Folk, elite and mass culture. Forms of existence of culture (folk, elite and mass culture)

ChapterIII. Folk, elite and mass culture

Substantial– essential, basic (from lat. substantia essence), functional(from lat. function activity, departure), activity.

As already emphasized in previous sections of the textbook, culture is the second created by man, i.e. artificial nature (Hegel). First, natural, nature without a person, lies outside the culture and does not know it. The complex, multifaceted, multifaceted world of culture is “ cultivated" , "nurtured" the habitat of people, created through various forms and methods of their activity and saturated with a variety of products (results) of this activity. Every culture on the planet embodies a specific a set of methods of social practice, which always corresponds to a specific historical type of society. Culture exists in life, in history, in time and, therefore, in development only thanks to people. This means that culture is a characteristic of human society, its people, the past (history) and the present. It is possible to study any culture, counting on success, only in organic unity with the corresponding type of society, life and activities of people.

Subject

(creator, bearer, custodian) of culture and its structural differentiation

But not everything is as simple as it might seem at first glance. Firstly, culture, on the one hand, appears as complex and interconnected integrity, and on the other hand, how a set of many cultural elements that make up its structure (structure), a functioning organism. The entire set of cultural elements is usually divided into two “blocks”: substantial And functional. The morphological study of these “blocks” that make up the structure of culture, according to scientists, involves several interrelated areas of research activity:

Morphology- (from Greek. morphe- form, logos– concept, doctrine) – science (teaching) about the laws of structure, processes of formation of phenomena, organisms in their development.

1) genetic – the birth and formation of cultural forms;

2) historical – dynamics of cultural forms and configurations on historical time scales;

3) microdynamic – dynamics of modern cultural forms (within the life of three generations);

4) structural-functional– principles and forms of organizing cultural objects and processes in accordance with the objectives of meeting the needs, interests and requests of members of society;

5) technological– distribution of cultural potential in physical and sociocultural space.

Subject(lat. subjectus – underlying visa, underlying) – a carrier of subject-specific practical activity and cognition (individual or social group), a source of activity aimed at an object. An object(lat. objectum – subject) – that which opposes the subject and towards which objective-practical and cognitive activity is directed.

Secondly, when studying the phenomenon of culture, the question inevitably arises about its subject, i.e. about who creates it, stores it, reproduces it and transmits it in time and space. Thirdly, there is a problem object– what and how, in what way is created in the world of culture. In cultural studies, objects, mechanisms, methods of their creation, use, preservation of cultural achievements and experience are usually called “ cultural text».

Cultural text– this is not text in the usual sense (i.e. written, graphic text). Under cultural text is understood as: lifestyle, socio-normative, household, aesthetic, artistic and other ideas, practical skills, beliefs, knowledge, etc., as well as subject environment(dwelling, tools, household utensils).

So, culture exists and develops as a living organism while a person is active. He is the goal and the means, the beginning and the result of its functioning. Man creates, transforms, preserves, distributes, consumes material and spiritual products of culture . But he does not create culture alone: human life and activity are collective in nature and therefore involve interaction between participants (creators) of the social process. Starting from reproduction and raising offspring, including all forms of joint actions and ending with play, a person acts in relationships with other people. Therefore, the main (“general”) subject (creator) of culture, as well as history itself and all public life, performs a people who creates, preserves, and increases the diversity of cultural values. But a people is not a faceless, frozen homogeneous mass, but a complex social formation with its own organization and hierarchical structure (gender, age, settlement, property, socio-professional-cultural, etc.). In it, in the course of the historical process, various social groups, layers, classes are formed, which in turn also act as subjects in the creation of diverse cultural phenomena, forming in the final in the end complex integral system - culture.

Structure of culture: substantial and functional “blocks”

"Block" is substantial

"Block" functional

Sloboda- suburban village.

Consideration of such a complex and diverse phenomenon as culture requires systematization, generalization of the material, and its typology. The concept of “type” (from Greek.typos- imprint, sample for a group of phenomena) is used to designate a set of phenomena, processes, united on the basis of common features, properties, signs (criteria) of cultural phenomena. This is an ideal, abstract category, but in a generalized, schematized form it indicates the essential, repeating (typical) features of real cultures, abstracting from their specific features. The main condition for typologization is the unity of the criterion. For example, from the point of view of territorial affiliation, one can distinguish urban, rural, suburban cultural varieties; Based on the way of transmitting cultural experience, skills, knowledge, we can talk about specialized ( professional) and non-specialized ( unprofessional) culture, etc.

