "patriotism", social demagoga, populism, quasi-religious and parapanic teachings and movements, psychosis, "idol", "spyware", "witch hunting", provocative "information leaks", rumors, gossip etc.), which simplifies the complex system of value orientations of a person and the diversity of the shades of world-upsion to elementary dual oppositions ("ours - clutter"), replacing the analysis of complex multifactorial causal relationships between phenomena and events to appeals to simple and, as a rule, fantastic explanations (global conspiracy, marketing of foreign special services, "drip", aliens, etc.), the particulating consciousness (absolutizing a single and random, ignoring the typical, statistically predominant), etc. This is ultimately, frees people, not inclined to complex intellectual reflection, from efforts by rational explanation of their problems, gives output to emotions in their most infantal manifestation;

an entertainment leisure industry, which includes a massive artistic culture (almost all types of literature and art, perhaps, for a certain exception of architecture), mass produced-spectacular representations (from sport-circus to erotic), professional sports (as a spectacle for fans) , Structures for conducting organized entertainment leisure (relevant types of clubs, discos, dance floor sites, etc.) and other types of mass shows. Here the consumer, as a rule, acts not only as a passive viewer (listener), but also constantly provoked to the active inclusion or ecstatic emotional reaction to what is happening (sometimes not without the help of doping stimulants), which is in many ways equivalent to the same "subculture Childhood, "only optimized under the tastes and interests of an adult or adolescence. At the same time, technical techniques and performance skills of the "high" art are used to transfer simplified, infanilized semantic and artistic content, adapted to unprofitable tastes, intellectual and aesthetic demands of the mass consumer. Mass artistic culture reaches the effect of mental relaxation often by means of a special aestheticization of vulgar, ugly, brutal, physiological, i.e., acting on the principle of medieval carnival and its meaning "transverse". For this culture, the replication of a unique, culturally significant and minimize it is characterized by a commonly accessible, and sometimes irony over this publicity, etc. (again (again, based on the carnival principle of sacred profanity);

industry of the health leisure, physical rehabilitation of man and the correction of his bodily image (resort industry, mass physical culture, bodybuilding and aerobics, sports tourism, as well as a system of surgical, physiotherapy, pharmaceutical, perfumery and cosmetic services to correct appearance), which, in addition to objectively necessary physical recreation of the human body, gives an individual the opportunity to "correct" its appearance in accordance with the actual fashion on the type of image, with demand for the types of sexual partners, strengthens the person not only physically, but also psychologically (raises his confidence in his physical endurance, tender competitiveness and t. n.);

industry of intellectual and aesthetic leisure ("Cultural" tourism, artistic amateur, collecting, intellectually or aesthetically developing circles for interests, a variety of collectors, lovers and fans of anything, scientific and educational institutions and associations, and all that falls Under the definition of "scientific and popular", intellectual games, quiz, crosswords, etc.), introducing people to popular science knowledge, scientific and artistic amateur, developing general "humanitarian erudition" in the population, actualizing views on the celebration of Education and humanity , on the "correction of morals" by means of aesthetic impact on a person, etc., which fully corresponds to the "Enlightenment" pathos "progress" in the culture of the Western type "Enlightenment"

system of organization, stimulation and management of consumer demand for things, services, ideas of both individual and collective use (advertising, fashion, image maker, etc.), which is formulated in public consciousness standards of socially prestigious images and styles of life, interests and needs, Imitating in bulk and affordable models forms of elite samples, including an ordinary consumer in an attachment of demand for prestigious consumer goods and behavior models (especially leisure), appearance types, culinary preferences, which transforms the process of non-stop consumption of social benefits to the existence of an individual ;

of various kinds of game complexes from mechanical slot machines, electronic consoles, computer games, etc. to virtual reality systems, developing a certain kind of psychomotor reactions of the person who learn it to the speed of the reaction in the information insufficient and to the choice in the information redundant situations, which finds the application both in the training programs for certain specialists (pilots, cosmonauts) and in general collaborating and entertainment purposes;

all sorts of dictionaries, reference books, encyclopedias, catalogs, electronic and other banks of information, special knowledge, public libraries, "Internet", etc., calculated not on the prepared specialists in the relevant areas of knowledge, but on mass consumers "from the street" that Also develops an enlightenment mythologist about compact and popular in the language of presentation of comradesums of socially significant knowledge (encyclopedias), and essentially returns us to the medieval principle of "register" knowledge of knowledge.

