Mass Culture as an Instrument of Social Regulation

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to provide a comprehensive understanding of mass culture as a factor in social regulation and an instrument of social exclusion. Methodology. This study is theoretical and analytical in nature and is based on an interdisciplinary approach that combines socio-philosophical and cultural studies analysis. The study employs systemic-analytical, discursive, hermeneutic, and comparative methods, which allow for an exploration of mass culture as an instrument of social regulation and a mechanism for producing social exclusion. In addition, the principles of critical analysis of sociocultural processes were applied, which made it possible to identify the ambivalent nature of mass culture, including in the context of digitalisation. The scientific novelty of this study lies in identifying the ambivalent nature of mass culture as an instrument of social regulation, which, on the one hand, produces images and practices of inclusion, expanding access to sociocultural resources, and on the other hand, reproduces latent forms of social exclusion. Conclusions. It has been established that mass culture functions as an important instrument of social regulation, which not only shapes the norms and practices of social interaction but also participates in the reproduction of social order through mechanisms of symbolic exclusion and marginalisation. It is shown that in the conditions of postmodern hyper-reality, social exclusion takes on a hidden form and manifests itself in an attempt to appropriate “otherness” through processes of aestheticisation and museumification, thereby depriving marginalised groups of the possibility of resistance. The transformation of the functions of mass culture in the process of digitalisation is emphasised; by expanding the formal possibilities for representing various forms of experience, this transformation has created the preconditions for the emergence of new forms of hidden exclusion. It is demonstrated that the digital environment contributes to the complication of mechanisms of social exclusion, which take on latent forms and are often disguised as practices of inclusion and recognition of the multiplicity of identities.