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

A language is a system of conventional symbols that correspond to certain objects. Language plays crucial role in the process of socialization of the individual. With the help of language, assimilation takes place cultural norms, the development of social roles, the formation of models of behavior. Each person has his own cultural and speech status, which denotes belonging to a specific type of linguistic culture: high literary language, vernacular, local dialect.

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

Social norm is a form of sociocultural regulation in a certain social sphere characterizing the belonging of an individual to a given social group. The social norm sets the permissible boundaries for the activities of representatives of specific social groups, ensures predictability, standard behavior of people in accordance with their social statuses.

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

Material and spiritual culture.

Considering culture by its bearer, material and spiritual culture is distinguished.

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

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

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

Example. Household items, furniture, clothing in Everyday life satisfy the natural needs of a person. But, being exhibited in a museum, these things already serve to satisfaction cognitive interest... They can be used to study the life and customs of a certain era..

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

By the form of reflection of spiritual abilities, as well as by the origin and nature of culture, the following three forms can be conventionally distinguished: elite, popular and massive.

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

To a certain extent, folk culture arises spontaneously and most often does not have specific authors. It includes a wide variety of elements: myths, legends, epics, songs, dances, proverbs, ditties, crafts and much more - everything that is commonly called folklore. Two constituent features of folklore can be distinguished: it is localized, i.e. connected with the traditions of a certain area, and democratic, since everyone who wants to take part in its creation.

Popular culture began to develop from the middle of the 19th century. It is not distinguished by high spirituality, on the contrary, it is mainly of an entertainment nature and currently occupies the main part cultural space... This is an area without which it is impossible to imagine the life of modern young people. Works of mass culture are, for example, modern pop music, cinema, fashion, modern literature, endless TV series, horror and action films, etc.

Sociological approach to understanding culture.

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

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

Subculture is a concept with the help of which sociologists and culturologists distinguish local cultural complexes that arise within the framework of the culture of the whole society.

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

Results from specific sociological research, the subcultural activity of young people depends on a number of factors:

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

From age (the peak of activity is 16 - 17 years old, by the age of 21 - 22 years it significantly decreases);

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

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

The specifics of modern mass culture.

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

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

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

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

Civil liberties;

Dissemination of literacy in all segments of the population;

National psychology and self-awareness, most clearly expressed in national art.

Scientists distinguish two levels of national culture:

Expressed in national character and national psychology;

Submitted by literary language, philosophy, high art.

Ways to master the national culture:

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

Becoming national identity promoted by the national education system: schools, universities.

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

Culture and civilization.

In cultural studies, next to the concept of culture, there is the concept of civilization. This term arose later than the concept of "culture" - only in the 18th century. According to one of the versions, the Scottish philosopher A. Ferrugson is considered its author, who divided the history of mankind into eras:

Wild things

Barbarism,

Civilization,

meaning the last, the highest level social development.

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

Modern scientists define civilization according to the following criteria, such as:

Historical time (antique, medieval, etc.);

Geographic space (Asian, European, etc.);

Technology (industrial, post-industrial society);

Political relations (slaveholding, feudal civilization);

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

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

V scientific literature the definition of types of civilization is carried out on the following grounds:

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

Interpenetration of cultures;

Existence of a sphere of common interest and common tasks from a development perspective.

On the basis of these features, three types of civilization development have been identified:

Non-progressive forms of existence (Australian aborigines, American Indians, many African tribes, small peoples of Siberia and northern Europe),

Cyclical development (countries of the East) and

Progressive development (Greek-Latin and modern European).

At the same time, in cultural studies, there is no unity of views on understanding the essence of civilization as a scientific category. So from the position of A. Toynbee, civilization is seen as a certain stage in the development of the culture of individual peoples and regions. From the standpoint of Marxism, civilization is interpreted as a specific stage of social development that began in the life of the people after the era of savagery and barbarism, which is characterized by the emergence of cities, writing, the formation of national-state formations. K. Jaspers understands civilization as "the value of all cultures", thereby emphasizing their common human nature.

