Material culture is the world of things created or transformed by man. These include new varieties of plants, new breeds of animals, production, consumption, everyday life and man himself in his material, physical essence. The very first steps of culture on earth are connected with things, tools with which man influenced the world around him. Animals can also use various natural objects in the process of obtaining food, but none of them has created anything that does not exist in nature. Only man turned out to be capable of creating new objects that expand his capabilities and abilities to satisfy his needs.
This creative process had extremely important consequences. On the one hand, simultaneously with the creation and mastery of tools and the taming of nature (fire, animals), human consciousness gradually developed. For further activities It turned out that the senses alone, which reflect only the external aspects of things, were not enough for him. Actions with things required an understanding of their internal properties, relationships between parts of objects, the causes and possible consequences of one’s own actions, and much more, without which human survival in the world is impossible. The need for such an understanding gradually develops the abstract-logical activity of consciousness, thinking. The great German philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-1872) said that animals reflect only the necessary light of the sun directly for life, humans reflect the radiance of distant stars; only human eyes know selfless joys, only man knows spiritual feasts. But man was able to come to spiritual feasts only when he began to change the world around him, when he created the tools of labor, and with them his history, in the process of which he endlessly improved them and improved himself.
On the other hand, along with the improvement of tools, living conditions also changed, knowledge of the world developed, relationships between people became more complex, and material culture became more and more intertwined with the also developing spiritual culture, forming a systemic integrity. In order to more fully understand the structure of culture, it is necessary to dismember this integrity and consider separately its main elements.
The culture of production is the most important element in material culture, since it is it that determines the quality of life in which this or that local culture develops and influences it. From whatever point of view we consider the forms and methods human existence in the world, it should be recognized that only the activity of obtaining and creating material wealth is the basis of our life. A person eats to live, but he also needs other objects, without which life is similar to animal existence (home, clothes, shoes), as well as what can be used to create it. First of all, in the process of human activity various tools of labor are created. It was they who laid the foundation for the formation of man as a rational being (as opposed to an animal) and became the main condition for his further development.
The early period of human existence left us with only primitive objects associated with the most important task of society at that time - the task of survival. Based on the tools that our ancestor used, we can draw conclusions about his general development, the types of activities and, consequently, the skills that he possessed. But people also made objects not related to work - utensils and decorations, sculptural images and drawings. All this also required for its creation special devices, and certain knowledge about the materials used, and the corresponding skills. Many researchers believe that necklaces made of natural materials, figurines, and drawings were directly related to the same main task. Each element of the necklace signified the practical achievement of the person wearing it, the figures of people and animals, the drawings carried a magical meaning, everything was subordinated to one single goal - obtaining a means of subsistence. We can say that production activity forms the basis of the entire culture of the world; in any case, it served as the motivating force that revealed human capabilities, developed them and established “active man” (homo agens) in the world.
Already at the earliest stages of material production, three of its main components were formed and established, which became certain indicators of culture: technical equipment (tools of labor, means of labor and production, etc.), the labor process and the result of labor.
The degree of development of technology and all its elements in society demonstrates the level of knowledge accumulated by it related to providing living space, meeting the needs of each person, and the characteristics of the needs themselves. Each tool of labor is not only objectified knowledge, but also a necessary condition for human activity. Consequently, it requires appropriate skills and abilities from those who apply it. Thus, the emergence of new technology and new technologies raises society to a new stage of development. Labor activity creates a double connection between people and production: a person creates a tool of labor, and a tool of labor creates, changes and, to a certain extent, improves a person. However, the relationship between man and tools is contradictory. Each new tool to one degree or another increases the natural capabilities of a person (expands the scope of his activity, reduces the expenditure of muscular energy, acts as a manipulator where the environment is dangerous for a person, takes on routine work), but thereby limiting the manifestation of his abilities, since an increasing number of actions cease to require him to fully devote his own strength. This increases labor productivity, improves individual abilities and skills of the worker, but dulls all other human data, “cancels” it as unnecessary. Together with the division of labor, a person becomes a “partial” person, his universal capabilities do not find application. He specializes, developing only one or a few of his abilities, and his other abilities may never reveal themselves. With the development of machine production, this contradiction deepens: production needed a person only as an appendage to the machine. Work on an assembly line is dulling, since the worker has neither the need nor even the opportunity to think about what actions he is performing; all this must be brought to automaticity. These “demands” of technology for man marked the beginning of the process of alienation, in which both technology and the results of labor begin to confront man as a kind of external force. The creation of automated production intensified the processes of alienation and brought to life many new problems. At the center of them is the problem of a person’s loss of his individuality. The measure of culture of society and production is largely related to whether it will be possible to overcome the process of alienation and return a person to his personal beginning. One thing is clear: the more developed the technology, the higher the certain general, abstract level of skills and abilities, the wider the range of professions needed by society, the richer the range of goods and services. It is believed that all this should ensure high development of culture. But that's not true. There is a strict relationship between the technical equipment of production and the level general culture There is still no society. The development of technology is not a condition for the equally high development of spiritual culture and vice versa. Narrow specialization is the opposite of the universality and integrity of a person, and the culture of a society based on highly developed production and high technology forces a person to “pay” for this progress. Those employed in such production and the people generated by it constitute a faceless mass, a crowd that is manipulated by popular culture. Therefore, modern scientists are looking for ways to resolve this kind of contradictions, suggesting that the culture of society and production itself becomes fully culture only if society compensates a person for his spiritual losses. Thus, the culture of production breaks the boundaries of its existence and turns out to be interconnected with all aspects of society, its goals, principles, ideals and values.
