What is culturology?

Lectures on culturology
Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this watermark.
Hello! Today we are starting a series of videos about culturology or social anthropology. As
you look, culturology is the science of culture. The term culture came to us from Latin and
means cultivation.

I think you know about cultivated plants and you know that they are cultivated not because
they say hello and bow and undiscovered butt, but because people intervened in their
natural process or development and improved them for their needs. For example, in a wild
banana can be up to 200 seeds and in the usual for us bought in the supermarket they are
not at all. Culturology is the science of something which connected with human activity.

In this context, the opposite concept of culture will be nature. Culturology explores the
culture of humanity at different stages of development, and in this it is similar to history. But
the interest of history is specific events, chains of events and how one event gave rise to
another.

For a culturologist, it is more important how the event affected people's worldview, how it
changed and how these changes caused the next event. Like many other sciences,
culturology grew out of philosophy. American anthropologist Leslie White was the first to
single out culturology as an independent science.

It happened in the 20th century. There are many divisions within the concept of culture. For
example, culture is spiritual and material.

To put it simply, everything that can be touched except natural object is material culture.
And what cannot be touched from cultural object is spiritual. Leo Tolstoy's novel War and
Social is certainly a spiritual culture.

But the book, the sheets of paper on which it is printed, is a material one. The picture of
Leonardo da Vinci's Giaconda is spiritual, but canvas and paint – material. Material culture is
a chair on which you sit, a table, a pen with which you used to write, a plate, a spoon and
much more.

Another relevant division of culture for the modern world is world and national culture. Two
opposing ideas are well reflected in it. The desire for globalization, the search for common
rules and norms for the whole world, and the preservation of national identity – a person's
belonging to a certain nation.

National culture is something created by one nation. For example, folk songs and fairy tales,
author's works that are little known to other peoples. World culture, on the contrary,
consists of well-known creations.

The music of the Beatles, the Sistine Chapel, Dostoevsky's novel The Brothers Karmazov.
Culture can be elite, popular and mass. Elite culture is intended for the privileged part of
society.
You have noticed that some material objects of elite culture do not change with time. For
example, a necklace. It can be a necklace made of bones of primitive man and a modern
necklace made of gold and diamonds.

Or clothes, animal skins, a dress embroidered with gold and a Versace suit. Or transport, a
nomad's horse, a princess carriage and an S-class car. But, as you know, elite culture is not
limited of the material, it also has a spiritual one.

This is art, science, etc. which are not clear to everyone. Mass culture designed for a wide
audience, and its quality can be different from the level of Chinese jeans to a Mercedes C-
class.

Popular culture is connected with the tradition of the people, which means that these are
fairy tales, legends, myths, dance, songs, clothes and household items. The division of
culture into dominant culture, subculture and counterculture is interesting. The dominant
culture units the values of most members of society.

For example, everyone knows that garbage should be thrown into the trash can, but not
everyone performs. The culture of each group of society, national, age, professional, etc. is a
subculture.

So, the culture of the social group doctors includes the ability to write illegibly. Culture
opposing dominant is counterculture, for example, the criminal culture. Another important
division of culture into eastern and western.

The main difference between these cultures is the presence western and absence eastern.
Domination of private property. Eastern culture is traditions, spirituality, conservatism,
rationalism, mysticism, collectivism.

The roots of western culture is in Cretan-Mycenaean culture, which existed in 31st thousand
BC in the Aegean basin. The main features of western culture are the priority of reason,
respect for scientific knowledge, technological transformation of the world, high dynamics,
human desire to go beyond the established boundaries, anthropocentrism, individualism. In
the following videos, I will tell about the cultures of different countries and eras.

Like me if you liked the video and do not forget to subscribe to the channel. Thank you for
your attention!
Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this watermark.