Two functions of defense mechanisms. Functions of culture

The complex and multi-level structure of culture determines the diversity of its functions in the life of a person and society. But regarding the number of functions of culture among culturologists there is no complete unanimity. Nevertheless, all authors agree with the idea of ​​multifunctionality of culture, with the fact that each of its components can perform different functions.

adaptive function is the most important function of culture, ensuring the adaptation of a person to environment. It is known that the adaptation of living organisms to their environment is necessary condition their survival in the process of evolution. Their adaptation occurs due to the work of mechanisms natural selection, heredity and variability, which ensure the survival of individuals that are most adapted to the environment, the preservation and transmission of useful traits to the next generations. But it happens in a completely different way: a person does not adapt to the environment, to changes in the environment, like other living organisms, but changes the environment in accordance with his needs, redoing it for himself.

When the environment is transformed, a new, artificial world is created - culture. In other words, a person cannot lead a natural way of life, like animals, and in order to survive, he creates an artificial habitat around himself, protecting himself from adverse environmental conditions. A person gradually becomes independent of natural conditions: if other living organisms can only live in a certain ecological niche, then a person is able to master any natural conditions for estimates of the formation of the artificial world of culture.

Of course, a person cannot achieve complete independence from the environment, since the form of culture is largely due to natural conditions. The type of economy, dwellings, traditions and customs, beliefs, rites and rituals of peoples depend on natural and climatic conditions. So. the culture of mountain peoples differs from the culture of peoples leading a nomadic way of life or engaged in sea fishing, etc. southern peoples many spices are used in cooking to delay spoilage in hot climates.

As culture develops, humanity provides itself with ever greater security and comfort. The quality of life is constantly improving. But having got rid of the old fears and dangers, a person stands face to face with new problems that he creates for himself. For example, today one can not be afraid of the terrible diseases of the past - plague or smallpox, but new diseases have appeared, such as AIDS, for which no cure has yet been found, and others are waiting in the wings in military laboratories. deadly diseases created by man himself. Therefore, a person needs to protect himself not only from the natural habitat, but also from the world of culture, artificially created by man himself.

The adaptive function has a dual nature. On the one hand, it manifests itself in the creation of specific means of protecting a person - necessary for a person means of protection against outside world. These are all the products of culture that help a person to survive and feel confident in the world: the use of fire, the storage of food and other necessary things, the creation of productive agriculture, medicine, etc. At the same time, they include not only objects material culture, but also those specific means that a person develops to adapt to life in society, keeping him from mutual extermination and death - state structures, laws, customs, traditions, moral standards, etc.

On the other hand, there are non-specific means of protecting a person - culture as a whole, existing as a picture of the world. Understanding culture as a "second nature", the world created by man, we emphasize the most important property human activity and culture - the ability to "doubling the world", highlighting in it the sensual-objective and ideal-figurative layers. Linking culture with the ideal image world, we get the most important property of culture - to be a picture of the world, a certain grid of images and meanings through which it is perceived the world. Culture as a picture of the world makes it possible to see the world not as a continuous flow of information, but as ordered and structured information. Any object or phenomenon of the outside world is perceived through this symbolic grid, it has a place in this system of meanings, and it will be assessed as useful, harmful or indifferent to a person.

Sign function

The sign, significative function (naming) is associated with culture as a picture of the world. The formation of names and titles is very important for a person. If some object or phenomenon is not named, does not have a name, is not designated by a person, they do not exist for him. Having given a name to an object or phenomenon and assessing it as threatening, a person simultaneously receives the necessary information that allows him to act in order to avoid danger, since when marking a threat, it is not only given a name, but it fits into the hierarchy of being. Let's take an example. Each of us at least once in his life was sick (not with a mild cold, but with some fairly serious illness). At the same time, a person experiences not only painful sensations, feelings of weakness and helplessness. Usually in this state, unpleasant thoughts come to mind, including about a possible fatal, the symptoms of all the diseases that you have heard about are recalled. The situation is straightforward according to J. Jerome, one of the heroes of whose novel "Three Men in a Boat, Not Counting the Dog", studying a medical reference book, found in himself all diseases, except for puerperal fever. In other words, a person experiences fear because of the uncertainty of his future, because he feels a threat, but knows nothing about it. This significantly worsens the general condition of the patient. In such cases, a doctor is called, who usually makes a diagnosis and prescribes treatment. But relief occurs even before taking medication, since the doctor, having made a diagnosis, gave a name to the threat, thereby inscribing it in the picture of the world, which automatically gave information about possible means of combating it.