From the point From the perspective of the bearer - the subject of culture, you can get different structural options.

By national-ethnic affiliation these are:

– ethnic,

– national,

– World culture;

according to socio-cultural criteria:

– folk,

– elitist,

– mass and many other variants of culture.

In the modern world, various types of culture function and coexist in parallel, having their own bearers-subjects, their own cultural texts, and distinctive features. This makes the culture heterogeneous and diverse. In its complex structure, scientists identify and analyze, first of all, the main typological varieties:

– folk culture,

– elitist,

– massive.

Each of them is characterized by its own characteristics (cultural texts, speakers, etc.) and differences. Thus, the following table indicates the differences between the carriers, which ultimately determine this or that type of culture and its specific features.

Folk culture, its subject and

distinctive features

Throughout the long history of mankind, folk culture has been and remains the basis, the foundation of all diverse sociocultural system, every community on Earth, world civilization as a whole. Folk culture (or traditional, unprofessional, folklore) is historically the first " basic» typological variety cultural activities of people. It is created by the people themselves and passed on from generation to generation in the process of living and working together through traditions, oral tradition and education. The people are its great creator, bearer and preserver: he is not only the force that creates all material values, he is the only, inexhaustible source of spiritual values, the first philosopher and poet in terms of time, beauty and creative genius, who created all the great poems, all the tragedies of the earth and the greatest of them - the history of culture().

Folk culture is a multifaceted, multidimensional phenomenon. It includes in its composition (content) a variety of achievements and accomplishments:

§ people's worldview and understanding of the world (ideas, meanings, ideas, knowledge about nature, the world as a whole, about man, etc.), value orientations and aspirations;

§ lifestyle and lifestyle, applied empirical knowledge and skills in the field material production;

The result of creativity acquires independent existence and orientation towards the audience (consumers), which shares the creative attitudes of the authors and makes special demands on professionalism, level of skill, unique author's handwriting, imaginative vision in art, original approaches and solutions in science and technology . This necessitates special training within the framework of artistic-aesthetic, scientific, technical, ethical-legal, political, etc. creativity. The author's originality, skill, and talent are always “piece goods.” Creativity becomes author's in all types of activities, including material production, but in artistic creativity: literature, painting, sculpture, music, etc., it is especially significant.

Esoteric (esoterikos- internal) secret, hidden.

Elite culture in the narrow sense sometimes understood as a subculture: fundamentally closed areas, directions, trends, oriented towards a narrow circle of experts and supporters with a pronounced focus on experimentation and innovation. This is the result of the specialization of labor and the stratification of society. In this case elite culture– “sovereign”, sometimes opposed to national culture, to a certain extent isolated from it. It manifests itself in the intellectual (scientific, philosophical, religious, etc.) and especially artistic activity : impressionism, abstractionism, futurism, cubism and other modernist movements, etc. It is characterized by relative closedness, esotericism, and develops its own norms, ideals, language, and sign systems. Despite their essential differences, there is reason to talk about the commonality of ideological and aesthetic positions:

§ complexity of language, figurative structures, innovation;

§ individualization and rigidity of the system of norms and values accepted by this direction as mandatory for “initiates”;

§ complication of the socio-cultural, sign-semantic system, its deliberately subjective nature;

§ semantic closure, isolation of elite culture, its “sacralization” (sanctification), “esotericization”.

Within this kind of elite culture, especially its artistic directions, a contrast between academic traditionalism and avant-garde emerged (avant-garde is a collective name for trends that denied realism, proclaimed the independence of art from reality, a rebellion against traditions, their destruction, a tireless search for new ideas, technologies, meanings - in science, technology, art, etc.) .

Spanish philosopher H. Ortega y Gasset justifies the expediency of this kind of movement by the fact that art should alienate people from real life . The artist “aims to boldly deform reality, break it, break the human aspect, dehumanize it” . These goals are realized to one degree or another within the framework of modernist trends.

The prospects for elite destinations may be different.

Ø Firstly, their democratization is possible through inclusion in a broader socio-cultural context. An example is the rapprochement of Russian noble culture with folk culture, which gave the world original national art of the 19th century.

