The role of social culture in the development of society. The role of culture in the development of society

Culture- is an important factor social development.
Culture in a person's life plays an ambiguous role. On the one hand, it contributes to the consolidation of the most valuable patterns of behavior and their transmission to the next generations. On the other hand, culture not only fosters solidarity between people, but also causes conflicts both within groups and on a personal level.
Culture, like society, is based on a value system.
Values ​​have great value in any culture, since they determine the relationship of a person with nature, society, the immediate environment and with the environment
Values- these are material objects or spiritual principles that have a certain meaning for a given social subject from the standpoint of satisfying his needs and interests. That is, ideas about the norms of society are socially approved and accepted by the majority of people. Values ​​are not questioned, they serve as a standard and ideal for all people. Concepts such as goodness, justice, patriotism, friendship, love are well-established categories of human relations. If loyalty is with value, then deviation from it is condemned as a betrayal. If cleanliness is a value, then sloppiness is condemned as indecent behavior. There are many values ​​in the mind at the same time. Values ​​do not exist chaotically, they are ordered in a certain way relative to each other. The value system is a hierarchy in which values ​​are ranked in order of increasing importance. Thanks to this system, the integrity of the given culture, its unique appearance, the necessary degree of order and predictability are ensured.
Mastering the values ​​of the surrounding world, a person relies on the traditions, norms, customs established in his culture and gradually forms a system of basic and generally accepted values ​​that govern his life. On this basis, each culture develops its own system of values, which shows its specific state in the world.
There are the following values: personal, values ​​inherent in a particular gender or age, values ​​of large or small groups of people, different eras and states and universal. Therefore, in science, it is customary to divide cultural values ​​into two main groups. The first of them includes the cumulative achievements of intellectual, artistic and religious creativity (outstanding architectural structures, unique achievements of crafts, archaeological and ethnographic rarities, etc.), and secondly, those cultural values ​​that have justified themselves and proved their effectiveness in practice (customs, stereotypes of behavior and consciousness, assessments, opinions, interpretations, etc.) leading to the integration of society, the growth of mutual understanding between people, their solidarity, mutual assistance, etc. Both groups of cultural values ​​in practice constitute the "core" of any culture and determine its uniqueness.
In the process of intercultural contacts, there is a huge difference between how the same values ​​are perceived by people of different cultures. Among them, one can single out those that coincide both in the nature of the assessment and in content. These kinds of values ​​are called universal, or universal. Their universality is due to the fact that the main features of such values ​​are based on biological nature human and general properties social interaction... So, there is no culture in the world where murder, lies and theft would be assessed as positive. Each culture has only its own limit of tolerance for these phenomena, but their overall assessment is unequivocally negative.
In cultural anthropology, it is customary to distinguish four main areas of cultural values: everyday life, ideology, religion and artistic culture.
Cultural values, as already noted, in the life of every person have different meaning... Therefore, some people are adherents of the values ​​of the collective, while others are of individualism. So, a person in the United States first of all considers himself an individual, and only then a member of society, and in many other countries, in particular in Japan, people first consider themselves a member of society and only then - an individual. If people with such different orientations enter into communication, especially business, situations of misunderstanding always arise. For example, when conducting business negotiations with the Japanese, Americans appoint an employee responsible for their preparation and conduct, if the negotiations are successful, this employee will be rewarded. In a Japanese company, this is impossible, there is collective responsibility for the results of any business. Therefore, in Japan, they never single out anyone from the general mass.
Which values ​​are important and influential for people, and which are not taken into account, depends on the type of culture. A significant part of the peculiarities of one's own culture, as a rule, is not realized and is taken for granted. Awareness of the values ​​of one's culture comes only when meeting with representatives of other cultures, when there is intercultural interaction.
No society can do without values. Each person can choose certain values: some are supporters of collectivism, and others are the values ​​of individualism. For some, the highest value is money, for others - moral impeccability, for others - a political career. To characterize what is defining in society, sociologists have introduced the term "value orientations." They include individual attitudes or the choice of specific values ​​as the norm of their behavior.
The honor and dignity of the family has been one of the most important values ​​of human society since ancient times. Taking care of the family, a man thereby demonstrates his strength, courage, goodness and everything that is highly valued by others. He chose positive values ​​as a guide to his behavior. They have become its cultural norm, and the psychological attitude towards their observance has become a value orientation.
Cultural norms and values ​​are closely related. The difference between norm and value is that norms are rules of behavior, and values ​​are abstract concepts of what is good and evil, right and wrong, obligatory and optional. Values ​​share a common basis with norms.
Values is what justifies and gives meaning to norms. Yes, human life is a value, and its protection is the norm; child - social value, and the responsibility of parents to take care of her is a social norm.
Different cultures may favor the same values ​​(heroism on the battlefield, material enrichment, asceticism, etc.). Each society establishes what is value for it and what is not.
The main function of values ​​is the regulatory function, namely the regulation of the behavior of individuals in certain social conditions. A person, in order to feel like a full member of society, must evaluate himself, his activities and behavior from the standpoint of compliance with the requirements of culture. The compliance of a person's life and activities with the norms and rules established in society creates in him a sense of personal social usefulness, which is a condition for normal social well-being, and vice versa, a feeling of inadequacy of behavior to the requirements of society plunges a person into a state of discomfort, can cause severe experiences and mental deviations.
Thus, a person needs constant control over the degree of his social maturity. External control over this is carried out by the institution of social thought, legal authorities, etc. Internal control is carried out by the individual himself from the standpoint of the norms and requirements of society, assimilated by him in the process of socialization, and acts as self-control. Self-control is an effective mechanism for the development of a personality, since it implies a consistent correction of his behavior in accordance with the specified norms.
To exercise self-control according to the degree of his social integrity, a person needs to compare himself with a certain ideal accepted in society, to look at himself from the standpoint of another person.
Values ​​are also criteria for assessing the surrounding reality: it is as if all information that is perceived and processed by a person is filtered through the system of values. The "prism of values" strengthens one information and weakens another.
Thus, values- this is the core of the personality structure, which determines their orientation and the level of their social orientation.
Another important function of values ​​is the prognostic function, since on its basis the life position and the program for creating an image of the future, the prospects for the development of the individual and his life activity are based. Consequently, values ​​regulate not only the current state and determine not only the principles of human life, but also its goals, objectives, ideals.
The involvement of an individual in culture is primarily a process of forming an individual value system. In the process of mastering culture, an individual becomes a person, which gives a person the opportunity to live in society as a full-fledged and full-fledged member of it, interact with other people and develop activities to create cultural objects.
The influence of culture on personality is contradictory. On the one hand, it is carried out as socialization through the attraction of the individual to the values, norms, knowledge existing in society, and on the other, through the individualization of a person, the development of his unique features and abilities. Individualization of the personality is carried out by selective assimilation of all the values ​​accumulated by society, limited by the orientation of the personality, the system of those values ​​that guide the person.
So Values ​​Are Important Components human culture at the level of norms and ideals. Their existence is based on the activity of the subject of cultural creativity, his dialogue with other people. The concept of "values" is associated with the concept of "value orientation".
Value orientation acts as a determinant and indicator of a person's spiritual activity at the personal and group level, as well as the corresponding socio-psychological formations that have a positive assessment. Such determinants can be ideas, knowledge, interests, motives, needs, ideals, as well as attitudes, stereotypes, etc.
The presence of value orientations characterizes a person's maturity. For example, a stable structure of value orientations determines such human qualities like activity life position, persistence in achieving goals, loyalty to certain traditions and ideals, integrity, reliability, and vice versa, contradictions in value orientations entail inconsistency, unpredictability of human behavior; the underdevelopment of socially significant value orientations of a person determines her infantility, the advantage of external stimuli in her behavior. As E. Fromm emphasizes, most people are between different value systems and therefore never fully develop in one direction or another, they have no originality and identity for themselves.
Thus, the value orientations and values ​​of culture act as a motivation for a person's cultural behavior, incentives for achieving goals and protecting some value acquisitions. With the help of value orientations and cultural values ​​in society, standards of cultural assessments are formed, priorities in life goals and the choice of methods for achieving them are determined.

