Cultural dynamics is the changes that a culture undergoes when spreading in time (historical aspect) or in space (increase or decrease in the number of culture carriers).

Cultural dynamics is described using the following concepts.

1. Cultural diffusion is the penetration of features of one culture into another culture, or the mutual exchange of cultural features. Diffusion occurs only under the condition of cultural contact. Cultural contact, on the contrary, does not always involve diffusion, since it can end without any consequences. Whether cultural contact ends in the diffusion of cultural traits as a result depends largely on what type of society the society belongs to, whether it is closed or open. Naturally, an open society is more prone to borrowing cultural traits than a closed one. In addition, it also depends on the "internal structure" of culture: if a culture is polystylistic, that is, it allows many value systems, many ways of organizing life and giving it meaning, then it will be more disposed and more tolerant of borrowing from another culture; if it is monostylistic, then the rejection of "foreign bodies" will be stronger.

As X. Ortega y Gasset pointed out, the interactions of cultures can be:

Neutral when they coexist, do not interfere with each other and do not mix;

Alternative, or countercultural, when cultures actively push each other, as each expansively seeks to take a dominant position and plant its values ​​and standards in the community;

Competitive, competitive, when, in the process of self-development and struggle, cultures can shift into the area of ​​alternativeness and conflict relations.

2. Selectivity of cultures is the selection of certain cultural traits for borrowing and not the adoption of other traits. Selectivity is carried out in the process of cultural diffusion. There are several selectivity factors:

culture is not yet sufficiently developed to perceive this or that phenomenon, this or that feature of another culture;

culture through the value system and the system of norms imposes a ban on borrowing any or some of the features of another culture;

· carriers of culture believe that they do not need new phenomena;

· from the point of view of culture, any innovation or any particular innovation can destroy the existing state of affairs.

3. Cultural lag - a concept introduced by W. Ogborn, which denotes the uneven development of culture, when some areas (parts) of culture develop faster than others.

According to W. Ogborn, the sphere of non-material culture develops more slowly than the sphere of material culture, and, consequently, the first one is, as it were, “late”. P. Sorokin, on the contrary, believed that non-material culture was developing faster, which hindered the development of spiritual culture.

4. Cultural transmission - the process of translation (transfer) of cultural elements from one generation to another. It is through cultural transmission that culture is a continuous phenomenon based on continuity. Cultural transmission involves some distortions that are introduced by the characteristics of those who transmit and receive it.

5. Cultural innovation is the creation or recognition of new elements of culture.

Sociologists identify several basic patterns in the development of culture.

1) The dependence of the type of culture on the natural and artificial conditions of society and its inverse effect on their change.

2) Continuity in the development of culture. It can be temporary (vertical) and spatial (horizontal), positive (continuation of one or another cultural tradition) and negative (denial of previous cultural experience).

H) The uneven development of culture, which is expressed in two aspects: a) the rise and fall of culture do not coincide with the periods of rise and fall in other areas public life, for example, in economics; b) the types of culture themselves develop unevenly. So, today, with a more or less decent level of development of artistic culture, we are talking about the absence of political culture or the catastrophic state of ecological culture.

4) The special role of the individual, human individuality in the cultural process.

Intercultural communication and dialogue of cultures.

The term "communication" appeared in scientific literature in the early 1920s Along with the general scientific value - as a means. connections of any objects in any system - it has acquired a broad sociocultural meaning and is actively used in all areas human activity. "Communication" comes from lat. communication - message, transmission; communicare - to make common, to connect, to talk. This term is also used to describe the diverse processes associated with the transfer of information, and to state the presence or absence of some kind of connection between two subjects (systems).

Initially, communication in the social sciences, including in the disciplines that study culture, was considered in the context of the general theoretical constructions of behaviorism, where it was believed that the basis of communication processes is not language as a system, but direct speech signals, by manipulating which one can educate a person of any warehouse. To no lesser extent, the interpretation of this concept was influenced by the supporters of symbolic interactionism, who believed that the sociocultural structure of both micro- and macrolevels is the result of stabilization of the processes of interpersonal or intercultural communication, and development processes should be considered as the evolution of communicative forms.