Ø Secondly, it is possible to become isolated in a narrow circle of like-minded people on the basis of creative experiments, deepening into the world of subjective ideas, intuitive insights and, as a result, detachment from the realities of life, from a person, for example, surrealism (superrealism), Suprematism, etc.

Elite culture is contradictory. It combines the search for something new and an attitude toward preserving what is already known. A protest against the absurdity of life results in opposition to the achievements of the past, but at the same time enriches the figurative and meaningful outline, expands the spectrum expressive means, ideals, ideas, ideas, theories .

Elite culture enters into different spheres of cultural practice, performing different functions (roles) in it: informational and cognitive, replenishing the treasury of knowledge, technical achievements, artistic innovations; socialization, including a person in the world of culture; normative and regulatory, etc. But a special role belongs to cultural creativity, the function of self-realization, self-actualization of the individual; in the field of aesthetic and demonstration - presentation of samples of author's creativity to the general public. Authorship becomes a value, and the master strives to capture and preserve given name in your creation.

Mass culture, its subject and distinctive features

Mass culture is a product of the industrial and post-industrial era, related to the formation mass society And mass production and consumption. Not only technology, but economic ( private property ), the political and sociocultural conditions of bourgeois society became the basis for its formation in late XIX-XX centuries This professional culture created by professionals for the masses. It is understood as a “mass” way of existence of culture in the conditions of modern industrial society, a type of “cultural industry” that produces cultural products, often commercial, every day on a large scale, designed for mass consumption, subordinated to it as its goal, which is distributed through channels including technologically advanced media and communications. Its appearance dates back to the end of the 19th century. in USA. Famous American political scientist and public figure Z. Brzezinski spoke : if Rome gave the world law, England - parliamentary activity, France - culture and republican nationalism, then modern USA gave the world a scientific and technological revolution and mass culture.

Prerequisites and conditions for the formation of mass culture

Ø Strengthening urbanization, scientific and technological progress.

Ø Population growth, its concentration in a relatively limited space - the path to massification of society.

Ø Development of large mechanized and automated, constantly improving production.

Ø Transformation of collectives of workers into an impersonal, passive, controlled mass.

Ø The emergence of a commercial type of “cultural industry” profit-oriented, commercial success-oriented.

Population migration, rapid changes in media technologies, and their widespread dissemination have led to a mixing of cultures, values, standards and ways of life. To adapt to a new, informational variety of culture, a special mechanism is developed, the ability of a mass, undifferentiated set to adapt to changed conditions is formed. This mechanism was mass culture, which arises at a certain, fairly high stage of development of society, especially the stage of information culture.

Marcuse G. (1– German-American philosopher, sociologist. He collaborated with the Russian Center at Harvard University and was engaged in anti-fascist propaganda.

Currently, the subject of mass culture is losing its integrity and breaks down into several components - creators, custodians, translators, consumers.

Among them:

a) power structures of society;

b) commercial links;

d) show business elite;

e) consumers themselves, who not only consume, but also distribute mass culture.

Bell D. (Bell) (1919-) – American sociologist, specialist in the theory and history of social thought and political movements.

In conditions of increasing complexity of socio-cultural life, differentiated all components of the phenomenon of mass culture. The subject-carrier of mass culture, its components, artifacts ( artifact - artificially made). Professional creators confront the mass of consumers of the products offered, purposefully form this mass, a mass person, mass consciousness . They know their craft, the goals and requirements of customers, accept their conditions, focus on them, while they themselves can profess other values, for example, elite.

As a result, they create certain standards, examples of characters who are successful in business, not constrained by moral standards in achieving commercial, career, etc. goals, unprincipled thugs, supermen.

The masses (consumers) as an undifferentiated set have no organization, do not make decisions (D. Bell). This is a crowd that does not reason, but obeys. The mass person, averaged, impersonal, does not differ from thousands and millions of others, becomes a consumer of mass culture and an object of manipulation by professional creators and customers . Acquiring traits of herdism, unification, and stereotypes, he loses his individuality and personal responsibility and is immersed in the offered, equally amorphous, undifferentiated products, assimilating the standards and values offered to him. A person becomes not a goal, but a means (a grain of sand) in the total mass of consumers.G. Marcuse calls him a “one-dimensional man,” considering him the product of a one-dimensional society, the consequence of which was an increase in aggression, which was reflected in mass culture, where the aestheticization of the terrible, terrible, super-violence, and vice came to the fore.

