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Critics, for a long time assessing modern mass culture, spoke only about its negative sides, emphasizing the low quality, vulgarity of its products, created for the needs of an undemanding and undeveloped public, its orientation not towards creativity, but towards consumption, towards the formation of a spiritual standard, the “dumbing down” of a person , to instill in him low needs in the field of art. Among the main negative qualities of mass culture, critics also include its predominantly entertaining nature; they note that only a few of its works address the question of the purpose and meaning of life, its values, and point to the low professional level of many of its works, which do not have aesthetic value and form a mass worldview with uncritical beliefs and views.

There is a certain amount of truth in these statements. But it is worth remembering the good that mass culture brings with it. Firstly, thanks to it, universal literacy of the population was achieved, cultural values ​​became accessible a large number of people. Of course, quite a lot of low-quality products are created, but indisputable masterpieces are also reproduced, which can push a person to a deeper study of these and other works. Secondly, mass culture plays a significant role in the modern recreational mechanism for relieving stress and tension. Thirdly, mass culture should not be contrasted with the high culture of past eras. Then, too, there were middle and lower cultures that have not reached us, and masterpieces are an isolated phenomenon in any era, and their identification is always a matter of time; and in modern culture, most of the works will be eliminated, but real art will remain.

Modern research identifies three main levels of mass culture.

Kitsch culture is mass culture in its most base manifestation. If the first manifestations of kitsch became widespread only in the applied arts, then as kitsch developed, it began to capture all types of art, including cinema and television. The main characteristics of kitsch include: simplified presentation of issues; reliance on stereotypical images, ideas, plots; orientation towards the average person whose life is boring and monotonous. Keach does not pose questions, it contains only answers, pre-prepared clichés, and does not evoke spiritual quests or psychological discomfort. Currently in industrial developed countries It is the kitsch culture that prevails.

Mid-culture is a mass culture that has some features of traditional culture, but at the same time includes features of mass culture. In relation to kitsch, this form of mass culture is considered higher. We can say that it sets the tone; mass culture as a whole is guided by its standards.

Art culture is a mass culture that is not devoid of certain artistic content and aesthetic expression. This is the most high level mass culture, designed for the most educated and demanding segment of the audience. Its main task is to bring mass culture as close as possible to the norms and standards of traditional culture.

IN Lately mass culture is increasingly oriented towards mid-culture - a middle-level culture, within which classical literary works are filmed, fashion is introduced for examples of truly artistic creativity, popular science, and classical music. Therefore, the general level of modern mass culture is increasing. This conclusion can be drawn if we compare the works that were created at the beginning of the 20th century. and at its end. One can also notice a tendency towards the ethnicization of this culture, which leads to a certain rise in its moral level.

Among the main directions of mass culture of our time are:

childhood industry - production of goods and toys for children, children's clubs and camps, collective education of children;

massive secondary school, which introduces children to the basics of scientific knowledge, forms a picture of the world based on value orientations of a given society, as well as the same stereotypes;

mass media that communicate current information to the general public, evaluate it, and formulate public opinion and manipulating people's consciousness;

a system of national (state) ideology and propaganda that shapes the political reliability of the bulk of the population;

mass political movements and parties used by representatives of the political and state elite to achieve their goals by whipping up political, nationalist or religious psychosis;

world social mythology - quasi-religious movements and sects, pseudoscientific teachings, the creation of idols, the formation of gossip and rumors that provide simple explanations for all modern problems. This is how myths of a world conspiracy of a secret organization, aliens, etc. appeared;

entertainment industry, in particular mass artistic culture(all types of literature and art), entertainment performances, professional sports as a spectacle, clubs, discos, etc., which contributes to mental relaxation;

health leisure industry - resorts, sports tourism, mass physical education, cosmetic companies and services;

the industry of intellectual and aesthetic leisure - “cultural” tourism, amateur artistic activities, collecting, clubs and societies of interests, scientific and educational institutions, which continues to survive from the 17th century! V. educational tendency;

gaming complexes that develop reaction speed, accustoming a person to the modern pace and rhythm of life;

dictionaries, reference books, encyclopedias, electronic information banks, libraries designed for mass consumer and popularizing modern knowledge.

Thus, mass culture represents a new, more developed form of cultural competence of a modern person, new mechanisms of inculturation and socialization, new system control and manipulation of his consciousness, interests and needs. This is the way of existence of modern culture. As such, it intersects with popular culture.

The term "mass culture" covers various cultural products, as well as the system of their distribution and creation. First of all, these are works of literature, music, visual arts, films and videos (fiction, comics, pop music, thrillers, blockbuster films, posters, etc.). It also includes patterns of everyday behavior, appearance. These products and samples come into every home thanks to the media, advertising, and the fashion institute.

Let's consider the main features and values ​​of mass culture.

Public availability. Accessibility and recognition have become one of the main reasons for the success of mass culture. They even talk about its primitiveness. But the lightness of these works was largely due to the objective conditions that gave rise to mass culture. Difficulty adapting to an unusual urban environment, monotonous, exhausting work industrial enterprise increased the need for intensive rest, quick recovery psychological balance, energy after working day. To do this, a person searched on bookstores, in cinema halls, and in the media, first of all, for easy-to-read, entertaining performances, films, and publications.