You can list another number of private areas of mass culture.

All this has already occurred at different stages of the history of mankind. But the living conditions (rules of the social hostel game) to today radically changed. Today, people (especially young people) are focused on completely different standards of social prestigidity, built in the system of images and in the language that have already become international and which, despite the grinding of the older generation and traditionalist-oriented groups, are quite suitable for others, attract and lure . And no one imposes this "cultural products". Unlike political ideology, it is impossible to impose anything anyone. Each one saves the right to turn off the TV when he wants. Mass culture as one of the most free information on the regime of its distribution in the market information may exist only in conditions of voluntary and rising demand. Of course, the level of such an excitement is artificially supported by interested goods by sellers, but the very fact of increased demand is on this, performed precisely in this figurative stylist, in this language, is generated by the consumer himself, and not the seller. In the end, the images of mass culture, like any other figurative system, demonstrate to us nothing but our own "cultural face", which in fact it was always inherent; Just in Soviet times, this "side of the face" was not shown on TV. If this face was absolutely stranger, if in society did not have a place really massive demand for all this, we would not have reacted so sharply to it.

But the main thing is that such a commercially attractive, put on the free sale of the component of the mass culture is by no means the most substantially significant feature and function, and maybe the most harmless manifestation. It is much more important that the mass culture is a new in sociocultural practice, a fundamentally higher level of standardization of the Social adequacy and prestigibility system, which is some new form of the organization of "cultural competence" of a modern person, its socialization and inculturation, a new management system and maniroulving it consciousness, interests and needs, consumer demand, value orientations, behavioral stereotypes, etc.

How dangerous is it? Or maybe, on the contrary, in today's conditions it is necessary and inevitable? No one can give an accurate answer to this question.

Two points of view on mass culture

Currently, people have a single point of view on mass culture - some consider it a blessing, because she still carries a semantic load, forces society to pay attention to any facts. Others consider it evil, instrument of managing the governing top. Below these points of view will be considered in more detail.

About the benefits of mass culture

For several decades, European cultureologists have criticized mass culture for a primitive level, market orientation, a foliation effect. Assessments "KITCH", "Primitive", "References Tolkuchka" are typical. But in recent years, the defenders of elite arts increasingly began to notice that elite literature does not bear socially important information. And entertainment products like the "godfather" Mario Puzo turns out to be quite accurate and deep analysis of Western society. And it may be that the success of such literature is determined by its cognitive, not an entertaining side.

And with respect to the old Soviet films, such as Eldar Ryazanov's films, and there is no doubt about their cognitive value. But this is not specific information about any realities of being, but the representation of the structures of relations, typical characters and conflicts. These are ideological orientations of the past past, primarily collectivism relationships, the concept of common cause, bright future and heroic behavior. The fact that at the ideological level lost its attractiveness, retains it at the level of mass consciousness. And here, the foresight of the German philosopher and the thewoman of Romano Guardini, who wrote in 1950 in his work "End of New Time", is coming true, which should not be afraid of "mass society", and it should be hoped that it will overcome the limitations of an individualistic society in which the full-blooded Development is possible only for a few, and the orientation on common tasks is generally unlikely.

The complication of the world, the emergence of global problems threatening humanity, requires a change in orientation from individualism to solidarity and a partnership. Such a combination of efforts is required by such coordination of activities, which "individual initiative and cooperation of people of an individual warehouse is no longer under power."

What a representative of an individualistic society dreamed of, was already achieved in our country, lost and now again somehow restored at the level of "poverty culture" and in imagination. It is the imagination that is the main sphere of mass culture. New myths of Eurasianism, geopolitics, clashes of civilizations, the return of the Middle Ages are formed in Russia and fill the worldview vacuum of the post-Soviet space. So, in the place of the classic pre-industrial and sufficiently systematic industrial Russian culture ejected from Russia, the eclectic culture of a transitional society comes.

Unlike the mass culture of developed countries, a mosaic-complementary rigid system of technological and compliant levels and thereby creating a new manipulative totality, the mass culture of Russia is chaotic fills chaotic social reality.

Mass culture, as you know, does not produce values. She replicates them. The ideological is preceded by mythologist - to argue about how the mass culture uses archaic methods of reproduction, is no longer interesting. And of course, you should not blame her in the "new barbarism".

The cultural mechanism is not always identical to its content - there can be quite barbaric methods for the distribution of culture. So, American cinematography successfully copes with propaganda of violence in the name of freedom, with a preaching of law-abiding and justifying privacy.