Texts of mass production are focused on “ human mass", the average person as his own addressee, which leads to their simplification and averaging. These are, for example, “pop” adaptations of classical musical works(for example, etc.), or turning Shakespeare's Macbeth into an entertaining detective story, and L. Tolstoy's Anna Karenina into a comic book. At the same time, there is an erosion of personal authorship (deindividuation), primitivization of language and figurative structure.

With increasing specialization of knowledge, increasing complexity creative activity, sign systems, not all achievements, values, meanings, ideas of elite, and even popular culture are accessible to a wide audience. They are spread in a simplified form by mass culture. Thus, it makes a connection between ordinary, everyday and specialized consciousness, becoming one of the means that contribute to the transmission of ideas and meanings necessary for the ruling elite.

At the same time, another element very specific to mass culture appears - mediator-communicator, using a powerful arsenal of technical means. These are managers, producers, etc. Without them, it is impossible to create works, organize exhibitions, shows, festivals, although, according to the French aesthetics of S. Lalo, “they only sell some and buy others, caring about immediate profit » , as well as constant stimulation of the consumer. For this purpose, his tastes and demands are purposefully formed and a cult of various kinds of idols (“stars” of cinema, pop, sports, etc.), a cult of things, role models, who are worshiped as gods or demigods, is created.

Thus, mass culture finds its niche and becomes one of the mechanisms for implementing normative-regulatory, value-orientation, and socialization functions. This allows mass culture to occupy its niche and become one of the mechanisms for controlling the masses, mass consciousness. It enables the mass person, by translating complex patterns and norms into a language accessible to him, to adapt and navigate in a complex sociocultural environment, to assimilate the standards, ideals, and ways of behavior offered to him. Here, achieving commercial success and making a profit comes to the fore. The attitude of seeking entertainment “works” for this, creating the illusion of overcoming the feeling of loneliness in conditions of socio-cultural alienation, and a focus on escaping reality ( escapism) through immersion in the illusory world of cloudless happiness, material wealth, variety of impressions and availability of any consumer goods.

The goal in this case is to consume (consumerism) without spending any special intellectual effort, Therefore, the samples offered to humans are simple, even primitive, and easily perceived. Thus, “mass culture educates the consumer by killing the citizen”.

This, in all likelihood, is the reason for the good adaptability of mass culture to rapidly changing sociocultural conditions and the reasons for its survivability.

Literature

Ashin theory of the elite: a critical essay. M., 1985.

Berdyaev of Russia. M. - Kharkov. 2000..

Gromyko of the Russian village. M., 1991

Gromyko, norms of behavior and forms of communication of Russian peasants in the 19th century. M., 1986.

Gurevich culture. M., 1994. Ch. 13.

Davydov and the elite. M., 1966.

Vigilant and replicated. M., 1981.

Kozlova of the masses and the taste of intellectuals // Social sciences and modernity. 1994. No. 3.

, Lazutin oral folk art. M., 1977

Kostya culture as a phenomenon post-industrial society. M., 2003.

Kostina. M., 2008.

Kukarkin mass culture (theories, ideas, varieties, images). M., 1985.

Culturology as a general theory of culture. M., 2002.

Culturology. XX century. Dictionary. St. Petersburg, 1998.

Mounier E. Manifesto of Personalism. M., 1999.

Folk culture in modern conditions. M., 2000.

Nekrasov art as part of culture. M., 1983

Ortega y Gasset. Selected works. M., 1997.

Ortega y Gasset. Aesthetics. Philosophy of culture. M., 1981.

Putilov and folk culture. St. Petersburg, 1994.

Russians: Folk culture (history and modernity). T. 4. Social life and holiday culture. M. 2000.

Saprykin culture: concept, genesis, originality, ambivalence. M., 2005.

Shestakov of the twentieth century. M., 1988.

Elite and mass in Russian artistic culture. M., 1996.

Materials for lectures on general theory culture and culture of ancient Rome. M., 1993. S. 17, 28.

Cm.: Morphology of culture // Culturology. Encyclopedia. XX century. T. II. M., 1998. P. 64.

The fate of Russia. M., 2000. pp. 582-583.

Ortega y Gasset H. Aesthetics. Philosophy of culture. M., 1981. S. 222, 233.

Quote By.: Kukarkin A.V.“Bourgeois mass culture. M., 1978. P. 70.

Mythology of the 20th century. M., 1988. P. 33.

