MASS CULTURE: MODERN ASPECTS OF RESEARCH

Abstract

The new socio-economic situation in our society in recent decades is characterized by an active implementation in the public consciousness of popular culture. Today there is foreign and national cultural and philosophical literature a noticeable lack of consensus about the nature of the popular culture that still causes a mismatch positions of contemporary scholars about its conceptual apparatus. Popular culture is a concept that has many scientific and theoretical approaches to their study and determination of its features today. According to the researching the evolution of the term begins on the general concept of the category of "mass" and the theory of "mass society" and the object of the theoretical study of popular culture is in the 30 – 40's of the XX century. The transition to an industrial society is the most active phase of the study of popular culture.

According to the phenomenon of mass culture within the humanities and specialized in modern society is ambivalent. The ideological position is considered the concept of mass culture is very subjective and depends on the conventional reference points or topics that are selected by any researcher or public character to justify his relationship to popular culture.

Most Russian culture experts believe that the culture that created the masses is the ground on which later arises and flourishes high art because it reflects the spiritual, emotional and experienced fixed tastes and feelings of the individual states and their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the world, focus on achieving harmonious interaction with it, embodies the hopes, desires and ideal representation of the masses. They distinguish the following characteristics of mass culture: the proximity to basic human needs, the growing demand for its products focus on natural, closer to instinctive, primitive sensuality and emotion, always strict subordination of power in society, simplicity in producing a quality product consumption.

Ukrainian and Russian researchers interpret identically that popular culture and folk art is in a provider.

Ukrainian scientist Danilyuk A. explores the concept of popular culture in relation to folklore and proves that it has a number of features. First of all it points to its connection with classical culture, which makes it different from folk; argues that one reason for the spread of mass culture in society is withering away of folklore.

Russian scientist Ivanov G. consideres identity and popular culture, such as the impact of the latest features in the formation of identity. He emphasizes that popular culture has both positive and negative effects on human identity.

Polish scientist and science fiction Lam S. argues that popular culture is "the amount of social technologies."

Thus we can conclude that mass culture is actually not culture in general and that is the form, which takes cultural development in terms of industrial civilization, in terms of mass industrial society.

Today popular culture represents a higher socio-cultural category, a new form of socialization and inculturation individual guidance in his life and work conditions that are constantly changing, a new system of manipulating his mind, needs, interests, demand, and value orientation and behavior.

At the beginning of the XXI century popular culture is a specific way of the understanding of the reality and adapt to it, describing the specifics of production and distribution of cultural property. Recently popular culture is firmly entrenched in our society and therefore became the object of studing of modern Ukrainian scientists and cultural studies.

Some authors explore key aspects of the problem field of the phenomenon of mass culture in the new plane in domestic scientific thought.

Among them Ukrainian scientists such as: Hundorova T., Zabuzhko O., Svidzinsky A., Vovkun V., Masenko L., Poplavsky M., Sinkevych O. and the work of the young scientists Zastolska V., Danilyuk A., Logvinov V., Pohribna V. etc. Therefore analyzing the contemporary socio-cultural reality Zastolska V. offers a definition of mass culture as one that is not based on the development and modification of certain provisions relating to the analysis of the state of culture and society in the socio-cultural development and to its theoretical reflection as full of the cultural modernity with the relevant theme.

Professor Svidzinsky A. examines popular culture based on the highly controversial nature of the interaction of culture with the consciousness of the individual.

According to Vovkun V.: "Culture is absorbed into mainstream culture moreover not his cut or not able to recommend or develop a strong centralized state."

Popular culture as a phenomenon has a right to exist, but the problem is that? for example, inUkraineit is usually not Ukrainian.

Ukrainian scientist Masenko L. analyzes mass culture in the relationship between the concepts and language of popular culture. In her view the language barrier between elite and mass culture slows and complicates the process of establishing a new society for several reasons.

Mishchenko N. emphasizes that the negative interpretation of popular culture does not meet modern social and cultural processes.

Denisyuk Zh. in the thesis of "mass culture as a factor in transforming the national and cultural identity in the context of globalization" was the first who examines popular culture as one of the main agents of cultural globalization which has impact on the national and cultural identity.

Popular culture is an universal crops or characteristic of the general population, cosmopolitan, a variety of contemporary culture. Therefore modern mass culture is a complex form of organization and structuring of the cultural life of the society that creates and cultural product and the consumer.