And the Mythologies of the post-Soviet Maswear will occur from themselves. Clear and clear ideologues that would articulate a consciously adopted and hierarchically structured system of social values \u200b\u200bdoes not exist.

It is quite natural that people who did not cope with the production of the ideology are far from the adequate interpretation of the phenomena of mass culture. More precisely, they do not notice them most often.

Mass culture - evil

Currently, Western civilization enters the phase of stagnation and ossification. It should be noted that this statement applies mainly to the field of spirit, but, since it determines the development of other areas of human activity, the stagnation will affect the material levels of being. The economy here is no exception, because at the end of the 20th century it became obvious that most of the population of the Earth carried out a voluntary or forced choice in favor of the economy of market liberalism. A new, first, economic totalitarianism is coming. At first, it will be "soft," since the current generation of Western people used to eating well and have a light and pleasant habitat. The collection of new generations to less comfortable living conditions and the subsequent reduction in old generations will allow you to introduce a tougher model that will require appropriate control over public relations.

Prepared this process will be tightening and simplifying the position of the media. This trend can be observed in all countries and, in fact, at any levels, from respectable newspapers and magazines and the "first" television channels to the boulevard press.

It is clear that the establishment of a "new world order" in its totalitarian form requires not only economic and ideological support, but also aesthetic basis. In this area, the merger of the liberal-democratic ideology and positivist-materialistic individualistic philosophy gives rise to the phenomenon of the mass culture. The substitution of the culture of the mass culture should simplify the management of a person, since it reduces the whole complex of aesthetic sensations to animal instincts experienced in the form of a spectacle.

In general, the destruction of culture is a direct consequence of Western liberal democracy. After all, what is democracy? Democracy is power that represents the majority of the population of a particular region or organization. Liberalism embodies absolute following market laws and individualism. In the absence of authoritarian and spiritual counterweights, manufacturers of aesthetic product are focused only on the opinions and tastes of the crowd. It is obvious that with such a coincidence, the phenomenon of the "Mass Reber" inevitably arises. The masses make demand, first of all, on Dusnunkusia, on endless bestsellers and "soap operas." If the elite does not care about the formation and enormity of high ideals in the masses, then these ideals themselves will never be approved in folk life. High is always difficult, and most always choose what is easier and more convenient.

A curious paradox arises, in which the mass culture, being a generation of the wide democratic layers of society, begins to be used by the liberal elite in order to manage.

According to inertia, part of the "top" still continues to reach the true masterpieces, but the system does not favor her creativity or the consumption of the latter. Thus, the Ham, which created a mass culture, begins to be managed by Ham, which is part of the elite. From now on, the belonging to the "highest" class is determined only by purely technical, intellectual abilities, the number of controlled money and clan affiliation. There is no longer anything about any kind of spiritual or ethical superiority of the elite over the masses.

No need to think that this process does not have any influence on everyday life. Rude breaks through the way and in the zhrogonization of the language, and in reducing the level, as it is customary to speak, humanitarian knowledge, and in worship of the Spirit of Plebeism, which reigns on television. Most of the totalitarian dictators of the past can be accused of mansome-nursing, pathological cruelty and intolerance, but almost no one cannot be accused of banalities. They all fled the vulgarity in every way, even if they had a bad thing.

Now, finally, it was possible to merge in eschatological ecstasy in Hama leadership and Ham led. All not fitting in their ideas about the device of the world will marginalize, or will be deprived of the right to exist.

Conclusion

Although the mass culture is definitely the "Herzats-product" of specialized "high" areas of culture, does not generate their own meanings, but only imitates the phenomena of specialized culture, uses it forms, meanings, professional skills, often parodying them, reducing to the level of perception of "low-cultural "Consumer, do not estimate this phenomenon uniquely negatively. Mass culture is generated by the objective processes of social modernization of the community, when the socializing and inculturing functions of the traditional ordinary culture (class type), which accumulates the social experience of city life in the pre-industrial era, lose their effectiveness and practical relevance, and the mass culture actually assumes the functions of the primary socialization tool features Personality in the conditions of the National Society with Eludal Class Borders. It is likely that the mass culture is an embryonic predecessor of some new, only an emerging ordinary culture, reflecting the social experience of life already on the industrial (national) and post-industrial (largely transnational) stages of development, and in its selection processes are still very inhomogeneous In terms of its characteristics, the forms can grow a new sociocultural phenomenon, the parameters of which we are not yet clear.

