Influence of culture. The influence of culture on human personality, behavior and cognitive functions

22.04.2019

Federal Agency for Education and Science

Higher professional education

Tula State University

Department of Sociology and Political Science

TOcourse work

on the topic: “The influence of culture on personality development”

Completed by: student gr.720871

Pugaeva Olesya Sergeevna

Tula 2008

Introduction

1. Sociological analysis of cultural phenomena

1.1 Concept of culture

1.2 Functions and forms of culture

1.3 Culture as a systemic education

2. The role of culture in human life

2.1 Forms of manifestation of culture in human life

2.2 Socialization of personality

2.3 Culture as one of the most important methods of socialization of the individual

Conclusion

List of used literature

Introduction

The word “culture” comes from the Latin word cultura, which means to cultivate, or cultivate the soil. In the Middle Ages, this word came to mean a progressive method of cultivating grains, thus the term agriculture or the art of farming arose. But in the 18th and 19th centuries. it began to be used in relation to people, therefore, if a person was distinguished by grace of manners and erudition, he was considered “cultured.” At that time, the term was applied mainly to aristocrats in order to separate them from the “uncultured” common people. The German word Kultur also meant a high level of civilization. In our life today, the word “culture” is still associated with opera house, wonderful literature, good upbringing. Modern scientific definition culture discarded the aristocratic shades of this concept. It symbolizes the beliefs, values and expressions (as used in literature and art) that are common to a group; they serve to organize experience and regulate the behavior of members of this group. The beliefs and attitudes of a subgroup are often called a subculture. The assimilation of culture is carried out through teaching. Culture is created, culture is taught. Since it is not acquired biologically, each generation reproduces it and passes it on to the next generation. This process is the basis of socialization. As a result of the assimilation of values, beliefs, norms, rules and ideals, the child’s personality is formed and his behavior is regulated. If the process of socialization were to cease on a mass scale, it would lead to the death of culture.

Culture shapes the personalities of members of society, thereby largely regulating their behavior.

How important culture is for the functioning of an individual and society can be judged by the behavior of people who have not been socialized. The uncontrollable, or infantile, behavior of the so-called jungle children, who were completely deprived of communication with people, indicates that without socialization people are not able to adopt an orderly way of life, master a language and learn how to earn a living. As a result of observing several “creatures that showed no interest in what was happening around them, swaying rhythmically back and forth like wild animals in a zoo,” Swedish naturalist XVIII century Carl Linnaeus concluded that they were representatives of a special species. Subsequently, scientists realized that these wild children did not develop the personality that requires communication with people. This communication would stimulate the development of their abilities and the formation of their “human” personalities. With this example we proved the relevance of the given topic.

Target This work is to prove that culture really influences the development of the individual and society as a whole. To achieve this goal, the course work sets the following: tasks:

· conduct a complete sociological analysis of cultural phenomena;

· identify the various elements and components of culture;

· determine how culture influences the socialization of an individual.

1. Sociological analysis of cultural phenomena

1.1 Concept of culture

The modern understanding of the word culture has four main meanings: 1) the general process of intellectual, spiritual, aesthetic development; 2) the state of a society based on law, order, morality coincides with the word “civilization”; 3) features of the lifestyle of a society, group of people, historical period; 4) forms and products of intellectual, and above all artistic activity, such as music, literature, painting, theater, cinema, television.

Culture is also studied by other sciences, for example, ethnography, history, anthropology, but sociology has its own specific aspect of research in culture. What is the specificity of the sociological analysis of culture, what is characteristic of the sociology of culture? A characteristic feature of the sociology of culture is that it discovers and analyzes the patterns of sociocultural changes, studies the processes of the functioning of culture in connection with social structures and institutions.

From a sociological point of view, culture is a social fact. It covers all ideas, ideas, worldviews, convictions, beliefs that are actively shared by people, or enjoy passive recognition and influence social behavior. Culture does not simply passively “accompany” social phenomena that occur as if outside and apart from culture, objectively and independently of it. The specificity of culture is that it represents in the minds of members of society any and all facts that mean something specifically for a given group, a given society. Moreover, at every stage of the life of society, the development of culture is associated with the struggle of ideas, with their discussion and active support, or passive recognition of one of them as objectively correct. Turning to the analysis of the essence of culture, it is necessary to take into account, firstly, that culture is what distinguishes humans from animals, culture is a characteristic of human society; secondly, culture is not inherited biologically, but involves learning.

Due to the complexity, multi-layered, multi-dimensional, multifaceted nature of the concept of culture, there are several hundred of its definitions. We will use one of them: culture is a system of values, ideas about the world and rules of behavior common to people associated with a certain way of life

1.2 Functions andforms of culture

Culture performs diverse and responsible social functions. First of all, according to N. Smelser, it structures social life, that is, it does the same thing as genetically programmed behavior in the life of animals. Culture is passed on from one generation to another through the process of socialization. Since culture is not transmitted biologically, each generation reproduces it and passes it on to the next generation. It is this process that is the basis of socialization. The child learns the values, beliefs, norms, rules and ideals of society, and the child’s personality is formed. Personality formation is an important function of culture.

Another, no less important function of culture is the regulation of individual behavior. If there were no norms and rules, human behavior would become practically uncontrollable, chaotic and meaningless. How important culture is for human life and society can be judged by once again recalling the human cubs described in scientific literature, who by chance found themselves completely deprived of communication with people and were “raised” in a herd of animals in the jungle. When they were found - after five to seven years and again came to people, these children of the jungle could not master the human language, they were unable to learn an orderly way of life, to live among people. These wild children did not develop the personality that requires interaction with people. The spiritual and moral function of culture is closely related to socialization. It identifies, systematizes, addresses, reproduces, preserves, develops and transmits eternal values in society - goodness, beauty, truth. Values exist as an integral system. The set of values generally accepted in a particular social group or country, expressing their special vision of social reality, is called mentality. There are political, economic, aesthetic and other values. The dominant type of values are moral values, which represent the preferred options for relationships between people, their connections with each other and society. Culture also has a communicative function, which makes it possible to consolidate the connection between the individual and society, to see the connection between times, to establish a connection between progressive traditions, to establish mutual influence (mutual exchange), and to select what is most necessary and appropriate for replication. One can also name such aspects of the purpose of culture as being an instrument for the development of social activity and citizenship.

The complexity of understanding the phenomenon of culture also lies in the fact that in any culture there are its different layers, branches, sections.

In most European societies by the beginning of the 20th century. two forms of culture emerged. Elite culture - fine art, classical music and literature - was created and perceived by the elite.

Popular culture, including fairy tales, folklore, songs and myths, belonged to the poor. The products of each of these cultures were intended for a specific audience, and this tradition was rarely violated. With the advent of the media (radio, mass printed publications, television, recordings, tape recorders), the differences between high and high folk culture. This is how mass culture arose, which is not associated with religious or class subcultures. The media and popular culture are inextricably linked. Culture becomes “mass” when its products are standardized and distributed to the general public.

In all societies there are many subgroups with different cultural values and traditions. The system of norms and values that distinguish a group from the majority of society is called a subculture.

A subculture is formed under the influence of factors such as social class, ethnic origin, religion and place of residence.

The values of the subculture influence the formation of the personality of group members.

The term “subculture” does not mean that one group or another opposes the dominant culture in society. However, in many cases, the majority of society views the subculture with disapproval or distrust. This problem can even arise in relation to respected subcultures of doctors or the military. But sometimes a group actively seeks to develop norms or values that conflict with core aspects of the dominant culture. On the basis of such norms and values, a counterculture is formed. A well-known counterculture in Western society is bohemianism, and the most prominent example of it is the hippies of the 60s.

Counterculture values can be the cause of long-term and insoluble conflicts in society. However, sometimes they penetrate into the dominant culture itself. The long hair, ingenuity in language and clothing, and drug use characteristic of hippies became widespread in American society, where, mainly through the media, as often happens, these values became less provocative, therefore attractive to the counterculture and, accordingly, less threatening to the dominant culture.

1.3 Culture as a systemic education

From the point of view of sociology, two main parts can be distinguished in culture - cultural statics and cultural dynamics. The first describes culture in a state of rest, the second - in a state of movement. Cultural statics is the internal structure of culture, that is, the totality of the basic elements of culture. Cultural dynamics includes those means, mechanisms and processes that describe the transformation of culture, its change. Culture originates, spreads, is destroyed, is preserved, and many different metamorphoses occur with it. Culture is a complex formation that is a multilateral and multidimensional system; all parts, all elements, all structural characteristics of this system constantly interact, are in endless connections and relationships with each other, constantly transform into one another, and permeate all spheres of social life. If we imagine human culture as a complex system that was created by numerous previous generations of people, then individual elements (traits) of culture can be classified as either material or intangible types. The totality of the material elements of culture constitutes a special form of culture - material culture, which includes all objects, all objects that are created by human hands. These are machines, machines, power plants, buildings, temples, books, airfields, cultivated fields, clothing, etc.

The totality of intangible elements of culture forms spiritual culture. Spiritual culture includes norms, rules, samples, standards, laws, values, rituals, symbols, myths, knowledge, ideas, customs, traditions, language, literature, art. Spiritual culture exists in our minds not only as an idea of norms of behavior, but also as a song, fairy tale, epic, joke, proverb, folk wisdom, national flavor of life, mentality. In cultural statics, elements are delimited in time and space. The geographical area within which different cultures have similarities in their main features is called a cultural area. At the same time, the boundaries of a cultural area may not coincide with the state boundaries or with the boundaries of a given society.

That part of the material and spiritual culture created by past generations, which has stood the test of time and is passed on to subsequent generations as something valuable and revered, constitutes cultural heritage. Cultural heritage plays an extremely important role in times of crisis and instability, acting as a factor of national cohesion, a means of unification. Every nation, country, even some groups of society have their own culture, which may have a lot of features that do not coincide with one or another culture. There are a great many different cultures on earth. And yet, sociologists identify common features common to all cultures - cultural universals.

More than several dozen cultural universals are confidently named, i.e. elements of culture that are inherent in all cultures, regardless of geographical location, historical time and social structure of society. In cultural universals it is possible to isolate elements of culture that are related in one way or another to human physical health. This age characteristics, sports, games, dancing, maintaining cleanliness, prohibiting incest, obstetrics, treatment of pregnant women, postpartum care, weaning a child,

Cultural universals also include universal human moral norms: respect for elders, the distinction between good and evil, mercy, the duty to come to the aid of the weak in distress, respect for nature and all living things, caring for babies and raising children, the custom of giving gifts, moral norms , culture of behavior.