After the Second World War, two main approaches to the study of communication processes took shape. The first is represented by the concepts of technological determinism, the most influential of which can be considered the theory information society, whose representatives, in particular D. Bell and Z. Brzezinski, believe that the media are the only stimulus and source sociocultural development. Information here is interpreted very broadly: it is the basis of culture and all cultural property. The second approach is represented by "understanding sociology", which states that the main result of communication should be considered a person's understanding of another person, i.e. mutual understanding of the two subjects of communication. Today, the greatest attention is paid to the processes of communication in the framework of studies of the modern information and post-information societies. In cultural studies, communication is considered from several positions and is the most important aspect of the study of many processes occurring in culture. Communication in culture, sociocultural communications, intracultural communications, intercultural communications - all this can be both a topic for a separate conversation and the subject of a general analysis, the purpose of which is a comprehensive and systematic study of the interaction and mutual influence of various cultural subjects.

Cultural modernization.

Modernization (from English modern - modern) - change, improvement that meets modern requirements1. From the point of view of philosophers who study this problem, the essence of modernization as a special form of development is the transition from a traditional society to a modern one.

Traditional societies are historically the first. This type society originated in ancient times, it is still widespread today. This is a society that reproduces itself on the basis of tradition and has the past, traditions, experience as a source of legitimation of activity. Traditional societies differ from modern ones in a number of ways:

The dominance of tradition over innovation;

Dependency in the organization social life from religious or mythological ideas;

Cyclical development;

The collectivist nature of society and the absence of a dedicated personality;

Pre-economic, pre-industrial character;

Lack of mass education, etc.

Modern society is opposite to the traditional one in most of the leading signs. This type of society can be represented as a system of the following defining features:

The predominance of innovation over tradition;

The secular nature of social life;

Progressive (non-cyclical) development;

Dedicated personality;

Preferential orientation to instrumental values;

Democratic system of power;

Industrial character;

Mass education;

Active active psychological warehouse;

Preference for worldview knowledge of the exact sciences and technologies (technogenic civilization), etc.

Because the modern societies essentially opposite traditional societies, then the modernization of society is a complex, lengthy and dramatic process that different countries go through in different ways depending on the historical and cultural specifics of these countries.

Historically, the first to embark on the path of modernization Western countries, which is why before mid-nineteenth century, modernization is understood as Westernization. M. Weber, seeking to identify the spiritual prerequisites of modern social change, creates the concept of the formation of capitalism from the spirit of Protestant ethics. From the point of view of Protestantism, the divine destiny of a person lies in the honest, conscientious fulfillment of his duties in worldly life. Therefore, wealth is an indicator that a person has achieved success in his earthly life and thereby fulfilled the plans of God. Wealth was understood as a way to save the soul, and not as a means of satisfaction own desires. Protestantism brought up such personality traits as diligence, thrift, prudence, responsibility. Thus, according to M. Weber, the main source of modernization is the Protestant religion with its special ethics and system of values.

Many philosophers see the origins of the Western mentality (and, consequently, modernization) in antiquity, when an active active subject was formed, asserting itself in influencing external world who considers the whole world as an object of application of his knowledge and forces. This type of person created a unique Western civilization. And consequently, the evolution of the West towards modernity was the result of the successive influence of antiquity, the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Enlightenment, the victory of their principles, which could not fail to take place.

The path of Western civilization has not been cloudless.

In the 20th century, ideas about a crisis, about the “decline” of European civilization, are increasingly heard. The reasons for the self-criticism of the West were the growing socio-political inequality, class struggle, nationalism, racism, chauvinism, the alienation of man, turning him into an appendage of the machine, the dehumanization of public life, the emergence of technologies of mass destruction, the negative consequences of scientific and technological progress.

In the 20th century, political forces arise that offer alternatives to the Western path and Western values. One of these forces was socialism, which can be viewed as a reflection and generation of the main contradictions of the Western path, and the experience of building socialism in the USSR as one of the options for modernization. Since socialism denied the basic values ​​of Western civilization: the market, democracy, individualism, the main emphasis in the development of society was placed on industrialization. This type of modernization as the organization of the masses for industrialization was called catch-up modernization (B.P. Vysheslavtsev).