It can be said that culture as an image and picture of the world is an ordered and balanced scheme of the cosmos, it is the prism through which a person looks at the world. It is expressed through philosophy, literature, mythology, ideology and in human actions. Most members of the ethnos are fragmentarily aware of its content, in full it is available only to a small number of specialist in cultural studies. The basis of this picture of the world are ethnic constants - the values ​​and norms of ethnic culture.

Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation

Saint Petersburg State University

service and economy

Essay

in cultural studies

on the topic: "Functions of culture"

Performed:

1st year student group 121

Checked:

Senior Lecturer

Pastushenko Pavel Vladimirovich

Vyborg

PLAN:

The concept of "functions of culture".

Information function of culture.

The adaptive function of culture.

communicative function.

regulatory function.

integrative function.

function of socialization.

The concept of "functions of culture".

Culture is a multifunctional system.

Functions of culture- a set of roles that culture performs in relation to the community of people who generate and use (practice) it in their own interests.

If we define culture as an aggregate, constantly developing, constantly growing and accumulating information in the form of values, symbols, signs and sign systems, then on the basis of this definition we can point out its main functions. Function in the social sciences, it is usually called the purpose, the role of any element in the social system. Social cultural functions- these are the functions that culture as a whole performs in relation to society.

If we ultimately define culture as an aggregate, constantly developing, constantly growing and accumulating information in the form of values, symbols, signs and sign systems, then on the basis of this definition we can point to its main functions (roles, meanings that culture has in society). ).

2. Information function.

It is possible to single out and describe the social functions of culture in different ways. One of them - information function(in other words, the function of broadcasting social experience).

Culture is a special type of information process that nature does not know. In animals, information is biologically encoded, its carrier is the animal's body itself. The transfer of information from one generation to another occurs genetically, and also to some extent through imitation of parents (in higher animals). The experience accumulated by an individual in the course of life is not inherited by its descendants; each new generation begins to accumulate experience "from scratch". Therefore, the amount of information available to the clan does not increase from generation to generation.

The presence of culture in humans means the existence of a "suprabiological" form of information. How is it formed? In the course of their activity, people create sound systems (languages), formulas, concepts that, when created (derived formulas, painted pictures, written and published books), are separated from the creator, acquiring an independent, impersonal existence. They become social information, belonging to public culture. Unlike biological, social information expressed in sign systems does not disappear and does not perish with the death of its creator, but is transmitted to subsequent generations, being the basic material for creating new forms in the phenomenon of culture. Culture forms a specifically human, non-genetic "mechanism" of its inheritance - social heredity. Thanks to culture in society, it becomes possible that which is impossible in the animal world - the historical accumulation and multiplication of information that is at the disposal of man as a generic being. Continuity arises as the most important regularity in the development of culture, which ensures the continuity of the cultural process.

According to Yu.M. Lotman, culture is a "mechanism created by mankind, aimed at generating and storing information." It includes many signs and sign systems, with the help of which cultural "texts" are formed, in which this information is imprinted and stored.

It can be said that culture in human society is the same as information support in a computer. The latter includes machine language, memory, information processing programs. Similar systems, social memory that stores the spiritual achievements of mankind, programs of human behavior that reflect the experience of many generations. Thus, culture acts as the information support of society. True, information support is invested in the computer from the outside, and society creates it itself.