A separate very important group consists of cultural universals associated with the organization of the lives of individuals: cooperation of labor and division of labor, community organization, cooking, solemn celebrations, traditions, making fire, food taboos, games, greetings, hospitality, housekeeping, hygiene, prohibition of incest , government, police, punitive sanctions, law, property rights, inheritance, kinship groups, nomenclature of relatives, language, magic, marriage, family responsibilities, meal times (breakfast, lunch, dinner), medicine, decency in the exercise of natural needs, mourning, number, personal name, propitiation of supernatural forces, customs associated with the onset of puberty, religious rituals, settlement rules, sexual restrictions, status differentiation, making tools, trade, visiting.

Among the cultural universals, one can distinguish a special group that reflects views on the world and spiritual culture: the doctrine of the world, time, calendar, the doctrine of the soul, mythology, fortune telling, superstitions, religion and various beliefs, belief in miraculous healings, interpretation of dreams, prophecies, weather observation, education, artistic creativity, folk crafts, folklore, folk songs, fairy tales, tales, legends, jokes.

Why do cultural universals arise? This is due to the fact that people, no matter what part of the world they live in, are physically built the same, they have the same biological needs and face common problems that their living conditions pose to them.

Every culture has standards for “correct” behavior. In order to live in a society, people must be able to communicate and cooperate with each other, which means that they must have an understanding of how to act correctly in order to be understood and achieve agreed upon actions. Therefore, society creates certain patterns of behavior, a system of norms - examples of correct or appropriate behavior. A cultural norm is a system of behavioral expectations, an image of how people should act. Normative culture is a system of social norms or standards of behavior that members of society follow more or less accurately.

At the same time, norms go through several stages in their development: they arise, receive approval and dissemination in society, grow old, become synonymous with routine and inertia, and are replaced by others that are more consistent with the changed living conditions.

Some norms are not difficult to replace, for example, etiquette norms. Etiquette is the rules of courtesy, the rules of politeness, which differ in each society and even in each class. We can easily bypass etiquette standards. So, if as a guest you are “invited to a table on which there is only a fork near the plate and no knife, you can do without a knife. But there are rules that are extremely difficult to change, because these rules regulate areas that are important to society human activity. These are state laws, religious traditions, etc. Let us consider the main types of norms in order of increasing their social significance.

Customs are a traditionally established order of behavior, a set of workable patterns, standards that allow members of society to best interact both with the environment and with each other. These are not individual, but collective habits, ways of life of the people, elements of everyday, everyday culture. New generations adopt customs through unconscious imitation or conscious learning. From childhood, a person is surrounded by many elements of everyday culture, since he constantly sees these rules in front of him, they become the only possible and acceptable ones for him. The child assimilates them and, becoming an adult, treats them as self-evident phenomena, without thinking about their origin.

Every people, even the most primitive societies, has many customs. So, Slavic and Western peoples They eat the second dish with a fork, taking it for granted to use a fork if they serve a cutlet with rice, and the Chinese use special chopsticks for this purpose. The customs of hospitality, celebrating Christmas, respect for elders and others are mass patterns of behavior approved by society that are recommended to be followed. If people violate customs, this causes public disapproval, censure, and condemnation.

If habits and customs are passed from one generation to another, they become traditions. Originally this word meant “tradition.” Raising the national flag at a holiday, singing the national anthem while honoring the winner of a competition, meeting fellow soldiers on Victory Day, honoring labor veterans, etc. can become traditional.

Each person, in addition, has many individual habits: doing gymnastics and taking a shower in the evening, skiing on weekends, etc. Habits have developed as a result of repeated repetition, and they also express the cultural level this person, and his spiritual needs, and the level of historical development of the society in which he lives. Thus, the Russian nobility was characterized by the habits of organizing hound hunts, playing cards, and having home theater and so on.

Most habits do not meet with either approval or censure from others. But there are also so-called bad habits(talking loudly, biting nails, eating with noise and slurping, unceremoniously looking at a passenger on the bus and then making comments out loud about his appearance, etc.), they indicate bad manners.

Manners refer to etiquette, or rules of politeness. If habits are formed spontaneously, under the influence of living conditions, then good manners must be cultivated. In Soviet times, etiquette was not taught either at school or at university, considering all this bourgeois nonsense, “harmful” for the people. There is no etiquette in the officially approved programs of universities and schools even today. Therefore, rude manners have become the norm everywhere. Suffice it to say about the vulgar, disgusting manners of our so-called pop stars, which are replicated on television and perceived by millions of fans as a standard of behavior and a role model.

Is it possible to learn good manners yourself? Of course, for this you need to read books on etiquette, reflect on your behavior, and apply to yourself the rules that are described in publications. The everyday manners of a well-mannered person are to make sure that your presence does not create inconvenience to anyone, to be helpful, polite, to give way to elders, to give the girl a coat in the wardrobe, not to talk loudly or gesticulate, not to be sullen and irritable, to have clean shoes, ironed trousers, a neat hairstyle - all this and some other habits can be quickly learned, and then communication with you will be easy and pleasant, which, by the way, will help you in life. A variety of customs are ceremony and ritual. A ceremony is a sequence of actions that have symbolic meaning and are dedicated to the celebration of some important event for the group. For example, the ceremony of the solemn inauguration of the President of Russia, the ceremony (enthronement) of the enthronement of the newly elected Pope or Patriarch.

A ritual is a custom-developed and strictly established procedure for doing something, which is designed to dramatize a given event and evoke awe in the viewer. For example, ritual dances of shamans during the process of witchcraft, ritual dances of a tribe before a hunt. Moral standards are different from customs and habits.

If I don't brush my teeth, then I harm myself, if I don't know how to use a knife for eating, some won't notice my bad manners, while others will notice, but won't say anything about it. But if a friend abandoned him in difficult times, if a person borrowed money and promised to give it back, but does not give it back. In these cases, we are dealing with norms that affect the vital interests of people and are important for the well-being of a group or society. Moral, or moral standards determine the relationship of people to each other on the basis of the distinction between good and evil. People fulfill moral norms based on their own conscience, public opinion and traditions of society.

Morals are especially protected, highly respected mass patterns of action by society. Morals reflect the moral values of a society. Every society has its own mores, or morals. Nevertheless, respect for elders, honesty, nobility, care for parents, the ability to come to the aid of the weak, etc. in many societies is the norm, and insulting elders, mocking a disabled person, and the desire to offend the weak is considered immoral.

A special form of morality is taboo. A taboo is an absolute prohibition of any action. In modern society, taboos apply to incest, cannibalism, desecration of graves or insulting the sense of patriotism.

The set of rules of behavior associated with the concept of personal dignity constitutes the so-called code of honor.

If norms and customs begin to play a particularly important role in the life of society, then they become institutional and a social institution emerges. These are economic institutions, banks, the army, etc. Norms and rules of behavior here are specially developed and formalized in codes of conduct and are strictly observed.

Some of the norms are so important for the functioning of society that they are formalized as laws; The state, represented by its special law enforcement agencies, such as the police, court, prosecutor's office, and prison, guards the laws.

As a systemic education, culture and its norms are accepted by all members of society; it is the dominant, universal, dominant culture. But in every society there are some groups of people who do not accept the dominant culture, but form their own norms that differ from generally accepted standards and even challenge it. This is counterculture. Counterculture comes into conflict with the dominant culture. Prison morals, standards of behavior in a gang of bandits, hippie groups are clear examples of counterculture.

There may be other, less aggressive cultural norms in a society that are not shared by all members of the society. Differences between people associated with age, nationality, occupation, gender, characteristics of the geographical environment, profession, lead to the emergence of specific cultural patterns that make up a subculture; “life of immigrants”, “life of northerners”, “army life”, “bohemia”, “life in a communal apartment”, “life in a hostel” are examples of an individual’s life within a certain subculture.

2. The role of culture in human life

2.1 Forms of manifestation of culture in human life

Culture plays a very contradictory role in human life. On the one hand, it helps to consolidate the most valuable and useful patterns of behavior and transfer them to subsequent generations, as well as to other groups. Culture elevates man above the animal world, creating a spiritual world; it promotes human communication. On the other hand, culture is capable of perpetuating injustice, superstition, and inhuman behavior with the help of moral norms. In addition, everything created within the framework of culture to conquer nature can be used to destroy people. Therefore, it is important to study individual manifestations of culture in order to be able to reduce tension in the interaction of a person with the culture generated by him.

Ethnocentrism. There is a well-known truth that for every person the earth's axis passes through the center of his hometown or villages. American sociologist William Summer called ethnocentrism a view of society in which a certain group is considered central, and all other groups are measured and correlated with it.

Without a doubt, we admit that monogamous marriages are better than polygamous ones; that young people should choose their own partners and this is the best way to form married couples; that our art is the most humane and noble, while the art belonging to another culture is provocative and tasteless. Ethnocentrism makes our culture the standard against which we measure all other cultures: in our opinion, they will be good or bad, high or low, right or wrong, but always in relation to our own culture. This is manifested in such positive expressions as “chosen people”, “true teaching”, “super race”, and in negative ones - “backward peoples”, “primitive culture”, “crude art”.

To some extent, ethnocentrism is inherent in all societies, and even backward peoples feel somehow superior to everyone else. They, for example, may consider the culture of highly developed countries stupid and absurd. Not only societies, but most social groups (if not all) in society are ethnocentric. Numerous studies of organizations conducted by sociologists from different countries show that people tend to overestimate their own organizations and at the same time underestimate all others. Ethnocentrism is a universal human reaction that affects all groups in society and almost all individuals. True, there may be exceptions to this issue, for example: anti-Semitic Jews, aristocratic revolutionaries, blacks who oppose blacks on issues of eliminating racism. It is obvious, however, that such phenomena can already be considered forms of deviant behavior.

A natural question arises: is ethnocentrism a negative or positive phenomenon in the life of society? It is difficult to answer this question clearly and unambiguously. Let's try to determine the positive and negative aspects of such a complex cultural phenomenon as ethnocentrism. First of all, it should be noted that groups in which there are clearly expressed manifestations of ethnocentrism are, as a rule, more viable than groups that are completely tolerant of other cultures or subcultures. Ethnocentrism holds the group together and justifies sacrifice and martyrdom for its well-being; Without it, the manifestation of patriotism is impossible. Ethnocentrism is a necessary condition for the emergence of national identity and even ordinary group loyalty. Of course, extreme manifestations of ethnocentrism are also possible, for example, nationalism and contempt for the cultures of other societies. However, in most cases, ethnocentrism manifests itself in more tolerant forms, and its basic attitude is this: I prefer my customs, although I admit that some customs and mores of other cultures may be in some way better. So, we encounter the phenomenon of ethnocentrism almost every day when we compare ourselves with people of a different gender, age, representatives of other organizations or other regions, in all cases where there are differences in the cultural patterns of representatives of social groups. Every time we put ourselves at the center of culture and consider its other manifestations, as if trying them on ourselves.