The culture of production begins with the mutual relationship between man and technology, which consists in the degree of man’s mastery of technology. But another contradiction arises between man and technology: technology can be improved endlessly, but man is not infinite. Therefore, the development of a culture of technical relations requires the humanization of technology. This means that when creating new technology, it is important to take into account the physical and mental characteristics of the person himself. Development and design of labor tools, equipment and technical systems ergonomics is involved in meeting the needs of a person as much as possible.
The labor process is the central link in production culture. It links together all stages of product creation, so it includes a variety of elements labor activity- from abilities, skills, mastery of performers to management problems. A modern American expert on leadership issues, Stephen R. Covey, believes that the effectiveness of any activity (he calls it a skill that is developed by a person in the process of activity) is at the intersection of knowledge, skill and desire. We can say that the same qualities underlie the culture of the labor process. If all the elements of the labor process we have named are on different levels development and perfection (for example: knowledge is higher than skills; there is knowledge and skills, there is no desire; there is desire and knowledge, but no skills, and so on), it is impossible to talk about the culture of production as a whole. If in the field of technology the main role belongs to technical relations, then for the labor process the relations between technology and technology (technological relations) and between man and man (production relations) are more significant. High technologies require a high level of knowledge, practical and theoretical, and a higher level of training of specialists. Since high technologies most significantly affect economic, environmental, and moral relations existing in society, the training of specialists for such production should involve the development of not only production skills, but also personal qualities, associated with responsibility, the ability to see, formulate and solve problems of varying degrees of difficulty, and have creative potential.
The production system and all the relationships that develop within it are contradictory. The culture of production largely depends on how and to what extent these contradictions are resolved in society. So, if the level of technical development is high, but people do not have the knowledge to work with this technology, then it is impossible to talk about production culture. Another example: workers have the necessary level of development, but the technology is primitive, therefore, in this case we cannot talk about production culture. A culture of production in the full sense of the word is possible only with the harmony of interaction between man and technology. Improvement of technology should bring about an increase in the level of professional training of people, and an increased level of professionalism is a condition for further improvement of technology.
Since part of production culture is related to relationships between people, great place it focuses on management culture. In ancient civilizations, production management involved coercion. In primitive society, there was no place for coercion as a form of relations between people: life itself, its conditions, daily and hourly forced people to extract and create material wealth for the sake of survival. Modern highly developed production cannot use direct coercion. The tools of labor became too difficult to use, and professional mastery of them turned out to be impossible without the internal discipline, responsibility, energy and initiative of the worker. As work becomes more complex, there are fewer and fewer possibilities for effective direct control and coercion: “you can bring a horse to water, but you cannot force it to drink.” That's why management activities consists in streamlining connections in society as a whole, in production as its main component and is increasingly replacing coercion. Management culture, on the one hand, is associated with economic, political and legal culture, on the other, includes production ethics, morality, morality, knowledge of etiquette, the ability to place people in the production process in such a way as to take them into account individual characteristics and production needs. Otherwise, the labor process inevitably comes to crises or conflicts. Everything mentioned above relates to a special level of human culture, which is called professional culture.