One way or another, it is obvious that the mass culture is a variant of the ordinary culture of the urban population of the "High Specialized Person" Age, competent only in its narrow sphere of knowledge and activities, and otherwise preferring to use printed, electronic or animated reference books, catalogs, "guides »And other sources of economically connoissed and reduced" for round fools "of information.

In the end, a pop singer, having a microphone, sings about the same thing that I wrote to Shakespeare in his sonnets, but only in this case translated into a simple language. For a person who has the opportunity to read Shakespeare in the script, it sounds disgusting. But is it possible to teach all humanity to read Shakespeare in the script (as philosophers-enlighteners dreamed of), how to do it and is the main thing - is it necessary at all? The question must be said far from the original, but underlying all social utopions of all times and peoples. Mass culture is not a response to it. It only fills the niche formed by the absence of a response.

I personally have a two-way attitude towards the phenomenon of mass culture: on the one hand, I believe that any culture should lead people up, and not to descend to their level for the sake of commercial profits, on the other hand, if there is no mass culture, then the masses will be separated from culture at all.

Literature

Electronic Encyclopedia "Kirill and Methodius"

Orlova E. A. Dynamics of Culture and the Keeping Activity of Human, Morphology of Culture: Structure and Dynamics. M., 1994.

Fleer A. Ya. Culture as a factor of national security, social sciences and modernity, 1998 No. 3.

Fucco M. Words and Things. Archeology of humanitarian knowledge. St. Petersburg., 1994.

A. Ya. Flier, Mass culture and its social functions, Higher School of Cultural Science, 1999

Valery Inyushin, "Coming Ham" and "M & A", the site "Polar Star", (Design. Netway. RU)

Description of the subject: "Sociology"

Sociology (FR. Sociologist, Lat. Societas - Society and Greek. - Logos - Society Science) - Science of society, individual social institutions (state, law, morality, etc.), processes and public social communities of people.

Modern sociology is a variety of trends and scientific schools, which explain its subject and role differently, they answer differently to the question of what sociology. There are various definitions of sociology as a science of society. "A brief dictionary of sociology" gives the definition of sociology as science on the laws of the formation, functioning, development of society, social relations and social communities. The Sociological Dictionary determines sociology as a science on the laws of the development and operation of social communities and social processes, about social relations as a mechanism of interconnection and interaction between society and people, between communities, between community and personality. In the book "Introduction to Sociology" it is noted that sociology is the science of which there are social generality, their genesis, interaction and development trend. Each of the definitions has a rational grain. Most scientists tend to believe that the subject of sociology is a society or certain public phenomena.

Consequently, sociology is the science of the generic properties and the basic laws of public phenomena.

Sociology does not just choose an empirical experience, that is, the sensual perception by the only means of reliable knowledge, public changes, but also theoretically summarizes it. With the advent of sociology, new possibilities of penetration into the inner world of the individual, understanding its life goals, interests, needs, opened. However, sociology does not study a person in general, and its specific world is a social environment, the community in which he is included, lifestyle, social ties, social actions. Without reducing the values \u200b\u200bof numerous sectors of social studies, all the same sociology is unique in the ability to see the world as a holistic system. Moreover, the system is considered by sociology not only as functioning and developing, but also as a permitting state of a deep crisis. Modern sociology and tries to study the causes of the crisis and find ways to exit the crisis of society. The main problems of modern sociology are the survival of humanity and the renewal of civilization, lifting it to a higher level of development. Solving Sociology Problems is looking not only at the global level, but also at the level of social communities, specific social institutions and associations, social behavior of a separate personality. Sociology is a multi-level science representing the unity of abstract and concrete forms, macro and microthetical approaches, theoretical and empirical knowledge.

Sociology


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Adapted to the tastes of the wide masses of people is technically replicated in the form of a variety of copies and distributed with the help of modern communicative technologies.

The emergence and development of mass culture is associated with the rapid development of media communications capable of providing a powerful impact on the audience. IN mass communication Typically distinguished three components:

  • media (newspapers, magazines, rations, television, Internet blogs, etc.) - replicate information, provide regular impact on the audience and are focused on certain groups of people;
  • mass exposure (advertising, fashion, cinema, mass literature) - not always regularly affect the audience, are focused on averaged consumer;
  • technical Means Communication (Internet, telephone) - determine the possibility of direct communication of a person with a person and can serve to transmit personal information.