Ethnocentrism can be artificially strengthened in any group in order to oppose other groups in conflict interactions. The mere mention of a danger, for example, to the existence of an organization, unites its members and increases the level of group loyalty and ethnocentrism. Periods of tension in relations between nations or nationalities are always accompanied by an increase in the intensity of ethnocentric propaganda. Perhaps this is due to the preparation of group members for struggle, for the upcoming hardships and sacrifices.

Speaking about the significant role that ethnocentrism plays in the processes of group integration, in rallying group members around certain cultural patterns, it should also be noted its conservative role and negative impact on the development of culture. Indeed, if our culture is the best in the world, then why do we need to improve, change, and especially borrow from other cultures? Experience shows that such a point of view can significantly slow down the development processes occurring in a society with a very high level of ethnocentrism. An example is the experience of our country, when the high level of ethnocentrism in the pre-war period became a serious brake on the development of culture. Ethnocentrism can also be a tool that acts against changes in the internal structure of society. Thus, privileged groups consider their society to be the best and fairest and strive to instill this in other groups, thereby raising the level of ethnocentrism. Even in ancient Rome, representatives of the poor classes cultivated the opinion that, despite poverty, they were still citizens great empire and therefore superior to other nations. This opinion was specifically created by the privileged strata of Roman society.

Cultural relativism. If members of one social group view the cultural practices and norms of other social groups only from the point of view of ethnocentrism, then it will be very difficult to achieve understanding and interaction. Therefore, there is an approach to other cultures that softens the effect of ethnocentrism and allows one to find ways for cooperation and mutual enrichment of cultures various groups. One such approach is cultural relativism. It is based on the assertion that members of one social group cannot understand the motives and values of other groups if they analyze these motives and values in the light of their own culture. In order to achieve understanding, to understand another culture, you need to connect its specific features with the situation and the characteristics of its development. Each cultural element must be related to the characteristics of the culture of which it is a part. The value and significance of this element can only be considered in the context of a particular culture. Warm clothing is fine in the Arctic, but ridiculous in the tropics. The same can be said about other, more complex cultural elements and the complexes that they make up. Cultural complexes regarding female beauty and the role of women in society are different in different cultures. It is only important to approach these differences not from the point of view of the dominance of “our” culture, but from the point of view of cultural relativism, i.e. recognizing the possibility of other cultures interpreting cultural patterns differently from “ours” and recognizing the reasons for such modifications. This point of view, naturally, is not ethnocentric, but helps bring together and develop different cultures.

We need to understand the basic tenet of cultural relativism, according to which certain elements of a particular cultural system are correct and generally accepted because they have worked well in that particular system; others are considered incorrect and unnecessary because their use would give rise to painful and conflicting consequences only in a given social group or only in a given society. The most rational way of development and perception of culture in society is a combination of traits of both ethnocentrism and cultural relativism, when an individual, feeling a sense of pride in the culture of his group or society and expressing commitment to the main examples of this culture, is at the same time able to understand other cultures and the behavior of members other social groups, recognizing their right to exist.

2.2 Socialization of personality

Personality is one of those phenomena that is rarely interpreted in the same way by two different authors. All definitions of personality are determined in one way or another by two opposing views on its development. From the point of view of some, each personality is formed and develops in accordance with its innate qualities and abilities, and the social environment plays a very insignificant role. Representatives of another point of view completely reject the innate internal traits and abilities of the individual, believing that personality is a certain product, completely formed in the course of social experience.

Methods of socialization of the individual in each culture are different. Turning to the history of culture, we will see that each society had its own idea of education. Socrates believed that to educate a person means to help him “become a worthy citizen,” while in Sparta the goal of education was considered to be the education of a strong, brave warrior. According to Epicurus, the main thing is independence from the outside world, “serenity.” In modern times, Rousseau, trying to combine civic motives and spiritual purity in education, ultimately came to the conclusion that moral and political education are incompatible. "The study of the human condition" leads Rousseau to the conviction that it is possible to educate either "a man for himself" or a citizen living "for others." In the first case, he will be in conflict with social institutions, in the second - with his own nature, so he has to choose one of two - to educate either a person or a citizen, because it is impossible to create both at the same time. Two centuries after Rousseau, existentialism, for its part, will develop his ideas about loneliness, about “Others” that are opposed to “I”, about a society where a person is in slavery to norms, where everyone lives the way it is customary to live.

Today, experts continue to argue about which factor is most important for the process of personality formation. Apparently, all of them together carry out the socialization of the individual, the education of a person as a representative of a given society, culture, or social group. According to modern thinking, the interaction of factors such as a person's physical traits, environment, individual experiences and culture creates a unique personality. To this should be added the role of self-education, i.e., the individual’s own efforts based on an internal decision, one’s own needs and requests, ambition, volition - to form certain skills, abilities, and abilities in oneself. As practice shows, self-education is a powerful tool in a person’s achievement of professional skills, career, and material well-being.

In our analysis, we, of course, must take into account both the biological characteristics of the individual and his social experience. However, practice shows that social factors personality formations are more significant. The definition of personality given by V. Yadov seems satisfactory: “Personality is the integrity of a person’s social properties, a product of social development and the inclusion of the individual in the system of social relations through active activity and communication.” According to this view, personality develops from a biological organism solely through various types of social and cultural experiences.

2.3 Cultureas one of the most important methods of personality socialization

First of all, it should be noted that a certain cultural experience is common to all humanity and does not depend on what stage of development a particular society is at. Thus, each child receives nutrition from elders, learns to communicate through language, gains experience in the use of punishment and reward, and also masters some other most common cultural patterns. At the same time, each society provides almost all of its members with some special experience, special cultural samples that other societies cannot offer. From social experience, common to all members of a given society, a characteristic personal configuration arises, typical of many members of a given society. For example, a personality formed in a Muslim culture will have different traits than a personality raised in a Christian country.

The American researcher K. Duboys called a personality that has common traits for a given society “modal” (from the term “mode” taken from statistics, denoting a value that occurs most often in a series or series of parameters of an object). By modal personality, Duboys understood the most common type of personality, which has some features inherent in the culture of society as a whole. Thus, in every society one can find individuals who embody the average generally accepted traits. They talk about modal personalities when they mention “average” Americans, Englishmen or “true” Russians. The modal personality embodies all those general cultural values that society instills in its members in the course of cultural experience. These values are contained to a greater or lesser extent in every individual of a given society.

In other words, every society develops one or more basic personality types that correspond to the culture of that society. Such personal patterns are usually acquired from childhood. Among the lowland Indians of South America, the socially approved personality type for an adult male was a strong, self-confident, militant person. He was admired, his behavior was rewarded, and boys always strived to be like such men.

What could be a socially approved personality type for our society? Perhaps this is a sociable personality, i.e. easy to make social contacts, ready to cooperate and at the same time possessing some aggressive traits (i.e., able to stand up for herself) and practical acumen. Many of these traits develop hidden within us, and we feel uncomfortable if these traits are absent. Therefore, we teach our children to say “thank you” and “please” to their elders, we teach them not to be embarrassed by the adult environment, and to be able to stand up for themselves.

However, in complex societies it is very difficult to find a generally accepted personality type due to the presence of a large number of subcultures. Our society has a lot structural divisions: regions, nationalities, occupations, age categories, etc. Each of these divisions tends to create its own subculture with certain personality patterns. These patterns are mixed with the personality patterns of individuals to create mixed personality types. To study the personality types of various subcultures, each structural unit should be studied separately, and then take into account the influence of the personality patterns of the dominant culture.

Conclusion

To summarize, it should be emphasized once again that culture is an integral part of human life. Culture organizes human life. In human life, culture largely performs the same function that genetically programmed behavior performs in animal life.

Culture is a complex formation that is a multilateral and multidimensional system; all parts, all elements, all structural characteristics of this system constantly interact, are in endless connections and relationships with each other, constantly transform into one another, and permeate all spheres of social life.

Among the many different definitions of this concept, the most common is the following: culture is a system of values, ideas about the world and rules of behavior common to people associated with a certain way of life.

Culture is passed on from one generation to another through the process of socialization. The formation and development of personality occurs largely thanks to culture. It would not be an exaggeration to define culture as the measure of humanity in a person. Culture gives a person a sense of belonging to a community, fosters control over one’s behavior, and determines the style of practical life. At the same time, culture is a decisive way of social interactions and the integration of individuals into society.

List of used literature

1. Vitanya I.N. Society. Culture. Sociology/I.N. Vitanya - M., 1984 - p.9-15.

2. Dobrenkov V.I. Sociology./V.I. Dobrenkov, Yu.G. Volkov and others - M.: Mysl, 2000 - p.52.

3. Ionin L.G. Sociology of culture: the path to the new millennium: Textbook. manual for university students. - 3rd ed., revised. and additional/L.G. Ionin - M.: Logos, 2000 - p.19-24.

4. Kogan L. K Sociology of culture. Ekaterinburg, 1992 - p.11-12.

5. Kon I.S. Sociology of personality / I.S.Kon - M., 1967 - p.113-116.

6. Leontyev A.N. On the theory of personality development / A.N. Leontiev - M., 1982 - p. 402.

7. Minyushev F.I. Sociology of culture: Textbook for universities F.I. Minyushev - M.: Academic project, 2004- p. 34-38.

8. Sokolov E.V. Culture and personality / E.V. Sokolov - L., 1972 - p.51.

9. Yadov V.A. Attitude to work and value orientations of the individual // Sociology in the USSR in 2 vols.- T.2 Zdravosmyslov A.G., Yadov V.A. - M., -1996-p.71.

10. Forms of knowledge and society: the essence and concept of the sociology of culture // Sociological Journal, No. 1-2, 1999 // http://knowledge.isras.ru/sj/

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

Educational function. We can say that it is culture that makes a person a person. An individual becomes a member of society, a personality, as he socializes, i.e., masters knowledge, language, symbols, values, norms, customs, traditions of his people, his social group and all humanity. The level of a person's culture is determined by his socialization - familiarization with the cultural heritage, as well as the degree of development of individual abilities. Personal culture is usually associated with developed creative abilities, erudition, understanding of works of art, fluency in native and foreign languages, accuracy, politeness, self-control, high morality, etc. All this is achieved in the process of upbringing and education.

Integrative and disintegrative functions of culture. E. Durkheim paid special attention to these functions in his research. According to E. Durkheim, the development of culture creates in people - members of a particular community - a sense of community, belonging to one nation, people, religion, group, etc. Thus, culture unites people, integrates them, and ensures the integrity of the community. But while uniting some on the basis of some subculture, it contrasts them with others, separating wider communities and communities. Cultural conflicts may arise within these broader communities and communities. Thus, culture can and often does perform a disintegrating function.

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

The function of broadcasting (transferring) social experience is often called the function of historical continuity, or information. Culture, which is a complex sign system, transmits social experience from generation to generation, from era to era. Apart from culture, society does not have other mechanisms for concentrating the entire wealth of experience that has been accumulated by people. Therefore, it is no coincidence that culture is considered the social memory of humanity.