Professional culture is a complex systemic unity that combines practical skills and abilities in the field of specific activities, possession of the equipment necessary in a given branch of production, special theoretical knowledge directly or indirectly related to production activities, as well as moral norms and rules , necessary in the production system. Professional culture is at the intersection of a person’s general culture and his special training, therefore it includes those criteria that determine relationships in the production process and the requirements that exist in society outside of production. The culture of production reveals itself in the creation of objects and things that meet the needs of society. This means that the items produced must be varied, functional, economical, have high quality performance and aesthetic appearance. Each produced object, representing objectified knowledge, demonstrates a specific cultural level society, industry or enterprise. In addition, it reflects the technology of its execution, the materials used speak volumes: all of these are indicators of the culture of this production. Of course, it is possible to produce unique items using outdated equipment, manual labor, massive use of unskilled labor, but such production becomes unprofitable. So the efficiency of production, the optimal ratio of costs and profits in it are also indicators of the culture of the enterprise. Manufactured products can influence the entire lifestyle of society, shaping its tastes, needs and demand. Things created in production occupy a central place in everyday culture.
The culture of everyday life is the material environment (apartment, house, production) and at the same time the attitude towards it. It also includes the organization of this environment, in which the aesthetic tastes, ideals and norms of man and society are manifested. Throughout history, the material world has “absorbed” all the features of the economic, social, and artistic level of development of society. For example, in conditions subsistence farming the man himself performed all types of labor: he was a farmer, a cattle breeder, a weaver, a tanner, and a builder, and therefore he made things designed for long-term use. “The house, tools, dishes and even clothes have served more than one generation.” All things made by one person reflected his idea of their practical use, as well as the characteristics of his artistic views, attitude and worldview. Most often, these handicrafts are unique, but not always skillful. When things began to be made by professionals - artisans, they became more skillful and decorative - decorated, some of them became more complex. Social inequality among people at this time determines inequality in the design of the material sphere. The surviving household items clearly demonstrate the lifestyle of a particular social stratum. Each cultural era leaves its mark on the world of things, revealing in them its own stylistic characteristics. These features concern not only architecture, home decoration, furniture, but also clothing, hairstyles, and shoes. The material environment “reproduces” the entire system of cultural norms, aesthetic views and all the specifics of a certain era. Using the example of two drawings, comparing the main elements of life of Gothic (Middle Ages) and Rococo (XVIII century), a quick glance is enough to see how the architectural principles, decorative elements, furniture and clothing of people of each period relate to each other.
Gothic style. Rococo.
The emergence of industrial production created a world of standard things. In them, differences in social properties were somewhat smoothed out. However, endlessly repeating similar forms, styles, varieties, they impoverished and depersonalized " environment. Therefore, in the most diverse social strata there appears a desire for more frequent changes in the environment, and then for the search for an individual style in solving the material environment.
The culture of everyday life presupposes functionality, aesthetic organization - design (English design “plan, project, drawing, drawing”) and economy of the material environment. The activities of modern designers are devoted to the task of organizing the everyday sphere, eliminating “objective chaos” in it. It can hardly be said that the quantity or cost of things in any way determines the culture of the room, but the fact that they demonstrate it can be said with certainty. By how the interior of the enterprise is organized, one can judge the attitude towards employees or visitors, as well as the lifestyle and activities of the team. If we paraphrase the statement of K. S. Stanislavsky (1863-1938) that the theater begins with a coat rack, then we can say about any room that everything in it is important: from the coat rack to the utility rooms. The same can be applied to home interiors.
Another side of everyday culture is the attitude towards the environment. For example, even in the most undemanding videos, if they want to show a negative social environment, they show scribbled walls, untidy, broken furniture, dirty, uncleaned rooms. In the film “Orchestra Rehearsal,” the great film director Federico Fellini (1920-1993) associates such vandalism of people with a symbolic picture of the end of the world, believing that its main symptom is the loss of culture in relation to everything that surrounds a person. However, the attitude towards things can also be exaggerated, excessive, when things are perceived as the only value in life. At one time, the word “materialism” was widespread, characterizing people who, of all human values, put the possession of prestigious things in first place. In fact, the true culture of everyday life treats things as they deserve: as objects that decorate or facilitate our activities, or make them more “human,” bringing warmth, comfort and good feelings into them.