The simplicity of works of mass culture cannot be unambiguously associated with their low level. The concept of “mass culture” is not equivalent to the concept of “bad culture”. Outstanding artists worked within the framework of mass culture: actors Charlie Chaplin, Lyubov Orlova, Nikolai Cherkasov, Igor Ilyinsky, Jean Gabin, dancer Fred Astaire, world-famous famous singers Mario Lanza, Edith Piaf, composers F. Lowe (author of the musical “My Fair Lady”), I. Dunaevsky, film directors G. Alexandrov, I. Pyryev, etc. The names of the creators of wonderful examples of “culture for the people” can be listed for a long time.

Entertaining. The above leads us to the conclusion that this feature is inherent in many works of mass culture. Entertaining is ensured by addressing such aspects of life and emotions that arouse constant interest and are understandable to most people: love, sex, family problems, adventure, violence, horror. In detective stories and “spy stories,” events replace each other with kaleidoscopic speed. The heroes of the works are also simple and understandable; they do not indulge in long discussions, but act.

Seriality, replication. This feature is manifested in the fact that mass culture products are produced in very large quantities, designed for consumption by a truly mass of people. Books are sometimes published in millions of copies, and the soap opera on television is also watched by millions of viewers. A certain seriality is also manifested in the certain repetition of plot moves and the similarity of the characters.

Passivity of perception. This feature of mass culture was noted already at the dawn of its formation. Fiction, comics, light music did not require any intellectual or emotional effort from the reader, listener, or viewer for their perception. The development of visual genres (cinema, television) only strengthened this feature. Reading even light literary work, we inevitably imagine something, create our own image of heroes. Screen perception does not require this from us.

Commercial in nature. A product created within the framework of mass culture is a product intended for mass sale. To do this, the product must be democratic, that is, suitable and appealing to a large number of people of different genders, ages, religions, and education. Therefore, manufacturers of such products began to focus on the most fundamental human emotions.

Thus, works of modern mass culture are created mainly within the framework of professional creativity: music is written by professional composers, film scripts are written by professional writers, advertising is created by professional designers. The mass culture market is more of a buyer's market than a seller's market. Exactly for requests wide range The consumer is guided by professional creators of mass culture products. Indicators of demand are sales volumes, as well as various kinds of ratings - measurements of the audience's attitude towards a particular program or program. But sellers in this market (as in any other) are also active, trying to create demand for the product they already have, and advertising their product.

Mass culture is a natural stage in the development of civilization, associated with the personological attitudes of the Judeo-Christian worldview, implemented European civilization through development market economy, industrialization, supported by scientific and technical progress, the development of media and information technology, urbanization and democratization of political life. Mass culture paradoxically realized the project of the Enlightenment and its humanistic slogan “Everything for the good of man, everything in the name of man!” To paraphrase a famous Soviet joke, one can add: “And we know this man.” This is each of us. The market economy and mass culture literally brought to life the humanistic program in the mechanism “ever-increasing satisfaction of ever-increasing needs.” By the way, this is exactly how the “basic law of socialism” was formulated in the program documents of the CPSU.

Mass society and mass culture have achieved such a successful expansion, despite the obvious costs and angry curses from “humanists” and other “democrats,” because they are the realization and manifestation of the evolution and diversification of a long historical cultural and moral tradition. Popular culture and mass consciousness only revealed the most complete and expanded form of this attitude. They are the product of a fairly long social “training” based on humanistic ideals like “man is the crown of nature”, “inalienable human rights”, etc. The implementation of the program gave an unexpected and stunning result. The focus on work (spiritual, intellectual, physical), tension, care, creation and equivalent (fair) exchange was replaced by an focus on gifts, carnivals, and a celebration of life organized by others. A transition has taken place from a personality oriented “from the inside” to a type of personality oriented “from the outside.” An impatient mediocrity has emerged and established itself, categorically claiming all the blessings of the world. The “everything for man” attitude, which previously seemed unconditionally valuable, and centuries of work and struggle, accompanied by considerable sacrifices, have led to the emergence of a growing mass of people who want only one thing - to be fed, watered and pleased in every possible way.

Marketization of values

The value complex of mass culture is formed radically differently than traditional culture, which seeks a transcendental value justification for reality in certain sacred (sacred, otherworldly) values. The values ​​of mass culture, realized in its artifacts (products), express ideas about life comfort, social stability and personal success. They are addressed to everyone. Therefore, the meaning of mass culture, the principle of its value coordination, is deep marketization - not so much satisfaction as the formation of needs for which mass culture products are intended to satisfy. Everything that arises, exists, and is conceived in mass society must be in demand on the market. It is widely believed that the main thing in modern society with its market economy - money, the desire for profit, entrepreneurial profit. This opinion is superficial. A mass society is a society in which everything is done “for needs.” Therefore, the meaning of mass culture is deep marketization - the formation of needs to satisfy which mass culture products are intended. Only in this case can it be valued in “universal equivalent” and sold. Money and profit appear on the scene only after demand has emerged.

Under the conditions of marketization of culture, it is not so much the content of values ​​that changes, but their very functioning. Previously, the efforts of generations of creators, poets, artists, and thinkers were spent on their cultivation and approval. The gradual creation and growth into life made values ​​stable and universal regulators of social life. Today they depend on the solvency of the order. From now on, values ​​are not developed within society, but are introduced into it. Today tolerance may be revered, tomorrow - religious intolerance, and the day after tomorrow - individualistic hedonism. And accordingly, various image figures and symbols will be promoted. Today - some, tomorrow - others, the day after tomorrow - others. Fame is created manipulatively, with the help of the media and for money.