Forms of culture: elite folk mass.

Three forms: elite, folk, mass and its two varieties: subculture and counterculture.

1) Elite or high culture is created by a privileged part of society, or at its request by professional creators. It includes fine art, classical music, literature, and is designed for the average audience. educated person. The circle of its consumers is a highly educated part of society. Critics, writers, artists, theatergoers, writers, musicians. The formula of elite culture is “art for art’s sake.”

2) Folk culture is created by anonymous creators who have no vocational training. The authors of folk creations are unknown. Folk cultures are called amateur or collective in origin. They include: myths, legends, tales, epics, fairy tales, dances. According to their execution, elements of folk culture can be individual, group, or mass. Folklore - folk art is created by various segments of the population.

H) Mass culture or public culture - the time of its appearance in the middle of the twentieth century, when CMI4 became available to all segments of the population. Mass culture can be international and national. Popular and variety music shining example mass culture. It is understandable and accessible to all ages, all segments of the population, regardless of level of education. It has a wide audience, it satisfies the immediate needs of people, reacts to and reflects any new event. Therefore, examples of mass culture quickly go out of fashion. Pop culture is a replacement name for mass culture, and kitsch is its variety.

Features of modern youth culture.

The dominant culture is a set of values, beliefs, traditions, and customs that guide the majority of members of society. Since society is divided into many groups:

national, social, professional - gradually each of them forms its own culture, i.e. system of values and rules of behavior.

Small cultural worlds are called subcultures - this is part general culture, systems of values, traditions, customs inherent in a large social group. Each generation, each social group has its own cultural world. For the majority of modern youth, rest and leisure are the leading forms of life activity; they have replaced labor as the most important need. Satisfaction with life in general now depends on satisfaction with leisure time. In the youth subculture there is no selectivity in cultural behavior; stereotypes and group conformism predominate

youth subculture has its own language, fashion, art, style of behavior. It is increasingly becoming an informal culture, the carriers of which are informal teenage groups.

A counterculture is a subculture that is in conflict with the dominant culture. The concept of universal denial was taken up by the youth of the West.

(P.S. the struggle for the freedom of human existence must begin with the general denial of everything and everyone.) The New Left movement in the 70s was based on this concept - this youth movement forced the governments of a number of Western countries to create special ministries for youth affairs . Youth culture in the 70s in the West was called a culture of protest. The youth spoke out against the value system of their fathers, saying that they did not want to succeed in the future, that love should be made, not money. As an alternative to the Western way of life, youth created the punk and hippie movement. She began studying Eastern religions, joined the ranks of the territorial “red brigades”, and sought to destroy the rationalistic culture of the West.

Despite the provocative “carnival” behavior, young people brought up the most important questions of existence for discussion: how to live correctly, is it possible pure love, where everything in the world is for sale, is there honesty and decency, respect for life. Young people have often become and are becoming toys in the wrong hands. She is ruthlessly exploited by show business and commercial sports, she is siphoned of money by the leisure industry and fashion stores, and she is exposed to the media.

But in general, the process of adaptation of young people to the existing culture in society is happening quite effectively, and the younger generation has not yet found ways for the development of humanity that are more original than those that their parents followed and continue to follow.

Topic 3.3 Lesson 4 “Spiritual life of society”

Questions:

1. Civilization. Concept and types of civilization. Historical types civilization

2.Conditions of modern civilization.

3.Two world civilizations: West-East, Russia in the conditions of world civilization.

Question 1: Civilization. Concept and types of civilization. Historical types of civilization

Civilization (from Latin civilis - civil, state):

1. general philosophical meaning - social form movement of matter, ensuring its stability and ability for self-development through self-regulation of exchange with the environment ( human civilization on the scale of a space device);

2. historical and philosophical significance - the unity of the historical process and the totality of material, technical and spiritual achievements of mankind during this process (human civilization in the history of the Earth);

3. stage of the world historical process associated with the achievement of a certain level of sociality (the stage of self-regulation and self-production with relative independence from the nature of the differentiation of social consciousness);

4. society localized in time and space. Local civilizations are integral systems, representing a complex of economic, political, social and spiritual subsystems and developing according to the laws of vital cycles.