Any social cataclysms, especially revolutions, are detrimental to the development of culture. They are able to nullify the creative efforts of many people and entire generations, to destroy the information support provided by culture to society. Culture is rightly considered the social memory of mankind.

3. Adaptive function.

(Culture provides human adaptation to the environment)

V Lately culturologists are increasingly writing about the adaptive function of culture. Adaptation translated from Latin means fitting, adaptation. Every kind of living beings in the process of biological evolution adapts to its environment. Due to variability, heredity and natural selection, features of body organs and behavioral mechanisms are formed and genetically transmitted from generation to generation, ensuring the survival and development of the species in given environmental conditions (its "ecological niche"). However, human adaptation is different. In nature, living organisms adapt to the environment, changing in accordance with the given conditions of their existence; a person adapts the environment to himself, changes it in accordance with his needs.

Man's adaptation to the environment is due to culture, since biological evolution has not created for him sufficient means for this. And this adaptation occurs as culture develops. Man like species Homo sapiens has no natural ecological niche. He is a "biologically deficient" animal, which is not able to lead a natural way of life, and is forced, in order to survive, to create an artificial, cultural environment around itself. Throughout the history of mankind, people constantly have to protect themselves from something: from cold and heat, from rain and snow, from wind and dust, from many dangerous enemies. In order to survive, a person is forced to create objects necessary for survival, which nature did not produce, in a word, to create an artificial world, or "second nature". In the process of such work, a person sharpens his mind, improves and develops his hand, his most important organs, necessary in such a matter. The development of culture gives people protection: the ability to create and use clothes, housing, weapons, medicines, food. Biological incompleteness, the inability of the human race to a certain ecological poverty turned into the ability to master any natural conditions by forming a "protective layer" of artificial conditions of existence. Man as a biological species of Homo Sapiens remains the same in different natural conditions, but on the other hand, a variety of his "protective layers" arises - forms of culture determined by the natural conditions of the life of an ethnos. Already in ancient times, peoples living in different conditions developed different forms of economy and customs, they built dwellings in different ways, dressed and ate. In their cultures, historically developed ways of adapting to natural conditions are fixed.

The development of intellectual abilities provided a variety of forms of culture being created: depending on geographical and climatic conditions, a person mastered various forms of management, thereby learning to adapt to various natural conditions.

Speaking about the adaptive function of culture, culturologist A.S. Carmine gives examples of the validity of many cultural traditions, such as cuisine and medicine.

Many cultural traditions associated with some useful adaptive effect. The traditional abundance of hot spices in the food of the southerners, he writes, is a means to delay its rapid spoilage in a hot climate. Traditional medicine among the Slavs and other peoples in countries with diverse vegetation is characterized by the widespread use of herbal medicine. And in Central China, where the plant world is not rich, methods of treatment using cauterization and injections with pointed sticks or pebbles developed, which gave rise to modern acupuncture. Due to constant earthquakes, the inhabitants of the Japanese islands did not make sense to build large and labor-intensive structures. Therefore, from ancient times, they built small houses, with light sliding walls and small rooms: such houses more easily withstood earthquakes, and in case of destruction they were easier to restore.

The development of culture increasingly provides people with security and comfort. Increased labor efficiency; previously incurable diseases are defeated; life expectancy is growing. However, at the same time, cultural evolution gives rise to new threats to humanity. The higher the protection of people from natural dangers becomes, the more clearly it is revealed that the main enemy is ... himself. An example is a weapon of mass destruction, having created which, a person spends colossal efforts and funds to ban it in order to protect humanity from it. Wars, religious strife, atrocities and violence of criminals over innocent victims, reckless poisoning and destruction of nature - this is, as it were, back side cultural progress, and its dangers intensify with the growth of the technical equipment of society. And in order to survive, humanity must improve its own nature, its inner spiritual life.

Surrounded by the blessings of civilization, a person becomes their slave.