Note that not only the mass communication tools have an impact on society, but society seriously affects the nature of the information transmitted in the media. Unfortunately, the requests of the public are often low in cultural terms, which reduces the level of television programs, newspaper articles, pop views, etc.

In recent decades, in the context of the development of communications, they speak special computer culture. If a bookpath has served as the main source of information, now the computer screen. A modern computer allows you to instantly get information on the network, add text with graphic images, movies, sound, which provides a holistic and multi-level information perception. At the same time, text on the Internet (for example, a web page) can be represented as hypertext. those. Contain the reference system to other texts, fragments, neetical information. The flexibility and multidimensity of computer display media repeatedly enhance the degree of its impact on humans.

At the end of the XX - early XXI century. Mass culture began to play an important role in ideology and economics. However, this role is ambiguous. On the one hand, the mass culture made it possible to cover the wide segments of the population and to introduce them to the achievements of culture, submitting the latter in simple, democratic and understandable images and concepts, but on the other - it created powerful mechanisms for manipulating the public opinion and the formation of averaged taste.

The main components of the mass culture include:

  • information industry - Press, television news, talk shows, etc., explaining the events that happens to understandable. The mass culture was originally formed precisely in the field of information industry - the "yellow press" of the XIX - early XX century. The time has shown the high efficiency of mass communication in the process of manipulating with public opinion;
  • lEUG industry - movies, entertainment literature, pop humor with maximum reduced content, pop music, etc.;
  • system of formation mass consumption, which is the center of which are advertising and fashion. Consumption here is presented in the form of a non-stop process and the most important goal of the human existence;
  • replicated mythology - From the myth about the "American Dream", where the beggars turn into millionaires, to the myths about the "national exclusivity" and the special virtues of this or that people compared to others.

National culture , as a system of uniform nationwide standards of social adequacy and unified naisted only in a new time during the processes of industrialization and urbanization, the formation of capitalism in its classical, post-classical and even alternative (socialist) forms.

The formation of national culture is built as unifying the superstructure over society, setting certain universal standards of some sociocultural traits of the nation. Of course, before adding nations, there were the same kind of unifying different estates fights of ethnic culture: primarily language, religion, folklore, some household rites, elements of clothing, household items, etc. National culture Specifies fundamentally uniform standards and standards implemented by publicly available specialized cultural institutions: universal education, press, political organizations, mass forms of artistic culture and literature, etc.

Concepts Ethnic and "National" Culture is often used as synonyms. However, they have different content in cultural studies.

Ethnic (folk) culture - This is the culture of people related to the generality of origin (blood relations) and jointly implemented economic activities. It changes from one terrain to another. Local boundedness, rigid localization, separation in a relatively narrow social space is one of the main features of this culture. Ethnic culture covers mainly the sphere of life, customs, features of clothing, folk crafts, folklore. Conservatism, continuity, orientation for the preservation of "roots" - the characteristic features of ethnic culture. Some elements are becoming symbols of the identity of the people and patriotic attachment to its historical past - "soup yes porridge", Samovar and Sarafan among the Russians, Kimono - from the Japanese, a checkered skirt - at the Scottles, the Rushnik - from the Ukrainians.

IN ethnic culture The strength of the tradition, habits, customs transmitted from generation to generation at the family or neighborhood level are dominant. The decisive mechanism of cultural communication here is direct communication between generations of people living nearby. Elements of folk culture - rites, customs, myths, beliefs, legends, folklore are preserved and transmitted within the boundaries of this culture through the natural abilities of each person - its memory, oral speech and live language, natural musical ear, organic plastics. It does not require any special preparation and special technical storage and recording tools.

The structure of national culture is more difficult ethnic. National culture Includes along with traditionally household, professional and ordinary specialized areas of culture. And since the nation covers society, and society has stratification and social structure, the concept of national culture covers the subculture of all large groups that may not be in ethnic. Moreover, ethnic crops are part of the national. Take such young nations as the United States or Brazil, which is nunted by ethnic boilers. American National Culture is extremely heterogeneous, it includes Irish, Italian, German, Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, Russian, Jewish and other ethnic cultures. Most of the modern national cultures of polyethnics.