Elite, or high, culture is created by a privileged part of society or at its request by professional creators. It includes fine art, classical music and literature, as well as innovative movements. Elite culture is a culture that is complex in content and difficult for the unprepared to perceive. Commercial gain is not the goal for its creators, who strive for innovation, full self-expression and artistic embodiment your ideas. It is possible that unique works of art may appear, which sometimes bring their creators not only recognition, but also considerable income, becoming very popular.

The main feature of elitist culture is its focus on a narrow circle of experts prepared to perceive works that are complex in form and content. These include the novels of J. Joyce, the paintings of P. Picasso, the films of A.A. Tarkovsky, music by A. Schnittke, etc.

Popular culture is commercial culture because works of art, science, religion, etc. act in it as consumer goods capable of generating profit when sold, if the tastes and demands of the mass viewer, reader, and music lover are taken into account. Mass culture is called differently: entertainment art, anti-fatigue art, kitsch (from the German jargon - hack), semi-culture, pop culture.

Its main features: wide circle consumers, commercial orientation, general accessibility and entertainment, standardization, simplicity and, in in a certain sense, democracy. This is pop music, soap series, comics. Mass culture is inseparable from the mass media; it originated and spread simultaneously with the advent of cinema, radio, illustrated magazines, etc.

Pop culture and elite culture are not hostile to each other. Achievements, artistic techniques, the ideas of elite art after some time cease to be innovative and are adopted by mass culture, raising its level. At the same time, pop culture, which generates profit, over time makes it possible for film companies, publishing houses, and fashion houses to support the creators of elite art.

Folk culture- a specific area of national culture, this is its most stable part, a source of development and a repository of traditions. This is a culture created by the people and existing among the masses. At the end of the 20th century. it unfolds in the space between classical folklore tradition and mass culture. Its layers:

Folklore;

Amateur performances;

Applied creativity;

Student, school amateur activities, etc.

Folk culture is created by anonymous creators who have no professional training. It is called amateur or collective.

It is often transmitted orally. Often works whose authors are known become popular, but they are perceived as folk works. This happens if the works correspond to the main feature of folk culture - they correspond to the values of the people, reflect folk character.
Posted on ref.rf
So, the songs “Katyusha”, “Oh, frost-frost” have authors, but most people consider these songs to be folk songs.

In recent decades, there has been talk about the displacement of “book culture” by screen culture. Young people get acquainted with works of literature not in the original, but through film adaptations. Computer “virtual reality”, the Internet, and television are replacing traditional trips to the theater, dance floors and amateur clubs. In this regard, some scientists talk about on-screen culture as special form culture.

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Forms and varieties of culture: folk, mass and elite cultures; youth subculture

Today there are a number of classifications of types and forms of culture, which are worth briefly dwelling on.

The broadest understanding of culture implies that everything created by the hands and intellect of mankind (as opposed to the creations of nature) can be classified as culture. From here comes the division into material and spiritual culture, although it is rather conditional. The first includes technical equipment economic activity person, household items, clothing, any items that do not carry additional semantic or value load, but perform a specific function. At the same time, today a person’s clothing is not only designed to protect from the cold, but has many additional semantic loads - style, compliance with fashion trends, colors allow you to get a lot additional information about passions and lifestyle.

Thus, material culture- this is what is preserved in things, and spiritual culture is what accumulates, accumulates, stores and transmits the experience developed by previous generations. Spiritual production is the production of consciousness in a special social form, carried out by specialized groups of people professionally engaged in qualified mental labor. The main difference from material production is the universal nature of consumption - spiritual values do not decrease in proportion to the number of people, but are the property of all humanity.

Sometimes scientists identify the following elements of spiritual culture: works of monumental art (sculpture, architecture) performing arts, art(painting, graphics), music, various forms of social consciousness (ideological theories, philosophical, aesthetic, moral and other knowledge, scientific concepts and hypotheses), socio-psychological phenomena ( public opinion, ideals, values, customs). Learn more about spirituality and spiritual world person will be discussed below.

Another classification identifies areas in which non-material human activity is realized: art, science, religion, morality. Here it is also difficult to talk about a strict separation of one from the other. Thus, an icon is simultaneously a shrine for believers and a work of art for many others, including non-religious people. There is an ethics scientific work, which is based on activities for the benefit of people and based on humane principles. Therefore, medical experiments on humans are prohibited, and fascist experiments on concentration camp prisoners still remain one of the shameful pages in the history of mankind and science.