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

Civilization is the essence of the most extreme and most artificial states that a higher type of people is capable of. They are ... completion, they follow becoming as it has become, life as death, development as numbness, as mental old age and a petrified world city after village and soulful childhood. They are the end without the right to appeal due to internal necessity, they always turn out to be a reality "(O. Spengler, The Decline of Europe. Essays on the morphology of world history: in 2 volumes. M., 1998. Vol. 1., S. 164.).

With all the variety of existing points of view, they largely coincide. Most scientists understand civilization enough high level development of material culture and public relations and most important signs civilizations consider: the emergence of cities, the emergence of writing, the stratification of society into classes and the formation of states.

The first structural element of culture is material culture, which is objective, material forms of expressing spiritual meanings.

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

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

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

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

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

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

v Spiritual cool.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Legal culture (legal proceedings, legislation, executive system);

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

Intellectual culture (science, philosophy).

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

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

Traditional knowledge passed from generation to generation, accepted as a "dogmatic platitude" that is not questioned, with the emergence of a new intellectual environment - scientific - ceases to dominate the minds of people, lead to sharp leaps in the development of the entire culture. Thus, in any society, a system of obtaining, storing, transferring information and knowledge is formed, independent of the individual individual.

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

First most socially significant area culture is a moral culture that gives a normative value orientation of the attitude of individuals and social groups to all aspects of society's activities and to each other.

Moral culture - this is the level of humanity achieved by society and the individual, humanity in the relations of social subjects, the attitude towards a person as a higher goal and value in itself . The moral culture of a person is manifested as a culture of an act: a motive corresponding to the concepts of good and evil, justice and human dignity. The moral culture of an individual is based on morality and conscience.

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

The third form of spiritual culture, associated with value activities is religious culture based on religious activity as a person's ascent to God . Religious culture is embodied by cult and confessional actions, the meaning of which is determined by the corresponding system of values, the main of which is God as the spiritual and moral Absolute.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Material and spiritual culture are two types of culture that are opposite in their specific characteristics.

Material culture- the embodiment of materialized human needs, these are the material results of human labor (artifacts) - houses, household items, clothing. It realizes the desire of mankind to adapt to living conditions. Material culture includes: technical structures (tools, weapons, buildings, household equipment, clothing), technology; physical aspects of human development (physical education and sports; culture of a healthy lifestyle); various institutions.

Spiritual culture- those phenomena that are associated with the inner world of a person, with his intellectual, emotional activity. As a rule, it includes ideology, science, morality, art and religion, which, in turn, include: norms, rules, patterns, standards, models and norms of behavior, laws, values, rituals, symbols, ideas, customs, traditions , language, myths, etc.

In general, spiritual culture acts as an activity aimed at the spiritual development of a person and society.

Mass and elite culture

Mass culture is the culture of everyday life, represented by the most wide audience... The mass is a specific form of a community of people, which is characterized by aggressiveness, primitive aspirations, low intelligence and heightened emotionality, spontaneity, readiness to obey a strong-willed shout, changeability, etc.

Popular culture - (pop culture) is tasteless, cliché, simplistic, entertaining and very fashionable. It was born in the United States at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries; Hollywood businessmen are considered the founders. Popular culture is commercial in nature, targeted at the general public.

Specific traits: 1) popular culture belongs to the majority; it is the culture of everyday life;

2) mass culture is not a culture of social “lower classes”, it exists apart from and “above” social formations;

4) standard and stereotyped;

5) is unable to quickly and adequately respond to changes in culture;

6) is more often of a consumer nature, forms a special type of passive, uncritical perception of this culture in a person;

Spheres of manifestation: Mass media, the system of state ideology (manipulating consciousness), mass political movements, general education school, the system of organizing and stimulating mass consumer demand, the system of forming an image, leisure, etc.

Elite culture- higher culture. Created by a privileged part of society or by its order by professional creators. It includes fine arts, classical music and classical literature. As a rule, an elite culture is ahead of the level of its perception by an average educated person. The motto of elite culture is "Art for the sake of art."