Physical culture is the culture of a person’s relationship to his own body. It is aimed at maintaining physical and spiritual health and includes the ability to control one’s body. Obviously, physical culture should not be associated only with success in one sport or another. Of course, sport can be a guarantee of health, but health is not the only thing that makes up physical culture. Research by specialists has shown that playing any one sport, even a beautiful or popular one, develops a person too one-sidedly and requires a constant increase in loads, and a person, despite all the versatility of his capabilities, is still finite. We know how rare but intense minutes of sports activities are valued business people all over the world. Availability physical culture assumes that the main goal of a person is to master the characteristics of his body, the ability to use it, constantly maintaining efficiency and balance, adequately responding to rapidly changing living and working conditions. This gives real unity of mental and physical labor(physical health, endurance, ability to control oneself, maintain high performance in mental activity, regardless of external factors, and mental activity determines the effectiveness of physical labor). Physical health is not always an indicator of physical and general culture. The world knows people who not only did not have the health of Hercules, but who were simply disabled, who reached high levels of perfection in intellectual and cultural activities. For example, US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was chained to wheelchair, but nevertheless he was able to lead the country even in the most difficult years for the whole world - during the Second World War. It follows from this that only the ability to concentrate the capabilities of one’s body, complete mastery of it, allows people to act, and this is the essence of physical culture (culture organizes a person’s physical capabilities). Such a manifestation of human physical culture is a triumph not only of the body, but also of the spirit, for only man exists in the unity of the material and spiritual.
Spiritual and material culture are two parts of one whole. Studying one area is almost impossible without studying another. Material culture implies any material achievements of mankind. For example, technical inventions, architecture, household items. Objects of material culture greatly help archaeologists in their work. Based on material finds, they can reconstruct the life of our ancestors, their way of life. Material culture is the most important part of life, which changes and improves every year, in accordance with the development of humanity.
Spiritual culture is also the main indicator of the civilization of people. What does this concept include? First of all, any ideas, discoveries, concepts. For example, spiritual culture includes psychology, various works art. This definition includes everything that has been achieved by the power of human thought and talent.
Material culture is inextricably linked with the spiritual aspect. Before constructing any building or creating any other physical object, the intellectual strength of people and their imagination were expended. At the same time, objects related to spiritual culture are also expressed through material objects. For example, a person created a philosophical work and introduced it to his readers through a book.
The spiritual aspect, like material culture, also helps to understand. First of all, this is the merit of archaeologists who study ancient works of art and achievements of thought. However, spiritual culture is studied not only by historians. For example, ancient beliefs, fairy tales, and legends were carefully analyzed in their works by the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, as well as his followers. Spiritual culture allows us to understand how our forefathers saw the world, what their psychology was, which is very valuable for a deep and thoughtful knowledge of history.
What more can be said about these two concepts? Material and spiritual culture existed, of course, in different options development at almost all times. Even ancient people carved drawings on the walls of caves symbolizing animals and some everyday actions, for example, hunting.
Material culture, like spiritual culture, has experienced ups and downs many times throughout the history of mankind. Priorities also changed. That is, one culture became more important than another. It is interesting to consider people's interest in the spiritual and material aspects using the example of the well-known concept. This famous concept helps to analyze why one aspect of culture becomes more important than another. A person deprived of basic material goods, that is, shelter, food and means to help protect himself, is unlikely to be interested in the spiritual side of life. A person who has satisfied all his basic needs is already drawn to such areas as art, philosophy, and religion.
Material culture clearly shows how much a person was able to adapt to natural conditions. Without this aspect, the existence of a state, and even a person, is practically impossible. However, spiritual culture is also very important for the entire society. Without it, man would have remained a barbarian. Spiritual culture sets certain standards behavior, forms ideals, develops a sense of beauty. Without it, no civilization is unimaginable. However, spiritual culture is not entertainment for the elite, because it includes education, cinema, and various books. The harmony of material objects and the achievements of human intelligence helps to achieve a high level of existence, both for an entire state and for an individual.
Material culture - these are the achievements of the human mind in the development of productive forces and production relations of society . It is also a set of those values that are aimed at satisfying consumer, material needs and interests of people. Mainly, the needs for food, clothing, housing, means of transportation, physical health, warmth, light, household items, etc. This is the process and result of human material activity. Material culture is the culture of labor and material production, the culture of everyday life, the culture of attitude towards one’s own body and physical culture.
Analyzing the internal structure of material culture, within the framework of material activity, we should first of all highlight economic (economic) activity aimed at creating material conditions for human life as the creator of a “second nature”. It includes means of production, methods practical activities(production relations), as well as creative moments of everyday economic activity of a person.
Features of material (technological) culture:
1) She is not concerned with the “value dimension” of activity. Its meanings are concentrated around WHAT and HOW to do, FOR WHY TO DO IT.
2) Values: efficiency, accuracy, strength, utilitarianism(utility);
3) Rationalism. Evolution from mysticism to rationality.