The study of nature, in which man was occupied from the very beginning, made it possible to discover in it such properties that, giving dubious and momentary pleasures, bring death to a person, destroying, first of all, his brain. The reduction of physical activity and the weakening of the body, synthetic food, the growing consumption of drugs, the habit of using medicines, the accumulation of harmful changes in the human gene pool - all this threatens to become a disaster for future generations. By reducing their dependence on the forces of nature, people become dependent on the forces of culture. Therefore, the future of mankind is entirely determined by how and in what direction it will develop its culture.

4. COMMUNICATION FUNCTION.

(Culture forms the conditions and means of human communication)

A person lives in society, lives together and next to other people, and therefore, whether he wants it or not, he has to communicate with these people. Implemented communicative function of culture. Culture, developing the forms of such communication, acts as its means. The means of communication between people are languages, sound systems. The result is because it is only through communication that people can create, preserve and develop culture. Culture is the field of human communication. It connects people, unites them.

Human communication, connection, communication have developed historically. At the earliest stages of anthropogenesis, in a period when articulate speech did not exist, our distant ancestors communicated with each other using sign language and sounds to communicate with each other. The appearance of speech provided a person with the opportunity to transmit a variety of information, for which, with the advent of writing, there were no obstacles in space and time. Thanks to writing, it becomes possible for descendants to communicate with distant ancestors. A new stage of communication begins with the advent of special means of communication, of which radio and television are the most effective today. The invention of writing creates the basis for the widespread dissemination of communication in time and space. The modern era is characterized by the introduction of mass media (MSC) into everyday life, the development of computer networks covering the whole world and making it possible to instantly come into contact with any source of information.

As a result of the development of mass media, the number of contacts of an individual with other people is extremely increasing. So, on TV everyone sees and hears a lot of interlocutors - including many interesting ones. But these contacts are mediated and one-sided, the viewer is passive in them, and his ability to exchange his thoughts with his interlocutors is very limited. A huge mass of contacts and at the same time a lack of communication is a paradox modern culture. One more point can be noted: with the development of culture, the inner side of communication is improved. In people high culture the importance of spiritual and psychological factors in communication increases, an increased ability for mutual understanding is developed.

5. REGULATORY FUNCTION.

(Culture determines various aspects of a person's social and personal activities)

Any culture develops norms of behavior and activities that indicate which means of achieving goals are acceptable and which are not, i.e. the regulatory function of culture is carried out.

Cultural norms regulate all human life: work, entertainment, relations between the sexes, etiquette and much more. In the conditions of normal, non-crisis development, society protects the norms developed by its culture and condemns the deviant (deviating from the norms accepted in this culture) behavior of its citizens. So, in a number of US states, despite allowing divorce, spouses are fined for adultery, and in some states they are even sentenced to various prison terms. In most modern societies, cruelty to animals is condemned. Different cultures have different degrees of normativity. For example, they are currently writing about the "normative insufficiency" of Russian culture in comparison with many others, and this is the path to an increase in crime and a decline in morality.

6. INTEGRATIVE FUNCTION.

(Culture unites peoples, social groups, states)

Any social community, in which its own culture is formed, is held together by this culture. Among the members of the community, a single set of beliefs, values, ideals, characteristic of a given culture and determining the consciousness and behavior of people, spreads. They develop a sense of belonging to the same cultural group.

Members of one's own group - "ours" (compatriots, peers, representatives of their profession, their social stratum, etc.) - seem to us closer in comparison with people of the "other circle". We can hope that we will have more mutual understanding with them. The basis for this is our cultural commonality with the members of the group to which we ourselves belong.

preservation of cultural heritage, national traditions, historical memory creates a link between generations. This builds the historical unity of the nation and the self-consciousness of the people as a community of people that has existed for centuries. The common Orthodox faith, introduced by Prince Vladimir in Kievan Rus, formed a spiritual connection between the Slavic tribes who previously worshiped tribal gods, which contributed to the rallying of the Russian principalities and their unification around Moscow in the fight against the Mongol conquerors.