For a sociologist, the culture of a society is a system of values, ideas about life and patterns of behavior, common to people who are bound by one particular way of life. (N. Smelser)

Culture is a system of regulatory mechanisms that largely control human behavior. Ants, birds and other social insects and animals have a genetically programmed ability to get food, build a dwelling, etc. They also have some social skills - they have a hierarchy, division of functions in collective actions, etc. But it is generally accepted that they have no culture, culture is a purely human way of life! Because human behavior is less genetically determined, a person has some innate reflexes, but in all other respects, it is the acquired culture that plays a significant role.

Culture is formed for a long time and mostly spontaneously, it is assimilated unconsciously. But culture is taught, it is reproduced and transmitted. The appropriation of culture is the basis of the socialization process. The formation of personality is the result of the assimilation of values, norms, beliefs, rules, laws, symbols, etc.

Components of culture

N. Smelzer distinguishes four main parts of culture:

Concepts. They are found mainly in the language. One culture may have only 300 concepts, while another has 300,000 concepts. They organize the experience of people, algorithms of activity. V different cultures the same concepts can have different meanings.

Relationship. Cultures not only single out certain parts of the world with the help of concepts, but also reveal how these constituent parts are interconnected - in space, in time, in causation. For example, in one culture it is understood that the Earth revolves around the Sun, in another - on the contrary.

Values. These are generally accepted beliefs about what should be honored, respected, about the goals to which a person should strive. They are the foundation of moral principles. Different cultures have different values.

Norms. These are the rules that govern the behavior of people in accordance with the values ​​of a particular culture. Where there are norms, there are always sanctions (punishments and rewards) that promote compliance with the norms.

In general, we can put it this way: culture contains samples that help to decide what exists (ideas and concepts about the world around them), what can be (how it is connected), how to relate to what is and can be (values), how to do it (norms).

How are these basic elements of culture formed? On the basis of ideas about the structure of the world and a person's place in it (initially this idea is given by religion, then science) values ​​are formed. Values ​​are the ideas shared by most people about what should be honored, respected, about the goals to strive for. Values ​​are those that are not questioned. These are not written prescriptions, but almost all people of this culture know about them. True, not all people are guided by them. Therefore, sociologists say that values ​​are what relates to society, and a person has value orientations, that is, what orientates him personally to this or that behavior, which determines his personal choice in critical situations. Further, sociocultural norms are formed.

Sociocultural norms - requirements for the activities and relationships of individuals, groups. They take shape historically and always express some kind of social necessity, are conditioned by objective conditions. In socio cultural norms ah, more than in values, there is an ordering moment, a requirement to act in a certain way. Cultural norms: habits, customs, traditions, customs, laws. How do they stack up?

Habit - the psychological tendency of a person to repeat the same actions in similar situations. At first they are formed in individuals, then they are adopted by groups of people and become collective habits.

A custom is a traditionally established order of behavior, enshrined in collective habits. Then the customs, already as mass models of actions, are passed from generation to generation, that is, they turn into traditions. The offenders are already being sanctioned.