4) In relation to spiritual culture, it plays a subordinate role, service role. The goals of the development of science and technology are determined by the needs of the development of spiritual and social culture.
5) Performing a service role, it turns out to be an indispensable condition for any cultural activity. Professional excellence.
Spiritual culture is a set of norms and values related to satisfying the intellectual needs of people and contributing to the formation of reasonable moral, psychological qualities and abilities in them. Spiritual culture is the process and results of spiritual production (religion, philosophy, morality, art, science, etc.). This area of culture is very extensive. She is presented richest world science and art, morality and law, politics and religion. Of course, all the values of spiritual culture are recorded, preserved, passed on from generation to generation only in material sphere, indirectly: language, ideology, values, customs, etc. The elements included in spiritual culture cannot be touched with our hands, but they exist in our consciousness and are constantly maintained in the process of interaction. Spiritual culture is represented and functions in a much richer, more extensive objective world and norms of relationships than material.
So, spiritual culture acts as an activity aimed at the spiritual development of man and society, at the creation of ideas, knowledge, spiritual values - images of public consciousness. The subject forms of spiritual culture are the results of spiritual activity and relationships between people, the development and realization of human abilities.
The main forms of spiritual culture: myth, religion, morality, art, philosophy, science. Spiritual culture captures the creative side, innovation, achievements, the productive, not the reproductive side.
Features of spiritual culture:
1) N utilitarianism. She is essentially selfless. Its cornerstones are not benefit, not profit, but “joys of the spirit” - beauty, knowledge, wisdom. People need it for its own sake.
2) Greatest With freedom of creativity. The human mind, not connected with utilitarian considerations and practical necessity, is capable of breaking away from reality and flying away from it on the wings of fantasy.
3) creative activity becomes a special spiritual world created by the power of human thought. This world is incomparably richer than the real world.
4) Sensitivity. Most responsive to environmental changes. She is able to detect the slightest changes in people’s lives and respond to them with changes in herself. The most fragile area of culture, the one that suffers the most during social cataclysms, needs the support of society.
But it is impossible to differentiate and contrast the material and spiritual with each other as 2 special areas of culture. They are like different sides of the same coin. For, on the one hand, the whole culture as a whole is spiritual, because it is the world of meanings, i.e. spiritual entities. On the other hand, it is entirely material, because... presented in sensory-perceptible codes, signs, texts. Therefore, by material culture it makes sense to understand not some special area of culture, different from spiritual culture, but the “sign shell” of any culture. Any work of art is a material phenomenon, since it is always embodied in something. But at the same time, any work of art is an expression certain meanings, reflecting the values and ideology of society and era. This division makes it possible to ensure that any cultural phenomenon is the objectified result of the ideal, spiritual content of human activity. Thus, architectural buildings are both works of art and serve practical purposes.
Any culture is multifaceted and multifaceted. But conditionally it can be divided into two spheres of activity, into two forms. These are the material and spiritual spheres of culture.
TO material culture include the entire area of human material and production activity and its results - tools, homes, everyday items, clothing, vehicles, methods of practical activity to create means of production and consumption, etc.
Spiritual culture includes the sphere of spiritual production (production of ideas, knowledge, spiritual values) and its results embodied in science, philosophy, art, religion, morality, etc.
The basis of existence material culture things are the result of human material and creative activity. Things in their totality create a complex and branched structure of material culture. It contains several important regions.
Agriculture (breeding, plant varieties, animal breeds, cultivated soils). Human survival is directly related to these areas of material culture, since they provide food as well as raw materials for industrial production.
Buildings and structures (housing, offices, places of entertainment, educational activities; workshops, docks, bridges, dams, etc.).
Tools, devices and equipment designed to support all types of human physical and mental labor.
Transport and communications.
Communications (mail, telegraph, telephone, radio, computer networks)
Technologies - knowledge and skills in all listed areas of activity.
Spiritual culture is a multilayered formation. Its basis knowledge, which are products of human cognitive activity, recording the information he receives about the world around him and himself, his views on life and behavior. Knowledge satisfies certain human needs, primarily related to the need to ensure the lives of people in society. For the same purposes, various value systems, allowing a person to realize, choose or create forms of behavior approved by society. Culture is the way and sphere of creating cultural values. The concept of values as an important, fundamental element of culture was first formulated I. KANTOM. One of the founders of the theory of values, in which they are presented as cultural phenomena, is G. RICKERT.
