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The social functions of culture are summarized. The structure and functions of the sociology of culture. The communicative function of culture

23.12.2020

Culture plays an important role in life society, which consists primarily in the fact that culture acts as a means of accumulation, storage and transmission of human experience.

This role of culture is realized through a number of functions:

1) Educational and educational function.You can say what exactly culture does human personality... An individual becomes a member of society, a person as he socializes, that is, mastering knowledge, language, symbols, values, norms, customs, traditions of his people, his social group and all mankind. The level of a person's culture is determined by its socialization - familiarization with the cultural heritage, as well as the degree of development of individual abilities. The culture of personality is usually associated with developed creativity, erudition, understanding of works arts, fluency in native and foreign languages, accuracy, politeness, self-control, high morality, etc. All this is achieved in the process education and education.

2) Integrative and disintegrative functions of culture... E. Durkheim paid special attention to these functions in his studies. According to E. Durkheim, the development of culture creates in people - members of a particular community a sense of community, belonging to one nation, people, religion, group, etc. Thus, culture unites people, integrates them, ensures the integrity of the community. But by rallying some on the basis of some subculture, it opposes them to others, separates broader communities and communities. Within these broader communities and communities, cultural conflicts can arise. Thus, culture can and often does a disintegrating function.

3) Social functionsthat culture fulfills allow people to carry out collective activities in the best way to satisfy their needs. The main functions of culture include:

    social integration - ensuring the unity of mankind, a community of worldview (with the help of myth, religion, philosophy);

    organization and regulation of the joint life of people through law, politics, morality, customs, ideology, etc .;

    providing the means of life for people (such as cognition, communication, accumulation and transfer of knowledge, upbringing, education, stimulating innovation, selection of values, etc.);

    regulation of certain spheres of human activity (culture of everyday life, culture of recreation, culture of work, food culture, etc.).

Thus, the cultural system is not only complex and diverse, but also very mobile. Culture is an immutable component of the life of both society as a whole and its closely interrelated subjects: individuals, social communities, social institutions.

4) Regulatory function of culture... As noted earlier, in the course of socialization, values, ideals, norms and patterns of behavior become part of the personality's self-awareness. They shape and regulate her behavior. We can say that culture as a whole determines the framework in which a person can and should act. Culture regulates human behavior in family, school, at work, at home, etc., putting forward a system of prescriptions and prohibitions. Violation of these regulations and prohibitions triggers certain sanctions that are established by the community and supported by the power of public opinion and various forms of institutional coercion.

5) Function of accumulation and storage of information inextricably linked with the cognitive function, since knowledge, information is the result of knowing the world. The need for information on a variety of issues is a natural condition for the life of both an individual and society as a whole. A person must remember his past, be able to assess it correctly, admit his mistakes; must know who he is, where he is from and where he is going. To get an answer to these questions, a person has created sign systems that collect, organize and store the necessary information. At the same time, culture can be represented as a complex sign system that ensures historical continuity and the transfer of social experience from generation to generation, from era to era, from one country to another, as well as the synchronous transfer of information between people living at the same time. Various sign systems help a person not only understand the world, but also fix this understanding, structure it. Humanity has only one way of preserving, increasing and spreading accumulated knowledge in time and space - through culture.

The natural memory of the individual, the collective memory of the people, fixed in the language and spiritual culture, symbolic and material means of storing information - books, works of art, any objects created by man, since they are also texts, act as means of storing, accumulating and transmitting information. Recently, electronic means of information storage have begun to play an increasing role. The society also created special institutions to perform this function of culture - libraries, schools and universities, archives, other services for collecting and processing information.

6) The function of broadcast (transfer) of social experience often called the function of historical continuity, or informational. Culture, which is a complex sign system, transfers social experience from generation to generation, from era to era. In addition to culture, society does not have any other mechanisms for concentrating all the wealth of experience that people have accumulated. Therefore, it is no coincidence that culture is considered the social memory of humanity.

7) Cognitive function (epistemological) is closely related to the function of transferring social experience and, in a sense, follows from it. Culture, concentrating the best social experience of many generations of people, acquires the ability to accumulate the richest knowledge about the world and thereby create favorable opportunities for its knowledge and development. It can be argued that society is intelligent to the extent that it fully uses the richest knowledge contained in the cultural gene pool of mankind. All types of society that live on Earth today differ significantly, primarily on this basis.

Cognitive (epistemological) function most fully manifests itself in science and scientific knowledge. Culture concentrates the experience and skills of many generations of people, accumulates rich knowledge about the world and thereby creates favorable opportunities for its knowledge and development. Of course, knowledge is acquired not only in science, but also in other spheres of culture, but there it is a by-product of human activity, and in science, obtaining objective knowledge about the world is the most important goal.