In human society, researchers identify several forms of culture. At all times, society has clearly distinguished elitist, high culture accessible to a select few - fine art, classical music and literature, and folk culture including fairy tales, folklore, songs and myths. The products of each of these cultures were intended for a specific audience, and this tradition was rarely violated.

Today, both elite and popular cultures have retained their admirers. We go to chamber concerts of classical music, attend screenings of low-budget films, and sometimes together with friends we go to small theaters for original performances. These are works of elite culture, the special quality of which is complexity visual arts, language, the need for special preparation of the listener, viewer for their perception. Folk culture is preserved and developed in the modern world. Many artists use folk motives in his creativity. For example, musicians popular rock band"U-Tu" base their creativity on ancient Irish folklore. Russian musicians and artists also take care of folk traditions, folklore. With the availability of funds mass media(radio, press, television, recordings, tape recorders) there was a blurring of the differences between high and popular culture.

Let us consider the main forms of culture in more detail.

Elite(in translation from the French “best, chosen”) or high culture is aimed at a narrow group of people who understand art, includes classical works, as well as the latest trends, known to a narrow circle of knowledgeable people. In a certain sense, this is the culture of the so-called elite, people with high education, spiritual aristocracy, and self-sufficiency in values. Critics of this trend say that here art exists only for art’s sake, although it should be oriented towards people; it is isolated in its own small world and actually does not benefit humanity. At the beginning of the 20th century, decadence became very popular in the circles of the capital's Russian intelligentsia, as a trend that proclaimed a complete break with the surrounding reality and the opposition of art to real life. At the same time, there is a constant search for something new, a creative understanding of ideals, values and meanings, aesthetic freedom and commercial independence of creativity are assumed, and the complexity and diversity of forms of artistic exploration of the world is reflected.

Folk or national culture presupposes the absence of personalized authorship and is created by the entire people. This includes myths, legends, dances, stories, epics, fairy tales, songs, proverbs, sayings, symbols, rituals, rites and canons. Elements of folk culture can be individual (statement of a legend), collective (song performance) and mass (carnival processions). These works reflect the unique experience and specific character of a particular people (ethnic group), everyday ideas, stereotypes of social behavior, cultural standards, moral norms, religious and aesthetic canons. Folk culture exists predominantly in oral form, is characterized by homogeneity and tradition, and is based on the people’s ideas about themselves and the world around them. It can exist in 2 main types - popular (describes modern life, mores, customs, songs, dances) and folklore (referring to the past and its key moments).

Mass culture is focused primarily on commercial success and mass demand, satisfying any requirements of the masses of the population, and its products are hits, which often have a very short lifespan creative life and are quickly forgotten, supplanted by a new stream of pop culture, and the immediate needs and demands of people become the guiding force of development. Naturally, the works are aimed at average standards and a typical consumer.

In our age of globalization with a tendency towards standardization (almost the traditional set of every major city in the world is a McDonald's restaurant, identical packaging of powders, toothpastes and products in stores, street and television advertisements that are similar to each other, often differing only in the language of accompanying pictures), culture is rapidly losing its individuality and exclusivity. It is increasingly aimed at the brightness of external manifestations and entertainment, accustoming people to lighter interpretations of cultural ideals, simple solutions, actively uses media, fashion and advertising. To assimilate the products of mass culture, no special training or education is required; figuratively speaking, it satiates the stomach, is easily and quickly digested, but does not contribute to spiritual growth.

The functioning of mass culture is determined by the phenomenon of consumption, and not by the need for spiritual development, self-improvement. The mass displaces the individual, and herdism and uniformity become guidelines for development. Modern literature, cinema, and journalism are often focused on criminal, economic, political, and love stories, but do not raise the so-called “ eternal questions" The dominance of so-called mass culture products today poses one of the greatest dangers to the formation of spirituality.

Among specific signs mass culture can be distinguished as follows: primitivization of relationships between people; entertainment, fun, sentimentality; naturalistic relish of scenes of violence and sex; cult of success (mainly financial, material), strong personality and the thirst for possession of things; the cult of mediocrity, the conventions of primitive symbolism.

Mass culture practically unrelated to religious or class differences. The media and mass culture are inseparable. A culture becomes “mass” when its products are standardized and distributed to the general public. Distinctive feature works of mass culture is their focus on obtaining commercial profit and satisfying mass demand. Today we encounter popular culture almost every day. These include numerous series that are shown on television, talk shows, satirist concerts, and pop performances. Everything that the media literally brings down on us.