Under values is understood as a life guideline that encourages a person to take actions and actions of a certain kind. Cultural values- a set of historically and nationally determined objects, phenomena, ideas that have social and cultural significance for humans and society. Value is not the object itself, but special kind the meaning that a person sees in it. When a person knows nothing about an object, it has no value for him. The concept of “value” is not equal to the concept of “usefulness” (the value can be useless, and vice versa), it differs from the concept of “cost” (value is a monetary expression of value; a penny item can be valuable).
The selection of values in society occurs in the process of practical activity.
The world of values is very diverse. Among this variety, the following can be distinguished: TYPES OF VALUES:
Final values(close concept vital values, from the Latin concept of life) – the highest values and ideals, more important than which there is nothing. These are life, health, happiness, love, friendship, honor, dignity, legality, humanism... These Cs are necessary in themselves.
Economic values – entrepreneurship, the presence of equal conditions for commodity producers, favorable conditions for production, etc.
Social values – social status, hard work, family, tolerance, gender equality, personal independence, etc.
Political values – patriotism, civic engagement, legitimacy, civil liberties, etc.
Moral values – goodness, goodness, love, duty, selflessness, fidelity, honesty, fairness, decency, respect for elders, etc.
Religious – God, faith, salvation, grace, Holy Scripture, etc.
Aesthetic values – beauty, harmony, style, etc.
It is on the basis of values that those existing today are formed varieties of spiritual culture: 1) morality, 2) politics, 3) law, 4) art, 5) religion, 6) science, 7) philosophy.
Spiritual material culture is always interconnected, since it cannot exist in complete isolation from one another. Material culture is always the embodiment of a certain part of spiritual culture. And spiritual culture can exist only by being reified, objectified, and having received one or another material embodiment. Example: any book, painting, musical composition, like other works of art, need a material carrier - paper, canvas, paints, musical instruments etc.
It is often very difficult to understand what type of culture - material or spiritual - a particular object or phenomenon belongs to. Thus, we will most likely classify any piece of furniture as material culture. But if we talk about a three-hundred-year-old chest of drawers exhibited in a museum, we can talk about it as an object of spiritual culture. And a book, an indisputable object of spiritual culture, can be used to light a stove instead of firewood. Cultural objects can change their purpose. How then to distinguish them? The criterion can be an assessment of the meaning and purpose of an object - if an object or phenomenon satisfies the primary (biological) needs of a person, it is classified as material culture, but if it satisfies secondary needs associated with the development of human abilities, it refers to spiritual culture.
In addition, between material and spiritual culture there are transitional forms – signs - material objects that represent something other than what they themselves are. The most famous form of sign is money, used by people to denote all kinds of services. Money is a universal market equivalent that can be spent on buying food or clothing (material culture), or we can use it to buy a ticket to a theater or museum (spiritual culture). Money is a universal intermediary between objects of material and spiritual culture. This is their serious danger, since they equate these objects with each other, depersonalizing objects of spiritual culture.
In fact, the question is quite complex, and during my time studying sociology I spent more than one night trying to figure it out. In general, I will try to state what I have learned and, I hope, it will be useful to someone. :)
What is material culture
This concept includes those objects that were created artificially to satisfy social and natural human needs. For example, this could be clothing or weapons, jewelry or the home itself. All this is included in the concept of the material culture of a certain people. IN in a broad sense this includes the following elements:
- objects - devices or roads, objects of art and homes;
- technologies - because they are a material reflection of thought;
- technical culture - this includes skills or certain abilities that are passed on to subsequent generations.
What is spiritual culture
She was not reflected in objects - she does not control things, but everything connected with feelings and intellect. These include:
- perfect shapes- for example, language or generally accepted principles. Sometimes this includes education;
- subjective forms - in this case we are talking about the knowledge possessed by individual representatives of the people;
- integrating forms - this concept includes various elements of both personal character and social consciousness, for example, legends.
The relationship between the spiritual and the material
Naturally, both forms cannot help but interact; moreover, they are closely intertwined with many interrelations. For example, the thoughts of an architect, that is, the spiritual component, finds its imprint in the material - the building. At the same time material object- a beautiful building, finds expression in feelings and emotions - spiritual.
Of particular interest is the fact of the reflection of the spiritual in the material - things that receive the status of a cultural object after processing by human hands. Moreover, they relate to both the material and the spiritual, possessing, in addition to practical benefits, also a certain spiritual meaning. This is typical for primitive society when things symbolized spirits or stored information in the form of engraved text.