Science for a long time remained a phenomenon of only European civilization and culture, while other peoples chose a different way of knowing the world around them. So, in the East, for this purpose, the most complex systems of philosophy and psychotechnics were created. They seriously discussed such unusual for rational European minds ways of knowing the world, such as telepathy (transmission of thoughts at a distance), telekinesis (the ability to influence objects with thought), clairvoyance (the ability to predict the future), etc.

8) Regulatory (normative) function is associated primarily with the definition (regulation) of various aspects, types of social and personal activities of people. In the sphere of work, everyday life, interpersonal relations, culture in one way or another influences people's behavior and regulates their actions and even the choice of certain material and spiritual values. The regulatory function of culture is supported by such normative systems as morality and law.

Normative (regulatory) function culture manifests itself as a system of norms and requirements of society for all its members in all areas of their life and activities - work, everyday life, family, intergroup, interethnic, interpersonal relations.

In any human community, it is necessary to regulate the behavior of their constituent individuals in order to maintain balance within the community itself and for the survival of each individual individual. The products of culture that a person has at his disposal outline the field of his possible activity, make it possible to predict the development of various events, but do not determine how

a person must act in a given situation. Each person should consciously and responsibly perform their actions, relying on the norms and requirements for the behavior of people that have historically developed in society and are clearly entrenched in our consciousness and subconsciousness.

The norms of human behavior, both permissive and prohibitive, are an indication of the permissible limits and boundaries in which a person must act in order for his behavior to receive a positive assessment of other people and society as a whole. Each culture has its own norms of behavior. There are cultures with a strong normative side (China) and cultures in which normativity is less expressed (European cultures). The question of the existence of universal human norms remains controversial.

By means of norms, culture regulates, coordinates the actions of individuals and human groups, develops optimal ways of resolving conflict situations, and gives recommendations when solving vital issues.

Regulatory function culture is carried out at several levels:

    morality and all norms that are strictly observed, despite the absence of special supervisory institutions; violation of these norms meets with sharp condemnation of the society;

    norms of law, which are detailed in the constitution and laws of the country. Their observance is controlled by specially created institutions - the court, the prosecutor's office, the police, the penitentiary system;

    customs and traditions, which are a stable system of human behavior in different spheres of life and different situations, which has become the norm and is passed down from generation to generation. As a rule, they take the form of a certain stereotype, are stable for centuries under any social changes;

    norms of human behavior at work, in everyday life, in communication with other people, in relation to nature, including a wide range of requirements - from elementary neatness and adherence to the rules of good manners to general requirements for the spiritual world of a person.

9) Sign function is the most important in the system of culture. Representing a certain sign system, culture presupposes knowledge, possession of it. It is impossible to master the achievements of culture without studying the corresponding sign systems. So, language (oral or written) is a means of communication between people. The literary language acts as the most important means of mastering the national culture. Specific languages \u200b\u200bare needed for understanding the world of music, painting, theater. Natural Sciences also have their own sign systems.

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 evaluating 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 just given a name, but it fits into the hierarchy of being. Let's give an example. Each of us at least once in our life was ill (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 outcome, the symptoms of all diseases that I have heard about are remembered. The matter is directly according to J. Jerome, one of the heroes of whose novel Three Men in a Boat, Excluding a Dog, while studying a medical reference book, found in himself all diseases except maternity 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 medications, since the doctor, having made a diagnosis, gave a name to the threat, thereby inscribing it into the picture of the world, which automatically gave information about possible means of combating it.

We can say that culture as an image and picture of the world is an ordered and balanced scheme of the cosmos, 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 specialists in culturology. The basis of this picture of the world is ethnic constants - values \u200b\u200band norms of ethnic culture.

8) Value, or axiological, the function reflects the most important qualitative state of culture. Culture as a definite system of values \u200b\u200bforms in a person quite definite value needs and orientations. By their level and quality, people most often judge the degree of culture of a particular person. Moral and intellectual content, as a rule, serves as a criterion for the appropriate assessment.

10) Adaptive function

The complex and multi-level structure of culture determines the variety of its functions in the life of a person and society. But there is no complete unanimity among cultural scientists regarding the number of functions of culture. Nevertheless, all authors agree with the idea of \u200b\u200bthe polyfunctionality of culture, with the fact that each of its components can perform different functions.

Adaptive function is the most important function of culture, ensuring human adaptation to the environment. It is known that the adaptation of living organisms to their environment is a necessary condition for their survival in the process of evolution. Their adaptation occurs due to the work of the mechanisms of natural selection, heredity and variability, which ensure the survival of individuals most adapted to the environment, the preservation and transfer 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, remaking it for himself.