The fundamental achievements of socialist modernization

1) the implementation of industrialization and the achievement of other features of modernity - mass education, the development of science, urbanization, etc.;

2) the preservation of its own cultural basis for development, namely such features as collectivism, anti-market approach, communist ideology, which played the role of the spiritual foundation of socialist transformations;

3) the ideal of a comprehensively developed, harmonic man- an ideal, undoubtedly, utopian, but nevertheless initiated the development of education, science, culture.

In the 60-80s of the 20th century, the countries of Southeast Asia were included in the modernization process, first Japan, which successfully competes with Western countries in the economic and technological sphere, then other countries of this region. The specificity of this modernization lies in the fact that it was carried out on its own cultural basis. The countries of Southeast Asia realized that they were unlikely to succeed on the path of Westernization, and in the processes of modernization they began to rely on their own traditions. Thus, the countries of Asia realize absolutely new way development, which is based not on individualism, but on collectivism.

Such modernization has a number of positive aspects:

It does not have a predetermined development model and uses the unique features of its country;

It relieves countries of many contradictions and spiritual problems associated with the conflict of traditional and individualistic values.

Thus, there are several options for modernization: Westernization, catch-up modernization, modernization on its own cultural basis. Today, the idea of ​​a variety of ways of modernization is being affirmed in the world: since the culture of each nation is unique and unrepeatable, there is not and cannot be universal modernization, its pace, nature and consequences will be different in different countries. different countries. Consequently, the most important factor in the modernization of society is its culture.

The dynamics of culture are natural changes that occur under the influence of external and internal factors. As a rule, this phenomenon accompanies the process of development of the culture of any state and the world as a whole, which is always orderly and integral, and its origin is always directed, not chaotic.

If we consider the philosophical approach to solving this issue, we can see that it is by no means unambiguous. Thus, the dynamics of culture is often realized in linear and non-linear (cyclical and multi-layered concept) directions. The cyclic theory asserts that a culture during its development goes through all the stages that an organism possesses (the stage of birth, youth, maturity and death). At the same time, its main milestones tend to be periodically repeated. Representatives of the multi-layer concept are sure that culture does not have one line of development: all its types have separate vectors along which they move. As for the linear versions, they are based on the fact that a culture can either degrade, or evolve, or constantly change, not depending on regression or progress.

According to such approaches, the following models of culture dynamics are distinguished:

1. Cyclic, which has two directions - inversion and spiral.

2. Linear. This type is called evolutionary, during which development from simple to complex is observed.

3. Deviant. In this situation, the dynamics of culture is a deviation in development from the main system of behavior. Thus, a degradation process is observed.

4. Wavy. Following this theory, all the ups and downs in the cultural development of society are very easy to explain.

5. Synergistic. This model is applicable when abrupt changes need to be explained.

Based on the foregoing, we note that the dynamics of culture is its change, which depends entirely on

This change applies to all artistic styles, norms of behavior and other aspects of development. It is believed that innovation is the mechanism that triggers the development cultural process in one direction or another. It, in turn, can be of two types: borrowing and invention. The second of them arises on the basis of intracultural conflict occurring in society.

The dynamics of culture is also directly dependent on tradition, which is the vehicle capable of reproducing culture with all the tools that have ever existed and were legal to use. When it is rejected, it reflects negatively on the development process. According to history, when the world refuses existing traditions, society continues to develop, but in the end, the class struggle becomes the result of this.

For society, the best option is the situation when it is found " golden mean". In this case, it moves in step with innovations, and the culture is not preserved.

Remember that the dynamics of culture for its systematic development must take into account the following factors:

1. Behavioral models.

2. Avant-garde culture, which also stimulates the development of society.

3. Marginal culture, which arises as an intermediate culture at the junction of several social groups.

4. Dissidence based on representatives of art who do not agree with any dogmas and generally accepted rules.

5. Representatives of other states that contribute to the emergence of new countries and even continents.

Each culture develops in one way or another, because without it the world would not exist, and traditions would have become obsolete. Therefore, the changes taking place in society are natural.

Cyclic model

Historically, the first ideas about the dynamics of culture in the form of a time circle (cycle) arose back in ancient world, within the mythological models of the world in ancient China, India, Greece. They are based on the idea of ​​the eternal cycle of events and the eternal return to their origins, as well as on the periodic repetition of phenomena in nature and culture.