We often hear the news: at the same time, in many countries around the world, a new blockbuster is being released on cinema screens, a film on the production of which huge amounts of money were spent, measured in millions and tens of millions of dollars, a film full of computer special effects, all the roles in which are played by superstars. This is a typical product of modern mass culture. Popular artists all over the world, such as Madonna, often come to our country now. Her performance - the show - is also a product of popular culture. The epithet “massive” is by no means synonymous with “bad.” It may be quite quality product mass culture, good, and maybe mediocre. Just like the product of any other culture.

It is important to understand that in the modern world it is increasingly rare to find pure form product of any one form of culture. Most often, this is a mixture of cultural styles and genres. Folk works can be executed on modern musical instruments, purchase modern arrangements. Works of high classical art are also transformed. It is only important that every work of culture serves the purposes of spiritual enrichment of people and the development of the human personality.

In the modern world, scientists identify another form of culture - screen(culture created and transmitted by computer). An example of such a culture is the following, which are so popular today among people of different ages: computer games, a virtual reality.

In addition, in all societies there are many subgroups that have their own specific cultural values and traditions. A system of norms and values that distinguishes a group from the rest of society is called subculture. One of the most widespread subcultures in the modern world is the youth subculture, distinguished by its language (slang) and way of behavior. A representative of such a subculture, seeing someone in fashionable clothes, will certainly say: “What an outfit!” He calls his parents “ancestors,” and if something goes wrong, he will say: “It’s all not worth it.” Representatives of different subcultures understand each other well, but not everyone understands them. At the sight of a punk with pink or green hair or a shaved skin, a respectable middle-aged man in the street can only become indignant and note that the world is going to hell and the end of the world should soon be expected.

When talking about culture, we always turned to people. But it is impossible to limit culture to an individual. Culture is addressed to him as a member of a certain community, collective. Culture in many ways shapes the collective, connects people with their departed ancestors, imposes certain obligations on them, and sets standards of behavior. Striving for absolute freedom, people sometimes rebel against established institutions, against culture. Imbued with revolutionary pathos, some shed the veneer of culture. What then remains of “Homo sapiens”? A primitive savage, a barbarian, but not liberated, but, on the contrary, chained in the chains of his darkness. By rebelling against culture, a person thereby opposes everything that has been accumulated over centuries, against himself, against his humanity and spirituality, and loses his human appearance.

Spiritual culture plays important role in the life of society, acting as a means of accumulating, storing and transmitting the experience accumulated by people.
The transition from a totalitarian to a democratic state in Russia is accompanied by a deep crisis that has affected almost all spheres of public life. Its manifestations can also be observed in the field of spiritual culture (change in spiritual values; decline in the general cultural level of the population; low level of government funding for cultural and scientific centers; weakness of the legal framework that would be designed to regulate cultural processes).

National culture. The commonality of a nation and people is expressed in a special national culture. National culture is the values, norms and patterns of behavior that characterize the human community in a particular country or state. Symbols include: the national flag and coat of arms, clothing, sacred objects and places, common holidays and rituals; to beliefs: God or deities, sacred books, mythology, legendary heroes, commandments and prohibitions, special religious actions and clergy; to values: moral attitudes, ideas about good and evil, attitudes towards friendship and love; to norms: laws and traditions; to patterns of behavior: fashion, rules, stable figures of speech, games.

In most countries of the world, different national cultures interact. However, there are different models of cohabitation. In some states, visiting people abandon previous ideas and views, accepting the attitudes that prevail in a given country (assimilation); in others - ethnic groups mix with each other and create new type general culture; thirdly, each group retains its own culture, and they are adjacent to each other. This or that option is chosen taking into account historical characteristics, and it is impossible to say which one is better and which one is worse.

An important part of national culture is national identity - a set of views, assessments, opinions and attitudes that express the content, level and characteristics of the ideas of members of the community about their history, current state, development prospects. In addition, each nation or people has its own folklore, songs and dances, and artistic crafts. Consciously or unconsciously, they rely on folk art and express national values and ideals. We can talk about special national mentality- mindset, stereotypes and mindsets. National culture is the most important heritage of our ancestors, therefore its preservation and development is not only the duty of the state, but also the business of every member of society.

Folk, elite and mass culture. Forms of existence of culture (folk, elite and mass culture)

Forms of culture: elite folk mass.

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