The transformation of the environment 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, 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 live only in a certain ecological niche, then a person is able to master any natural conditions for the estimate of the formation of an artificial world of culture.

Of course, a person cannot achieve complete independence from the environment, since the form of culture is largely determined by natural conditions. The type of economy, dwelling, traditions and customs, beliefs, ceremonies and rituals of peoples depend on the natural and climatic conditions. So. the culture of mountain peoples differs from the culture of peoples leading a nomadic lifestyle or engaged in marine fishing, etc. The southern peoples use a lot of spices in their 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 old fears and dangers, a person stands face to face in front of new problems that he creates for himself. For example, today there is no need to be afraid of the formidable diseases of the past - the 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 himself await their time in military laboratories. Therefore, man needs to defend himself not only from the natural environment, but also from the cultural world, artificially created by man himself.

Adaptive function has a dual nature. On the one hand, it manifests itself in the creation of specific means of protecting a person - the means of protection necessary for a person from the outside world. These are all cultural products that help a person to survive and feel confident in the world: using fire, storing food and other necessary things, creating productive agriculture, medicine, etc. At the same time, they include not only objects of material culture, but also those specific means that a person develops to adapt to life in society, which keep him from mutual extermination and destruction - state structures, laws, customs, traditions, moral norms, etc. 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 of human activity and culture - the ability to “duplicate the world”, to isolate sensory-objective and ideally-shaped layers in it. By linking culture with an ideal-imaginative world, we get the most important property of culture - to be a picture of the world, a defined grid of images and meanings through which the surrounding world is perceived. 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 external 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 for a person.

11) The communicative function of culture ensures communication of people with each other. A person cannot solve any difficult problem without the help of other people. People enter into communication in the course of any kind of work activity. Without communication with his own kind, a person cannot become a full-fledged member of society, develop his abilities. A long separation from society leads the individual to mental and spiritual degradation, turning him into an animal. Culture is a condition and result of communication between people. Only through the assimilation of culture do people become members of society. Culture gives people a means of communication. In turn, communicating, people create, preserve and develop culture.

Nature has not endowed man with the ability to establish emotional contacts, exchange information without the help of signs, sounds, writing, and for communication man has created various means of cultural communication. Information can be transmitted in verbal (verbal) ways, non-verbal (facial expressions, gestures, postures, communication distance, information that is transmitted through material objects, for example, using clothing, especially uniforms) and paraverbal (speech rate, intonation, volume, articulation, voice pitch etc.).

To communicate with other people, a person uses natural languages, artificial languages \u200b\u200band codes - computer, logical, mathematical symbols and formulas, traffic signs, as well as various technical devices.

The communication process consists of three stages:

    coding of information to be transmitted to the addressee, i.e. translation of everything into any symbolic form;

    transmission through communication channels, while interference and loss of part of the information are possible;

    decoding of the received message by the addressee, and due to the difference in ideas about the world, different individual experiences of the sender and the recipient of the message, decoding occurs with errors. Therefore, communication is never 100% successful, more or less losses in it are inevitable. The effectiveness of communication is provided by a number of cultural conditions, such as the presence of a common language, channels for transmitting information, appropriate motivation, ethical, semiotic rules, which ultimately determine who, what, when and how can be communicated and from whom and when to expect a response message.

The development of forms and methods of communication is the most important aspect of the formation of culture. In the early stages of human history, the possibilities of communication were limited to direct contacts between people, and in order to transmit information, they had to approach each other at a distance of line of sight and hearing. Over time, people found the opportunity to increase the range of communication, for example, with the help of special devices. This is how signal drums and bonfires appeared. But their capabilities were limited to the transmission of only a few signals. Therefore, the most important stage in the development of culture was the invention of writing, which made it possible to transmit complex messages over long distances. In the modern world, the mass media, primarily television, radio, print, and computer networks, which come out on top as a means of communication between people, are gaining increasing importance.

In modern conditions, the importance of the communicative function of culture is growing faster than any other function. The development of communication capabilities leads to the erasure of national characteristics and contributes to the formation of a single common human civilization, i.e. processes of globalization. These processes, in turn, stimulate the intensive progress of communication media, which is expressed in an increase in the power and long-range action of communication facilities, an increase in information flows, an increase in the speed of information transfer. Along with this, mutual understanding of people, their ability to sympathy and empathy are progressing.