The first systematic exposition of this model cultural dynamics belongs to Hesiod and other ancient thinkers. In his model, the history of mankind is divided into four eras - the golden, silver, copper and iron ages - and represents a movement in time, which is understood as eternity. Each epoch has its own state of culture. The meaning of history is in constant repetition, reproduction of general laws that do not depend on the characteristics of a particular society.

Inversion is a variant of the cyclic model of culture dynamics, in which changes do not occur in a circle, but make pendulum oscillations from one pole cultural values to another. These kinds of swings occur if a strong core or structure has not developed in a culture. Therefore, the less stable the society and the weaker relationship between its components, the greater the scope of the turns in its spiritual or political life- from rigid normativity to licentiousness, from wordless obedience to merciless rebellion.

Concepts local civilizations

The concepts of local civilizations considered above by N.Ya. Danilevsky, O. Spengler, A. Toynbee are also variants of the cyclic model of culture dynamics. Denying the concept world history, a single historical process, they put forward the idea of ​​development individual peoples and cultures, occurring according to cyclical laws, invariant for all cultures. Separate civilizations or cultural-historical types develop both sequentially and in parallel and experience the stages of emergence, development, prosperity and decline - a return to their original state. The dynamics of the development of a separate local civilization can be compared with a perennial once flowering plant that grows and gains strength for many years in order to bloom once, give it all its strength and then die.

Linear model of culture dynamics.

The appearance of a linear (evolutionary) model of the dynamics of culture is associated with the emergence of Christianity and the comprehension of its ideas within the framework of theology. It is based on one of the main paradigms of Christianity - the arrow of time, opening eternity, breaking the circle of the eternal return of cyclism, introducing the concepts of the beginning and end of history, which continues from the creation of the world to the Last Judgment and the end of the world. Within the framework of this model, the problems of progress in history and culture, the meaning and purpose of cultural development, and the measure of the perfection of culture were posed for the first time. This model developed within the French and German Enlightenment (A. Condorcet, I. Herder), German classical philosophy (I. Kant, G. Hegel), Marxism, evolutionism, social and cultural anthropology (E. Tylor, D. Fraser, L. Morgan), as well as in the neo-evolutionary direction of cultural studies (L. White, K. Kluckhohn). The type of linear model depends on what is recognized as the source and goal of the development of society and culture. Thus, for Kant it is the development of man himself, for Hegel it is the self-development of the absolute spirit, in Marxism it is the development of material production. An important element of linear concepts is the concept of progress, which is defined as a quantitative and qualitative improvement in the life of a person and society, as the movement of society forward, as a global process that characterizes the movement human society throughout history, his ascent from a state of savagery and barbarism to the heights of civilization. At the same time, gradual (reformist) social progress and spasmodic (revolutionary) social progress are distinguished.

Reversible model

The reversal model is a variant of the linear (evolutionary) model of culture dynamics and is an arrow of time facing the past.

In fact, this model is not a pure version of the linear model, since in addition to the idea of ​​evolution, it uses the value determinant of cyclism - the idea of ​​returning to the "golden age", which is in the past of mankind.

The concept of J.J. Rousseau is an example of a reversible model of culture dynamics. For him, the development of culture, the growth of a person's material well-being does not bring happiness, but the alienation of a person from the products of his labor, society, and other people.

Deviant model of culture dynamics

The deviant model of culture dynamics was formulated within the framework of neo-evolutionism, based on the linear model of culture dynamics. Graphically, it can be represented as a strongly branching tree, where the trunk is the general line of development of society and culture, and the branches are deviations from it, which make it possible to explain the specifics of individual cultures that have departed in their development from the main direction prescribed by open laws.

1. The concept of the dynamics of culture and its model.

2. Mechanisms, types, factors of cultural dynamics.

3. Progress and its criteria in culture.

1. The path passed by mankind from a stone ax to a modern computer, from a primitive human herd to a legal state, allows us to draw an unambiguous conclusion that culture is mobile and changeable. However, it is equally clear that changes in cultures different peoples occur with varying intensity and give different results. So, next to the rapidly developing European civilization and culture have coexisted for centuries and even millennia, in almost unchanged form, the cultures of the peoples of Asia, Africa and Australia.

