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Mass culture and manipulation with consciousness
Section 15. Philosophy
Simukanova Guldariga Serikovna, Aktobe Regional State University named after K. Zhubanov, Master of the Humanities, Teacher of Socio-Political Disciplines Department E- mail: simukanova@mail.ru
Mass culture and manipulation with consciousness
Abstract: The article gives the definition of such concepts as mass society, mass culture and mass consciousness. Specific examples indicate positive and negative effects of globalization on national culture.
Particular attention is paid to the interest of independent states for the conservation, protection and development of national values in the context of globalization. The conclusion about the relevance of stability provision and protection of the state raised by globalization has been drawn.
Keywords: mass culture, mass consciousness, mass society, national culture, globalization, national states.
Globalization is a natural-historical, that is which is not imposed by anybody and not controlled and regulated by anybody, process of integration of cultures, civilizations, states into certain harmonious whole. Globalism is, as A. A. Khamidov notes, on the contrary, “control and regulation of world-wide and historical processes from the one and only center unilaterally and only in the interests of this very Center” [1, 25]. The main goal of globalism strategy and tactics is to appropriate depleting useful resources of the planet. The nature has disposed so that these resources are mainly concentrated in the territories of independent national states. Therefore the national states are among the targets for globalists. The latter try in every possible way to discredit national statehood as being allegedly anachronism in the conditions of “a new world order” The strong national state relies on original national culture and at the same time supports it in every possible way and creates conditions for development and improvement. “Globalists, — A. S. Panarin writes, — destroy all forms of developed national self-organization in order to build their global order on a “vacant place” [2, 27]. In this article we will consider only one aspect of such impact on national culture, namely imposing of samples and standards of so-called mass culture formed at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries on it.
The mass culture opposed to high, or elite, culture, is inseparably linked with a massification of society and formation of mass consciousness. The post-industrial era nearly turned it into a dominant phenomenon. Globalism strategy and tactics use mass culture as one of the tools of pressure upon national culture passing state filters.
The modern mass culture grasps into its orbit almost everything without exception, penetrating it by its force fields. It certainly leads to a peculiar averaging, “standardization and internationalizations of types of material and cultural consumption, sources and contents of social information, ways of life
and types of leisure activity. A person can live in the center of Europe or on the coast of the Pacific Ocean, have a high or modest level of income, be a worker or a banker, but the real world surrounding him/her, his/her daily life activities and entertainments which keep reflecting his/her financial opportunities, nevertheless, get more and more leveled.Jeans and sneakers, a car or a TV-set are purchased depending on their qualities for very different money still they are the same subjects sometimes representing the same trademark (“Sony” tape recorder can be bought both for 100 and 300 dollars). Even less signs of social-group belonging in rock music and westerns, TV programs and messages of the largest news agencies constituting the main spiritual food of billions of our contemporaries” [3, 92]. All this, certainly, occurs. But the peculiarity of modern, i. e. mass culture of the second half of the XX century - beginning of the XXI century, consists in that unification, standardization, leveling, etc. are already not the goal but the means for decreasing the level of the culture of thinking of billions of people, blocking sober and critical view on global processes taking place on the planet, disguising those who behind the scenes manipulates with historical process deriving multi-billion extra profits from it.
In the course of familiarization with the mass culture mass consciousness which is even more unsystematic, even more saturated by every possible stereotypes and cliches (which besides can quickly be replaced with other ones) than ordinary consciousness is formed in the people. It is formed mainly under the influence of mass behavior. From the mass and a person of mass there is only one step to a crowd and a person of crowd. The known expert in the crowd phenomenon G. Lebon wrote in due time: “Under known conditions the conscious personality disappears while feelings and ideas of all separate units forming the whole, called as a crowd, accept one and the same direction. A collective soul having
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Section 15. Philosophy
certainly a temporary character but very certain features as well is formed" [4, 11]. The modern researcher S. Moscovichi as if supporting G. Lebon’s quoted words writes: “Suggestion or influence becomes a phenomenon responsible for so unusual transformation. People have an illusion that they make a decision themselves, and they are not aware that they became an object of influence or suggestion” [5, 41].