In accordance with the requirements of marketization, products of mass culture must be quickly produced, accessible without undue effort, sufficiently prestigious and quickly, without problems, consumed. And once consumed, the product no longer has any value. A read detective story or comic book is usually thrown away, listened to discs are quickly replaced by new ones. Last year's hit is outdated and should be replaced by a new one. The Oscar-winning blockbuster is the new winner of super awards. The mass consumer, like an insatiable cuckoo, demands more and more “fresh” “spiritual” food, the novelty of which is very relative,

This factor of fashionability and prestige can turn simple consumer goods almost into spiritual symbols. Black glasses, “like Z. Cybulsky’s,” a turtleneck, “like Putin/Khodorkovsky’s” become not only fashionable things, but also represent life position. If you want to look like a seductive woman, “sexy” or at least “one of your own” for a circle of people important to you or even just for “him” - you should dress, comb your hair, look and behave like the appropriate type of woman in movies, in television advertising, on photograph in a magazine. These women are called models because they set recognizable types and patterns.

Mass culture sets the matrix of the material world and behavior in it. The artifacts she offers contain not only a practical, utilitarian consumer meaning. These objects, while valuable in themselves, also serve as means of achieving other values ​​associated with ambitions, prestige, ideals and hopes.

For example, we are talking not just about health, but about eternal youth, which has intrinsic value in modern mass culture. Youth itself, in turn, symbolizes a certain value complex, self-value components, such as freshness of feelings, Vital energy, courage, mobility, willingness to take risks, “velvety skin” that “you deserve.” And first of all, the readiness to accept change, the “intoxication of novelty.” Because this flow of production and consumption of mass culture must operate uninterruptedly and continuously.

Thus, mass culture is the culture of the triumph of marketization. In this regard, one cannot help but admit that creativity in science, art, and creators - the creators of truly new cultural artifacts - are seriously suffering from this. Mass culture has changed the very nature of creativity. Much has become extremely accessible. Photo and video cameras automatically set focus and exposure. Computer programs allow you to create any design and any images, write music, and layout books. At home, you can create animation, burn CDs, and publish books. Today, some musicians can bring a ready-made phonogram, but do not know how to write the music on sheet music.

On the one hand, one can only rejoice at this introduction of the masses to the possibilities of self-expression; on the other hand, art is clearly losing one of its fundamental qualities - the skill that was achieved over the years and passed on from generation to generation. Artists created unique works, piece goods that could be imitated and grow by imitating. If marketization relies on the skill, it is not of the author, but of the promoter, producer, who managed to promote a specific brand. In some types of creativity, the role of skill has been preserved: for example, in architecture, ballet, opera, sports, circus, doing nothing without mastering a certain level of skill. Literature, music, painting, and cinema in this situation turned out to be more vulnerable to the influx of amateurs and graphomaniacs.

The quality of a product is less important than the quality of its advertising - the result, measured by sales volumes and profits, is important. In 1991, the young English artist A. Hirst bought a large shark for 6,000 pounds, marinated it and, giving the “work” the title “The Thought of Death Seemingly Unattainable,” sold it to the Saatchi advertising agency for 50,000 pounds. The agency launched a campaign to promote a new direction in art, as a result of which a pickled calf, then a pig, etc. appeared. In 2005, the pickled shark was sold to the Museum contemporary art in New York for $14,000,000, and the entire United Kingdom sighed for a masterpiece of British art floating overseas.

In 2004, the Daily Telegraph conducted a survey of 500 artists, critics, art critics, and gallerists to identify 500 masterpieces of fine art XX centuries. According to the results of the survey, “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” by P. Picasso took second place - between “Marilyn Monroe” by E. Warhol, which took third place, and “Fountain” by M. Duchamp, which took first place. It is worth recalling that “Marilyn Monroe” is a clumsily colored photograph of a movie star, and “Fountain” is a standard earthenware urinal, shockingly displayed by the “author” on art exhibition in 1917. Contemporary artistic creativity is built not so much on cultural associations, but on “novelty” and “originality” at any cost, on mockery of cultural tradition, on its denial and ridicule, on “coolness.”

Marketization is the essence of the unification of social, economic, interpersonal relations based on market demand and market price. In mass culture, commodity-money relations involve not only the economy, but also culture as a whole, including scientific and artistic creativity. Almost all cultural artifacts become commodities, and money literally becomes the “universal equivalent.”

The deep and all-encompassing Marketization of all aspects of social life gave rise to mass culture with its transformation of the hierarchy of transcendental values ​​into sectors of the market economy. Values ​​actually act as rubricators for segmenting the market, information flow and information space - the shelves on which the corresponding products of mass culture lie: “about love”; “about knowledge” (all kinds of dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference books); “about the truth”, “about faith”, “about goodness” (all kinds of benefits and instructions “how to become happy”, “how to succeed”, “how to become rich”). It is the loss of the vertical, the “flattening” of the value structure of culture that gives rise not only to the “mosaic” nature of modern culture, but also to the culture of “signifiers without signifieds” attributed to postmodernism.

Mass culture is distinguished by a “branded” way of organizing its value-semantic content, generating and broadcasting its artifacts. In this case, the factors that ensure the efficiency of production, broadcast and sale (consumption) come to the fore: social communication, the possibility of maximum replication and diversification of artifacts of mass culture.