Almost all cultural theories and schools give their explanations for the process of changes in culture:

The very first attempt was made in myths. Since the myth is based on the idea of ​​the unity of man and nature, all processes and phenomena in the world are explained through human feelings, representations and behavior.

The search for rational causes of cultural change was undertaken in philosophy. As a rule, these reasons were in the internal patterns of development of the world itself and society, as well as in the activities of people who use these patterns for their own purposes. On the base philosophical quest gradually formed a scientific approach to the study of cultural change.

Unlike philosophy, which offered speculative constructions of the historical process, science sought to rely on firmly established facts and precise (quantitative) research methods. Therefore, scientists have repeatedly tried to measure real, specific trends in cultural change, to find out how they are affected by state cultural policy or activities. individual people. This approach is typical for sociology of culture.

- modern cultural studies focuses on both scientific and philosophical methods of research.

Continue to exist and retain their heuristic (from Greek - I seek, discover) abilities theological concept of cultural dynamics.

First scientific ideas about cultural dynamics appeared in the 19th century. within the framework of evolutionism, the leading direction in science of that time. True, the term "dynamics" itself has not yet been used. 19th century explorers absolutized development processes, believing that all cultural changes should represent a movement from simple to complex, i.e. they talked about the programmed progressive sophistication of culture.

Since the XX century. there is an expansion of ideas about the nature and direction of changes in culture. Now, change is understood not only as development, but also as any transformation within a culture. These include crises, a return to the old, complete disappearance, etc. They also begin to talk about constant shifts and transformations of cultural forms, which can be ordered and disordered, intense and weak, stable and unstable, leading to development or crisis.

P. Sorokin's book "Social and Cultural Dynamics" (1937-1941) became a milestone for the analysis of cultural changes. It was there that the term “cultural dynamics” was first introduced into scientific circulation. Under the dynamics of culture is understood not only development, but also any change in culture, a stable order of interaction of its components, one or another of its periodicity, stadiality, orientation towards some state. Development, change, thus, becomes one of the forms of cultural dynamics.

Models of culture dynamics.

Ideas about the dynamics of culture, its cycles, change and development are based on the observation and study of political and economic cycles (stages) of development, rhythms in the dynamics of art, science, Everyday life. Also of great importance life cycles individual, which are considered to be the most important and reference for assessing the dynamics of the cultural process.

As a result of these observations, the researchers came to the conclusion that in history and culture, changes have a fixed sequence of stages or states. Continuity and periodicity of changes in culture can exist in at least two forms:

­ Firstly, in the form of an evolutionary process, the essence of which is a consistent irreversible increase in the level of complexity and organization of cultural systems.

­ Secondly, in the form of a temporary circle (cycle), which is a repeating sequence of certain phases or states.

In addition to the two "pure" forms of cultural dynamics, the real course of world history and culture shows us several more models of cultural dynamics, which are variants of the cyclic and evolutionary (linear) models, or a model that synthesizes the features of the two main forms.

Cyclic model

Historically, the first ideas about the dynamics of culture in the form of a time circle (cycle) arose in the Ancient World, within the framework of mythological models of the world in China, India and Ancient Greece. They are based on the idea of ​​the eternal cycle of events and the eternal return to their origins, as well as on the periodic repetition of phenomena in nature and culture.

The first systematic presentation of this model of cultural dynamics belongs to Hesiod and other ancient thinkers. According to his views, the entire history of mankind is divided into four eras - golden, silver, copper and iron ages - and represents a movement in time, which is understood as eternity. Each epoch has its own state of culture. The meaning of history is in constant repetition, reproduction of general laws that do not depend on the characteristics of a particular society. The further in its development a society moves away from the golden age, the stronger the deviation from the original ideal model-archetype. Since man was essentially considered unchanged, it was these deviations that determined culture at each of the four stages. Culture was then understood as a set of moral norms, the nature of power, the connection of generations, a way of assimilating cultural values. In the golden age, a person was likened to the gods, love and equality reigned in the world, there was a close connection between generations, there was no need to work, since a person received everything necessary for life directly from nature, including the knowledge that he possessed innately. TO iron age mankind came with a complete oblivion of moral regulators, the war of all against all, the loss of communication between generations, the loss of harmony with nature. The final moment of development was the crisis of culture, usually associated with the rebellion of nature against man. The crisis could not be considered an entirely negative phenomenon, since it did not lead to the final collapse of culture, it returned it to the starting point from which it began. new cycle development. At one point the past and the future coincided, they became invariants of each other. Such cycles were repeated endlessly, this washed away the eternal return and idealization of the past.