12) The integrative function of culture is related to communicative and is associated with the fact that culture unites any social community - peoples, social groups and states. The basis for the unity of such groups are: a common language, a single system of values \u200b\u200band ideals, which creates a common view of the world, as well as common norms that regulate people's behavior in society. The result is a sense of community with people who are members of their own group, as opposed to other people who are perceived as "outsiders." Because of this, the whole world is divided into "us" and "aliens", into We and They. As a rule, a person has more confidence in “theirs” than in “strangers” who speak an incomprehensible language and behave incorrectly. Therefore, communication between representatives of different cultures is always difficult, there is a great risk of mistakes that give rise to conflicts and even wars. But recently, in connection with the processes of globalization, the development of the media and communication, intercultural contacts are strengthening and expanding. This is largely facilitated by modern mass culture, thanks to which books, music, achievements of science and technology, fashion, etc. become available to many people in different countries. The Internet plays a particularly important role in this process. We can say that the integrative function of culture in recent years has contributed to the cohesion not only of individual social and ethnic groups, but also of humanity as a whole.

13) Axiological (evaluative) function culture is associated with its value orientations. Cultural regulation of human activity is carried out not only normatively, but also through a system of values \u200b\u200b- ideals that people strive to achieve. Values \u200b\u200bimply the choice of an object, state, need, goal in accordance with the criterion of their usefulness for a person's life and help society and a person to separate good from bad, truth from error, just from unjust, permissible from forbidden, etc. The selection of values \u200b\u200boccurs in the process of practical activity. With the accumulation of experience, values \u200b\u200bare formed and disappear, revised and enriched.

Values \u200b\u200bprovide the specificity of each culture. What is important in one culture may not be important in another. Each nation has its own hierarchy of values, although the set of values \u200b\u200bis universal in nature. Therefore, we can conditionally classify basic values \u200b\u200bas follows:

    vital values \u200b\u200b- life, health, safety, well-being, strength, etc .;

    social - social status, work, profession, personal independence, family, gender equality;

    political - freedom of speech, civil liberties, legality,

    civil peace;

    moral - good, good, love, friendship, duty, honor, disinterestedness, decency, loyalty, justice, respect for elders, love for children;

    aesthetic values \u200b\u200b- beauty, ideal, style, harmony, fashion, originality.

Each society, each culture is guided by its own set of values, which may lack some of the above values. In addition, each culture in its own way represents certain values. So, the ideals of beauty among different peoples are quite different. For example, in medieval China, aristocrats, in accordance with the then existing ideal of beauty, should have tiny feet; what they wanted was achieved by painful leg bandaging procedures that girls were subjected to from the age of five and as a result of which they literally became crippled.

The orientation of people's behavior occurs through values. A person cannot treat the opposites that make up the world in the same way, he must give preference to one thing. Most people believe that they strive for good, truth, love, but what seems good to some may turn out to be evil for others. This again leads to the cultural specificity of values. Proceeding from the ideas we have about good and evil, all our lives we act as "appraisers" of the world around us.

14) Recreational function of culture (mental relaxation) is the opposite of the normative function. The regulation and regulation of behavior are necessary, but their consequence is the restriction of the freedom of individual individuals and groups, the suppression of some of their desires and drives, which leads to the development of latent conflicts and tensions. A person comes to the same result due to excessive specialization of activity, forced loneliness or excess of communication, unmet needs for love, faith, immortality, intimate contact with another person. Not all of these tensions are rationally solvable. Therefore, culture is faced with the task of creating organized and relatively safe ways of detente that do not violate social stability.

I Foundations of Sociology

OS. 1. Tolerant attitude towards other people's way of life, behavior, opinions, etc. Tolerance

Good breeding

Education

Loyalty

Ethnocentrism

OS.2. Expected behavior of a person due to his position in society

role

profession

OS-3. General ideas about what is desirable, correct and useful, shared by most of society, are

Values

OS 4. Society in modern sociology is

all sentient beings on the planet

people interacting in a certain area and having a common culture

OS 5. The education system belongs to

policy institutions

economic institutions

spiritual institutions

OS.6. Social inequality based on ethnicity is called

nationalism

OS 7. A change in the position of an individual or group in the system of social stratification is called:

professional growth

social mobility

age-related changes

OS.8. The desire for isolation, separation of a part of the state or a separate ethnic group is determined by the concept

segregation

apartheid

separatism

OS-9. The process of correlating, identifying an individual with the culture and traditions of his people is called

national-cultural identity

ethnic identity

resocialization

passive adaptation

religious identification

OS.10. Deviant behavior in sociology is defined as

deviation from the group norm

criminal behavior

obedience to general rules

OS 11. Choose 2 correct answers

The social functions of culture include

Normative function

Socialization function

Financial regulation function

OS-12. The formation of stable patterns of social interaction based on formalized rules, laws, customs, rituals is

Interaction

Institutionalization

Investment

Intuition

Innovation

OC.13 Choose two correct answers:

The social properties of a person include:

Temperament

Sociability

Competence

Ideological conviction

The structure of the sociology of culture

The morphological aspect of culture is associated with the interaction and correlation of different aspects of culture, their role in the formation of a social organism.

