200 faces of culture: where does a literate and reflective person come from

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What does national culture consist of, where does it disappear and why globalization forces us to choose content that leads to degradation - Professor of the Higher School of Economics Iosif Mikhailovich Dzyaloshinsky delivered a lecture on how culture is being transformed in the modern media space.

Recently, the issue of cultural sovereignty has been raised in Russia. It is very important to understand what culture is and what place it occupies in our life. However, reflecting on the concept itself, one must take into account the signs of this phenomenon. Sovereignty can be territorial, diplomatic, military, economic, but the most ambiguous is ideological (cultural). Despite the fact that, according to Joseph Mikhailovich, it is a crime to equate ideology with culture, it is worth paying attention to the very essence of the definition. Ideological (cultural) sovereignty implies that the state has the right to govern culture on its territory, and no one should interfere in this process. In the modern world, more and more people come to the idea that cultural sovereignty as such has been lost. In its place comes the national culture.

There are about 200 definitions of culture in total. ... One of them describes this phenomenon very accurately: "Culture is a system of informal rules that tell us how people will behave in most cases." That is, not only our background is important for culture - the literature we read, the films we watched, etc., but also our behavior - the way we greet, communicate, walk the streets. "The scheme of our life - this is culture." Just look at the attitude to such a simple thing as rubbish in public places in Russia and Singapore: we have rubbish and dirt on the streets - a common thing, there is a fine of 1000 dollars for rubbish in the wrong place. Two completely different views on the same issue. Of course, we can also say that "culture is a system of standards with which we compare our and other people's actions." However,

Culture is a set of behavioral and spiritual practices that ensure the adaptation of a person to the environment and the transformation of this environment in accordance with the necessary goals and ideas.

The formation of national culture takes place in the 19th century, just when national states arise. These states are immediately faced with the question of how to use cultural standards to unite the people. For example, just look at France: one country, but in the south the Pyrenean culture with its own special temperament prevails, and in the north - the British culture, stable and calm. The problem of consolidating communities on the basis of some principles has always existed. Until now, many states are trying to solve it, but, in fact, not everyone succeeds.

To create a national culture, certain prerequisites are necessary - economic, communication, etc., something that would be higher than ethnic differences. In addition, the position of the state in relation to culture plays an important role. There are two options here. The state as a huntsman: does not interfere in the course of events, but simply observes (France), or a gardener: in the person of the elites, the state “grows”, stimulates some signs.

Despite the presence of national culture, one of the leading positions at the moment is occupied by new regionalism. Monolithic states are falling apart into national parts. Isolation of individual communities within social groups. This trend can be clearly seen in the situation with migrants. And the reflection of all these events can be observed in the vast space of media globalization.

Globalization has several stages: XV century, XVII century, XIX century and XXI century. Moreover, in our time, this process is taking place in an accelerated mode. We can observe an almost unified economic world. "We are many and we are hungry." National trans-corporations take advantage of this circumstance, thereby bringing the world closer to economic and financial unity. The same is the case with the media. The presence of global innovation flows and a small number of news agencies leads to the fact that the so-called agenda is created by a rather narrow circle of structures. Thus, national boundaries become fictitious. 30% of Russian media are owned by foreign companies. It becomes clear that for an ordinary reader, viewer or listener, only images are formed, and not a complete picture of life. However, research shows that themselves consumers choose such content.

The choice of people and their attitude to culture can be judged by three main trends. In our time, the world model of life is consumption. A very convenient model for manufacturers. However, for a person it is a heavy burden. Everything is depreciated, even eternal values. In addition, this model is also objectionable to the state: the craving for consumption needs to be satisfied, and not all states benefit from this. In essence, these trends refer to the transformation of society's understanding of culture. People stopped believing in the effectiveness of the old cultures. It is no longer possible to live "as it should be". The questions appear "Why should I follow this?", "Why?" etc. Each person begins to feel their sovereignty and individuality. The sovereignty of culture becomes a fiction.

What to do? There can be many ways out for states in this situation. For example, you can let everything go by itself or use violence, but it has long been known that such methods do not solve the problem, but only exacerbate it. You can also turn to apartheid, isolationism or assimilation, as many countries have done, but these methods did not always work. At the moment, one of the highest quality and most productive methods is multiculturalism. First of all, this is the state policy aimed at supporting and developing all existing cultures. Multiculturalism can be both hard (active participation of people in the life of the country) and soft (giving complete freedom to this process). In addition to multiculturalism, there are two more methods close to it: interculturalism, which presupposes the freedom of a person in a cultural sense,

How are things in Russia? In our country, the media usually use three approaches to reflect the relationship between different cultures: educational (the bias is more towards the ethnic side of the issue), folklore and patriotic. However, research shows that most of the Russian media is charged with aggression. 40% of publications require or recommend to be aggressive towards other peoples, religions, cultures, etc. Culture in our country has become a political resource, but no amount of propaganda of national culture can lead to a rational decision. The first step is to stop using culture as a bargaining chip. The second is to try, finally, to create conditions for the formation of a competent and reflective person who could appreciate all cultural diversity, while remaining a thinking citizen.