As history shows, cultural ties and commonality have always been stronger than any others, for example, consanguinity, and it is not by chance that states, as a rule, developed on the basis of cultural communities and existed as long as these communities existed. An example can be the fate of the multinational Soviet state - the USSR, whose existence for eight decades was supported by Marxist ideology, and no other reasons caused the collapse of the once unified state.

The unity of culture ensures the unity and strength of the state. This was understood by the Soviet state leaders, who by all means did not allow dissent and dissent. The wisest modern Russian politicians who put forward a national idea understand this and speak about it.

However, in the history of mankind in each era there are different cultures. Cultural differences make it difficult for people to communicate, interfere with their mutual understanding, act as barriers that block social groups and communities. People who belong to the same cultural circle as us are perceived as "Us", and those from other cultural circles are perceived as "They". Solidarity between "ours" can be accompanied by wariness and even hostility towards "strangers", resulting in confrontation and enmity.

But the difference of cultures in itself does not necessarily give rise to tension and conflict in relations between them. Distrust and antipathy towards "foreign" cultures and their carriers - peoples, countries, social groups and individuals - had a certain justification in the past, when contacts between different cultures were weak, rare and fragile.

However, in the course of world history, the contacts of cultures are gradually increasing, their interaction and interpenetration is growing. Differences of cultures, of course, persist in our time, but the point is not to destroy these differences, but to combine the different.

Cultural unity can have varying degrees of commonality. Such an ultimate cultural community is a universal culture, but so far this is just a trend, a non-existent ideal. Existing broad cultural communities are communities created by world religions. This is the Christian world, the world of Islam, the world of Buddhism. But the integrative function of culture is also manifested by the existing tendency to unite such different worlds- through science. Christians and Muslims and Buddhists use computers, the same mathematical and chemical formulas, the same geographical maps. Today, a powerful integrating factor for people of different cultures is the Internet.

Cultural diversity colors the life of mankind, enriches the experience it accumulates. The integrating function of culture is manifested today not in erasing the differences between cultures, but in uniting different cultures that complement each other with their best examples.

Various cultures, which in the past, and even today (Islamic fundamentalism) as a source of armed clashes, are increasingly becoming the subject of study and development of an increasing number of other cultures: books, music, fashion, national cuisine overcome cultural barriers and increasingly become elements of an integrating factor a.

7. FUNCTION OF SOCIALIZATION.

Socialization is understood as the assimilation by an individual of social experience, knowledge, values, norms of behavior corresponding to a given society, social group, social role.

The process of socialization allows the individual to become a full-fledged member of society, take a certain position in it and live as required by customs and traditions. At the same time, this process ensures the preservation of society, its structure and the forms of life that have developed in it. The "personal composition" of society is constantly being updated, people are born and die, but thanks to socialization, new members of society join the accumulated social experience and continue to follow the patterns of behavior recorded in this experience. Of course, society changes over time, but the introduction of innovations in public life also, one way or another, is determined by the forms of life and ideals inherited from the ancestors.

Culture is the most important factor of socialization, which determines its content, means and methods. In the course of socialization, people learn the programs stored in the culture and learn to live, think and act in accordance with them. The assimilation of social experience by a person begins with early childhood. The patterns of behavior that parents demonstrate to a large extent determine the life scenario according to which the child will build his life. Children are also greatly influenced by the patterns of behavior they observe from peers, teachers, and other adults.

But socialization does not end in childhood. It is a continuous process that continues throughout life. Its conditions and means are the school and others. schools, facilities mass media, labor and work collective, informal group and, finally, self-education.