Human life is meaningful only if it is filled with cultural meaning.

The most important structural elements of culture as a system:

  1. Language is the main means of communication, the transmission of meaningful information, values, social experience. The conceptual-logical apparatus is the fundamental principle of culture, thanks to which a person can cognize the world around him. Cultural values \u200b\u200bare accumulated and transmitted through the language. Language coordinates the actions of people, maintains the cohesion of society, generalizes the experience of people.
  2. Symbols, concepts, meanings, typical connections, interactions (ritual, functional, related), standards and patterns of behavior. In order for people to navigate in certain circumstances and situations, to understand each other, to interact in everyday life, they must comply with certain conditions. The typification of interaction participants is based on verbal communication and physical actions (the person observes what other people are doing). In the development of interaction between people, a symbol, ritual, and myth play a great role.
  3. Belief and Knowledge. Beliefs contain what people are guided by in their daily activities, to which they are committed, which they embody in models of behavior. Belief is about knowledge. A person acts contrary to knowledge if they contradict his interests.

There is a bifurcation of culture - between beliefs and knowledge. The scarcity of culture is often predetermined by the fragmentation, narrowness of the knowledge of the individual. A person with versatile knowledge is free from extreme, primitive judgments and assessments, her worldview is multidimensional, her activity and behavior are optimal. The active dissemination of knowledge gives the beliefs a meaning, idea, situationalizes them.

Remark 1

An essential criterion for the formation of a belief is ideology in the form of a logically grounded social doctrine as a set of cultural values.

Subsystems of sociology of culture

The main cultural subsystems include the following structural elements:

  • value subsystem;
  • normative subsystem;
  • subsystem of human socialization;
  • the essential property of a person;
  • qualitative characteristic of human activity.

Remark 2

The value subsystem is a set of life goals, values, means of achieving them. Values \u200b\u200bdiffer across cultures. What may be moral in one society is considered immoral in another. Culture is a method, a way of assimilating reality in values.

Considered in a value context, culture acts as a kind of social mechanism that identifies, reproduces and conveys values \u200b\u200bin society. The following types of social values \u200b\u200bare distinguished: political, economic, moral, aesthetic, etc.

Cultural values \u200b\u200bcan be classified according to: scale (general civilizational, universal, national, subcultural (local); according to the criteria for meeting the needs of people (progressive, anti-values, previously created, but "unclaimed" values); according to the way values \u200b\u200bare written into the era (works of culture of the past and modernity).

A normative culture is a culture that prescribes standards of behavior. Norms are an integral element of culture, they are generally accepted models of people's behavior in society.

Social norms are closely interconnected with the ideals, values, beliefs, symbols prevailing in society. The norms of culture are certain requirements of society for a person, the expectation of members of society to comply with the norms of behavior, law and morality, and generally accepted standards of behavior.

In the subsystem of human socialization, culture is viewed as a human-creative, humanistic facet. It represents the acquisition of the essence of a person, a manifestation of its uniqueness; expression of human transformation in the course of historical development, the process and measure of his self-realization.

Culture as an essential property of an individual is a set of cultural values \u200b\u200bin the form of knowledge, skills, beliefs, morality, etc. This is the degree of human freedom that frees one from stereotypes and patterns of thinking, activity, and behavior. Culture gives a person the opportunity for freedom of expression with a simultaneous ability to internal moral self-restraint.

The main sphere of human activity is the activity of creating values \u200b\u200bto satisfy one's needs. Man is the creator of culture in all its forms, types and methods.

Culture is a self-reproducing system, it is the objectification of a person's spiritual wealth, his knowledge, skills, abilities, embodied in the process of creativity in the value of culture.

Functions of the sociology of culture

The main functions of the sociology of culture include:

  1. Scientific and cognitive function. Provides knowledge about social mechanisms, factors that contribute to the formation of cultural processes or their change; studies the specifics of the patterns of cultural dynamics in modern conditions.
  2. Educational function. It is focused on providing knowledge to members of society for better adaptation in difficult socio-cultural conditions, on substantiating and disclosing modern ideas about them.
  3. Practical function. Aimed at developing scientific research on cultural policy and targeted cultural change.

The social functions of culture include: adaptation, ideological, integration and regulatory functions, as well as the functions of legitimation, identification and social change.