The cognitive (epistemological) function is closely related to the function of transmitting social experience and, in a certain sense, follows from it. Culture, concentrating the best social experience of many generations of people, acquires the ability to accumulate rich knowledge about the world and thereby create favorable opportunities for its knowledge and development. It can be argued that a society is intellectual to the extent that it fully utilizes the wealth of knowledge contained in the cultural gene pool of humanity. All types of society that live on Earth today differ significantly primarily in this regard.

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

The sign function is the most important in the cultural system. Representing a certain sign system, culture presupposes knowledge and mastery of it. Without studying the corresponding sign systems, it is impossible to master the achievements of culture. Thus, language (oral or written) is a means of communication between people. Literary language acts as the most important means of mastering national culture. Specific languages are needed to understand the world of music, painting, and theater. Natural sciences also have their own sign systems.

The value, or axiological, function reflects the most important qualitative state of culture. Culture as a certain value system forms very specific value needs and orientations in a person. By their level and quality, people most often judge the degree of culture of a person. Moral and intellectual content, as a rule, acts as a criterion for appropriate assessment.

Social functions of culture

The social functions that culture performs allow people to carry out collective activities, optimally satisfying their needs. The main functions of culture include:

- social integration - ensuring the unity of humanity, a common worldview (with the help of myth, religion, philosophy);
- organization and regulation of joint life activities of people through law, politics, morality, customs, ideology, etc.;
- providing the means of human life (such as cognition, communication, accumulation and transfer of knowledge, upbringing, education, stimulation of innovation, selection of values, etc.);
- regulation of certain spheres of human activity (life culture, leisure culture, work culture, nutrition culture, etc.).

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

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

The adaptive function is the most important function of culture, ensuring human adaptation to the environment. It is known that the adaptation of living organisms to their habitat is a necessary condition for their survival in the process of evolution. Their adaptation occurs due to the work of the mechanisms of natural selection, heredity and variability, which ensure the survival of individuals best adapted to the environment, the preservation and transmission of useful characteristics to subsequent generations. But what happens is completely different: a person does not adapt to his environment, to environmental changes, like other living organisms, but changes his environment in accordance with his needs, remaking it for himself.

When the environment is transformed, a new, artificial world is created - culture. In other words, a person cannot lead a natural lifestyle like animals, and in order to survive, he creates an artificial habitat around himself, protecting himself from unfavorable environmental conditions. Man gradually becomes independent of natural conditions: if other living organisms can live only in a certain ecological niche, then man is able to master any natural conditions at the cost of forming an artificial world of culture.

Of course, a person cannot achieve complete independence from the environment, since the form of culture is largely determined natural conditions. The type of economy, housing, traditions and customs, beliefs, rites and rituals of peoples depend on natural and climatic conditions. So. the culture of mountain peoples differs from the culture of peoples leading a nomadic lifestyle or engaged in maritime fishing, etc. Southern peoples They use a lot of spices when cooking to delay spoilage in hot climates.

As culture develops, humanity provides itself with increasing security and comfort. The quality of life is constantly improving. But having gotten rid of old fears and dangers, a person comes face to face with new problems that he creates for himself. For example, today there is no need to be afraid of the terrible diseases of the past - the plague or smallpox, but new diseases have appeared, such as AIDS, for which no cure has yet been found, and other deadly diseases created by man himself are waiting in military laboratories. Therefore, a person needs to protect himself not only from the natural environment, but also from the world of culture, artificially created by man himself.

The adaptive function has a dual nature. On the one hand, it manifests itself in the creation of specific means of human protection - the necessary means of protection for a person from the outside world. These are all cultural products that help a person survive and feel confident in the world: the use of fire, storing food and other necessary things, creating productive agriculture, medicine, etc. Moreover, these include not only objects material culture, but also those specific means that a person develops to adapt to life in society, keeping him from mutual destruction and death - state structures, laws, customs, traditions, moral norms, etc.

On the other hand, there are non-specific means of human protection - culture as a whole, existing as a picture of the world. Understanding culture as a “second nature”, a world created by man, we emphasize the most important property of human activity and culture - the ability to “double the world”, highlighting sensory-objective and ideal-imaginative layers in it. By connecting culture with the ideal-shaped world, we obtain the most important property of culture - to be a picture of the world, a certain network of images and meanings through which the world around us is perceived. Culture as a picture of the world makes it possible to see the world not as a continuous flow of information, but as ordered and structured information. Any object or phenomenon of the external world is perceived through this symbolic grid, it has a place in this system of meanings, and it is often assessed as useful, harmful or indifferent to a person.

The symbolic, significative function (naming) is associated with culture as a picture of the world. The formation of names and titles is very important for a person. If some object or phenomenon is not named, does not have a name, is not designated by a person, they do not exist for him. By giving a name to an object or phenomenon and assessing it as threatening, a person simultaneously receives the necessary information that allows him to act to avoid danger, since when labeling a threat, it is not just given a name, but it fits into the hierarchy of existence. Let's give an example. Each of us has been sick at least once in our lives (not with a mild cold, but with some fairly serious illness). In this case, a person experiences not only painful sensations, feelings of weakness and helplessness. Usually, in such a state, unpleasant thoughts come to mind, including about a possible death, and the symptoms of all the diseases that we have heard about are recalled. The situation is exactly according to J. Jerome, one of the heroes of whose novel “Three in a Boat, Not Counting a Dog,” while studying a medical reference book, found all the diseases in himself, except for puerperal fever. In other words, a person experiences fear because of the uncertainty of his future, because he feels a threat, but knows nothing about it. This significantly worsens the general condition of the patient. In such cases, a doctor is called, who usually makes a diagnosis and prescribes treatment. But relief occurs even before taking medication, since the doctor, having made a diagnosis, gave a name to the threat, thereby entering it into the picture of the world, which automatically provided information about possible means of combating it.

We can say that culture as an image and picture of the world is an orderly and balanced scheme of the cosmos, and is the prism through which a person looks at the world. It is expressed through philosophy, literature, mythology, ideology and in human actions. Most members of the ethnos are fragmentarily aware of its content; it is fully accessible only to a small number of cultural specialists. The basis of this picture of the world are ethnic constants - the values and norms of ethnic culture.

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

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

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

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

The communicative function of culture ensures that people communicate with each other. A person cannot solve any complex problem without the help of other people. People enter into communication in any kind of process labor activity. Without communication with others like themselves, a person cannot become a full-fledged member of society and develop his abilities. A long separation from society leads an individual to mental and spiritual degradation, turning him into an animal. Culture is the condition and result of human communication. Only through the assimilation of culture do people become members of society. Culture provides people with a means of communication. In turn, by communicating, people create, preserve and develop culture.

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

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

The communication process consists of three stages:

- encoding of information that must be transmitted to the recipient, i.e. translation into some symbolic form;
- transmission via communication channels, with possible interference and loss of some information;
- decoding of the received message by the addressee, and due to differences in ideas about the world, different individual experiences of the sender and recipient of the message, decoding occurs with errors. Therefore, communication is never 100% successful; greater or lesser losses are inevitable. The effectiveness of communication is ensured by a number of cultural conditions, such as the presence of a common language, channels for transmitting information, appropriate motivation, ethical, semiotic rules, which ultimately determine to whom, what, when and how can be communicated and from whom and when to expect a response message.

The development of forms and methods of communication is the most important aspect of the formation of culture. In the early stages of human history, the possibilities of communication were limited to direct contacts between people and in order to transmit information they had to move closer to the distance of direct visibility and hearing. Over time, people found the opportunity to increase the communication range, for example, with the help of special devices. This is how signal drums and bonfires appeared. But their capabilities were limited to transmitting only a few signals. That's why the most important stage in the development of culture was the invention of writing, which made it possible to transmit complex messages over long distances. In the modern world, mass communication media are becoming increasingly important, primarily television, radio, print, as well as computer networks, which come to the fore as a means of communication between people.

IN modern conditions The importance of the communicative function of culture is growing faster than any other function. The development of communication capabilities leads to the erasure of national characteristics and contributes to the formation of a single universal civilization, i.e. processes of globalization. These processes, in turn, stimulate intensive progress in means of communication, which is expressed in an increase in the power and range of communication means, an increase in information flows, and an increase in the speed of information transfer. Along with this, people’s mutual understanding and their ability to sympathize and empathize are progressing.

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

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

In any human community, it is necessary to regulate the behavior of the individuals composing them in order to maintain balance within the community itself and for the survival of each individual. The cultural products that a person has at his disposal outline the field of his possible activities, allow him to predict the development of various events, but do not determine how a person should act in a given situation. Each person must consciously and responsibly carry out his actions, based on the norms and requirements for the behavior of people that have historically developed in society and are clearly entrenched in our consciousness and subconscious.

Norms of human behavior, both permissive and prohibitive, are an indication of the acceptable limits and boundaries within which a person must act in order for his behavior to be positively assessed by other people and society as a whole. Each culture has its own norms of behavior. There are cultures with a strong normative side (China) and cultures in which normativity is weaker (European cultures). The question of the existence of universal human norms remains debatable.

Through norms, culture regulates and coordinates the actions of individuals and human groups, develops optimal ways to resolve conflict situations, and provides recommendations for solving vital issues.

The regulatory function of culture is carried out at several levels:

- morality and other norms that are strictly observed, despite the absence of special monitoring institutions; violation of these norms is met with sharp condemnation from society;
- rules of law, which are set out in detail in the constitution and laws of the country. Their compliance is controlled by specially created institutions - the court, the prosecutor's office, the police, the penitentiary system;
- customs and traditions, which represent a stable system of behavior of people in different spheres of life and different situations, which has become the norm and is passed on from generation to generation. As a rule, they take the form of a certain stereotype and are stable over the centuries regardless of any social changes;
- norms of human behavior at work, at home, in communication with other people, in relation to nature, including a wide range of requirements - from basic neatness and adherence to good manners to general requirements to the spiritual world of man.

The axiological (evaluative) function of culture is associated with its value orientations. Cultural regulation of human activity is carried out not only normatively, but also through a system of values—ideals that people strive to achieve. Values imply the choice of a particular object, state, need, goal in accordance with the criterion of their usefulness for human life and help society and people to separate good from bad, truth from error, fair from unfair, permissible from forbidden, etc. The selection of values occurs in the process of practical activity. As experience accumulates, values form and disappear, are revised and enriched.

Values provide the specificity of each culture. What is important in one culture may not be important in another. Each nation develops its own hierarchy of values, although the set of values has a universal human character. Therefore, we can conditionally classify the core values as follows:

- vital values - life, health, safety, welfare, strength, etc.;
- social - social status, work, profession, personal independence, family, gender equality;
- political - freedom of speech, civil liberties, legality,
- civil peace;
- moral - goodness, goodness, love, friendship, duty, honor, selflessness, decency, loyalty, justice, respect for elders, love for children;
- aesthetic values - beauty, ideal, style, harmony, fashion, originality.

