Types and forms of culture

Culture

Culture is a collection of values, norms, customs, and creative achievements created and absorbed by people. Examples of cultural expressions include:

• Literature
• Art
• Music
• Science
• Language
• Traditions

Definition of Culture

The word "culture" has many definitions; however, for the school curriculum in social studies, only some of them are important.

Culture encompasses everything created by humans, from technological means and spiritual values to scientific discoveries, literary monuments, political theories, legal and ethical norms, works of art, and much more.

In a broad sense, culture is a historically conditioned dynamic complex that includes constantly evolving forms, principles, methods, and results of active creative human activity.

In a narrow sense, culture is the process of active creativity, during which spiritual values are created, distributed, and consumed.

Culture can also be understood as:

• "Social inheritance" or "social memory," which is transmitted not biologically;
• The internal, spiritual development and wealth of a person;
• The way of life of a particular people (for example, the culture of Ancient Egypt).

Elements of Culture

Culture consists of many different components, which can be classified into several groups:

• Symbols — Conventional signs, words, or objects that convey meaning and significance within a particular culture. For example, in national culture, symbols include language, traditions, rituals, and emblems.
• Heroes — Both real and fictional figures who serve as role models due to their achievements or significant activities. Examples include writers, actors, and military leaders.
• Rituals — Collective actions with a clear structure and established order. For instance, crossing oneself before entering a church.
• Values — The deepest level of culture, which encompasses universal human ideas of good and evil, right and wrong, true and false.

Functions of Culture

The main functions of culture can be highlighted as follows:

• Humanistic — The formation of a humanistic worldview, which is the main function of culture.
• Cognitive — The creation of a holistic understanding of a people, country, and era.
• Evaluative — The differentiation of values and the enrichment of traditions.
• Regulatory (Normative) — The formation of a system of norms and requirements that society imposes on each person in all areas of life (including moral, legal, and behavioral norms).
• Informative — The transmission and exchange of knowledge, values, and experiences of previous generations.
• Communicative — The preservation, transmission, and replication of cultural values; the development and improvement of individuals through interaction with others.
• Socialization — The process of assimilating a system of knowledge, norms, and values, as well as the habituation to social roles and normative behavior, contributing to the pursuit of self-improvement.

Main Forms of Culture

Types of culture reflect various aspects of cultural life and societal activity. They include:

• Material Culture — Includes buildings and technologies.
• Spiritual Culture — Encompasses religion and philosophy.
• Mass Culture — Represents cinema and television.
• Elite Culture — Includes classical music and literature.
• Folk Culture — Manifested through folklore and holidays.

There are several criteria based on which different forms and varieties of culture are distinguished:

• By relation to religion — Religious and secular culture.
• By regional criterion — Culture of the East, West, etc.
• By national criterion — Russian, American, etc.
• By historical type of society — Culture of traditional, industrial, and post-industrial societies.
• By territory — Rural and urban culture.
• By sphere of society or type of activity — Productive, political, economic, pedagogical, ecological, artistic culture, etc.
• By the nature of the needs being met — Material and spiritual culture.
• By level of mastery and type of audience — Elite, folk, and mass culture.

Elite Culture

Elite culture is created by the privileged part of society or professional creators by order. Its features include:

• Difficulty of perception for unprepared people.
• Consumption of cultural products by educated segments of society — critics, literary scholars, theater-goers, artists, writers, and musicians.

Folk Culture

Folk culture is characterized by the following traits:

• Adherence to traditions and rituals.
• Oral folk creativity (tales, songs).
• Collectivity.
• Limited information field.

Examples of folk culture include holidays such as Maslenitsa and folkloric works, like Pushkin's fairy tales. It is created by anonymous authors without professional training. The products of folk culture include myths, legends, epics, fairy tales, and songs, and its characteristic features include adherence to traditions and rituals as well as a limited information field.