Adaptive function: the individual, assimilating cultural patterns and skills, is transformed into a social being capable of interacting with other individuals

Worldview, or meaning-making function: culture gives meaning to human life and explains the structure of the world.

Legitimation function: culture maintains and explains the existing social order.

Identification function: a person defines his identity, creates his own image based on the ideas about reality developed by the culture.

The integration function unites the human community on the basis of common norms, values, ideas.

Regulatory function: the behavior of individuals in society is regulated by cultural values \u200b\u200band norms.

Function of social change: innovations and inventions in the cultural sphere act as a factor in changing society.

A very short paragraph. I will not even break it down into separate posts. So:

Functions of culture:
1. Human-creative (humanistic)
2. Translational (function of transferring social experience)
3. Cognitive (epistemological)
4. Regulatory (normative)
5. Semiotic (sign)
6. Value (axiological)


1. Human-creative (humanistic) function of culture - the main function. All others are somehow connected with it and even follow from it.
- Why didn't they write it like this: "The main function of culture is human-making. It will be subdivided into ..."
- We don't know. But it turns out, in other words, we can say: "The main function of culture is to make a man out of a monkey"))
- But no, you can't make a man out of a monkey, no culture will help!
- ... But if a newborn man is slipped into monkeys, then he will become a monkey. And in order for him to become a person, people must educate him.
- It turns out that the main function of culture is educational? O_o Why not say so right away?
- ... Educational - somehow too narrow. Educational and educational ... and that "will not be enough." That is why they said "human-creative"))) True, this is some kind of monster word. But everything fit.

2. Function of broadcasting (transfer) of social experience (function of historical continuity, information function) - "social memory of mankind", which is objectified in sign systems:
- oral legends,
- monuments of literature and art,
- "languages" of science, philosophy, religion, etc.
It is not just a storehouse of stocks of social experience, but a means of rigorous selection and active transmission of its best examples.
Therefore, any violation of this function is fraught with serious, sometimes disastrous consequences for society.
Disruption of cultural continuity leads to anomie (-???) , dooms the new generation to the loss of social memory (the phenomenon of mankurtism).
- Stop, anomie - what's this? O_o
- "Namelessness" of some kind)) Let's google! ... We are wrong: "nomos" is not a "name", but a "law" :) So this "negation of the law" turns out, but in general, see the comments, I will write there.

3. Cognitive (epistemological) function of culture - the ability of culture to accumulate the richest knowledge about the world, creating opportunities for its knowledge and development. This is due to the ability of culture to concentrate the social experience of many generations of people:

"She (culture) realizes only truth in knowledge, in philosophical and scientific books; goodness - in manners, life and social institutions; beauty - in books, poems and paintings, in statues and architectural monuments, in concerts and theatrical performances ... "(Berdyaev N.A. The meaning of history. - M, 1990, - S. 164)

It can be argued that society is intelligent to the extent that it uses the richest knowledge contained in the cultural gene pool of mankind. All types of society differ significantly, primarily on this basis.

- What is this heresy: "cultural gene pool"?
- In biological genes, the program for the development of the organism is recorded, in the "cultural gene pool" - the program (potential) for the development of human society, as I understood it. They are so figuratively expressed.

4. The regulatory (normative) function of cultureassociated with the definition (regulation) of various aspects, types of social and personal activities of people. It relies on regulatory systems such as moralityand right.
- And what is the Jewish Talmud based on - morality or law?
- He relies on his religion ... Like the Koran and the Bible ...
- And why then religion was not included in the list of systems on which the regulatory function of culture is based?
- In the USA and in Russia, the church is separated from the state ..
- So what? Church statutes do not apply to culture?
- Well, kagbe are, but they shouldn't)))
- ... She herself realized that she said nonsense)))
- Or maybe religious prescriptions themselves are based on "morality" and "law."
- Well, "religious morality" - I can quite imagine that, but "religious law" ... Law is something of a state))
- Yes? But as agacan wrote about the trial in Iran over Muslim women who decided to change their religion to Christian? This means that the law is RELIGIOUS there.
- Well, then Iran ... I don't understand what to discuss here. Religion is a part of culture, it also has a regulatory function, and what a bigger one than others ... But the normative function of religion is also based on "morality" and "law." Something like this.
- ... Thank you, God, for enlightenment in the brain))) Let's continue:

In the sphere of work, everyday life, interpersonal relations, culture in one way or another affects the behavior of people and regulates their actions, actions, and even the choice of certain material and spiritual values.
- Is advertising a part of culture?
- This is part of "mass culture", we went through this last time))
- And when there were no advertisements, what regulated the choice of material and spiritual values?
- ...Traditions. Oral legends)) Royal decrees (for example, commoners were forbidden to wear clothes made of materials used for clothes of rich Buratins, I remember this from school)) .. That is, everything is the same - "morality and law."
- Is ethics moral?
- ... Wikipedia said that ethics is "a philosophical study of the essence, goals and causes of morality and ethics."
- And etiquette? This is not morality and not law, but it regulates behavior ...
- Etiquette is a "set of rules of conduct", but not "law", of course. And each culture / subculture has its own. But for some reason they don't remember him in this section. I do not know why. Maybe they considered it insignificant ...