Morals are customs that acquire moral significance. The concept of morality, which is close to morals, is a set of cultural norms that have received an ideological justification in the form of good or evil, justice, etc. It is immoral to insult elders, beat a woman, offend the weak. It is immoral for a believer not to go to church, but for an unbeliever it is not. That is, in different subcultures, concepts of morality may differ.

Law - normative act adopted by the supreme body state power according to established order. This kind of socio-cultural norms already requires unconditional submission.

Variety of cultural forms

Traditionally believed that there is high culture(elegant, classic ...) for the elite, folk (fairy tales, folklore, myths ...) for the rest. With the advent of the media (newspapers, radio, and especially television), mass culture emerged. It is not associated with regional, ethnic, religious and other characteristics. Its products are standard, designed for the mass “average” consumer, and therefore of the “average” quality. There is reason to believe that its influence on a person is already comparable to the influence of the family on a child and that its influence on children is rather negative.

Subculture

This is a system of values, norms, ideas, characteristic of certain social groups that differ from the generally accepted ones. It is formed under the influence of various factors - ethnic, religious, place of residence, etc. and strongly influences the personality of the group members. There are subcultures of young people and the elderly, men and women, rich and poor, Orthodox and Muslims, Russians and Jews, etc. etc.

Counterculture is a kind of subculture that is in conflict with the dominant, generally accepted (for example, criminal youth).

Since even in one society different social groups have different living conditions, there are always many subcultures in society.

Cultural universals

These are universal traits common to all cultures. J. Murdoch identified more than 70 such cultural universals: dancing, sports, cooking, hygiene, the prohibition of incest, government, jewelry, education, joint labor, laws, personal name, music, mourning, festivities, language, fortune telling, courtship, teaching about soul, jokes, treatment of pregnant women, greetings, etiquette, etc.

Attitude towards foreign cultures

It is possible to distinguish two polarly different types of attitudes towards other cultures - cultural ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.

Cultural ethnocentrism is the tendency to judge other cultures from the standpoint of the primordial superiority of one's own. Why do missionaries seek to convert barbarians to their faith? Because they believe that their own culture is higher, better, more correct, etc.

However, it is important to understand that no matter what nice words ethnocentrism was not justified, it is always based on one thing - xenophobia (fear, hostility to other people's views and customs). In fact, there are no better or worse cultures, right or wrong - they are just different! The peculiarities of each culture are determined by the peculiarities of its formation - natural-geographical, religious, economic, traditions, etc.

Cultural relativism - claims that someone else's culture can only be understood through an analysis of its own values, in its own context.

Take your time to condemn or criticize someone else's culture! Try to understand it first. Nobody will force you to love another culture, but respect its originality, and being in a foreign culture, behave in such a way as not to violate its values ​​and rules. And if a foreign culture, defending itself, will harm you, then understand that it is not “to blame” for it ...

This type of relationship to a foreign culture is more conducive to understanding the subtle differences between close cultures.

Each culture forms in people a sense of belonging to "their" group, strengthens solidarity, but can cause conflicts with other groups.

Cultural statics and dynamics

Cultural statics - elements and complexes that describe culture at rest. A cultural element is an indivisible unit of a behavioral pattern or material product. A cultural complex is a set of elements that are functionally related to each other.

Elements of culture: Cultural complexes:

Tie wearing a tie

Soccer ball

Driving on the right side of the road, traffic rules

Kiss as a form of social greeting

Material and intangible culture

The elements of culture are tangible and intangible. The totality of the former creates material culture (physical objects created by people - books, temples, jewelry, weapons, etc.) Physical objects created by people and having a certain symbolic meaning that perform a specific function and are of known value to a group or society are called artifacts.

The totality of intangible cultural units and complexes - forms an intangible or spiritual culture (values, laws, rituals, symbols, knowledge, language, etc.) They cannot be touched, seen, heard, but they exist in our consciousness, are supported by our communication, are an integral part culture. These are also artifacts created by the mind and senses. Try to violate these elements of culture - and immediately you will feel their power!

Cultural Dynamics - describes a culture in motion. These are mechanisms, processes that describe the transformation of culture. Here are the first bricks: discoveries and inventions. The invention is a new combination of known elements and complexes. Discovery is the acquisition of fundamentally new knowledge about the world. The previously unknown in conjunction with the old gives rise to new elements and complexes.

Language

It always occupies an important place in the culture. There is verbal and non-verbal language. All elements of culture can be expressed in language.

Language is a communication system carried out by means of sounds, symbols, the meanings of which are conditional, but have a definite structure.

Language is a social phenomenon, it cannot be mastered outside of social interaction, communication. Language organizes people's experiences. Communication is only possible if there are unambiguous meanings. Language is able to unite and separate people.

National culture, professional, organizational

Distinguish between national culture, the features of which are always rooted in the historically established living conditions of people (natural-geographical, economic and political). It manifests itself in such features as the ratio of spiritual and material values, the value of religion, attitude to other cultures, respect for women, respect for age and seniority, criteria for success in society, etc.

The Dutch sociologist Hovstede highlighted the general features of cultures and drew attention to the fact that national cultures are very different in terms of:

The imperious distance (not great in the USA and Holland, but great in Russia and France),

- “collectivism-individualism” (in Western cultures closer to individualism, in Russia - to collectivism)

- “the level of values” in Holland is small, in Russia it is very large (we are always inclined to great ideas, large-scale plans, etc.)

Anxiety about the future (in the USA it is small, in our country it is great: we always want certainty, detail of the future, tend to believe those who draw the near future more “beautifully”, promises more ...)

