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formed a new superficial, fragmented and random way of thinking.
Today in most developed countries the process of creating a post-industrial
society, which is characterized by the dominance of service of infrastructure,
scientific and technical experts, a new ‘intellectual’ technology. Computerization
and development of the comprehensive information network led to the formation
of the information society. This society is focused on the dominance of the
information sector of the economy replacing socially differentiated classes by
different corporations, advancement of the projects of global e-civilization based
on the TV, computer services and energy. The ‘computer revolution’ according to
its ideologists must change the mindsets, ideology, lifestyle, work, entertainment.
Ethnologists F. Boas, B. Malinowski, L. Levy-Bruhl, K. Levi-Strauss made
a number of discoveries in the study of mechanisms of thinking of a primitive man
and showed that the evolutionary movement of the European civilization was not
the only model of cultural development. Every nation, according to Levi-Strauss
makes its own choice and all these choices are equal and incomparable.
A single cultural and historical process was criticized in the works of O.
Spengler and A. Toynbee. In his book ‘The Decline of the West’ O. Spengler treats
culture as a living organism with its internal life cycle. This concept had a
significant impact on British scholar Arnold Toynbee and his work
‘Comprehension of History’ in which the social and historical development of
mankind reinvented the spirit of the theory of the circulation of local civilizations.
Original contribution to the study of culture was made the French historical
school ‘Annals’ (the name of the magazine publishing their findings). Instead of
the traditional description of events, biographies, political trends these historians
were engaged in the reconstruction of the human outlook at different stages of
history. An interdisciplinary approach to the study of human psychology and
culture enabled Austrian psychologist, neurologist and psychiatrist Z. Freud to
consolidate the achievements of science and philosophy making an impact on arts
and medicine. Freud’s psychoanalysis was not only the treatment of mental
illnesses, but also a set of theories that explained the role of a human life in a
special unconsious sphere.
The problem of the unconsciousness was researched by K. Jung who
suggested the existence of the human deeper layer if the consciousness –
‘collective unconsciousness’. The collective unconsciousness played a special role
in the formation of the mass consciousness. It explained the phenomenon of
popular culture set forth for the first time in the work of Spanish philosopher
Ortega-Gasset ‘The revolt of the masses’. The bearers of the ‘mass consciousness’
were opposed to the ‘creative minority’. The first category of people was
consumers satisfied with their identity, others were the creators of cultural values
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