National culture not coming down to the mechanical amount ethnic crops. It has something over. She has actually the national traits of culture, which emerged when representatives of all ethnic groups have realized their belonging to the new nation. For example, negros, and whites are equally enthusiastically performed by the anthem of the United States and honor the American flag, respective his laws and national holidays, in particular, thanksgiving (US independence day). There is nothing of this in any ethnic culture, nor at one people who came to the United States. They appeared in the new territory. The awareness of the large social groups of its commitment to the territory of its settlement, the nationwide literary language, national traditions and symbols is the content of national culture.

Unlike ethnicnational culture Combines people living on large spaces and not necessarily bound by blood-based relations. The obligatory condition for the emergence of national culture, specialists consider a new type of social communication associated with the invention of writing. It is due to the writing of the idea necessary for the National Association, acquire popularity among the competent part of the population.

However, the main complexity in the spread of national culture is that modern knowledge, norms, cultural samples and meanings are produced almost exclusively in the depths of highly specialized areas of social practice. They are more or less successfully understood and assimilated with relevant specialists; For the main mass of the population, the languages \u200b\u200bof modern specialized culture (political, scientific, artistic, engineering, etc.) are almost inaccessible to understand. Society requires a system of means for the meaning adaptation, "transfer" of translated information from the language of highly specialized areas of culture to the level of ordinary understanding of unprepared people, on the "expansion" of this information to its mass consumer, a certain "infantilization" of its shaped embodiments, as well as the "management" of consciousness of mass consumer in the interests of the manufacturer of this information offered goods, services, etc.



This kind of adaptation has always been required for children, when in the processes of education and general education "adults" the meanings were translated into a language of fairy tales, parables, entertaining stories, simplified examples, etc., more accessible to children's consciousness. Now such an interpretative practice has become necessary for a person throughout his life. A modern man, even being very educated, remains a narrow specialist only in some kind of one area, and the level of its specialization in the century is rising. In other areas, he needs a standing "state" of commentators, interpreters, teachers, journalists, advertising agents and other guides, leading him to the boundless sea of \u200b\u200binformation about goods, services, political events, artistic innovations, social conflicts, etc. It is impossible to say that modern man becomes more stupid or infantal than his ancestors. Just his psyche, apparently, cannot process such a number of information, to carry out such a multifactor analysis of such a number of simultaneously arising problems, with due diligence to use its social experience, etc. We will not forget that the speed of information processing in computers is many times higher than the corresponding human brain.

This situation requires the emergence of new methods of intellectual search, scanning, selection and systematization of information, "pressing" it into larger blocks, developing new technologies for predicting and decision-making, as well as mental preparedness of people to work with such volumetric information flows. After the current "information revolution", i.e. Enhance the effectiveness of information transfer and processing, as well as the adoption of management decisions, humanity expects a "prognostic revolution" - the scakical increase in the effectiveness of forecasting, probabilistic calculation, factor analysis, etc.

In the meantime, people need a certain remedy, relieving the excess mental tension from the information flows that are embraced on them, reducing complex intellectual problems to primitive dual opposition, which gives an individual to "relax" from social responsibility, personal choice. Dissolve it in the crowd of the audience "soap operas" or mechanical consumers of advertised goods, ideas, slogans, etc. Implemented this kind of needs and has become mass culture. It is impossible to say that the mass culture is generally freed by a person from personal responsibility; Rather, it is about removing the problem of self-selection. The structure of being (at least that part of the individual as applies to the individual) is given to a person as a set of more or less standard situations, where everything is already chosen by the "guides" in life: journalists, advertising agents, public politicians, etc. In mass culture, everything is already known to be known: "The right" political system, the only true teaching, leaders, place in the ranks, sports stars and pop, fashion for the image of the "class wrestler" or "sexy symbol", movies, where "ours" are always right And always won, etc.

The question is subject to: And didn't there be problems with broadcasting the meanings of a specialized culture on the level of ordinary understanding? Why did the mass culture appeared only in the last one and a half or two centuries, and what cultural phenomena performed this function earlier? Apparently, the fact is that the scientific and technical coup of the last centuries did not really have such a gap between specialized and ordinary knowledge. The only obvious exception to this rule was religion. We know well how great was the intellectual gap between the "professional" theology and mass religiousness of the population. Here really was needed "Translation" from one language to another (and often in a literal sense: from Latin, Church Slavonic, Arab, Hebrew and others. In the national languages \u200b\u200bof believers). This task and in linguistic, and in the substantive plans was solved by a sermon (both from the ammon and missionary). It was a preaching that, unlike worship, was uttered on a completely understood language and was in a greater or lower reduction of religious dogmatic to publicly available images, concepts, parables, etc. Obviously, the church preaching we can consider the historical predecessor of the phenomena of mass culture.