Organizational culture is an original mixture of values, traditions, forms of behavior, etc., inherent in any organization, institution, enterprise. It also usually has its own history - how many years this organization has existed, what is its “mother” campaign, who stood at its origins, what ideas and values ​​dominate now, etc. The national culture always influences the organizational culture.

Professional culture - the characteristics of values, norms of behavior, etc., shared by people of the same profession, is largely determined by the received vocational education, the content of the work, its role in society. Less dependent on national culture, promotes mutual understanding among representatives of different nationalities, but one profession.

Cultural conflict

There are at least 3 types of conflicts associated with the development of culture:

Anomy (E. Durkheim) violation of the unity of culture, due to the absence (or loss) of clearly formulated social norms. Society as a whole or individual social groups can be in a state of anomie (for example, during revolutions, when habitual ideas, norms, attitudes change rapidly and abruptly, and everyone's habitual understanding of “what is good and what is bad” is lost). Each of us also falls into a state of anomie if we find ourselves in an unfamiliar or unfamiliar cultural environment(to a foreign country, to another team or family).

Cultural lag (Ogborn), when changes in material culture outstrip changes in its spiritual component, which is always fraught with social problems.

Alien influence (when one culture invades another). Each culture is protected by its carriers and by all means available to it.

Question number 1. Culture in the life of modern society

Society- it is not a crowd, but a set of all methods of interaction and forms of uniting people, in which their all-round dependence on each other is expressed. The implementation of any social interaction is impossible outside culture, because it is in it that the methods and techniques of human activity, samples of human attitude to the world are fixed. Everything that happens in society, and how it happens, finds its basis in culture.

Whatever sphere of society we take: material and production(in which the production of material resources necessary for life is carried out), social(in which the physical reproduction of individuals takes place), political(a struggle for leadership and power in society unfolds here), spiritual(in which, in fact, spiritual production is carried out) - there is culture everywhere.

Culture is an a universal form of human activity, forms its programs, goals, methods, means.

It permeates all spheres of human life and allows the human spirit, will and mind to embody itself in life and work.

Culture is an inalienable property of a person.

But who is considered a cultured person? Ancient romans they called a cultured one who knows how to choose worthy companions among people, things and thoughts, both in the past and in the present. German philosopher Hegel claimed that cultured person able to do everything that others can do.

Today to become a universal personality is very difficult and, apparently, impossible, since the amount of information and knowledge, cultural values ​​is too great. At the same time, in the modern era, there are many more opportunities to be a cultured person.

The main characteristics of such a person are deep knowledge, broad erudition, formed by general intellectual and professional skills and skills characterized by a high level of qualifications and craftsmanship, moral and aesthetic maturity. A modern cultured person should also be able to use computer technology.

French sociologist R. Debreu noted that the main vehicle of cultural influence in the 17th century. there was a church sermon, in the middle of the 18th century. - theatrical stage, at the end of the 19th century. - speech of a lawyer in court, in the 30s. XX century - daily newspaper, in the 60s. XX century - an illustrated magazine, in the second half of the XX century. - regular telecast. At the beginning of the XXI century. we can say with good reason that the computer and the Internet have been added to television and radio as the main means of information and cultural influence.

Anyway cultured person- this is a person who is able to direct his spiritual abilities to improve himself and the world, and culture itself is a necessary and decisive condition for the existence and development of human society.

Role of culture in modern society.

In recent years, the attitude towards culture, understanding of its importance and role in modern society, and the recognition of culture as one of the most important resources of socio-economic development have radically changed.

Feature modern stage social development is an increase in the social role of culture as one of the factors organizing the spiritual life of people. At the same time, culture acts not only as the spiritual experience of mankind, but also as a special reality, fruitful and creative, laying the foundations of truly human existence, the ability to preserve the values ​​and forms of civilized life.

Many modern sociologists do not simply state the growing role of culture as driving force social development, but also note that social change is mainly culturally motivated.

People use culture to organize and normalize own life and activities. Culture regulates the interaction of people, defines a single scale for correlating the actions of an individual with the requirements of society.

Orientation towards traditional folk culture is a noticeable feature of the modern socio-cultural process.

Currently, in the culture of different peoples and countries, there are two global trends that are in opposition to each other.

1.globalization processes. manifests itself in the fact that in the world there is a spontaneous and uncontrolled borrowing of cultural values. There is a formation of certain “uniform standards of a universal and supranational culture, addressed to the whole world and representing values, norms, ideas, images, symbols that are close to all of humanity (or a significant part of it). This is a broad layer of culture and is based on powerful general integration processes. " At the same time, there are both positive and negative aspects of these processes. On the one hand, due to the development of modern Vehicle and economic ties, thanks to the influence of the mass media on people, such processes contribute to the rapprochement of peoples, the expansion of cultural contacts, mutual enrichment, exchange, and migration of people. But on the other hand, the negative aspects of globalization processes lie in the possibility of peoples losing their cultural originality (identity). 2. regionalization processes, national and ethnic revival of cultures and peoples. It shows "the need for awareness of one's own, original cultural and historical path, for a feeling of being rooted in some of its social and cultural space, on its own land, the need for identifying one's fate with this land, country, religion with its past, present, future" ...

V modern period development of society the creation of computer and information networks has led to the informatization of the entire system of public life, spawned screen culture , which supplanted the oral and written. Today, information flows through a computer network have penetrated into all spheres of human activity.

The state of modern culture is largely determined by the culture of the post-industrial society. As a result of the scientific, technical, computer and technological revolutions, modern culture has undergone fundamental changes. It begins to exist, as it were, in three dimensions, breaking down into three main components - humanitarian, scientific and technical, and mass.

1.Humanitarian culture includes religion, philosophy, morality, classical art. Although this culture persists and develops, its influence in modern society is declining, especially among young people who perceive it as outdated, boring and difficult, requiring too much time to comprehend and understand.