Mass culture is perhaps the first cultural formation in human history that is devoid of a transcendental dimension. She is not at all interested in immaterial, otherworldly existence, its other plane. If something supernatural appears in it, then, firstly, it is described specifically and literally, like a description of the consumer qualities of a product, and secondly, this supernatural is subordinated to completely earthly goals and is used in solving the most earthly needs.

The values ​​of mass culture are the values ​​of real life arrangement, a comfortable, convenient life. They replaced the “ontological monoliths” of traditional culture. In the situation of mass culture, they exist “in parallel, without excluding each other and without competing at all. Moreover, traditional national-ethnic cultures and even cultures of the past receive much better preservation opportunities than under the conditions of their origin. But none of them no longer has the status of the main one, determining all the others, arranging them “for itself” according to ranking.

Replacing ideals with standards and fashion creates a simplified, vulgarized perception of reality. Activation of consumer demand presupposes an event that provokes this demand, arousing interest and desire. This effect is ensured by the connection of the event with famous people(prestige, fashion), shockingness, libidinal attractiveness (Eros) or existential threats (Thanatos). Mass culture dissolves a person in the elements of the unconscious. Moreover, it brings to the fore the two main forces of this element - Eros (life-affirming sexuality) and Thanatos (destructive instinct of death). The mass man is characterized by an erotic fascination with death, sexually destructive outbursts of aggression, and mass culture is characterized by aggressive cruelty, violence, pornography, and horror. And since both sexuality and destructive aggression ultimately express the same thing - the instinct of triumphant possession, power, then mass culture turns out to be the demon of power unleashed in all its various manifestations.

As a result, an artifact of mass culture acts as a social myth and as a product brand at the same time. A modern brand is “a promise to deliver the experience you want.” This means that what is sold to the consumer these days is not a product, but the aspirations, hopes and aspirations of the consumer himself, his dreams, his idea of ​​“myself, what I would like to be.”

A product of mass culture must, on the one hand, have certain unique, inimitable properties that allow it to be easily identified and distinguished from others, and on the other, characteristics that would allow it to be easily replicated in a large number of copies and variations. In addition, it must awaken the imagination so that the consumer not only becomes interested, but quickly and, if possible, completely immerses himself in the imaginary world. It must evoke intense and immediate experiences, and since most of the products of mass culture are distributed on a commercial basis, these must be stimuli that correspond to the established structure of the imagination, interests and Attitudes of the mass consumer. IN modern business You can achieve success not only and not so much by studying demand, but by creating it with your own hands. In conditions of super-dense markets, purely market resources of competition have already been exhausted, competition is squeezed out of the market environment into broader social contexts, and non-market factors come to the fore. Thus, marketing management technology has crossed the boundaries of the market itself and has spread to the social environment of business as a whole.

Further promotion of an artifact of mass culture depends on the possibilities of its serial diversification, reproduction in various forms, permanent reproduction. Each specific object of mass culture exists in a strange way from the point of view of traditional culture. It cannot gather at any one point, but is dissected into many segments, each of which refers to the entire “field”, which, in turn, is also unable to build some stable foundation of reality. So if a television series is being filmed, for example, “The Master and Margarita,” then it includes not only a re-release of the famous novel, but also the promotion of “Azazello” body cream, “Longi Pilate” soap, “Margarita” fashion line, etc. .

The analysis shows that in the value organization of mass culture, taking into account its “horizontal”, “flatness”, systematization can be built as rubrication, classification, segmentation into zones (spheres) of the corresponding consumer markets for goods and services.

Basic values ​​of mass culture	Song (folk and popular “pop”)	Literature	Movie, theater	mass media	Tourism
Sensory experiences "sentiments"	"Moans" about love	Sentimental, women's novel	Melodrama	Women's magazines, programs, TV series, soap operas, reality shows	Mass tourism
Strength, power, violence	Robber, thieves song, rock	Crime novel	Action, circus	Sports, extreme, fighting	Extreme, sports tourism
Sex	Bawdy ditty, erotic design	Erotica, pornography	Erotica, pornography	Erotica, pornography	Sex tourism
Identity	Anthems, marches, patriotic. song	Historical novel	Costume worlds. productions	News, propaganda, “blank spots” of history	Cultural tourism
Knowledge, intelligence		Detective	Detective	Competitions, games, enlightenment, publications and programs	Educational tourism
Exceeding the norms and failure of deviation, defeat	Variety humor	Humor, satire	Comedy	Humorous publications and programs	Entertain. part of the program

When turning to the texture of mass art, two main themes, two plots, realized in different artistic materials, catch the eye. The first is stories about success (success stories), stories of luck, happy ascension to fame, money, love. Typological in this regard is the story of Scarlett O'Hara from the novel and endless film and television versions. Gone with the wind" The second central theme is the successful exposure of those living outside the law and their subsequent moral, financial and physical collapse. This theme is powerfully represented by detectives, westerns, action films, and other genres of “noble violence.” Next to the “bad guys,” who are sometimes charming, but always fail before the triumphant law, appear the “good guys,” who embody justice and law.

The exposure and reprisal against those living illegally occur with the same incredible fatal inevitability with which success, in spite of everything, falls on the heroes of the first stories. The general direction of both thematic lines is more than obvious. We are talking about reaffirming faith in the justice of the existing world, which guarantees not only equal opportunities, but also fair retribution. All the value content of mass culture is rooted in “this world” and does not go beyond the horizons of accessible reality.