Therefore one of solution ways of mass culture introduction problem is control over ordinary and mass consciousness and manipulation with it, and through it, certainly — over mass behavior and familiarization with mass culture. As S. G. Kara-Murza notes, “the people whose consciousness is manipulated are treated not like personalities but like objects, special type of things. Manipulations are a part of power technology, and not an influence on the behavior of a friend or a partner” [6, 17]. The means of manipulation with consciousness are various. Let’s note the main directions by which the ethno-national cultures are being attacked by globalism.
First, the consciousness is treated toward decomposition of the value level of consciousness and its bringing to utility level is realized, hunger for consumerism is engrafted. Young people of juvenile and teenage age become the object of manipulation more often. They are suggested that usefulness is the high goal which a person should aspire to reach. To achieve the necessary effect from this suggestion the latest technologies of consciousness indoctrination are used. The important role in it is played by advertisement. One does not have to be a specialist to see that TV channels advertise mass produced items, one can never see advertisements of books, new scientific or philosophical ideas, important discoveries, technical achievements, etc.
Secondly, a purposeful campaign for destruction of culture of thinking, ability to independently define and defend one’s vision and values is realized which is aimed at and implemented in post-Soviet countries where the test method for checking not only the knowledge of school pupils or students but also as a means of mastering teaching material by them dominates. Such method justified as a third-rate method of checking the level of knowledge but turned into a main one can contribute not to development of culture of thinking but remembering answers to certain questions. As a result, the contents of a studied subject, its integrity and cultural sense remain unmastered. At destruction and even elimination of culture of thinking of a personality the application of various PR-technologies is aimed as well. “The main goal of public relations, — V. A. Lektorskiy fairly notes, — is not development of rational abilities of a person but, on the contrary, dulling his/her critical reflection” [7, 189].
Thirdly, the idea of commercial importance of any phenomenon of culture and replacement of all known to present human motives by economic ones is purposefully and strenuously instilled. But this — only demonstration and universalization of consumer-useful treatment of the world in general. “This leads, — A. A. Khamidov writes, — to stimulation of development of mistrust and even contempt for everything in
culture and human life that resists the ratio purchase-sale, qualifying everything not promising commercial profit as not being worthy of a person. Thereby all supreme values and shrines as allegedly illusory and utopian” [8, 29] are discredited. Accordingly, there is an aspiration to extend market, commodity-money relations to the whole human culture.
Fourthly, the mass culture is intentionally exported to ethno-national cultures in its worst forms. In particular, those forms and samples of it are exported where aggressive behavior, bloody fights, violence, sex are heroized. Unisex marriages are advocated, pornography, including also child pornography, spreads.
Porn industry in the XX century turned into a rather profitable business. The researcher of so-called “striptease culture” B. MakNeyr writes: “Process during which the pornography became an economically important subsector of cultural production was dictated by demand and technologies. If to speak about the latter, each next innovation in development ofdevices of mechanical, electronic, and recently — digital reproduction of images simplifies production and consumption of sexually explicit materials lowering from both sides the barrier before the entrance into something that I will further name as porno-sphere” [9, 83]. Books, movies, videotapes, CDs, DVDs, finally, the Internet — all this is used both in commercial distribution of pornographic materials and export by ideological motives. The Internet is especially convenient for these purposes. “Unlike previous technological jumps which lead to pornosphere’s expansion within the borders of a state, — B. MakNeyr notes, — the Internet globalized porn industry and undermined the ability of certain countries to supervise the consumption of sexually explicit materials by their citizens (satellite broadcasting played its role here as well, but much more modest)” [9, 123].
All this is aimed at consecutive destruction of ethnic and national cultures and their values as bases of national and (or) ethno-national statehood. Introduction of the ersatz-culture is called to erode original culture in general, ethnic and national, in particular. It is also called to promote the loss by people of their valid identity and correct orientation in the world, their transformation into amorphous mass and even into a crowd. There is a direct link between national statehood and national culture. The stronger the state is, the more flourished the national culture is, and, on the contrary, the more preserved and more developed the national culture is and continues developing, the more powerful the national state is. But without a developed subject neither the first nor the second will happen to be. Therefore the globalists attack in all three directions and especially — in the third one — the ethnic and national person. And the fundamental purpose of all these efforts of globalists consists in one thing: so that the resources of the whole world would become as soon as possible “global”, that is available. In this regard the national states should preserve in every possible way the national cultures and promote their development for not only the national state is the guarantor of national culture, but also on the contrary, high-grade national culture is the guarantor of stability and safety of the national state.