2. scientific and technical (intellectual culture), which includes, first of all, new trends of modernism and avant-garde art in art, directly related to science, technology and the latest technology, addressing mainly the intellect, and not the feelings of man.

3. Mass culture. (the emergence of book printing and the emergence of newspapers and magazines, which later became an important means of spreading mass culture. In the 19th century, photography, radio, cinema joined them, and in the 20th century television appeared, which laid the foundation for a new, television and screen, civilization)

Characteristic features of mass culture became today its accessibility, ease of perception, entertainment, simplicity, focus on the undeveloped consciousness of people.

Modern culture in general based on European culture urban type strongly displaced folk culture.

In modern society, there is displacement of the center of cultural and spiritual influence people from schools, universities, classical art and the church to fashion and television. Together they become the defining core of culture and all modern life people, fulfilling the role that used to be played by religion, reason, philosophy and science.

In general, modern culture is becoming more and more simplistic.

One of the most important factors in the development of a person and society is the culture Man acts not in a purely natural environment, but in an environment transformed by human labor and culture. Yes, and he stood out from the animal world and rose above him thanks to work and culture.

Culture is specific human way activities aimed at creating spiritual and material values, the result of which is a dynamically developing system of ideals, values, norms of behavior embodied in the social development of a person, in his spiritual world.

In culture, there is an inherent orderliness, structuredness. It is usually divided into two main types: material and spiritual... Under material culture means the totality of material objects created by human creativity - a book, a temple, a tool of labor, an airplane, a residential building, etc. In contrast to this, spiritual culture is a set of non-material elements created by human creativity: values, norms, ideas, rules, rituals, customs, traditions, symbols, etc.

It is spiritual culture that represents the main part of the integral system of culture. It includes: artistic culture (art), philosophy, morality, religion, mythology, science.

Culture through language, a system of values, norms, ideals, meanings and symbols gives a person a certain way of seeing and recognizing the world, creating certain forms of life in it. Therefore, the numerous differences between countries, peoples, social groups are reduced mainly to a significant discrepancy in the system of cultural meanings, which are embodied in the language, customs, rituals, traditions, lifestyle features functioning in a given country or social community (ethnic, territorial, etc.) and originality sociological research culture lies in the fact that it brings to the fore human-creative essence of culture... It is understood in two interrelated senses: 1) a person is seen as the creator of culture, its values, i.e. how its subject; 2) a person acts as a creation of culture, its an object, as a result of its formative impact on each individual and on society as a whole.

In the process of its functioning, culture acts as a complex dynamic system in which three main factors interact: 1) human activity aimed at creating material and spiritual values; 2) arising and enriching in the process of this activity a set of material and spiritual values; 3) process reproduction and self-development of society and man in the course of creation and development of previously created material and spiritual values. The core of this triune process is human development and self-development.

The important role of culture in the structuring of society was revealed by the American sociologist R. Merton... He identified two main factors of the influence of culture on socio-stratification changes: 1) cultural goals, intentions and interests that act as legitimate goals for society or its individual strata; 2) the regulating and controlling influence of culture on ways of achieving goals acceptable to society or its majority.

American anthropologist and cultural scientist L. White I thought that human behavior is a function of culture... In his concept, culture appears as an organized integrated system, within which three subsystems are distinguished: technological, social, ideological.

Prominent Russian-American sociologist P. Sorokin, as already noted in Chapter 7 of this textbook, structured a complex and dynamically developing system of culture, depending on the dominant at a particular stage of its development, primary value, primary meaning into three main types: 1) sensual; 2) ideational; 3) ideal (idealistic) culture.

American sociologist T. Parsons carried out the structuring of the culture system depending on the level of the regulatory influence of the components of the social system. In the four-component structure of the action of a functional social system, from his point of view, the highest regulatory stage is occupied by culture, which has a corrective effect on the following three subsystems: society, personality, organism (meaning the human body).

In contrast to the American concepts of the structural dynamics of culture within the framework of the European philosophical and sociological tradition, which originates from the works of A. Schopenhauer and F. Nietzsche and comprehensively developed by the works of V. Windelband, E. Cassirer, A. Weber, H. Ortega y Gasset and others, a slightly different theoretical picture intracultural hierarchy. At the base of this hierarchy is folk culture... From it grows into embodies national identity of this people national culture... As well as folk culture developing, especially in the second half of the twentieth century, Mass culture, oriented by its content and forms of expression to the average level of development of consumers of spiritual (often pseudo-spiritual) and material values. It is embodied in television series, thrillers, hit parades, musical hits, various shows (spectacles). In contrast popular culture stands out elite culture, focused on selected people with an increased and well-developed artistic sensibility. It is embodied in expressionism, surrealism, etc., which are addressed to a narrow circle of a select audience, an aesthetically developed social elite. In contrast to the dominant culture in society, there is subculture, which is a system of meanings, values, group norms, lifestyles, stereotypes of behavior of a certain social group - for example, a youth subculture, a subculture of the underworld. In some cases, within subcultures develops counterculture- a complex of ideas, values, stereotypes of behavior, which is accepted by a certain social group as a counterculture in relation to the systems of ideals, values ​​and norms of behavior generally accepted in society (for example, the counterculture of a criminal gang).

The most important in the study of the essence of culture, its role in the development of man and society is typology of culture, i.e. its distribution over certain types... We have just outlined one of the options for typologizing cultures, describing the features of folk, national, mass, elite culture, as well as subculture and counterculture. Along with this, there are other options for typologizing cultures.