Inversion

A variant of the cyclic model of culture dynamics is inversion, in which changes do not go in a circle, but make pendulum oscillations from one pole of cultural meanings to another. These kinds of swings occur if a strong core or structure has not developed in a culture. Therefore, than less degree the stability of society and the weaker relations between its components are, the greater the scope for turns in its spiritual or political life: from strict normativity to loose morals, from wordless obedience to merciless rebellion.

Elements of inconsistency are present at different levels of cultural development. For the mythological consciousness, this inconsistency is interpreted as a rivalry between two differently directed principles (day - night, life - death, good - evil, etc.), and their successive inversion means only a temporary change of states. In Chinese cultural heritage, a greater place is given to the ratio of two opposite vital principles- yin and yang, the change of their combinations determines all life situations.

The inversion wave can cover the most different periods- from several years to several centuries. Changes in culture had an inversion character in different times and in different societies. At a certain stage, this character was assumed by the transition from paganism to monotheism, accompanied by the eradication of previous cults. The 20th century showed a rollback from religion to atheism, which led to the destruction of former shrines, sweeping criticism of the regime and reprisals against priests to an ever-increasing interest in religion both on the part of the people and the state. Many countries have shown a shift from a policy of cultural isolation to intense contact with other cultures.

Models (forms) of culture dynamics

Watching political and economic processes development, behind the dynamics of science, art, changes in people's daily lives, the researchers came to the conclusion that in history and culture, changes have a fixed sequence of stages or states. Based on this, the main models (forms) of the dynamics of culture were identified.

First of all, the course of world history and culture demonstrates the existence of two main forms of cultural dynamics. This evolutionary process And cycle (time circle) . Under evolutionary process is understood as a consistent irreversible increase in the level of complexity and organization of cultural systems. A cycle - it is a repeating sequence of certain phases or states. But in addition to these "pure" forms of cultural dynamics, there are several models that are variants of the cyclic and evolutionary (or linear) models, or models that synthesize the features of the two main forms.

To date, the world's scientific thought has accumulated a huge amount of ideas, ideas and concepts, which makes it possible to give a scientific and philosophical interpretation of the dynamics of culture.

Cyclic model

This model was historically the first and originated in the ancient world. In mythology Ancient China, ancient india there were ideas of the eternal cycle of events and the eternal return to their origins, as well as the periodic repetition of phenomena in nature and human life. In Ancient Greece, in the writings Hesiod and other ancient thinkers ( Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Empedocles) we already meet the first systematic exposition of this model of cultural dynamics.

For Hesiod, history is a movement in time, which is understood as eternity. He divided the entire history of mankind into four epochs - golden, silver, copper and iron ages. In the golden age, man was likened to gods, love and equality reigned in the world, there was a close connection between generations, there was no need to work, because. nature was generous and gave man everything necessary for life, including the knowledge that he possessed from birth. The further in his development a person moved away from the golden age, the stronger was the deviation from the original ideal standard model, and the more difficult his life became. Each era was characterized by its own state of culture, which was determined by these deviations. By the Iron Age, man came with a complete oblivion of moral norms and laws, with the loss of communication between generations, with the loss of harmony with nature. A war of all against all began. As a result, everything ended with a crisis of culture, which was usually associated with the fact that nature itself rebelled against man. But this crisis did not mean a complete collapse, it was not a completely negative phenomenon, since it did not lead to the final disappearance of culture. She returned to the starting point from which a new cycle of development began. Such cycles were repeated endlessly, in this - washed away the eternal return and idealization of the past.

In subsequent centuries, the idea of ​​cyclic development was supported by many thinkers. In the XIX - XX centuries. variants of the cyclical model of culture dynamics are found in the concepts of local civilizations by N.Ya. Danilevsky, O. Spengler, A. Toynbee. These authors, denying the concept of world history as a single historical process, put forward the idea of ​​the development of individual peoples and cultures, which occurs according to cyclical laws. The development of individual civilizations or cultural-historical types can occur both sequentially and in parallel. The form of development is the same for everyone, but the content is unique for each culture. The development of local civilizations goes through the stages of emergence, development, prosperity and decline - a return to the original state.