Success, success, leadership (quality, rating, sales volume, amount of expenses - it doesn’t matter) permeates everything in mass culture. Success is the key to being in demand and marketable. She arouses interest. Therefore, a brand (myth) needs to be not only special, one of a kind, but also easily recognizable. In the gallery business, the main problem of the relationship between the artist and the gallery owner is that if an artist who is interested in mastering different styles wants to try himself in different manners and materials, then the gallery owner, in order for the artist to “sell”, needs him to do a deafening a lot of one thing. Then a brand will emerge, the artist’s works will become recognizable to the consumer, like a typical “Picasso”, “Glazunov” or “Tsereteli”.

From this, among other things, follows the vulnerability of sweeping accusations of mass culture of low quality and “corruption of the tastes of the masses.” Its main function is the socialization of the individual in a rather artificial society, and in conditions of actual atomization (disintegration) of this society. Mass culture is designed to ensure the acceptance by individuals of a society of “equal opportunities”, in which even manifestations of revolution turn out to be one of the sectors of the single market of services.

Moreover, any deviation from the value standards of mass culture from these positions can be considered a manifestation of neuroticism or a more severe pathology and needs to be adjusted. Mass culture only needs conformists. However, although sociality and conformism are practically identified in it, in mass culture, due to its omnivorous and multicultural nature, special market ghettos are allocated for the manifestation (and satisfaction) of aggressiveness and even violence: sports, youth rock, extreme tourism. Thus, they are ultimately absorbed into mass cult anyway.

Quite often, mass culture products serve as a means of distraction from reality, blocking the intellect, and replacing everything problematic with something entertaining. That is why they are united by the super values ​​of success and hedonism (pleasure, “high”). Hence the significant place entertainment industry and entertainment programs in the media. Their diversity and striking diversity in fact turns out to be a reproduction of the same standards of mass culture. Mass culture is aimed at creating a state of affairs in which the consumer would constantly recognize what he already knows, and would see in the next artifacts of mass culture proof of the eternal stability of the values ​​​​known to him. It teaches a lot of people to look at all the diversity and complexity modern world through the fixed stained-glass prism of its values.

IN general view The structure of mass culture includes the following values:

1. Supervalues ​​of marketization:

super-values ​​of the form: eventfulness (attracting attention, publicity, shocking); possibility of replication and distribution; seriality; diversification;

super-values ​​of the content (subject): “for needs”, “for humans”; personal success; pleasure.

2. Basic values ​​of mass culture, categorized by types and genres: sensory experiences; sexuality; power (strength); intellectual exclusivity; identity; failure of deviations.

3. Specific values ​​of national-ethnic cultures: uniqueness and originality of cultural identity; potential for common humanity.

4. Role values ​​(recognition in groups: professional, age, gender, etc.)

5. Existential values: goodness; life; Love; faith.

We should not forget that we are talking not about a vertical, but about a horizontal organization of the value structure, when values ​​play the role of a rubricator-classifier, “labels” for the presentation of the corresponding product of mass culture.

The synchrony of this value-semantic complex expresses the relationship of values ​​in the embodiment of a mass culture artifact in its design, “packaging”. The result is an artifact that is “mass-cult” in content and “national” in form. Diachrony is the germination of personal identity to the level of “mass culture”. But the value criteria in both cases - synchrony and diachrony - are the same.

This entire system is permeated by the main thing - marketization - the presence of consumer value. What is not in demand cannot exist, including nationally unique things.

Mass culture and its artifacts are a very holistic and well-integrated system, capable of permanent self-reproduction. This is a self-reproducing mass personology, or personological mass.

Mass culture became the time of the rebirth of myth, a return to mythological thinking. But these are myths that are not born spontaneously, but are designed and consciously promoted. Modern myth is deliberately created for the purpose not of knowledge, but of transformation of reality. Therefore, we should talk not so much about the second birth of myth, but about the creation of a new type of mythology, in which only the traditional mechanism is used, but the goals and functions are replaced. In modern advertising, “the world of your freedom” is “mobile television systems,” and “dignity and prestige” are just women’s tights. And vice versa: an electric razor is a “breakthrough into a new dimension”, a chocolate bar is a “symbol of independence”... Mass culture is functionalistic and instrumental. She pedals in every possible way the intrinsic value of desire and indulges a wide variety of desires, acting as a kind of “desire machine.” At the same time, mass culture, while highly technologically saturated, does not satisfy. Promising paradise and bliss, it does not give peace of satisfaction. He attracts, bewitches, promises or seduces, but he always deceives, “throws”.

This attack on "axiological and ontological monoliths" European culture, their dismantling did not begin in our time. Scientific knowledge, art, ideology have been tested throughout the modern era. But it was only in the 20th century that the crisis of the Enlightenment project of rationalism became apparent.

Art, perhaps, was the first to collapse, the fever of which on the eve of and during World War I was ultimately discharged by the complete collapse of imagery (abstractionism, surrealism, conceptualism, activism - the range is quite convincing). After World War II, the methodology of science entered into a rapid crisis. Science, which back in the 50s seemed to be an unshakable bastion of reliable knowledge, on which all the hopes and aspirations of the seemingly limitless progressive development of mankind were pinned, turned into one of the normative value systems of culture, and its claims to possessing the truth of everyday consciousness were called into question. And knowledge itself, along with opinions, faith, myth, is recognized as not a priority means of socialization, variable and situational.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF THE RF

Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution
higher professional education

"PSKOV STATE UNIVERSITY"

Department
"Humanitarian sciences"

TEST
according to the training course
"Sociology"
Option 32
"Mass culture: basic values."