Depending on the forms of economic structure, ways of existence, as well as the means of realization, fixation and dissemination of values ​​and norms of culture, they are subdivided into preliterate and written... Culture is distinguished in the structure of preliterate cultures collectors and culture hunters... Written cultures appear along with writing and exercise their influence over large geographical distances and time durations through the transfer of values ​​and norms from people to people, from generation to generation and from era to era. Within the framework of a written culture, agricultural culture and parallel to it cattle breeding, then, based on the integration of the best examples of both of them, industrial culture and, finally, at the turn of the II and III millennia of our era, the postindustrial culture.

Depending on the characteristics of social communities that are carriers of cultures, the latter are subdivided into dominant and non-dominant... A dominant culture is a set of values, norms, beliefs, customs and traditions that govern the majority of members of a given society, and the culture that affects a minority of this society is non-dominant. The dominant culture may be ethnic or national depending on what level of development a community of people - an ethnos or a nation - acts as its creator and bearer.

According to the content and nature of ties with religion, cultures are differentiated into religious and secular... The former, in turn, are divided into Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, etc. Each of them is subdivided into smaller sociocultural formations. In particular, Christian culture includes such types of cultures as Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant.

Depending on the specific features spheres of society and activities, culture is subdivided into economic, political, professional, physical, artistic, urban, rural.

In turn, each of the named types of cultures can be subjected to further differentiation. If we, for example, consider the multidimensional world of artistic culture, then differentiation into fiction, fine arts, music, dance, theater, cinema, architecture, design. To a certain extent, this also includes mythology with its diversity in the form of myths, fairy tales, epics, etc. All these types of artistic culture are organically linked with religion, philosophy, morality, and science. On the other hand, all the diversity of artistic creation is indissoluble from the external environment, which includes social relations, economics, politics and, of course, the surrounding nature.

The structural architectonics of culture and its sociodynamics are inextricably linked with the functions... The first thing that catches the eye when approaching the problem of the functions of culture is its polyfunctionality... From the multitude of functions of culture, let us single out some of the most essential ones.

The original function of culture is its adaptive function. It is thanks to culture, the application of its values, norms, patterns of behavior, each individual and social community (family, ethnic group, professional group, etc.) adapt, adapt to the changing conditions of the natural and social environment.

The adaptation of people to the surrounding reality is closely related to cognitive function of culture. Its essence lies in equipping a person with the knowledge necessary to master the forces of nature, for knowledge social phenomena and the tendencies of their development, in order to develop in accordance with this a certain line of behavior, their civic position.

Important is socializing the function of culture, which allows each individual involved in the process of perception and assimilation of the values, norms, patterns of behavior existing in society, to form as a person, becomes an active member of society.

Culture is inherent normative the function is that, acting as a set of ideals, norms, patterns of behavior, culture prescribes certain standards and rules for a person, in accordance with which the way of life of people, their attitudes and value orientations, role expectations and a way of activity are formed.

Bringing to us the voices of the past, creating opportunities for dialogue between generations and eras, culture fulfills broadcast a function that allows you to preserve, reproduce, transmit certain samples and values ​​to subsequent generations while simultaneously updating the culture.

The role of the inherent function of culture is great production of new knowledge, values ​​and norms that did not exist before. It is enough to recall such stages in the development of culture as classics, modernity, postmodernism, so that the innovative and creative essence of culture, inseparable from the production of more and more new symbols, meanings, forms, styles, etc., becomes clearly noticeable.

The inherent function of the culture plays an important role goal setting... It helps a person formulate socially significant goals, concentrate their abilities, capabilities, actions on them, and thereby opens up new horizons of spiritual and social creativity for society.

Culture is inherent informational a function that allows an individual, social communities, and society as a whole to be given reliable, objectively correct information, without which the very organization of social life is impossible.

Playroom function arose along with the birth of culture. She gives relief to people from difficulties. Everyday life, but at the same time creates space for the creative play of spiritual and physical forces, without which there is no culture itself.

It is essential significative(from eng. sign - sign) a function of culture, prescribing certain meanings and values ​​to certain phenomena, processes, events, people. For example, the starry sky did not have any meaning for primitive man until he involved the heavenly space in the circle of his mythological ideas, and then astrological predictions. In the future, this function is manifested in the understanding of the world by revealing its meanings through religion, philosophy, poetry, science.

Closely connected with the significative functions communicative function of culture. It is realized through the transmission, reception, understanding of information, communication of people, their communities, organizations, etc.

Important is motivational the function of culture, consisting in the fact that it forms the motives of people's actions, prompting them to certain actions, deeds, etc.

Culture performs and relaxation function, i.e. helps a person to relax, organize their rest, restore physical and spiritual strength.

In addition, culture performs another essential function - accumulation and transfer from generation to generation social experience.

Culture, influencing the spiritual world of a person with its images, plots, and values, is capable of prompting him to perform certain actions, i.e. mobilize his efforts, will, knowledge, experience to achieve certain goals, ideals, etc. Thus, she is able to perform mobilizing function, which is especially clearly manifested in critical epochs in the development of society, for example, during the Great Patriotic War.

The interaction of these functions allows culture to perform another extremely important function - educational... By orienting a person to certain actions and warning against others, pushing him towards certain goals, culture with all the richness of its content, forms, styles and images educates a person as a spiritually developed and socially active person.

The integrated result of all the described functions is another, the most important and decisive function of culture - human-making... Being a creation of a person, culture in its functioning and development forms a person, creates him according to a certain pattern, determined by its values, norms and ideals.