Each person, by the will of circumstances, is immersed in a certain cultural context from which he draws his ideas, ideals, rules of life, methods of action. In the context of American culture, personality traits such as self-confidence, energy, and sociability are encouraged. Indian culture, on the contrary, traditionally supports contemplation, passivity, introspection. Culture regulates the gender (sex) social roles of adult men and women in different ways. In almost all cultures, it is the responsibility of men to provide for the welfare of the family, while the care of children and housekeeping fall on the shoulders of women; men traditionally enjoy more freedom of sexual behavior than women. Young people, middle-aged people, old people find themselves in different cultural contexts. Age-related differences in life attitudes are largely due not just to biological changes in the body, but to culturally enshrined ideas about the age-appropriate lifestyle.

Socialist culture cultivated such values ​​as free labor, leveling, indifference to money. Relapses of such "values" have a detrimental effect to this day.

The cultural context determines both the forms of activity associated with the position occupied by the person and those accepted in this social environment forms of recreation, mental relaxation (recreative or compensatory function of culture). Each culture has its own traditions and customs that regulate ways to relieve accumulated tension. The most important role is played by holidays, the culture of which involves the creation of a special joyful mood. Ways of mental relaxation usually allow you to violate the standards of everyday life, allow looseness and freedom of behavior, sometimes going beyond the bounds of decency. However, even these sometimes seemingly erratic forms of behavior are regulated by cultural norms.

The values ​​and norms contained in the culture, however, do not always ensure successful socialization. In patriarchal times, the younger members of the family often remained almost all their lives in the subordination of the elders, feeling like inferior members of society. In the modern Western world, there are difficulties in the socialization of the elderly. Western civilization pushes older people to the margins of public life, and death is considered almost a taboo topic, which one should neither speak nor think about.

In addition, the cultural context can create the ground for antisocial forms of behavior - drunkenness, drug addiction, prostitution, crime. These phenomena become widespread when society finds itself in a state of crisis, the prestige of culture falls, the traditions and ideals of life are depreciated, and, as a result, socialization (especially of young people) is not effective enough.

Culture is multifaceted. The failures of socialization, associated both with deviations from socially approved forms of life (deviant, deviant behavior), and with the existence of negative cultural patterns, also have their roots in culture.

USED ​​BOOKS:

Culturology. History of world culture. Ed. A.N. Markova. - M., 1995.

Culturology. History of world culture. Expanded edition. Ed. A.N. Markova. - M., 2003. Ed. "UNITI".

Nikitich L.A. Culturology. Theory. Philosophy. History of culture. - M., 2005 LLC "UNITI-DANA Publishing House".

Karmin A.S., Novikova E.S. Culturology. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2006.

The complex and multilevel structure of culture determines the diversity of its functions in the life of society and man. But there is no complete unanimity among culturologists on the question of the number of functions of culture. Nevertheless, they all agree with the idea of ​​multifunctionality of culture, with the fact that each of its components can perform different functions. Comparison of different points of view on this issue allows us to conclude that among the main functions of culture are adaptive, sign (significative), cognitive, informational, communicative, integrative, regulatory, axiological and etc.

The adaptive function of culture

The most important function of culture is adaptive, allowing a person to adapt to the environment, which is a necessary condition for the survival of all living organisms in the process of evolution. But a person does not adapt to changes in the environment, as other living organisms do, but changes the environment in accordance with his needs, adapting it to himself. This creates a new, artificial world - culture. In other words, a person cannot lead a natural way of life, like animals, and in order to survive, he creates an artificial habitat around himself.

Of course, a person cannot achieve complete independence from the environment, since each specific form of culture is largely due to natural conditions. The type of economy, dwellings, traditions and customs, beliefs, rites and rituals of peoples will depend on natural and climatic conditions.

As culture develops, humanity provides itself with ever greater security and comfort. But, having got rid of the old fears and dangers, a person stands face to face with new threats that he creates for himself. So, today you can not be afraid of such formidable diseases of the past as plague or smallpox, but new diseases have appeared, such as AIDS, for which no cure has yet been found, and other deadly diseases created by man themselves are waiting in the military laboratories. Thus, a person needs to protect himself not only from the natural environment, but also from the world of culture.