Each society, each culture is guided by its own set of values, which may lack some of the values listed above. In addition, each culture represents certain values in its own way. Thus, the ideals of beauty vary quite widely among different nations. For example, in medieval China, aristocratic women, in accordance with the then existing ideal of beauty, should have tiny feet; the desired was achieved through painful foot-binding procedures, which girls were subjected to from the age of five and as a result of which they became literally crippled.

People's behavior is oriented through values. A person cannot treat the opposites that make up the world in the same way; he must give preference to one thing. Most people believe that they strive for good, truth, love, but what seems good to some may turn out to be evil to others. This again leads to cultural specificity of values. Based on our ideas about good and evil, all our lives we act as “evaluators” of the world around us. culture atheistic elitist mass

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

The simplest, most natural individual means of relaxation are laughter, crying, fits of anger, confession, declarations of love, and honest conversation. Specifically cultural, collective forms of detente, enshrined in tradition - holidays and leisure, freed from direct participation in production. On holidays, people do not work, do not observe everyday norms of life, and organize processions, carnivals, and feasts. The meaning of the holiday is the solemn collective renewal of life. During the holiday, the ideal and the real seem to merge; a person who is familiar with the holiday culture and knows how to celebrate experiences relief and joy. Holidays also take place according to certain rules - observing the appropriate place and time, playing stable roles. With the destruction of these formalities and the strengthening of sensual inclinations, physiological pleasure can become an end in itself and will be achieved at any cost; as a result, alcoholism, drug addiction and other vices will appear.

Rituals are also a means of collective release and regulate the most important points in people's lives, related to the sphere of the sacred (sacred) in a given culture. Among the ritual events are birth and death, marriage, rites of growing up (initiation), especially important in primitive and traditional cultures. This group also includes religious rituals and ceremonies, the implementation of which is one of the best ways of compensation created by culture. Rituals are characterized by special solemnity and cultural richness.

Also, a game that satisfies drives through symbolic means is effectively used as a collective release. The symbolism of the game will create a special psychological attitude, when a person both believes and does not believe in what is happening, it encourages him to use all his strength and skill to achieve the goal. Play allows you to defuse unconscious impulses that are prohibited or unclaimed by culture. Thus, many games contain competitive, sexual motives - sports, lottery, competitions, dancing. In games such as collecting, accumulative drives are realized, which are assessed in everyday life as a manifestation of greed. Finally, there are games that play on the meaning of death - bullfighting, gladiator fights.

On the one hand, today we can talk about the humanization of games, the replacement of many past entertainments, such as street fist fights and public executions, with sports, television, and cinema. But on the other hand, cinema and television show many scenes of violence in films and programs, traumatizing the psyche of people, especially children.

The function of socialization and inculturation, or the human-creative function, is the most important function of culture. Socialization is the process of assimilation by a human individual of certain knowledge, norms and values necessary for life as a full member of society, and enculturation is the process of assimilation of skills and knowledge necessary for life in a particular culture. These similar processes are possible only with the help of specially created cultural systems of upbringing and education. Outside of society, these processes are impossible, so Mowgli or Tarzan would never have turned out real man. Children who, for some reason, grow up among animals themselves remain animals forever.

The processes of socialization and enculturation involve active internal work the person himself, striving to master the information necessary for life. Therefore, having mastered the complex of knowledge required for a given culture, a person begins to develop his individual abilities, his natural inclinations. This could be the development of musical or artistic abilities, mathematical or technical knowledge, something that can be useful in mastering a future profession or will become a person’s leisure activity.

Socialization and enculturation continue throughout a person's life, but the most important learning is acquired during childhood. Then the child learns to speak his native language, assimilates the norms and values of his culture. Basically, this happens automatically when the child first copies the behavior of his parents, and then his peers, teachers and other adults. This is how the social experience accumulated by the people is assimilated, the cultural tradition is preserved and passed on from generation to generation, which ensures the stability of the culture.

General cultural values are clearly visible in the personality modality. Modal personality is understood as the most common type of personality, which has some features inherent in the culture of society as a whole. Thus, in every society one can find individuals who embody the average generally accepted traits. They talk about modal personalities when they mention “average” Americans, Englishmen or “true” Russians. The modal personality embodies all those general cultural values that society instills in its members in the course of cultural experience. These values are contained to a greater or lesser extent in every individual of a given society.

Cross-cultural psychology deals with the influence of culture on human behavior. This is a relatively old area of psychological science; unfortunately, it is little studied by domestic psychologists, unlike Western psychologists.

Both the development of a person’s higher mental properties and his personal characteristics are subject to the influence of culture. Cross-cultural research has tested the doctrine of “mental unity,” which holds that human mental processes are the same, universal, and common to the entire species Homo sapiens. This doctrine arose in the 19th century, and then doubts about its truth arose. Thus, in the works of O. Comte, E. Durkheim and other sociologists, the decisive importance of the social community for the properties and behavior of the individual was emphasized. L. Lévy-Bruhl, having studied primitive thinking from the same position, came to the conclusion: in order to study thinking, one should analyze the culture to which the individual belongs. Any culture can be characterized through the totality of existing common views, or "collective representations". It is in them, L. Levy-Bruhl believed, that the reason for the “pre-logical” nature of primitive thinking in contrast to the thinking of a normal European.

Criticism of L. Lévy-Bruhl's explanatory concepts did not prevent other researchers from confirming his data. Thus, the modern American psychologist J. Bruner, known for his work on perception and thinking, tried to create a theory connecting culture with the development of cognitive processes.

According to his theory, thinking is the result of the internalization of “tools” developed in a given culture, to which he includes not only technical tools, but also symbolic systems. Cultures differ not only in the tools they create, but also in the social institutions that transmit knowledge and skills in using tools.

A discussion of the concepts put forward that explain the influence of culture on the psyche is not included in the tasks to which this chapter is devoted. Therefore, we turn to other data indicating cross-cultural differences in cognitive processes. There are known studies by W. Hudson, in which it was discovered that Africans from traditional societies do not understand the conventions of representation when perceiving paintings and photographs, which are natural from the point of view of Europeans. These include the use of foreshortening to convey perspective - European children adequately perceived the image of a man climbing the stairs, and African children believed that he was crippled, since he had one leg shorter than the other. A number of researchers note that the natives do not recognize familiar objects or terrain in photographs, and do not even recognize themselves and their family members. When completing the task of drawing a cow in profile, an African child draws all four hooves, two horns and two ears, i.e. everything that he knows, although he does not see. A European child draws what he sees when looking at the animal in profile - one ear, one eye, etc.

Evidence has been obtained that there are differences in depth perception even if a person observes natural real scenes rather than paintings. Thus, K. Turnbull, in his ethnographic study of pygmies living in the Iturbi forests, describes an incident when he and a pygmy came out of the forest. Cows grazing could be seen in the distance. The pygmy mistook them for ants, although he had seen cows before, but had never observed them from afar.

Along with perception, the features of memory were studied. Many studies have found that social significance and interest in what is being remembered influence memory success. Thus, the African shepherd had an excellent memory for cows and plants, but almost did not remember information related to time, since everyday life a villager's life depended little on time, flowed according to its own rhythm and did not obey a strict schedule. Thus, the selectivity of memory is its universal property, manifested in representatives of different peoples and cultures. But there is evidence of the presence of special methods of memorization among peoples who do not have a written language. Since their knowledge is stored in living memory, and not in books, to better preserve cultural experience, special auxiliary means are used, such as rhyme, rhythm, repetition, etc.

J. Piaget's tasks for understanding the principle of conservation were often used in studies of non-European cultures (P. Greenfield, P. Deissen, etc.). Psychologists everywhere discovered the same stages and the same sequence in the development of understanding of the principle of conservation of weight, volume, length and quantity, which were described by J. Piaget in his work with Geneva children. However, the pace of development of such understanding in non-Western cultures was slower than in the West. However, it should be noted that the pace of development of other mental characteristics is not the same among representatives of different cultural communities. The researchers explained this by the action of three factors associated with the characteristics of culture: the nature of the activities of members of a particular culture, the nature of learning and participation in social interaction with people at a higher level of development

This is proven by studies comparing educational systems in different cultures, as well as those skills, abilities and knowledge that are primarily transmitted to the younger generation. Cross-cultural studies on infants using the Bayley and Gesell scales have shown that African children in the first year of life have higher rates of mental development than Europeans. K. Super, having reviewed these results, did not find evidence of earlier neurophysiological development in African children,

which could explain their advanced mental development. Therefore, he turned to the peculiarities of upbringing, observing the behavior of African mothers and babies, talking with Africans. In particular, he found out that in Kenya it is customary to start teaching children to sit and walk very early, for which special techniques have been developed. Thus, K. Super observed how a baby in the second month of life is taught to sit: he is placed in a specially made hole in the ground, and a blanket rolled up around it is placed around it, providing support for the child. He stays in this sitting position every day. long time until he learns to sit on his own. Also, already in the second month, the child is taught to walk, supported by his hands and forced to move by jumping.

Summarizing his observations and the results of other researchers, K. Super concluded that the faster motor development of Africans in the first year of life compared to the British is associated with the peculiarities of their education system. This, however, does not mean that African children are ahead of their English peers in other areas of the psyche. For example, they later learn to crawl, since they spend three times less time on the floor than English children. Traditions of caring for a baby are also reflected in the development of its sensory skills. Thus, the more often he is in a supine position, the faster his spatial and manipulative skills develop; The more often he is picked up and held in an upright position, the better his visual skills develop.

Differences in learning among older children also affect their development. For example, R. Serpell found that the perceptual characteristics of children from Zambia are much less developed than those of their European peers, since they are not taught drawing and design at school; they simply do not exist in the culture of this people.

But even in cases where visual activity is supported by cultural traditions, the content and technique of drawing reflect cultural factors. “Whether a child draws a wide panoramic view or small scenes from life, individual objects or pictures, whether his images are fictional or realistic - all this largely depends on the culture around him. In certain groups, action predominates in the drawings, in others - stationary objects and figures. The arrangement of objects in the picture also differs in different groups.”

All these works show that cultural differences related to traditions and methods of teaching and upbringing determine the characteristics of the development of representatives of different cultural communities, changing the relative importance and priority of individual indicators of mental development. Differences between representatives of different cultures arise not due to the specifics of the cognitive processes themselves, but due to different developmental conditions (different “context”). Depending on the experience acquired in a particular area, on the nature and methods of training, representatives of different cultures will have certain knowledge, skills and abilities that allow them to cope with those problems that arise in the life of a particular society and require resolution from its members.