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Significance of spiritual factor and ethnocultural traditions in the development of domestic education
References:
1. Хамидов А. А. Проблема глобализации без альтернативы: глобализм или антиглобализм//Евразия. - 2005. - № 1.
2. Панарин А. С. Искушение глобализмом. - М., 2000.
3. Дилигенский Г. Г. Историческая динамика человеческой индивидуальности//Одиссей. Человек в истории. 1992. Историк и время. - М., 1994.
4. Лебон Г. Психология масс//Психология масс. Хрестоматия. - Самара, 1998.
5. Московичи С. Век толп. Исторический трактат по психологии масс. - М., 1998.
6. Кара-Мурза С. Г. Манипуляция сознанием. - М., 2001.
7. Лекторский В. А. Личная и коллективная идентичность в условиях глобализации//Философия в контексте глобализации. - Алматы, 2009.
8. Хамидов А. А. Проблема глобализации без альтернативы: глобализм или антиглобализм.
9. МакНейр Б. Стриптиз - культура. Секс, медиа и демократизация желания. - Екатеринбург, 2008.
Taizhanov Altai Taizhanovich, West-Kazakhstan State Medical University named after M. Ospanov, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor, Chairman of Socio-Political Disciplines Department E- mail: a.taijanov@mail.ru
Significance of spiritual factor and ethnocultural traditions in the development of domestic education
Abstract: In the article important features of ethnocultural traditions within the context of education and personal development are considered. The urgency of preservation of national components of domestic education in the conditions of growing globalization is specified. The positive and negative moments of globalization processes are shown, their threat for national education system, culture, spirituality is noted.
Keywords: spiritual factor, ethnocultural traditions, ethnocultural identity, ethnocultural education, liberal arts education, cultural-ethnic developments, ethnic culture.
Today we start feeling more and more acutely the crisis situation overtaking the whole mankind. And moreover, pushing the boundaries habitual to us, the crisis interferes into the beyondness of our existence — spiritual area of Being. The mankind can survive physically if it only survives spiritually that is as cultural mankind: the first thing is absolutely inseparable from the second one. The development of human spirituality as synthesis of reason and good will, knowledge and responsibility. People can do too much today, and too much can lead to disaster.
This entails ignoring spiritual foundations of national culture — in politics, economy, education — and this is especially dangerous in the conditions of public transformation. Understanding inconsistent experience of reforms allows realizing deeper and better the role of education and first of all ethnocultural education. Unique oportunities for formation of spiritually integral personality and simultaneous reproduction of national culture of the people through a person, his/her system of values and reasons to live allow considering ethnocultural education as the most important precondition of spiritual security of society.
Spiritual security is the system of the conditions allowing culture and society to keep their vital parameters within
historically developed norms. Their going beyong the norms in-flunced by different factors, of primarily cultural, value-normative nature, leads to disorganization and finally to society disintegration as a complete system in connection with destruction of the spiritual foundations structuring it [1, 7-13].
In the conditions of modern civilization globalization and electronic technologies development culture considered by superpowers as the main mechanism of various regions inclusion into the area of their influence becomes the most important factor of world influence. Strengthening of cultural factor in geopolitical strategy is accompanied by a number of negative consequences which should be considered in the development of conceptual foundations of geopolitics. On the one hand, cultural cooperation and dialogue of nations are the guarantee of justice and democracy, condition of prevention of international and interethnic conflicts, violence and wars. On the other hand — the world community enters a new phase where not political or economic disagreements but cultural-ethnic differences and contradictions will be the dominant factor of global policy and fundamental source of conflicts. The objective or subjective inequality of cultural dialogue partners is the precondition of geopolitical influences. Non-selfsufficiency of one of the parties of dialogue
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