The adaptive function has a dual nature. On the one hand, it manifests itself in the creation of the means of protection necessary for a person from the outside world. These are all the products of culture that help primitive, and later civilized man, survive and feel confident in the world: the use of fire, the creation of productive agriculture, medicine, etc. This is the so-called specific means of protection person. These include not only objects of material culture, but also those specific means that a person develops to adapt to life in society, keeping him from mutual extermination and death. These are state structures, laws, customs, traditions, moral standards, etc.

There are also non-specific means of protection of a person is a culture as a whole, existing as a picture of the world. Understanding culture as a "second nature", a world created by man, we emphasize the most important property of human activity and culture - the ability to "doubling" the world, highlighting in it sensory-objective and ideal-figurative layers. Culture as a picture of the world makes it possible to see the world not as a continuous flow of information, but to receive this information in an ordered and structured form.

Culture not only accumulates and stores information (this is mainly the prerogative of the cultural heritage). Due to culture, up-to-date information constantly circulates in society, transferring experience and knowledge. Culture forms the conditions and means of human communication. In principle, any artifact conveys information. But in culture there are special means communication - sign systems and, first of all, language. Culture is a field of human communication; it connects and unites people. The development of forms and methods of communication is the most important factor in the cultural history of mankind. In the course of history, the power and range of means of communication is growing: from primitive signal drums to satellite television. Writing was replaced by the mass media (MSK), radio and television. In the short term - the development of computer networks covering the whole world and making it possible to instantly contact any source of information. The development of a culture of communication promotes mutual understanding and empathy.

integrative function.

Thanks to communication and the presence of universal values, culture unites individuals, social groups, peoples and states. People develop a sense of belonging to the cultural community to which they belong. Preservation of cultural heritage, national traditions, historical memory creates a bond between generations. The unity of culture important condition fortresses of the state. The unifying role of technology, science and art is high.

With the course of history contacts of cultures grow, their interaction and interpenetration grows. The World Wide Web of the Internet weaves different cultures into one. The integrative function of culture is not aimed at erasing cultural differences, but at uniting people both within the same culture and beyond it, at realizing the unity of all mankind.

The adaptive function of culture.

The information and communication capabilities of culture allow it to ensure the adaptation of a person to the environment. But unlike animals, man simultaneously adapts the environment to himself, changes it in accordance with his needs. The biological unsuitability of a person turned into the ability to master any natural conditions, to create a variety of "protective" cultural layers (clothing, housing, weapons, etc.). At different peoples living in different conditions, their culture has historically fixed ways of adapting to natural environment. They constitute a rational justification for many national traditions (for example, in methods of treatment, housing construction, etc.), a lot of things, means and ways are invented to ensure safety and comfort, to fill life with pleasure and entertainment. Life expectancy and population growth are increasing.

To survive, humanity must improve its own nature, its spiritual essence, reducing its dependence on the forces of nature.

function of socialization.

Socialization is understood as the inclusion of individuals in public life, their assimilation of social experience, knowledge, values, norms of behavior corresponding to a given society, social group, social role.

The process of socialization allows the individual to become a full member of society. This process is also useful for society, for the preservation of the forms of life that have developed in it. Culture determines the content, means and methods of socialization. Socialization begins in childhood. The family also plays a huge role here, the example of parents, peers, teachers, etc. In later life, an important role is played by: school, other educational institutions, the media, labor collectives, informal groups. Self-education is also important. .

Socialization has an originality in various historical and national cultural contexts (Russian, American, Indian, etc.). Not only forms of activity depend on this context, but also forms of recreation, entertainment, mental relaxation (recreative and compensatory functions of culture): holidays, games, sports, mass art, various "hobbies". All these forms are regulated by cultural norms and have a ritual character.