Another variant of the cyclic model of culture dynamics is the model inversions, in which changes do not go in a circle, but make pendulum oscillations from one pole of cultural values ​​to another. These kinds of swings occur if a strong core or structure has not developed in a culture. An inversion wave can cover a variety of periods - from several years to several centuries. Changes in culture at different times and in different societies had an inversional character. An example of inversion can be the Renaissance, which led to the restoration of ancient pagan culture, the cultivation of those values ​​that were denied by the Christian church for many centuries. But after it came the era of the Reformation and the counter-reformation, partially restoring the shaken position of religion. In the 20th century, the transition from religion to atheism that took place in our country after the revolution of 1917, which led to the destruction of former shrines, criticism of religion and reprisals against clergy, can serve as an example in the 20th century. But at the end of the century, the pendulum swung back, and we are seeing a growing interest in religion.

Linear model

The emergence of this model of cultural dynamics is associated with the emergence of Christianity. It is based on one of the fundamental ideas of this religion - arrow of time , which broke the circle of eternal return to the original beginning and introduced the concept of the beginning and end of history. According to Christianity, history begins from the creation of the world and continues until doomsday and the end of the world. Within the framework of this model, for the first time, the problems of progress in history and culture, the meaning and purpose of cultural development, and the measure of the perfection of culture were posed.

This model was actively developed within the framework of the French and German Enlightenment ( A.Condorcet, I.Gerder), German classical philosophy ( I. Kant, G. Hegel), in Marxism, in the evolutionism of social and cultural anthropology ( E. Tylor, D. Fraser, L. Morgan), as well as in the neo-evolutionary direction of cultural studies ( L. White, K. Kluckhohn).

The linear model can take on a variety of forms, depending on what is recognized as the source and goal of the development of society and culture. But the following is common for almost all variants of the linear model of cultural dynamics. Human race one, as the very essence of man is one. This should lead to a uniform development of culture in any part of the world. Culture was understood as a single world culture, which is a continuous series of successive stages, each of which is more perfect than the previous one. One and the same stage of development of culture should give the same manifestations in all peoples at this stage.

The main varieties of the linear model: progressive model, regressive(reverse) model and deviant model of cultural dynamics.

• 1) progressive model. An important element of the evolutionary model is idea of ​​progress- quantitative and qualitative improvement of human life and society. Those. culture - develops from the lowest, simplest state to more complex and perfect (evolutionism, E.B. Tylor).
• 2) Regressive (reverse) model in contrast to classical evolutionary models based on the recognition that the future is better than the past, claims the opposite. The "golden age" was in the past, all further development of culture leads only to degradation and decline spiritual development, and, consequently, culture (the arrow of time facing the past). It's happening involution, degradation. This model was advocated J.J. Rousseau for which the development of culture, the growth of a person's material well-being does not bring happiness, but the alienation of a person from the products of his labor, from society, from other people. The development of culture separates people. Human happiness is in unity with nature. You can return to it only by giving up modern civilization and her values.
• 3) deviant(i.e. deviant) model arose from the linear model. It became a response to the difficulties experienced by classical evolutionism, which failed to explain the fact of the qualitative diversity of cultures. One of its authors - L.A. White. The essence of this model is that there is a general line of development of society and culture, and branches are deviations from it, which make it possible to explain the specifics of individual cultures that have departed from the main direction (multilinearity of evolution). Graphically, it can be represented as a strongly branching tree.

wave pattern

This model is a combination of cyclic and linear models of culture dynamics, connecting reversible and irreversible processes. They also talked about wave changes in culture D. Vico,P. Sorokin, but this model was most fully presented in the works of the outstanding Russian economist N.D. Kondratiev(1898-1938). He suggested that the economy and other closely related areas of culture develop on the basis of a combination of small cycles (3-5 years) with medium-term (7-11 years) and large (50 years) cycles. In such cycles, the rise phase is associated with the introduction of new means of labor, an increase in the number of employees, which is accompanied by an optimistic mood in society, a balanced development of culture. The recession causes an increase in unemployment, the oppressed state of many industries and, as a result, pessimistic moods in society, the decline of culture.