Thus, anthropological and psychological studies indicate that differences in cognitive processes are due to the action of specific cultural and subcultural factors. The cultural factor influences every person, giving a special shade to the way in which a person develops from the very beginning. Therefore, a personality with all its inherent properties is also dependent on belonging to a particular group.

As an example, let us consider how the uniqueness of national cultures influences the formation of certain personality traits. University of Southern California professor N. Imamoto compared the behavior of American and Japanese mothers caring for infants. Observations were carried out daily for 4 hours for three years. He found that Japanese women immediately respond to every child's demand. If a child starts crying, they immediately pick him up and rock him to sleep. The child feels peace and security through the mother's hugs and touches. The same model of behavior is used by other adult family members, repeating the actions of the mother. Japanese baby I don’t know the feeling of loneliness, he is constantly among people. As a result, he develops the ability to fit into a group, subordinate his interests to it, compromise, respect and veneration for elders. Seclusion and the need for autonomy are not encouraged in Japanese society.

An American mother behaves differently with her baby. She tries to influence him mainly with words, talks to him, tries to distract him, switch his attention to something in the environment if the child is crying. Thus, he develops cognitive interest, curiosity, the ability to occupy himself, to be autonomous, and independent.

One more example. Cross-cultural studies of frustration reactions have shown that Japanese children aged 6-9 years are more likely to exhibit self-criticism, self-blame and remorse than European and Indian children. This is associated with authoritarianism in Japanese families. At the same time, the peculiarities of family education in India lead to greater independence in children, who, when difficulties and problems arise, rely mainly on their own strengths and almost do not turn to the adults around them for help.

Thus, the nature of educational influences, features of maternal care and child-parent communication vary in different cultures and contribute to the formation of different types of personalities. It is important that these personality traits, specific to each culture, correspond to the nature of the requirements of the cultural group for its members, ensuring their adaptation to their environment. Ideas about the existence of the so-called “ national character“is not a myth characteristic of ordinary consciousness, but a reality confirmed by psychological research.

Introduction

2. Ethno-cultural component

4. Musical education of children

5. Realization of musical abilities in different cultures

6. Identification, development and improvement of young talents

7. Genes are information carriers

8. Diagnosis of children's creative abilities

9. Cultural analysis of modern education

10. Reforms of creative education of children in various ethno-cultural formations

Conclusion

The social development of mankind has been well studied, and its laws are formulated by historical materialism. The spontaneous development of social forms through socio-economic formations is inherent only to a person in a group, and is in no way connected with his biological structure. There is not a single person on Earth outside the ethnic group. Ethnicity in the human mind is a universal phenomenon.

The norms and values of individual groups or microcultures are called ethnic models, which affect many areas of life, including the sphere of education, including creative ones.

Ethnicity is the process of identifying oneself and others using ethnic labels. For example, subjective attributes reflect a person's ethnic self-identification. An objective definition of ethnicity is based on sociocultural criteria.

The goal facing us in this work is to consider the ethno-cultural component as an opportunity to realize the child’s creative abilities in musical education.

The objectives of the work are to study the problem of the influence of the social environment on a person; consider what the ethno-cultural component is and how it affects the development of the child’s creative abilities.

1. The problem of the influence of public culture on a person

One of the first researchers to pay attention to the influence of culture and emphasize its importance was B. Simon in 1958. B. Simon especially sharply emphasized that the assessments of the subjects that the researcher receives primarily reflect not their true capabilities, but those social conditions in which they were born and raised. As an example, a number of verbal tests are given using words that the child must know the meaning of in order to answer the test questions well. The words used in the tests are better known to some children, worse to others, and for others they are not known at all. Thus, children who did not have the opportunity to read much or develop colloquial speech, found themselves at a disadvantage.

B. Simon's research applies only to English children, that is, children raised in one national culture, despite all its diversity. Naturally, these properties of tests become brighter when representatives of different ethnic groups, different national cultures, as well as people from a different social environment become the objects of diagnosis. In recent years, diagnostic research has expanded to include children and adults who were raised and formed in environments different from what is generally referred to as European culture, such as members of some African ethnic groups.

The formation of individual psychological differences between people is influenced by socio-economic and cultural factors. The role of heredity cannot be ruled out either. The identified characteristics of people are considered as a product of the joint action of the environment and heredity.

Now let's look in more detail at how social culture influences a person and his development.

It must be said that culture includes both abstract and material elements. Let's look at their differences. Under abstract elements values, beliefs, ideas, personality types, religious ideas are understood. Material components include books, computers, tools, buildings, etc.

Culture gives a person awareness of himself as an individual and an understanding of acceptable patterns of behavior. The most important ideological and behavioral aspects formed under the influence of culture are:

Awareness of oneself and the world;

Communication and language;

Clothing and appearance;

Food culture;

Concepts of time;

Relationships;

Values and norms;

Faith and beliefs;

Thought processes and learning;

Work habits.

Values are beliefs or social norms that unite individuals. Norms are rules of behavior developed by a group based on the consent of all its members.

Culture is passed on from generation to generation, primarily through social institutions such as family, school, and religion. Previous experiences and interactions with peers are also sources of cultural values. So, three institutions - family, religion and school - make a huge contribution to the transmission and assimilation of traditional values and prepare the ground for a harmonious perception of new realities.

2. Ethno-cultural component

People constitute a separate ethnic group depending on how common the members of the ethnic group are to have features of worldview and worldview that are different from the views of other ethnic groups. Just as human behavior is determined by culture and social environment, it is also determined by a sense of one’s own ethnicity.

The concept of ethno-cultural component distinguishes between such cultures as, for example, the culture of the indigenous inhabitants of a country; culture of national groups; culture of religious and ethnic groups. And then there are multicultural societies, such as the United States, Russia and Singapore, where cultural diversity and equality are highly valued.

Microcultures are formed around nationality, religion, and geographic location. Some ethnic groups contribute more to a country's cultural diversity than others, but the variables that are important to success are generally the same for everyone, regardless of ethnicity.

The influence of the ethno-cultural component on the development of people’s creative abilities is enormous. Each ethnic group has its own characteristics cultural characteristics and creative achievements in art, literature, music.

Since the purpose of this work is to consider the ethno-cultural component as an opportunity to realize creative abilities in the musical education of a child, we should consider the relationship between the ethno-cultural component and the psychology of the creative education of a child.

3. Children's creativity

Sometimes Creative skills children border on genius, especially if they provide the opportunity to get ahead of their time and comprehend new areas of knowledge and experience.

If we take a point of view that has a pronounced social overtones and agree that talent is not a lucky gift given by nature, but the result of special optimal conditions of learning, hard work and curiosity, then the statement that an individual who has not received an education cannot be considered talented, far from true.

It has long been proven over and over again that even in the most democratic society, people are not born with the same abilities.

The main question that interests us in this work is the question of whether the environment can have a serious impact on the development of a child’s creative abilities? Today there is debate in psychology about this. Many scientists believe that environment and external environment are important only for the discovery and application of natural talent.

Others, on the contrary, are convinced that every child is influenced by his environment and, accordingly, is a product of his environment. Consequently, creative abilities are formed under the influence of psychodynamic influences, that is, under the influence of an environment that can be benevolent or hostile to it.

It should be said that the practical implementation of our innate inclinations increases the functional capabilities of the body, and the beneficial influence of the environment makes this process more productive.

The development of innate abilities is possible only if there is an environment conducive to their development, and the environment helps the development of abilities only if there is a good hereditary basis. If there is no such basis, then the environment is powerless. If the environment does not have its beneficial effect, then the best inclinations may be unclaimed.

The interaction of good hereditary material and the favorable influence of the environment creates optimal conditions for the development of creative abilities.

Regarding the influence of the ethno-cultural component on the development of children's creative abilities, numerous studies have shown that in terms of development and talent, all people of different ethnic groups are equal. Let us give an example of such an equality. The young violinist takes the stage. Behind her is one of the most famous symphony orchestras in the world. At only 12 years old, she already enjoys well-deserved authority among musicians and critics who highly value her performing skills. When the famous American conductor first heard the game, she impressed him so much that he invited the girl to be a soloist in a concert of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. She delighted the audience with her performance of Paganini's Concerto No. 1. The name of this violinist is Sarah Chang, she was born in America in a family of Korean immigrants. The public, having learned about Sarah Chang's Asian-American origin, was very surprised. Since many psychologists have proven that the level of intelligence and creativity is lower than that of whites.

Introduction

2. Ethno-cultural component

7. Genes are information carriers

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

Man is a social being. Our behavior is dictated by genetic predisposition, environment, or some unique combination of many factors.

Culture refers to the set of values, ideas, artifacts, and other meaningful symbols that help individuals communicate and interpret and evaluate each other as members of society.

The norms and values of individual groups or microcultures are called ethnic models, which affect many areas of life, including the sphere of education, including creative ones.

The goal facing us in this work is to consider the ethno-cultural component as an opportunity to realize the child’s creative abilities in musical education.

1. The problem of the influence of public culture on a person

One of the first researchers to pay attention to the influence of culture and emphasize its importance was B. Simon in 1958. B. Simon especially sharply emphasized that the assessments of the subjects that the researcher receives primarily reflect not their true capabilities, but the social conditions in which they were born and raised. As an example, a number of verbal tests are given using words that the child must know the meaning of in order to answer the test questions well. The words used in the tests are better known to some children, worse to others, and for others they are not known at all. Thus, children who did not have the opportunity to read extensively or develop spoken language were at a disadvantage.

Now let's look in more detail at how social culture influences a person and his development.

It must be said that culture includes both abstract and material elements. Let's look at their differences. Abstract elements are understood as values, beliefs, ideas, personality types, and religious ideas. Material components include books, computers, tools, buildings, etc.

Awareness of oneself and the world;

Communication and language;

Clothing and appearance;

Food culture;

Concepts of time;

Relationships;

Values and norms;

Faith and beliefs;

Thought processes and learning;

Work habits.

Values are beliefs or social norms that unite individuals. Norms are rules of behavior developed by a group based on the consent of all its members.

2. Ethno-cultural component

The influence of the ethno-cultural component on the development of people’s creative abilities is enormous. Each ethnic group has its own cultural characteristics and creative achievements in art, literature, and music.

3. Children's creativity

Sometimes the creative abilities of children border on genius, especially if they provide the opportunity to get ahead of their time and comprehend new areas of knowledge and experience.

It has long been proven over and over again that even in the most democratic society, people are not born with the same abilities.

The interaction of good hereditary material and the favorable influence of the environment creates optimal conditions for the development of creative abilities.

Let us give an example of such an equality. The young violinist takes the stage. Behind her is one of the most famous symphony orchestras in the world. At only 12 years old, she already enjoys well-deserved authority among musicians and critics who highly value her performing skills. When the famous American conductor first heard the young talent play, she impressed him so much that he invited the girl to be a soloist in a concert of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. She delighted the audience with her performance of Paganini's Concerto No. 1. The name of this violinist is Sarah Chang, she was born in America in a family of Korean immigrants. The public, having learned about Sarah Chang's Asian-American origin, was very surprised. Since many psychologists have proven that the level of intelligence and creativity is lower than that of whites.