Specific features:

1) has a marked character; deliberately opposes the culture of the majority;

2) is distinguished by a high level of innovation;

3) the cultural elite does not coincide with the government and often opposes it.

Spheres of manifestation: art, religion, science.

Generally, elite culture acts as an initiative and productive beginning in any culture, performing a predominantly creative function in it.

Folk culture Is a culture addressed wide circles society and includes a wide variety of elements: myths, legends, fairy tales, songs, dances, ditties, etc. Folk culture: Folklore - describes the past. Popular - describes today's. Folk art - songs, fairy tales, trades. There is folk medicine, folk pedagogy.

Subculture. Since society splits into many groups (national, demographic, social, professional, etc.), each of them gradually forms its own culture, i.e. system of values ​​and rules of conduct. Such small cultural worlds called subcultures. They talk about the youth subculture, the subculture of the elderly, the professional subculture, the subculture of national minorities, urban, rural, etc. It differs from the dominant subculture in language, outlook on life, and behavior. Such differences can be expressed very strongly, nevertheless, the subculture does not oppose the dominant culture.

Counterculture. A subculture that not only differs from the dominant culture, but opposes it, is in conflict with the dominant values, is called a counterculture. The subculture of the underworld is opposed to human culture, and the "hippie" youth movement, which became widespread in the 60-70s. in countries Western Europe and the United States, denied the dominant American values: social values, moral norms and moral ideals consumer society, profit, political loyalty, sexual restraint, conformism and rationalism.

In fact, the question is quite complex, and at one time, while studying sociology, I spent more than one night trying to figure it out. In general, I will try to present what I have learned and, I hope, it will be useful to someone. :)

What is material culture

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

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

What is spiritual culture

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

• ideal forms - for example, language or conventions. Sometimes this includes education;
• subjective forms - in this case it comes about the knowledge possessed by individual representatives of the people;
• integrating forms - this concept includes various elements such as personal nature and public conscience for example legends.

The relationship of the spiritual and the material

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

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

Spiritual and material culture, their features

Any culture is multifaceted and multifaceted, its content is clothed in different shapes... The morphology of culture is a section of cultural studies, the subject of which is the study of typical forms of culture that characterizes it internal structure as integrity.

When analyzing the morphology of culture, it becomes necessary to clarify the conceptual apparatus on this topic. It includes the concept of a type of culture and a form of culture.

Within the framework of anthropological concept culture can be structured on the basis of the main types of human activity in society inherent in all cultures, sometimes called spheres cultural creativity.

Type of culture - these are the spheres of human cultural creativity, which are determined by the diversity of human activity itself and are varieties of a more general culture.

Culture exists in objective and personal forms - these are the characteristics of culture from the side of its external and internal content. Object view culture - its outward appearance, encounter with culture. Personal types of culture are people as subjects of activity, carriers and creators of cultural values.

The cultural activity of people can be applied in relation to nature, society, and an individual.

1. Types of culture in relation to nature : agricultural culture, garden culture, landscape reclamation, special cultivation of individual plants (grain crops, legumes) - human activity in relation to nature, its transformation or restoration of the natural environment.

2. Types cultural activities in relation to society: the polyvariety and multidimensionality of culture is largely considered precisely in society:

- culture as a cross-section of social life: ancient culture, medieval culture;

- culture as a social institution: political culture, religious culture;

- culture as a system of social regulatory norms: moral culture, legal culture.

The concept of "culture" is also applied in relation to certain spheres of human activity: artistic culture, culture of everyday life, physical education... In relation to the arts: musical culture, theatrical culture.

3. Types of culture in relation to personality : culture of speech of the individual, culture of communication, culture of behavior.

From this point of view, the formal structure of culture can be represented the unity of two types of culture - spiritual and material. The division of culture into spiritual and material is, of course, relative. It is inappropriate to differentiate and contrast spiritual and material cultures: after all, on the one hand, the whole culture as a whole is spiritual, since it is a world of meanings, and, on the other hand, since it is materialized in certain signs and texts. Spiritual and material cultures complement each other, in each element of culture there is both spiritual and material. Ultimately, everything material acts as the realization of the spiritual .