5. Semiotic (sign) function of culture- a symbolic system of culture, which must be mastered. Without studying the corresponding sign systems, it is impossible to master the achievements of culture.
Language (spoken or written) is a means of communication between people.
The literary language is the most important means of mastering the national culture.
Specific languages \u200b\u200bare needed for understanding the world of music, painting, theater.
Natural sciences (physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology) also have their own sign systems.
- Just a set of common phrases of some kind. .. Sign language, by the way, they forgot to mention)) ... Something in this piece I do not like, and what - I can not understand. The picture does not add up ...
- What they called the "language of science" - just a list of terms that each science has its own?
- Both terms and symbols ... Don't bother me. I can't figure out what I don't like here!
- I don’t like that there is no normal definition: “a semiotic function is.” .. I don’t like that their “definition” includes an action that someone has to perform: “a sign system that must be mastered”. A function cannot be a "sign system". The function DOES something itself, otherwise it is not a function.
.. No, it doesn't. I will think about this later))
- You're lying, you'll forget! .. :))

6. The value (axiological) function of culture - a function that reflects the most important qualitative state of culture.
Culture as a system of values \u200b\u200bforms a person's quite definite value orientations. By their level and quality, people most often judge the degree of culture of a person.
Moral and intellectual content, as a rule, serves as a criterion for the appropriate assessment.
- God, what the hell.
- Oh, we have demonstrated our level of culture)))
- Yes, we have demonstrated it here long ago, why be ashamed now ... I do not want to say about this. The function is not formulated. Some incomprehensible nonsense is written.
- As recently as last week we ourselvestold one girl that if something is not clear to her, it does not mean that nonsense is written)))
- ... No, in principle everything is clear here, only vaguely worded. I would say this: the value function of culture is its ability to form a person's certain value preferences (or orientations).
And "which reflects" could be said later. In general, the matter is complicated with definitions, here we lack knowledge of logic.
... And then, I would not say: "they judge the degree of culture" ... They judge about belonging to a certain culture / subculture, and not about the "degree of culture". This is some sort of philistine and snobbish opposition - "cultural / uncultured". It is not appropriate for a cultural scientist to express himself like that))
- So he said: PEOPLE judge. That is, not culturologists, but the most ordinary inhabitants.
- Well, then I don’t understand at all: the townsfolk have something to do with it ...

And by the way: she herself said that "function" answers the question "what does it do", that is, its definition should be expressed by a verbal noun. "Ability" is a quality, not a function! It should be formulated as follows:
The value function of culture is the formation of certain value preferences (orientations) in a person.

- Since we have given birth to such a valuable thought, maybe we will return to the previous function? What does the "sign function of culture" do?
- It expresses culture in signs :)) ... which must be mastered. It "encodes" culture, preserving it for transmission from generation to generation. ... No, my brains no longer work today, I'm sorry)) I said - I'll think about it tomorrow ... And for today - that's it.

→ The main functions of culture

Considering the question of, we made sure that culture is a social phenomenon and acts as a factor in the emergence and formation of social relations. This means that culture can also be considered from the standpoint of identifying the functions that it performs in society. Functions in social sciences usually show the purpose, the role of an element in the social system. Under the concept "Functions of culture" c implies the nature and direction of the impact of culture on individuals and society, the set of roles that culture plays in relation to the community of people who generate and use it in their own interests. The number of social functions of culture is extremely large and it is possible to distinguish, classify and describe these functions in different ways ... Next, we'll take a quick look at the main functions of culture:

1.adaptive function;

2. integrative function;

3. communicative function;

4. the function of socialization;

5. compensatory and play functions.

1. The adaptive function of culture

Culture ensures human adaptation to the environment, natural and historical conditions of his habitat. Word "adaptation" (from Lat. adaptatio) means adaptation, adaptation. Every kind of living creature adapts to its environment. In plants and animals, this occurs in the process of biological evolution due to variability, heredity and natural selection, through which the features of body organs and mechanisms of behavior function and are genetically transmitted from generation to generation, ensuring survival in given environmental conditions (its ecological niche).