Mass culture is a concept that is used to characterize modern cultural production and consumption. This production of culture organized by the type of mass, serial conveyor industry and supplying the same standardized, serial, mass product for standardized mass consumption. Mass culture is a specific product of modern industrial urbanized society.

Mass culture is the culture of mass, culture intended for the people's consumption; This consciousness is not a people, but the commercial cultural industry; She is hostile to truly folk culture. She does not know traditions, has no nationality, its tastes and ideals change with dizzying speed in accordance with the needs of fashion. Mass culture appeals to a wide audience, appeals to simplified tastes, claims to be folk art.

In modern sociology, the concept of "mass culture" increasingly loses its critical orientation. It emphasizes the functional significance of mass culture, which ensures the socialization of tremendous masses of people in a complex, volatile environment of the modern industrial urbanized society. Approves simplified, stereotypical representations, mass culture, however, performs the function of constant life support for various social groups. It also provides massive inclusion in the consumption system and thereby functioning of mass production. Mass culture is characterized by universality, it covers a wide middle part of society, affecting a specific way and elite, and marginal layers.

Mass culture approves identity of material and spiritual values, equally acting as products of mass consumption. It is characterized by the emergence and accelerated development of a special professional apparatus, whose task is to use the content of goods consumed, the techniques of their production and distribution in order to subordinate the mass consciousness of the interests of the monopolies and the state apparatus.

There are rather controversial points of view on the time of the time of the "mass culture". Some consider it to be an eternal by-product of culture and therefore they already detect it in the ancient era. Much more grounds have attempts to tie the emergence of "mass culture" with a scientific and technological revolution that has breeding new Methods of production, distribution and consumption of culture. Golenkova Z.T., Akulich M.M., Kuznetsov I.M. General Sociology: Tutorial. - M.: Gardariki, 2012. - 474 p.

Regarding the sources of mass culture in cultural studies there are a number of points of view:

  • 1. Prerequisites for mass culture are formed from the moment of birth of humanity.
  • 2. The origins of mass culture are associated with the appearance of an adventure, detective, adventure novel in the European literature of the XVII-XVIII centuries, which significantly expanded the audience of readers at the expense of huge circulation.
  • 3. A large influence on the development of mass culture was provided by the law on compulsory universal literacy in the UK, which allowed many to master the main type of artistic creativity of the XIX century - Roman.

Nowadays, the mass has changed significantly. Masses became educated, informed. In addition, the subjects of the mass culture today are not just mass, but also individuals united by various connections. Since people act at the same time as individuals, and as members of local groups, and as a members of mass social communities, the subject of the "mass culture" can be considered as a dual, that is, both individual and massive. In turn, the concept of "mass culture" characterizes the peculiarities of the production of cultural values \u200b\u200bin the modern industrial society, designed for the mass consumption of this culture. At the same time, mass production of culture is understood by analogy with a flow-conveyor industry.

What are economic prerequisites for the formation and social functions of mass culture? The desire to see the goods in the sphere of spiritual activity in combination with the powerful development of media and led to the creation of a new phenomenon - mass culture. A predetermined commercial installation, conveyor production - all this means transferring to the sphere of artistic culture of the same financial and industrial approach, which also reigns in other industrial production sectors. In addition, many creative organizations are closely related to banking and industrial capital, which initially predetermines them to issue commercial, cash, entertainment works. In turn, the consumption of this product is a massive consumption, for an audience that perceives this culture is a mass audience of large halls, stadiums, millions of television and film screenwriters. In social terms, mass culture forms a new public layer, called the "middle class", which became the rod of life of an industrial society. He also made such a popular mass culture. Mass culture Mythologizes human consciousness, mystifies the real processes occurring in nature and in human society. There is a refusal of rational start in consciousness. The purpose of the mass culture is not so much to fill the leisure and removal of tension and stress in humans of industrial and post-industrial society, how much to stimulate consumer consciousness at the recipient (that is, the viewer, a listener, reader), which in turn forms a special type - passive, non-critical perception of this culture in humans. All this creates a person, which is fairly easy to manipulate. In other words, manipulating the human psyche and exploitation of emotions and instincts of the subconscious sphere of human feelings, and above all the feelings of loneliness, guilt, hostility, fear, self-preservation.