With all its functions, its content, forms, images, symbols, culture exerts a powerful formative influence on the individual, social community, society as a whole. T. Parsons quite reasonably asserted that "the amazing complexity of the systems of human activity is impossible without relatively stable systems", i.e. without cultural systems. The very same system of culture turns out to be a generally divided by a given society or community, a value-normative system of symbols, meanings, patterns of behavior that regulate everyday thoughts, feelings, expectations, actions of individuals and social groups. Moreover, the differentiation of such groups, i.e. the stratification of society is largely determined by a specific set of symbols, meanings, norms and values ​​shared by a particular social group and distinguishing it from all other social groups. Each more or less differentiated and isolated from others social community, for example, ethno-national (Belarusian, Russian, Polish, Lithuanian, Azerbaijani, etc.) carries out its life activity in the specific world of its customs, norms, rituals, traditions, language, religious beliefs, etc. .NS. Belonging to different national communities or social strata (rich, poor), in turn, dictates differences in value judgments and standards of behavior, which are important components of culture.

A detailed description of the role of culture in the structuring of society was revealed by R. Merton. He established five different types of social structuring, depending on the integration or disintegration of the norms prescribed by the culture and the institutionalized means of achieving them: 1) total conformism presupposes agreement with the goals of society and the legal means of achieving them; 2) innovation presumes agreement with the goals approved by this culture, but rejects socially approved ways of achieving them (manifests itself in the actions of racketeering groups, blackmailers, creators of new styles, fashions, etc.); 3) ritualism focused on denying this culture, but consent (sometimes brought to the point of absurdity) to use socially approved means (for example, the actions of bureaucrats who unquestioningly demand the fulfillment of those instructions that in certain situations not only do not contribute to the success of the business, but can also lead to its failure) ; 4) retreatism, i.e. escape from reality, manifests itself in the behavior of outcasts, exiles, drug addicts who have left the real world in their inner, painful, socially mutilated world. They abandon culturally prescribed goals and norms, and their behavior does not correspond to generally accepted norms in society; 5) rebelliousness- behavior that takes people out of the surrounding social structure and encourages them to create a new one, i.e. a highly modified social structure, which is realized in the actions of revolutionaries, rebels, etc.

Sociocultural norms and patterns existing in society not only exert a powerful influence on socio-stratification changes, but also socialize each emerging personality, develop and enrich its spiritual world and the practice of everyday behavior. Therefore, it is quite possible to agree with R. Merton, who argued that culture provides members of a given society with the necessary guidance along the entire path of life, the effective functioning of individuals and society is impossible without it.

With the most general view of society, it is clear that it is an aggregate, an association of people. This means, firstly, that just as a person with his consciousness and corresponding behavior is fundamentally different from an animal (including from highly organized anthropoid apes) and his behavior, so the herd of the latter cannot with a scientific, in including the sociological point of view to be identified with society, despite some external similarities.

Society is a human community that people form and in which they live. The biological relationships of animals are, in essence, their relationship to nature, while the specificity of human society is the relationship of people to each other.

The place and role of culture in society are great. It interacts with economics, politics, law, ethics, morality, determines their content.

Society creates conditions for the social development of man, that is, man as a person. The personality bears the stamp of a particular culture and a particular society. In addition, society creates conditions for the mass use of cultural values, and therefore generates the need for replication and reproduction of artifacts, which, in turn, turns into the processes of cultural reproduction. It is clear that outside social forms life, these features in the development of culture would be impossible.

The development of the interests and needs of the individual can stimulate a change in cultural values, and then they are subject to reform or even replacement. Society in this situation can play the role of both stimulating and suppressing factors. In general, three typical situations are possible here: first, when society is less dynamic and less open than culture. Culture will offer values ​​that are oppositional in meaning, and society will seek to reject them. The progressive development of culture is restrained, society dogmatizes the existing values ​​and, in general, unfavorable conditions arise for the development of the individual. The opposite situation is also possible, when society changes due to political or social upheavals, and culture does not keep pace with the renewal of norms and values. Again, there are no optimal conditions for personal development. And finally, a harmonious, balanced change in society and culture is possible. Under these conditions, a constructive, consistent and harmonious development personality

Culture serves to organize the life of society, plays the role of programmed behavior, helps to maintain the unity and integrity of society, its interaction, both at the group level and with other communities. Culture is expressed in social relations aimed at creating, assimilating, preserving and disseminating objects, ideas, values ​​that ensure mutual understanding of people in various situations. Over the centuries, each particular society has created a superculture that is passed down through the generations.

Culture in society is represented:

1) as a special sphere and form of activity associated with thinking, pursuing artistic creativity, accepted norms of behavior, etc.;

2) as the general level of development of society, its enlightenment and rationality on the path "from savagery to civilization";

3) as the sum of social achievements (including technologies, relationships and ideas), thanks to which a person stands out from nature and goes beyond biological determination;

4) as a specific system of norms, values ​​and meanings that distinguish one society from another (or different parts of society - social status, professional), contributing to its integration and giving it originality; and finally;

5) as a spiritual dimension of any activity, in which its motives, principles, rules, goals and meanings are formed. In this latter understanding, culture appears as a spiritual component of aggregate production, ensuring the maintenance and change of this production and public relations generally.

The main social functions of culture

Culture as an integral phenomenon performs certain functions in relation to society.

1. The adaptive function of culture... Culture ensures human adaptation to environment, natural and historical conditions of its habitat. The word adaptation (from Latin adaptayio) means adaptation, adaptation

2.With adaptive function is closely related integrative function of culture ensuring social integration of people. At the same time, we can talk about different levels of social integration. The most general level of social integration is the formation of foundations, their sustainable collective existence and activities to jointly meet interests and needs, stimulating an increase in the level of their group consolidation and the effectiveness of interaction, the accumulation of social experience in the guaranteed social reproduction of their collectives as sustainable communities.