4th year student of distance learning
Specialties (08109
"Accounting, analysis and audit")

Moskvitina Victoria Nikolaevna
group No. 674-1202
code 0867112

Teacher: Proskurina A.V.

PSKOV
2011

Content:
Introduction.

1.1.The emergence of mass culture and its social functions.
1.2.Mass culture in the media.

2. Values.
2.1.Values ​​and their meaning.

2.3.Substitution of values.
3. Methodological part.
3.1.Method of content analysis.
3.2. Text analysis scheme.
4. Analytical part.
Conclusion.
Bibliography.

Introduction.
The idea of ​​mass culture emerged in the 1920s within the framework of the doctrine of mass society. The theory of mass society arises from the fact that in the 20th century class popularization disappears and the “mass” becomes the head of the historical process. The concept of “mass” has not only quantitative characteristics, but also qualitative ones, which is much more important in culture. The qualitative characteristics of the “mass” include: impersonality, predominance of feelings, loss of intelligence and personal responsibility for their decisions and actions. Society is divided into the masses (crowd) and the elite, which have access to the highest cultural values. Hence, “mass” is a society in which a person becomes a faceless element of the social machine, tailored to its needs. And mass culture is what is opposed to genuine culture.

Mass culture is created for the purpose of consumption. Its main function is entertainment. Mass culture appears when the media (radio, television, print) penetrate most countries of the world and become accessible to representatives of all social classes. It is massive in volume (audience coverage) and time (produced constantly). Mass culture has turned into a special type of business, while it is not only consumed by a person, but also consumes the person himself, shielding him from and replacing him with another culture. Typical examples of mass culture include television series, popular and pop music and other mass shows - programs. Such a culture is accessible to all ages, all segments of the population, regardless of level of education.
The relevance of this topic lies in the close penetration of mass culture into all spheres of society. Mass culture has recently become increasingly widespread, and it is increasingly criticized, although it also has positive features, such as providing society with new (useful) information, the emergence of areas of “entertainment” culture, etc. Modern man I can no longer imagine my life without the media.
The media largely dictate human behavior patterns and priority value systems, using the mechanism of status and prestige as the main tool.
Let's try to figure out whether the media influence the formation of mass culture and human values. To do this, we define the goal of the work:
Identification of the share of media coverage of elements of popular culture.
To achieve this goal, we will set the following tasks:
1.study literature on the topic;
2.develop a research plan and tools;
3.select an object of study;
4. study the methodology and technique of conducting social research;
5.gather information (conduct media analysis, make a selection of articles on the topic being studied)
6. analyze the research results;
7.draw conclusions.

1.Modern mass culture.
1.1.The emergence of mass culture and its social functions.
The origins of the wide spread of mass culture in the modern world lie in the commercialization of all social relations, which was pointed out by K. Marx in Capital. In his work, K. Marx examined through the concept of “commodity” the entire diversity of social relations in bourgeois society.
The desire to see a product in the sphere of spiritual activity, combined with the powerful development of mass media, led to the creation of a new phenomenon - mass culture. A predetermined commercial installation, conveyor production - all this largely means the transfer to the sphere of artistic culture of the same financial-industrial approach that prevails in other branches of industrial production. In addition, many creative organizations are closely connected with banking and industrial capital, which initially predetermines them to produce commercial, box office, and entertainment works. In turn, the consumption of these products is mass consumption, because The audience that perceives this culture is the mass audience of large halls, stadiums, millions of viewers of television and movie screens.
Socially, mass culture forms a new social stratum, called the “middle class”.
The concept of “middle class” has become fundamental in Western culture and philosophy. This “middle class” also became the core of life in industrial society. He also made mass culture so popular.
Mass culture mythologizes human consciousness, mystifies real processes occurring in nature and in human society.
There is a rejection of the rational principle in consciousness. The purpose of mass culture is not so much to fill leisure time and relieve tension and stress in a person of industrial and post-industrial society, but rather to stimulate consumer consciousness in the viewer, listener, reader, which in turn forms a special type - passive, uncritical perception of this culture in a person. All this creates a personality that is quite easy to manipulate [9.P.254]. In other words, the human psyche is manipulated and the emotions and instincts of the subconscious sphere of human feelings and, above all, feelings of loneliness, guilt, hostility, fear, and self-preservation are exploited.
The mass consciousness formed by mass culture is diverse in its manifestation. However, it is characterized by conservatism, inertia, and limitations. It cannot cover all processes in development, in all the complexity of their interaction. In the practice of mass culture, mass consciousness has specific means of expression.
Mass culture in artistic creativity performs specific social functions. Among them, the main one is illusory-compensatory: introducing a person to the world of illusory experience and unrealistic dreams. And all this is combined with open or hidden propaganda of a certain way of life, which has its ultimate goal of distracting the masses from social activity and adapting people to existing conditions.
Hence the use in popular culture of such genres of art as detective, western, melodrama, musical, comic book. It is within these genres that simplified “versions of life” are created that reduce social evil to psychological and moral factors. This is also supported by such popular culture formulas as “virtue is always rewarded”,
"good always triumphs over evil".
Despite its apparent vacuity, mass culture has a very clear ideological program to form a certain consciousness and priority value systems in a society that can be controlled.
1.2.Mass culture in the media.
Mass culture is the culture of the masses, culture intended for consumption by the people; this is the consciousness not of the people, but of the commercial cultural industry; it is hostile to truly popular culture. She knows no traditions, has no nationality, her tastes and ideals change very quickly in accordance with the needs of fashion. Mass culture appeals to a wide audience, appeals to simplified tastes, and claims to be folk art.
Modernism, on the contrary, appeals to the tastes of the elite and is based on various areas of avant-garde art. Currently, there is an intensive process of transforming the avant-garde into consumer art.
The phenomenon of mass culture exists, and television is the most effective means of replicating and disseminating this culture.
Mass culture influences mass consciousness through the means of mass communication, is focused on consumer tastes and instincts, and is manipulative in nature. The media pose a great threat to an independent person; it has a dangerous weapon of suggestion, a weapon of social disorientation of a person.
Mass culture standardizes human spiritual activity. The human mass wants to be distracted from life rather than discover its meaning.
From market-oriented consumer goods and media advertising, we learn about the typical behaviors, attitudes, generally accepted opinions, prejudices and expectations of a large number of people.
One of the important functions of modern mass culture is the mythologization of public consciousness. Works of mass culture, like myths, are not based on the distinction between the real and the ideal; they become the subject not of knowledge, but of faith.
There is an opinion that the most adequate term expressing the essence of works of mass culture is the term icon. It is the icon that corresponds to the Russian concept of image. This term characterizes this type of artistic reflection, which is symbolic, fundamentally unrealistic in nature, is an object of faith, worship, and not a means of reflection and knowledge of the world.
Mass culture is a specific way of mastering reality and adapting to it, manifested in the conditions of an industrially developed “mass society”; it is a phenomenon that characterizes the specifics of the production and dissemination of cultural values ​​in modern society. Its distinctive features are its focus on the tastes and needs of the “average person”, exceptionally high flexibility, the ability to transform products created within other cultures and turn them into consumer goods, commercial nature, the use of clichés when creating its products, as well as connection with the media as the main channel for the dissemination and consumption of its values.