In addition to those mentioned, other functions of culture of a more particular nature are noted in the literature: ensuring the integrity of the social system, ensuring the transition from one social system to another, resolving contradictions between society and nature, harmonizing relations between them, continuity of generations, the function of self-expression, self-affirmation and self-development of the individual and etc.

The information and communication capabilities of culture allow it to ensure the adaptation of a person to the environment. But unlike animals, man simultaneously adapts the environment to himself, changes it in accordance with his needs. The biological unsuitability of a person turned into the ability to master any natural conditions, to create a variety of "protective" cultural layers (clothing, housing, weapons, etc.). Different peoples living in different conditions have historically fixed ways of adapting to the natural environment in their culture. They constitute a rational justification for many national traditions (for example, in methods of treatment, housing construction, etc.), a lot of things, means and ways are invented to ensure safety and comfort, to fill life with pleasure and entertainment. Life expectancy and population growth are increasing.

To survive, humanity must improve its own nature, its spiritual essence, reducing its dependence on the forces of nature.

function of socialization.

Socialization is understood as the inclusion of individuals in public life, their assimilation of social experience, knowledge, values, norms of behavior corresponding to a given society, social group, social role.

The process of socialization allows the individual to become a full member of society. This process is also useful for society, for the preservation of the forms of life that have developed in it. Culture determines the content, means and methods of socialization. Socialization begins in childhood. The family also plays a huge role here, the example of parents, peers, teachers, etc. later life an important role is played by: school, other educational institutions, mass media, labor collectives, informal groups. Self-education is also important. .

Socialization has an originality in various historical and national cultural contexts (Russian, American, Indian, etc.). Not only forms of activity depend on this context, but also forms of recreation, entertainment, mental relaxation (recreative and compensatory functions of culture): holidays, games, sports, mass art, various “hobbies”. All these forms are regulated by cultural norms and have a ritual character.

In addition to those mentioned, other functions of culture of a more particular nature are noted in the literature: ensuring the integrity of the social system, ensuring the transition from one social system to another, resolving contradictions between society and nature, harmonizing relations between them, continuity of generations, the function of self-expression, self-affirmation and self-development of the individual and etc.

cultural dysfunctions.

Dysfunctions of culture are its negative impacts on nature, society and man. The real functioning of culture not only provides a solution to a particular problem, but also gives rise to many side effects that were not foreseen, and often could not be foreseen, by the creators of culture. These effects can be detrimental.

The growth and dissemination of objective knowledge often results in the spread of delusions and the displacement of extra-scientific layers. public consciousness. In every culture there are not only values ​​and ideals, but also anti-values ​​and anti-ideals. "Normative insufficiency" can lead to an increase in crime, a decline in morality. However, “normative redundancy” in turn limits freedom, initiative and creative activity. As a result, the rate of development of society slows down and stagnation sets in. Communication in the media is one-sided, contributing to feelings of loneliness. One of the paradoxes of modern culture is that the mass of contacts at the same time implies a lack of communication. The integrative function of culture also has controversial character: cultural differences sometimes they make it difficult for people to communicate, interfere with their mutual understanding. “We” and “they”, “us” and “them” are the realities of life, they give rise to enmity and often military clashes. Modern civilization is undertaking great effort for the socialization of the young, but often does this at the expense of the elderly, whose socialization is not given due attention. Failures of socialization, deviation from socially approved forms of life (deviant behavior), the existence of negative cultural patterns also have their roots in culture.

Quite often, what is functional in relation to the needs and goals of some social groups people, will be dysfunctional for others. For example, rock music is functional in relation to the needs of today's youth and dysfunctional in relation to the older generation brought up on other models. musical culture. Television advertising is functional in relation to the interests of commercial circles and dysfunctional in relation to the majority of viewers, whose consciousness it manipulates, etc.

Dysfunctions of culture cannot be avoided; J. J. Rousseau was wrong in his belief that the process of culture should be suspended. Cultural development is irresistible and it is as impossible to avoid it as it is to avoid the dysfunctions of culture.