Let us say once again that people experience a weak or, conversely, a serious influence of the ethnic models of the microculture in which they were raised. Every person in to varying degrees subject to these influences. In addition, an individual may simultaneously belong to several ethnic groups, the level of exposure of which is not the same.

4. Musical education of children

Not in any area creative activity nature has not endowed people with talents as generously as in music, which is explained by the properties of music itself, which conveys the deepest emotional states of a person. The ability to transform notes into rhythmically organized sounds is common to many of us. Otherwise there would not be so many wonderful orchestras and instrumental ensembles, there would be no bright solo musicians playing various instruments.

Due to the complexity of the art of music, the abilities of musically gifted children begin to develop and manifest themselves under the guidance of experienced teachers. Parents are usually the first teachers.

What is most important in the musical education of a child and the development of his creative abilities in this area? Let us give some examples in the musical development of famous musicians from different eras and the influence of the environment and ethno-cultural component on their abilities.

It must be said that the ancestors of many gifted musicians were peasants, artisans, and small artisans, which was typical of those times.

Being the son of a French emigrant, F. Chopin loved Poland very much and considered it his homeland. As a child, he was particularly interested in the history of Poland's struggle for independence. Chopin tried to express the freedom-loving mood of the Polish people in music.

F. Mendelssohn was born in Berlin into the family of a Jewish banker. His father, by converting to Christianity, “gave himself access to European culture.” F. Mendelssohn began studying music at the age of 7; music was the boy’s passion.

Musically gifted children must demonstrate their abilities throughout their lives by demonstrating the ability to feel and understand the piece being performed.

It's impossible to say. That the realization of creative abilities in music is something unknowable. The creative process in music is realized in complex, winding ways. The process of educating young musicians is so different from one teacher to another; the role of transcendental things plays a great role in it.

Music, as they used to say, is the art of time. This expression implies the fact that when performing and perceiving music, its interpreter, as well as the listener, experiences the process of constructing a musical work. Recently, the problems of creative personality education in science have increasingly come to the forefront of psychology. The process of musical education is an extremely complex and multifaceted area. However, it is in musicology that education is particularly acute.

However, no matter what aspects of musical education we are talking about, the main condition is the following: any, even the most particular and narrow problem must be solved based on the fullest possible realization of the creative process of a given teacher.

5. Realization of musical abilities in different cultures

The historical certainty of the existence of not a single culture common to all nations and peoples, classes and social groups, but a multitude distinctive cultures with their subcultures deprives any scientific significance of the position that representatives of various cultures supposedly have equal opportunities when they realize their abilities in creativity. It took a lot of economic, ideological and political upheavals for the role of national cultures to become understood and taken into account. Features of culture penetrate not only into the psychological content of creative education methods; culture also affects the implementation procedure itself. creative potential person.

The values and norms of ethnic microculture are in conflict with the values of macroculture.

Let's consider the features of the national culture of France. Since we are interested in musical culture within the framework of this work, we will proceed from the fact that French songs are very diverse. They are narrative, lyrical, sad, humorous, descriptive, gallant. The variety of manifestations of the French “chanson” is characteristic. These melodies are bright, fresh, and memorable. They, as a rule, are more or less related to folk songs. The musical basis of the folk song genres of France is extremely heterogeneous. National self-awareness and deep feelings of patriotism for their native country serve as the development of the creative potential of the French.

Spain put forward a large number musical figures. The work of outstanding composers in Spain was based on folk song and dance. Precisely because the musical art of Spain was created by the people, it gained great strength and was able to therefore go beyond the country and spread to other countries.

As for the realization of creative abilities in the musical education of children, vocal polyphony is developed in Spain. But what is most valuable is folk art and realism.

American culture. In a sense, true American culture is that of the Native Americans, although many ethnographers and psychologists see them as one of the ethnic minorities that are part of the majority culture.

The term African-American, or "black", culture does not refer to skin color, but to a shared cultural heritage. Its roots are in the history of America, which began with slavery, discrimination and suffering, restrictions on many rights, exclusion from many areas cultural life. Poverty of schools and, accordingly, low levels of education hinder the development of creative potential. Since school does not provide enough skills to develop the creative abilities of African-American children, they get them on the streets. Today we know the music of “blacks” - rap, or street music.

Asian culture is traditionally characterized by hard work, strong family ties, deep respect for education, as well as other values that become the key to success in any field of science and art.

As for the Germans, the German people are one of the most musical peoples in the world. During the 18th – 19th centuries, Germany put forward a whole galaxy of classics, whose art played a huge role in the subsequent development of German and world culture. Many tunes that sounded during the campaign, in battle, and on vacation were borrowed from folk art, became entrenched in the musical life of wide sections of the population of the village and city, and injected fresh intonations into German musical life.

6. Identification, development and improvement of young talents

In recent years, the task of identifying and developing talented children has been identified as a priority, although it is too early to talk about success. In Germany, for example, this is due to special reasons. Even in the recent past, under Nazism, in Germany the theory of racial inequality, of “elitism,” a special historical mission of the German race, called upon to command other, “inferior” races, was vigorously promoted.

In these conditions, the education of a “strong personality”, true Aryan was the main goal of all educational institutions.

If we proceed from the Marxist teaching, according to which “man was created by labor,” then the individual young man accordingly, it should be formed in the learning process. Under Stalin, all intelligence tests were strictly prohibited. Georg Lukács, one of the most educated and sensible Marxist philosophers, was critical of all attempts by the Stalinists to prove the rationality and fairness of the egalitarian approach. He, without hiding his irony, said that “talent is already a deviation from the norm.” The changes that took place in the life of society after the death of Stalin could not but affect the public education system. In the Soviet Union and others socialist countries Schools for especially gifted children began to open.

Each talent is unique and therefore requires especially careful and delicate handling. A talented person is more prone to introspection and self-esteem.

Having traced the life path of so many famous people, the American scientist Benjamin Bloom came to the conclusion that their talent developed and improved with the caring participation of parents and teachers. However, neither parents nor teachers should ever forget that a talented child is just a child who is especially vulnerable and susceptible to the influence of the adult world. It is worth saying a few words about the general abilities of children, not only musical ones. Abilities, according to a far from complete classification, without taking into account some transitional forms, can be divided into four types:

Artistic ability is that a brilliant musician, for example, can also be a brilliant mathematician;

Psychomotor abilities, that is, the ability to control their body, children with such abilities become athletes and dancers;

Social abilities - this means the ability to quickly find contact with people of different types, characters, and inclinations; children with such abilities become psychologists, salesmen, managers, conductors;

General intellectual abilities that are realized in various fields human activity.

It must be said that when a child’s abilities are underestimated, his behavior pattern changes dramatically. He becomes demanding, aggressive, irritable, and may suddenly stop communicating with everyone or react violently to even the most harmless remark.

To work with gifted children, in addition to special knowledge, tact, patience, and special delicacy are required. Special tests are being developed to help parents and teachers. The accuracy of assessing a child's abilities largely depends on how attentive and observant parents and teachers are.

How can family and school promote the creative development of a child? In a family where books and newspapers are read, political and other issues are discussed, the child develops faster than in specially developed programs.

Concerning musical development child in the family, then for development it is necessary to create an appropriate microclimate. A child should grow up in a calm, friendly environment and feel protected. Musical activities contribute to the development of the child's senses.

After the parental home, school occupies an important place in the development and upbringing of a child. A wise, experienced, attentive teacher will definitely help a talented child in his development. The development of a child’s abilities is also possible within the framework of a comprehensive school, subject to the organization of extracurricular additional activities. Gifted children, collected in special classes and schools, may find themselves isolated from other children. If, for some reason, a capable child has to leave a special school and go to a general education school, this usually causes him severe mental suffering, which can lead to depression and even mental illness.

Intelligence is the power that helps you penetrate into the depths of things. The main task of a society of any type of culture is not only the formation of a highly moral personality, but also to reveal the creative abilities of each child.

7. Genes are information carriers

Previously, the outstanding abilities of gifted children caused only general surprise and admiration; they wrote about them, but did not try to study or scientifically explain this phenomenon.

A gifted child, according to scientists, is a direct “hit of genes on target.” In some families, talent in a certain area is passed down from generation to generation. In particular, in families of actors, children show acting abilities early, and they follow in the footsteps of their parents. The musical talent in the Bach family, German musicians from Thuringia, was inherited by several generations for more than 200 years. Great-grandfather Johann Bach, famous musician, there were three sons who were gifted with brilliant musical abilities, and several grandchildren who played the organ, harpsichord, and cello beautifully. Great-grandson Johann Sebastian Bach, whose talent was especially clearly revealed in mature years, already at the age of 6 he was composing musical plays.

The inheritance of musical abilities indicates the genetic nature of talent. Research scientist Revezh noted that 85% of musically gifted children had parents who also had musical abilities. Musical talent was usually inherited from the father. Bach, Beethoven, Bellini, Bizet, Vivaldi, Weber, Liszt, Mozart inherited talent from their father. And only Gounod, Grieg, Mendelssohn and Rubinstein are from their mother.

Scientists do not yet have enough scientific data to explain why musical talent is more often inherited on the paternal side and why mathematical talent is often inherited after musical talent.

Heredity refers to the ability of an organism to reproduce certain parental characteristics in subsequent generations. However, it is not ready-made qualities and properties that are inherited, but only the prerequisites and inclinations for them. How these inclinations develop will largely depend on the environment, on whether it will promote or inhibit their development.

From a genetic point of view, the secret of early giftedness no longer seems so mysterious. The information contained in the genes, or, better said, the gene commands that control the development of the brain, is very important.

This ensures a person’s mental activity, increases the level of his intelligence, which in turn makes it possible to judge the degree of his talent.

Let us give examples of musical talents. One of the most striking examples of early - in childhood– Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a manifestation of musical genius. He was a musician of universal talent. The life and work of this great composer fully reflected the brilliance and poverty of a musical genius. Much of what Mozart had to experience also befell other great composers, perhaps in a milder or slightly different form.

As for the ethno-cultural component as the source of Mozart’s musical talent, his ancestors lived in the Bavarian part of Swabia. Mozart's father, a strict and reserved man, had great feeling responsibility and peasant ingenuity. Little Mozart had a phenomenal ear for music and a rare musical memory. At four years old, a boy could tell a professional musician that his violin was out of tune by a quarter tone. Mozart's music has outlived its creator for centuries. His music became part divine world, pristine nature. The rigor and precision of construction are surprisingly combined with melodiousness and melody. Mozart's work is genius in the true meaning of the word.