A prominent representative of the ideas of wave cyclicity in modern Russian cultural studies is Yu.V. Yakovets. His concept considers not only the model of the development of civilizations (microdynamics of culture), but also of all mankind as a whole (macrodynamics of culture). In his opinion, the development of society and culture proceeds through a combination of irreversible evolution, a progressive transition from stage to stage, with reversibility in a wave-spiral form of movement, periodic alternation of phases of rise, stable development, crisis, depression, revival and a new rise of culture, more or less less significant periods of its ups and downs. This rhythm is specific for each element of culture, each country, but in the aggregate it forms the general symphony of the evolution of mankind, its movement from turn to turn of the historical spiral.

Synergy model

This model is one of the most modern models of cultural dynamics, and owes its origin to the new science of synergetics. Synergetics is a science that studies self-organization simple systems(biological, physico-chemical, etc.). self-organization called the process that translates open Open systems are systems that exchange matter, energy or information with the environment. nonequilibrium Systems that are in an extremely unstable state are non-equilibrium. system, which is in an unstable state, into a new, more stable state, characterized by more a high degree complexity and order.

Synergetics arose in the 1970s within the framework of physics, thanks to the work of a German radiophysicist G. Haken and Belgian physicist of Russian origin I. Prigogine. They managed to show and reflect in mathematical models how order can emerge from chaos. At the same time, only a few of the several systems of the same type participating in this process and located in a changing environment remain. They will become more complex and orderly than previous systems, and the rest of the systems will perish in a peculiar way. natural selection, as a result of which only the most adapted to the new conditions of the system will survive.

Synergetics soon went beyond the boundaries of the natural sciences and began to be applied in the study of cultural phenomena. Culture can be represented as an open, non-equilibrium system that is in a constant process of exchanging matter (energy, information, etc.) with the environment. From the point of view of synergetics, any open non-equilibrium system goes through two stages in its development. First stage - this is a smooth evolutionary development of the system, with well-predictable results, and most importantly, with the ability to return to its previous state upon termination external influence. Second phase in the development of systems - a leap that instantly transfers the system to a qualitatively new state. Jump - this is a highly non-linear process, so it is impossible to predict its results in advance. When there is a jump, the system is at the point bifurcations(branching), it has several possible options for further evolution, but it is impossible to predict in advance which of them will be chosen. The choice occurs randomly, directly at the moment of the jump, determined by the unique combination of circumstances that will develop in this moment time and place. But the most important thing is that after passing through the bifurcation point, the system can no longer return to its previous state, and all its further development is carried out taking into account the previous choice.

As it turned out, the synergetic paradigm can be used very effectively to study the dynamics of culture, since all cultural systems meet the requirements of multivariate development, non-linearity and irreversibility. At the same time, due to the freedom of choice inherent in a person, we can significantly influence the choice of the further development of sociocultural systems at bifurcation points, try to choose the most optimal from the entire spectrum possible through development, influencing the control parameters Control parameters of the system are the most important indicators on which the very existence of the system depends . systems.

Thus, the synergetic model makes it possible to see in the dynamics of culture not a linear process of development, but a multitude of paths of evolutionary or intensely rapid (up to catastrophic), sustainable or unsustainable development. In addition, dynamic changes in culture are a set of processes that occur at different rates, with different directions and in different modes. The result of dynamics can be both upward development, growth, an increase in the complexity and adaptability of the system to the environment, and decline, an increase in chaos, a crisis or a catastrophe, which entails a break in linear development. In general, the process of culture dynamics can be interpreted as a manifestation of the possibility of complex social systems adapt to changing external and internal conditions of its existence.

So, we have considered the main models of the dynamics of culture. Recognizing the importance of progressive linear development vectors in dynamic changes, it must be borne in mind that this type of cultural dynamics is by no means the only one and often not leading in significance. As a rule, it is supplemented or alternated with phase, cyclic or staged changes that can develop into a wave development, into a development in a circle.

It is obvious that the choice of any of the models of cultural dynamics as the only possible one would be erroneous. Such a complex object of study as culture is, in principle, impossible to reduce to a single factor, cause or model. In the real dynamics of culture, we can observe all of the listed forms, describing both certain stages in the dynamics of specific societies and cultures, and changes individual elements within these cultures.