1.3. Moral aspects of mass culture.
One can reproach mass culture for immorality and lack of spirituality and consider it from the standpoint of the moral values ​​of “high culture.” But rather, this activity can be considered unpromising, since the criteria of morality for the analysis of mass culture have not yet been practically defined in modern cultural studies.
Despite this, let’s try to figure out what mass culture brings to modern man from the point of view of moral positions.
Firstly, the accessibility and understandability of the figurative sphere and content. These are “heroes” and images of the modern world, problems and situations raised more than once in the media. In our difficult times, when people are surrounded by violence and arbitrariness in everyday life, economic and political crises, in TV series, books and films, the average person sees the possibility of a successful fight against crime and corruption, honest, “uncorrupt officials” and journalists. Of course, sometimes we are not satisfied with the form of embodiment of this content. Yes, the abundance of scenes of violence and blood is striking - this is a victory of good on a physical level, and not on a moral one. But these are the realities of our modern life, our reality. The plots of many films, TV series and novels are based on a sharp contrast between good and evil, heroism and villainy. But if evil and villainy are written about everywhere in “mass culture,” then the category of good has somehow fallen out of the field of criticism. However, it is she who has a decisive influence in all types of fights; it is Good that always fights Evil, and always wins.
The bulk of works of mass culture adhere to universal human norms and principles - criminals of all stripes, illnesses, troubles at work, blows of fate usually appear in the guise of Evil. Good is always personified by people, heroes, who are endowed with high moral qualities and enter into the fight against Evil not only because of their official duties, but also because of the nobility of their soul. Traditional happy ending instills in the viewer-reader faith in the triumph of justice, in the victory of good. This is a kind of psychotherapy session, “moral catharsis” and this is one of the reasons for the magnetic power of this type of culture.
However, in popular culture there are forms created only for the purpose of entertaining people. And the sphere of influence of entertainment culture is most often young people who have a lot of free time. Therefore, the impact of such forms of mass culture on young people requires a more in-depth, comprehensive study. The development of national forms of entertaining mass culture, precisely from the point of view of spirituality, can give positive results. Social practice indicates that national forms of entertaining mass culture can successfully compete among young people with similar Western products. This, in turn, can contribute to the real preservation of the mentality and value system of the nation. Often through such forms of mass culture there is a real introduction to national forms of culture: religion, folklore, art, literature. Of course, the presence of national content in popular culture cannot be evidence of compliance with all the moral and aesthetic criteria presented to genuine cultural creations. Therefore, to solve this pressing problem, it is necessary to comprehensively study the moral aspects of all trends and genres of mass culture, develop a new state spiritual and cultural program, and, of course, the responsibility of producers of all mass culture products to society.