8. Diagnosis of children's creative abilities

In modern conditions special meaning acquires the creation of psychodiagnostic techniques that allow us to identify and evaluate various aspects of the child’s psyche. In a variety of types of creative activity, important qualities include such mental characteristics as selectivity of perception, observation, working memory, flexibility of thinking, speed of generalization and assessment of the situation, and decision-making.

It is obvious that the child’s creative abilities should be manifested and developed in play and learning activities. School plays an important role in the creative development of a child. In the process of assimilation of knowledge, skills, and abilities, children develop. Currently, the school puts forward one of the main tasks: the development of such qualities of a child’s personality that provide him with the opportunity to independently acquire new knowledge, flexibly and quickly use it in situations not directly specified by training. The implementation of this task involves not only the special construction and organization of the process of acquiring knowledge, skills and abilities, but also the purposeful formation of various aspects of the child’s personality. And this is due to the need to determine the content and structure of creative development, to develop scientifically based methods for identifying and assessing its various aspects for more effective formation in the learning process.

The complexity of the nature of creative formations, the variety of factors influencing their formation and development, determine many difficulties in the creation and use of methods. The main core of creative development, as already mentioned, is the development of the child’s intellect.

Emphasizing the special role of intelligence in the holistic system of human mental and creative development, some researchers attribute it, along with social adaptation and performance, to the main resources of the individual. In the totality of a person’s creative potential, intellectual development occupies a leading place, since it directly determines the degree of readiness to assimilate and process knowledge and skills, provides the ability to adapt to new conditions, actively transform them, plan and evaluate one’s actions, set goals and predict their intermediate and final results. , organize past experience into systems.

There are many different definitions of intelligence, among which the following three are the most famous:

Ability to learn;

Ability to operate with abstract relationships;

Adaptation to a new situation.

In psychology, problems of the creative development of a child are being studied very intensively. In studying this problem, psychologists proceed from general theoretical principles related to the development of the child as a whole. Various research schools and directions are trying to determine the content of this concept, to study the formation of creative characteristics and intelligence under the influence of the cultural component, its manifestation at various stages of age and individual development. Research showing the enormous role of education in the creative and intellectual development of children has acquired a wide scope; various systems of educational influences have been identified; a close connection was discovered between the level of intellectual development and the content of training, which ensures the formation of theoretical generalizations of a truly scientific nature.

9. Cultural analysis of modern education

The sphere of pedagogy, psychology and education is, on the one hand, a specialized area of culture that ensures the transmission of socially significant experience accumulated in society; on the other hand, it is a special, relatively independent subculture.

The implementation of the idea of education in organizational and other aspects leads to the formation of a social institution of education and a corresponding educational subculture. Their functioning and development are supported by a system of norms, governing bodies, a system of reproduction of functional roles, and means of communication. In the advanced culturally In the countries of Germany, Russia, England, France, and the USA, the social institution of education took shape in the second half of the 19th century. Within the framework of this institute, the idea of education was not only fully realized, but also received further development.

Research within the framework of educational psychology, as well as innovative teaching practice, lead to a new image of a person. It is on the ideas and ideals of man that the concepts of education ultimately rest. The content and purpose of pedagogical activity is to introduce a young person into life, equipping him with all the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities.

The goal of training and education in any ethno-cultural formation is the formation of creative activity in the child, which will open up the opportunity for a specialist to generate new methods and types of activities, enter professional spheres that are new to him, and will allow him to reorient the direction of his work in a short time. Today this thesis has been reinterpreted as a requirement not just to broadcast information, but to teach generalized methods of activity, thinking itself.

Culture is the totality of the existing material and spiritual living conditions of people, the established ways of their activities, customs, social institutions, including the education system itself, a totality that forms a kind of living organism, an equilibrium and at the same time dynamic system. Finally, culture is also the conscious, purposeful, creative activity of individuals and communities, the desire to maintain traditions, improve and streamline life, make any changes, and resist destructive, inhumane tendencies.

The new idea of education should come not so much from the idea of preparing a growing person for maturity, preparation that involves the assimilation of knowledge, but from the idea of involving a person in the active process of discovery and mastery of the world. The teacher must open up new realities for the student, help him enter them, and share his own experience of immersion in these worlds of mastering them. Not so much to teach, but to charge with interest, captivate, help, share experience. In turn, the student, discovering new worlds for himself, entering them, mastering them, must consider education as a fundamentally two-way process. Not only aimed at the world, but also addressed to the student himself. Education involves work aimed at oneself, at one’s own change. In the new idea of education, the discovery and mastery of the world is inseparable from the discovery and mastery of oneself; the path to the world is at the same time the path to oneself, discovering oneself, “listening” to one’s nature and spirituality, cultivating new strengths, abilities, sensations and experiences.

A necessary requirement of modern education is the ethical orientation of human development. An educated person is a person of culture, a well-mannered person who contributes to the preservation of culture and strengthens it. An educated person is precisely a person, and not a specialist or an individual, and a cultural person, prepared for life. Prepared not only for normal life and well-functioning production, but also for challenges, for a change in lifestyle, for changes. It cannot be assumed that in an era of a general crisis of culture, the painful formation of elements of a new culture, global transformations and shifts, children will avoid changes, problems, and painful metamorphoses. Just as the educational requirement associated with the ability to learn and relearn has become natural, so should it become a natural requirement for educated person be ready for challenges, for repeated changes in your ideas, worldview, and attitude. In particular, therefore, the content of modern education cannot be reduced to knowledge and subjects, and educational technology cannot be reduced to teaching knowledge and its passive assimilation.

It is equally important to take into account the requirement arising from the very spirit of our time, namely: educational influences must be individual from a certain period, i.e. provide the individual with freedom to choose an educational path. Starting from adolescence, a person’s personality takes shape, which is characterized by the desire for independent behavior, the formation of a self-concept, an individual attitude, a life path program, and certain work on oneself. From this period, a person can no longer perceive education simply as something given to him from birth, like food, air or living conditions, he develops his own attitude towards it. Moreover, it can begin to form itself. A similar step, occurring earlier in some and later in others, marks the merging of education with self-education.

It is no less important that the transition to self-education is associated with a different type of psychological change: education through self-education is subordinated in this case to the goals of personal growth and improvement, it becomes a moment of a person’s mental activity, a form of his cultural existence.

10. Reforms of creative education of children in various ethno-cultural formations

Perhaps the most impressive thing in the field of education at present is the permanent reforms of education. One might even say that we live in an era of permanent pedagogical experiment. For example, it is known that to replace the Russian classical school and gymnasium late XIX- the beginning of the 20th century, first came the proletarian school of the 20-30s, then the Soviet classical school with a unified program and a stable composition of academic subjects. But since the 70s, various experiments have been carried out at the school and the movement of innovative teachers has been gaining strength, both new training programs and new organizational forms of the school have been proposed. Today we are seeing individual attempts to revive the pre-revolutionary school on a new basis.

Western pedagogy and school naturally developed somewhat differently than Soviet ones, but a similar pattern can be traced here: pedagogical reforms and experiments have practically been going on since the beginning of the century. Alternative pedagogy is also developing.

In most plans for the development of children, the problem arises of the feasibility of what was planned and calculated. It is known that many reforms of creative education in our country and in Europe did not achieve their goals, although they had a certain impact on the development of education.

A factor that impedes the implementation of reforms is noted, such as inconsistency or contradiction in the goals of the reform. If we bring together all the requirements for creative education imposed by the philosophy of education, we have to admit that many of them are not consistent with each other. Indeed, a number of these requirements are ideals formulated in normative form, and their feasibility has not been discussed; other requirements for education are guidelines for modernization, but the program and resources for such modernization, as a rule, are not specified. In addition, it must be taken into account that different requirements for education are put forward by different subjects acting on behalf of different groups of the population, different spheres of culture and economics.

Today there is a pluralism of cultures and heterogeneity of culture. As a consequence, there are many subjects and heterogeneous requirements for creative education. Currently, we are not dealing with a single practice of creative development of the child; on the contrary, as a response to multicultural civilization and freedom of educational choice, different, significantly different types of pedagogical practices are being formed.

The ethno-cultural approach to the innovative creative activities of teachers has come a long way in many countries and ethnic groups.

For example, most of the cultural regions of the Earth have become the field for ethnographic research by American scientists. The first studies were carried out to study the cultures of the indigenous population of North America, then the sphere of interest of American researchers included Latin America, Africa, Oceania and Asia. A voluminous and unique material on the history of culture was collected and systematized, which served as a source for sociocultural analysis.

A feature of the American school for the cultural and creative development of children, in addition to peaceful coexistence and mutual enrichment of various methodological approaches, is the use creative heritage predecessors, which allows us to talk about the continuity of traditions in the American school of development.

Later in the American school there was a change in orientation from the study of non-Western, preliterate cultures to the study of cultures of all types, including post-industrial society. US culture is becoming one of the objects of careful study. External habitual working conditions have changed - the field of ethnographic research has sharply narrowed with the disappearance of many local cultures from the face of the Earth.

It should be said about the emergence of a racial-cultural school of creative research. The main idea is the decisive influence of the racial factor on the development of a child’s creative abilities. This school was formed in conditions of the struggle for existence and natural selection, the dominance of the biological approach in sociology, the widespread use of all kinds of anthropometric measurements and attempts to biologically classify races. Of course, all this could not but affect the peculiarities of the development of racial culture and the development of creative abilities of children of this ethnic group.

A special place is occupied by the spiritual school for the creative development of children. The basis of this school was the consideration of stories of “experience” in musical works many great composers. Types of “life” were considered to be of equal value.

Let us say once again that in psychology, culture is a sociological designation for learned behavior, that is, behavior that is not given to a person from birth, is not predetermined in its innate form, but must be learned anew by each new generation, through learning from adults.

The ethno-cultural component is the forms of habitual behavior common to a group, community or society. It consists of tangible and intangible elements.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we will conclude that culture in the broad ethnographic sense is composed in its entirety of knowledge, beliefs, art, morality, laws, customs and some other features, abilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.

It should be said that all studies of the creative development of children from an early age are associated with general progress scientific knowledge, developing at the intersection of sciences about man, his spiritual activity and creativity. In this work, we examined issues such as gifted or brilliant children, as well as the nature of talent.

In this work, our goal was to consider the ethno-cultural component as an opportunity to realize creative abilities in the musical education of a child. We looked at various examples of how the abilities of children of a certain ethno-cultural component are realized. Using examples of various famous figures musical art of the past and present. We also looked at the origins of children’s genius in music. We studied the working methods of various schools working to develop the creative potential of children. Thus, the goal set for us has been achieved.

In the process of work, we examined such concepts as culture, ethno-cultural component and its influence on the creative abilities of children, and studied the influence of the environment on the development of the child. Thus, we achieved the tasks set for us at the beginning of the work.

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