The second level of social integration should include the provision with culture of the main forms of integrated existence of communities of people. Culture unites peoples, social groups, states. Any social community in which its own culture develops is strengthened by this culture, because a single set of views, beliefs, values, ideals, and patterns of behavior characteristic of a given culture is spreading among the members of society.

3. The integration of people is carried out on the basis of communication. Therefore, it is important to highlight communicative function of culture... Culture forms the conditions and means of human communication. It is only thanks to the assimilation of culture that truly human forms of communication are established between people, since it is culture that provides the means of communication - sign systems, evaluations. Development of forms and methods of communication - crucial aspect cultural history humanity. At the earliest stages of anthropogenesis, our distant ancestors could come into contact with each other only through direct perception of gestures and sounds. Articulate speech was a fundamentally new means of communication. With its development, people also received unusually wide opportunities for transferring various information to each other. Later formed written speech and many specialized languages, service and technical symbols: mathematical, natural science, topographic, drawing, musical, computer, etc .; systems for fixing information in graphic, sound, specific and other technical form are being formed.

4. Socialization function... Culture is the most important factor of socialization, which determines its content, means and methods. Socialization is understood as the inclusion of individuals in public life, assimilation by them of social experience, knowledge, values, norms of behavior corresponding to a given society, social group. In the course of socialization, people master the programs stored in the culture and learn to live, think and act in accordance with them. The process of socialization allows an individual to become a full-fledged member of the community, take a certain position in it and live as required by the customs and traditions of the community. At the same time, this process ensures the preservation of the community, its structure and the forms of life that have developed in it.

5. As a special one, some culturologists single out heuristic function of culture. It is as follows. Creativity: scientific, technical, managerial is impossible without figurative thinking, imagination, a certain emotional mood. Culture, in particular, artistic culture, contributes to the development of these most important factors of creative activity. Art culture helps the development of such traits creative thinking as flexibility, associativity, the ability to see the usual in a new way. It is no accident that A. Einstein said: "Dostoevsky gives me more than any scientific thinker, more than Gaus."

Our press in the "Literaturnaya Gazeta" reported on a kind of experiment carried out in the United States. A group of administrators of one company was freed from professional activities and for ten months carried out a humanitarian program in which art occupied a large place (reading books, visiting theaters, museums, exhibitions, concerts). This had a very positive effect on their professional activity, their actions became more creative and non-standard.

6. Compensatory function of culture allows a person to be distracted from production activities, take a break from life's problems, and receive emotional relaxation. Another name for this function - recreational - reflects the particular coincidence of this function with the period of leisure and rest, that is, time formally free from production activities. A person can receive spiritual compensation from tourism, communication with nature, and creative hobbies. An important form compensations are holidays, during which everyday life is transformed and an atmosphere of high spirits is created. Concentration occurs during the holiday cultural life... It covers architectural and decorative design, theatrical performances, musical events, shows and processions, contests and competitions. Civil, and especially national holidays, contain not only solemn, but also playful elements.

According to other classifications, the functions of culture include:

1) Cognitive or epistemological. A culture that concentrates in itself the best social experience of many generations of people, immanently acquires the ability to accumulate the richest knowledge about the world and thereby create favorable opportunities for its cognition and development. The need for this function stems from the desire of any culture to create its own picture of the world. The process of cognition is characterized by the reflection and reproduction of reality in human thinking. Cognition is a necessary element of both labor and communication activities. There are both theoretical and practical forms of knowledge, as a result of which a person receives new knowledge about the world and himself.

2) Regulatory function of culture is connected, first of all, with the definition (regulation) of various aspects, types of social and personal activities of people. In the sphere of work, everyday life, interpersonal relations, culture, in one way or another, affects the behavior of people and regulates their actions, actions and even the choice of certain material and spiritual values. The regulatory function of culture is based on such normative systems as morality and law.

3) Semiotic, or sign (from the Greek.semeion-doctrine of signs) function- occupies an important place in the cultural system. Representing a certain sign system, culture presupposes knowledge and possession of it. It is impossible to master the achievements of culture without studying the corresponding sign systems. So, language (oral or written) is a means of communication between people, literary language- the most important means of mastering national culture... Specific languages ​​are needed to understand the special world of music, painting, theater. Natural sciences (physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology) also have their own sign systems.

4) Value, or axiological function reflects the most important qualitative state of culture. Culture as a system of values ​​forms in a person quite definite value needs and orientations. By their level and quality, people most often judge the degree of culture of this or that person. Moral and intellectual content, as a rule, serves as a criterion for the appropriate assessment.

Conclusion

It should be noted that culture really exists as a historically formed system that has its own structure, has its own symbols, traditions, ideals, attitudes, value orientations and, finally, a way of thinking and life.

The subject of culture is humanity, a nation, social group and man. Subject forms of cultural existence are the fruits of the creative activity of the people, masterpieces of geniuses and talents. But by themselves, the objective and sign-symbolic forms of culture have only a relatively independent character: they are dead outside of man and his creative activity.

Function in social sciences is usually called purpose, the role of an element in a social system. The concept of "functions of culture" means the nature and direction of the impact of culture on individuals and society, the set of roles that culture performs in relation to the community of people who generate and use it in their own interests. The values ​​of culture are various material and non-material objects of the surrounding reality: nature, morality (external regulators of behavior, morality (internal regulators of behavior), knowledge (ways to achieve truth), style of thinking, logic of presentation, area of ​​creativity, nature of activity, etc. What speaks of culture as a multilevel, multifaceted and multifunctional system created by man and does not exist outside of human existence.

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