2. Values.
2.1.Values ​​and their meaning.
Sociology studies social values. Sociological values ​​are those that are designed to satisfy individual, group or social needs. Values ​​are closely related to needs; they are two sides of one whole. If a need is a driving force rooted inside a person, then value denotes those objects that satisfy this need and are located outside.[ 3.P.71 ]
Values ​​can be very different - material and spiritual. The role of values ​​in human society is enormous. They perform a variety of functions. They regulate social relations and interactions of people, and therefore they can be called regulators. Values ​​manifest themselves as fundamental norms that ensure the integrity of society. Therefore, their second function is to be value norms. But the main function of values ​​is that they motivate behavior. A person orients behavior towards specific values, orients it consciously. This is how values, needs and motives are linked into a single whole.
A person’s scale of values ​​is the core of his personality. A person’s personality is characterized depending on what values ​​he is guided by and whether the values ​​he chooses coincide with those that society recognizes as the most important. There is a scale of public values ​​and a scale of individual human values. A person can be called a personality if his subjective and objective scales of values ​​coincide.
Values ​​are acquired through socialization. Values ​​are not only a mechanism, but also the result of social comparison, a way of ordering the elements of culture. Human culture is based on the fact that ideas, norms, customs, rules and material monuments are ordered by degree of importance. The scale of individual values ​​is not strictly fixed and is built by the person himself. Values ​​move from one level to another. The scale of values ​​is part of the core of human personality.
2.2.Values ​​of mass culture.
. The values ​​of mass culture, realized in its products, express ideas about life comfort, social stability and personal success. They are addressed to everyone. Therefore, the meaning of mass culture, the principle of its value coordination, is marketization - not so much satisfaction as the formation of needs for which the products of mass culture are intended to satisfy. In mass culture, commodity-money relations involve not only the economy, but also culture as a whole, including scientific and artistic creativity. Almost all cultural products become commodities, and money literally becomes the “universal equivalent.” There are quite a lot of definitions of mass culture. Culture is understood as a set of values ​​(spiritual and material), as living human activity for their creation, distribution and storage. One of the main functions of culture is value-orientation. Those. culture sets a certain system of value coordinates. A kind of “map of life values” in which a person exists and is guided.
In culture, it is traditional to distinguish several levels: informational, technological and value. Therefore, culture is a system of ways of storing and transmitting information, accumulating skills and abilities, and mechanisms for applying them in practical activities. At the same time, it offers a whole range of value systems that, through ideological universals, in their interaction, set the image of the human world. It is with the help of cultural categories, such as good, evil, faith, hope, freedom, justice, that a person comprehends and experiences the world, brings into integrity all the phenomena of reality that fall within the sphere of his experience.
In modern society, information and cognition prevail, which leads to a loss of spirituality.
Modern generation differs more in business and intellectual qualities, lives richer and more comfortable, but more mechanically, loses the ability to empathize and love
etc.................

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

RYBINSK STATE AVIATION TECHNOLOGICAL ACADEMY NAMED AFTER P.A. SOLOVIEV

Department of Philosophy

Test work in the discipline "philosophy"

“Mass culture in its relation to the values ​​of traditional culture”

Completed by: Bastrygin D. A.,
student gr. ZSP-05, 1st year.
Teacher: Vorontsov B.N.
Grade: __________________________
Teacher's signature: ____________
Date of: ____________________________

Rybinsk 2006

PLAN

Introduction 3

1.Mass culture 5

2.Traditional culture 9

3. The attitude of mass culture to the values ​​of traditional culture 20

Views on modern culture 39

Modern culture and civilization 40

Conclusion 53

Used literature 54

Introduction

Today, the diversity of types of culture can be considered in two aspects: diversity: culture on a human scale, emphasis on sociocultural supersystems, internal diversity: the culture of a particular society, city, emphasis on subcultures.

Within the framework of a separate society we can distinguish:

high (elite)

folk (folklore) culture, they are based on different levels of education of individuals and

mass culture, the formation of which was led by the active development of the media.

When considering subcultures, it is first necessary to separate those subcultures that oppose the culture of a given society.

The experience accumulated by humanity during its sociocultural history provides invaluable assistance in solving cultural problems at the present stage of transformation of our society based on the principles of humanism and democracy in the conditions of rapid scientific and technological progress. It should be noted that cultural problems today are acquiring paramount, in fact, key importance, because culture is a powerful factor in social development. After all, it permeates all aspects of human life - from the foundations of material production and human needs to the greatest manifestations human spirit. Culture is playing an increasingly important role in solving the long-term program goals of the democratic movement: the formation and strengthening of civil society, the discovery of human creative abilities, the deepening of democracy, and the construction of the rule of law. Culture affects all spheres of social and individual life - work, everyday life, leisure, area of ​​thinking, etc., on the way of life of society and the individual. Its significance in the formation and development of a person’s lifestyle is manifested through the action of personal-subjective factors (attitudes of consciousness, spiritual needs, values, etc.), influencing the nature of behavior, forms and style communication between people, values, patterns, norms of behavior. A humanistic way of life, focused not on adaptation to existing conditions, but on their transformation, presupposes a high level of consciousness and culture, increasing their role as regulators of people’s behavior and their way of thinking.

Since the center of culture is a person with all his needs and concerns, a special place in social life is occupied by issues of his development cultural environment, and the problems associated with achieving high quality in the process of creating and perceiving cultural values. The development of the cultural riches of the past performs an integrating function in the life of every society, harmonizes the existence of people, awakens in them the need to comprehend the world as a whole. And this is of great importance for the search for general criteria of progress in the conditions of an unstoppable scientific and technological revolution.

These questions are posed with extreme urgency by the very life of our society; orientation towards a qualitatively new state of society leads to a sharp turning point in the understanding of traditionalist and innovative trends in social development. They require, on the one hand, deep development cultural heritage, expanding the exchange of genuine cultural values ​​between peoples, and on the other hand, the ability to go beyond the usual, but already outdated ideas, to overcome a number of reactionary traditions that have developed and been implanted over the centuries, constantly manifesting themselves in the consciousness, activities and behavior of people. In resolving these issues, knowledge and an adequate modern understanding of the history of world culture play a significant role.