Human adaptation is different. Due to the peculiarities of his biological evolution, man does not have an ecological niche assigned to him. He lacks instincts, his biological organization is not adapted to any stable form of animal existence. Therefore, he is not able to lead, like other animals, a natural way of life and is forced, in order to survive, to create around him artificial cultural environment.

Biological incompleteness, non-specialization, the inability of the human race to a certain ecological niche has turned into the ability to master any natural conditions by forming artificial conditions of their existence, culture... gave people the protection that they did not provide them: the opportunity to accumulate experience and translate it into the norms, rules and forms of direct life support (first of all, the provision of food, heat, housing, in the methods and traditions of health protection and interpersonal mutual assistance of people), ensuring the collective security of the community (defense) and individual security of community members, their property and legitimate interests (law enforcement), etc. Ultimately, all man-made material culture, social organization, and the system of economic, social and political relations play an adaptive role.

2. The integrative function of culture

Closely related to adaptive function integrative function. Culture ensures the social integration of people. At the same time, we can talk about different levels of social integration, which is carried out on the basis of culture.

Most general level of social integration is an formation of the foundations of their sustainable collective existence and activity on the joint satisfaction of interests and needs, stimulating an increase in the level of their group consolidation and the effectiveness of interaction, the accumulation of social experience in the guaranteed social reproduction of their collectives as sustainable communities.

To the second level of social integration should be attributed providing culture of the main forms of integrated existence of communities of people ... Culture unites peoples, social groups, states. Any social community in which its own culture develops is strengthened by this culture, because among the members of the community, a single set of views, beliefs, values, ideals, and patterns of behavior characteristic of a given culture spreads. On this basis, the consolidation and self-identification of people is carried out, a sense of belonging to a given social community is formed - feeling "we" .

However, the solidarity between "Our" may be accompanied by vigilance and even hostility towards "Alien" ... Forming group solidarity - "we" - assumes the existence of representatives of other cultural circles - "they are" ... Therefore, the function of integrating communities has its downside - disintegration of people, which can lead to the most negative consequences.

History shows that cultural differences between communities have often become the reason for their confrontation and enmity.

3. The communicative function of culture

The integration of people is carried out on the basis of communication ... Therefore, it is important to highlight communicative function of culture ... Culture shapes. It is only thanks to the assimilation of culture that truly human forms of communication are established between people, since it is culture that provides them with the means of communication - sign systems, assessments.

The development of forms and methods of communication is the most important aspect of the cultural history of mankind. Our most distant ancestors could come into contact with each other only through direct perception and sounds. Articulate speech is a fundamentally new means of communication. With its development, people have received unusually wide opportunities for transferring various information to each other. Later, written speech and many specialized languages, service and technical symbols are formed: mathematical, natural science, topographic, drawing, music, computer, etc .; systems are being formed for fixing information in graphic, sound, specific and other technical forms, for replicating and broadcasting it, as well as for institutions involved in the accumulation, preservation and dissemination of information.

4. Socialization function

Culture is the most important factor of socialization, which determines its content, means and methods. Under socialization understood inclusion of individuals in social life, their assimilation of social experience, knowledge, values, norms of behavior corresponding to a given society, social group... In the course of socialization, people master the programs stored in the culture and learn to live, think and act in accordance with them.

The process of socialization allows a person to become a full-fledged member of the community, take a certain position in it and live as required by the customs and traditions of the community. At the same time, this process ensures the preservation of the community, its structure and the forms of life that have developed in it. In the historical process, the “personal composition” of society and social groups is constantly renewed, performers change, as people are born and die, but thanks to socialization, new members of society become involved in the accumulated social experience and continue to follow the patterns of behavior recorded in this experience. Of course, social life does not stand still; certain changes are taking place in it. But any innovations in social life, one way or another, are conditioned by the forms of life and ideals inherited from their ancestors and are also transmitted from generation to generation due to socialization.

5. Compensatory and play functions

A number of culturologists call compensatory and play functions ... Forms compensation are leisure activities, tourism, communication with nature and other forms of distraction of a person from participation in certain types of material or spiritual activities in order to take a break from life's problems and get emotional relaxation. Holidays are a form of compensation, during which everyday life is transformed and an atmosphere of high spirits is created.

Play function of culture manifests itself not only in a variety of sports or entertainment. Elements of the game are constantly used in such areas as politics, education, upbringing, artistic culture. Jesters and buffoons, clowns and entertainers were in demand in every society. Entertainment games are fun in nature, with the goal of distracting participants and spectators from pressing problems and compensating them for unrealized aspirations in life.

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