Good afternoon, today we are starting
a series of videos about Culturology
or as it is called abroad -
cultural anthropology.
If in this video you come
across incomprehensible words,
write to us in the comments,
and we will explain them.
Culturology is the science of culture. The
concept of culture came to us from Latin
and translated means "cultivation".
You have certainly encountered such a
concept as "cultivated plants" and you
know for sure that they are "cultivated"
not because they say "Hello" and bow
to an undiscovered Bud, but because man
intervened in their natural process of
development and improved them for his needs.
For example, in a wild
banana can be up to 200 seeds,
and in the usual us, bought in the
supermarket they are not at all.
Culturology is the science of what is
somehow connected with human activity.
In this context, the opposite concept
of culture will be - "nature".
Everything until then had not reached the
hands of man.
Culturology studies the culture of mankind
at different stages of development,
and in this it is close to history. But the
latter is interested in specific events,
chains of events and how one event gave
rise to another. For culturologist is more
important as the event
affected the Outlook of people,
how it changed and how those changes
were the cause of the next event.
Like many other Sciences, Culturology grew
out of philosophy. American anthropologist
Leslie White was the first to single out
Culturology as an independent science.
And it happened in the 20th century.
There are many divisions within
the concept of culture. For example,
culture is spiritual and material.
To put it simply: everything
that can be touched
except natural objects is material culture,
and what cannot be touched from cultural
objects is spiritual. Leo Tolstoy's
novel "War and peace" is certainly
a spiritual culture, but the book,
the sheets of paper on which it is printed,
is a material one. The picture of Leonardo
da Vinci's "La Gioconda" - the spiritual
but canvas and paint - material.
Material culture is a chair
on which You sit, a table,
a pen with which you used to write,
a plate, a spoon and much more.
One more division of culture actual for the
modern world-culture world and national.
It well reflects two opposite
ideas: the desire for globalization
(the search for common rules and
norms for the whole world) and for
the preservation of national identity
(the belonging of a person to a
a certain nation). 
National culture refers
to what is created by one nation.
For example, folk songs and fairy tales,
author's works little familiar to other
nations. World culture, on the contrary,
consists of well-known creations: the
Beatles music, the Sistine chapel,
F. Dostoevsky's novel
"The brothers Karamazov"
Culture can be elite, popular and mass.
Elite culture is designed for
the privileged part of society.
You have noticed that some material
objects of elite culture
do not change with time.
For example, necklace. This can be a
necklace of bones from primitive man
and a modern necklace of gold and diamonds.
Or clothing: skins, brocade dress
embroidered with gold
and a suit from Versace.
Or transport: a nomad horse,
a Prince's carriage and and S-class car.
But, as you know,
elite culture is not limited to material,
it has a spiritual. These are works of
art, achievements of science, etc.,
which are not understandable to everyone.
Mass - designed for a wide audience
and its quality can be different.
From the level of the Chinese
jeans, to the Mercedes C-class car.
Folk is connected with the
traditions of the people, which means
that these are fairy tales, legends, myths,
dances, songs, clothes and household items.
The division of culture into
dominant culture, subculture and
counterculture is interesting. The
dominant culture unites the values of most
members of society. For example, everyone
knows that garbage should be thrown into
the trash can, but not everyone performs.
The culture of each group of society
(national, age, professional,
etc.) is a subculture. So
the culture of the social group "doctors"
includes the ability to write illegibly.
Culture opposing
dominant-counterculture, for example,
the culture of the criminal environment. 
Another important division of culture into
Eastern and Western. The main difference
between these cultures is the presence
(Western) and absence (Eastern)
domination of private property.
Eastern culture is traditions,
spirituality, conservatism,
irrationalism, mysticism, collectivism. 
The roots of Western culture is in
Cretan-Mycenaean culture,
which existed in 3-1 thousand BC
in the Aegean basin.
The main features of Western
culture: the priority of reason,
respect for scientific knowledge,
technological transformation of the world,
high dynamics, awareness, human desire
to go beyond the established boundaries,
anthropocentrism, individualism.
In the following videos I will tell about
the cultures of different countries and
eras. Like me if you liked the video,
subscribe to the channel and do not
forget to write in the comments about
incomprehensible terms,
so I could help to understand. Goodbye!