Mass Culture

Mass culture is the culture of daily life, entertainment, and information that predominates in modern society. It includes elements such as concert and pop music, circus, and mass media. The features of mass culture include:

• It has the broadest audience and is considered authored at the same time.
• Often has less artistic value compared to elite culture and appeals to simple emotions of the public.
• Has a commercial character.
• Meets immediate demands of people and responds to current events, leading to samples of mass culture quickly losing relevance and going out of style.

Mass culture has both positive and negative aspects.

Positive Influence:

• Forms perceptions of the world and relationships between people, helping individuals better navigate a rapidly changing society.
• Works of mass culture are not means of authorial self-expression; they cater to audience demands.
• It is democratic, as it attracts people from various social groups.
• Meets the needs of many people, such as the need for active rest and psychological relief.

Negative Influence:

• Reduces the overall level of spiritual culture in society.
• Leads to the standardization and unification of lifestyles and ways of thinking.
• Is geared towards passive consumption.
• Forms stereotypes in people's consciousness.
• Creates artificial needs.

Material Culture

Material culture is a system of material values that arises in the process of human activity. The main tasks of material culture include:

• Adapting humans to the surrounding world.
• Satisfying material needs.

The world of material culture includes all items of daily life and usage: clothing, furniture, structures, weapons, jewelry, housing, etc. The essence of material culture lies in transforming natural objects into items that reflect human creativity and are directed towards meeting human needs. Each item created by humans carries significant meaning, allowing the restoration of the daily life, beliefs, and history of previous generations.

Spiritual Culture

Areas of spiritual culture are the key spheres in which the spiritual life of society manifests and develops:

• Science
• Art
• Religion
• Education
• Morality

Each of these areas is aimed at developing the intellectual, aesthetic, moral, and spiritual qualities of a person. Spiritual culture is the totality of spiritual values and the creative activities for their production, assimilation, and application. Spiritual values of culture manifest in:

• Art
• Philosophy
• Science
• Religion
• Morality

Human activity within spiritual culture is aimed at the spiritual, intellectual, moral, aesthetic, and political development of individuals and society. Spirituality is consciously formed through immersion in social values and moral norms.

Signs of Spiritual Culture:

• The aspiration to improve oneself and the surrounding world.
• Orientation towards ideal forms.
• A deep moral tradition.
• A high degree of creative freedom.
• Non-utilitarianism and selflessness.

For each society, culture possesses unique features that are embodied in mythological systems, epics, and philosophical concepts.

Functions of Spiritual Culture:

• Preservation of cultural experience.
• A means of understanding and explaining the world.
• Regulation of interactions among people in society.
• Formation of social values and ideals.
• Education and upbringing.

The division of culture into material and spiritual is conditional, and sometimes it is difficult to draw a clear line between them, as they do not exist in pure form. For example, spiritual culture can be represented in material carriers such as books, paintings, and tools.

Varieties of Culture

There are two important varieties of culture that students should know in social studies classes: subculture and counterculture.

Subculture

A subculture is a part of the overall culture, representing a system of values specific to a particular group of people.

Varieties of Subcultures:

• Youth Subculture — Its members strive to create their unique lifestyle, such as fans of certain music genres, movies, or TV shows.
• Religious Subcultures — Authoritarian sects that form their own beliefs and mandatory rules (e.g., sects).
• Ethnic Communities — Have their dialects that differ from the commonly accepted language norms.

Characteristic Features of Subcultures:

• Presence of unique values, attitudes, and rules that differ from the dominant cultural worldview.
• A specific lifestyle and behavior.
• Existence of external attributes reflected in clothing style, slang, and manners.
• Formation of an initiative core that generates new ideas.

Counterculture

Counterculture represents an opposition and alternative to the dominant culture in society. Examples include youth groups whose values and lifestyles contradict accepted norms, such as goths, punks, and anarchists. Counterculture also includes criminal groups that act against the rules of the overall culture (e.g., thieves, hooligans, and drug addicts).

A Characteristic Feature of Counterculture is its resistance to traditional societal norms.