РОЛЬ СУЧАСНОГО МУЗЕЮ У ПРОЦЕСІ ФОРМУВАННЯ СОЦІАЛЬНОГО КАПІТАЛУ

Abstract

The article considers the process of significant functions expansion of museum institutions in the context of «New museology» and their role in the formation of social and cultural capital. The author emphasizes that the transformation of museums into educational and leisure centers, a kind of tourist markers of cities and regions, leads to the fact that these institutions are gradually becoming an important place, strengthening family, friends and other social ties. As a result, it promotes the establishment of new social contacts, the creation of networks of cooperation and connections between people and groups with similar interests. It is emphasized that by becoming places for human interaction, gathering different communities around them, modern museums are becoming centers of public communication, informal communication and education. They begin to function as an infrastructure of social capital. The author pays attention to the concept of «third place» by R. Oldenburg, in the context of its adoption and adaptation by modern museums. There is a definition of «third place» and its role in the creation and strengthening of social capital. In accordance with the features formed by R. Oldenburg in his theory, author gives examples of spaces of modern narrative Polish museums, which function as «third places». The article analyzes the process of departure of modern museums from positioning themselves exceptional as places of knowledge or aesthetic pleasure and the transformation of modern museums into centers of public life and public mediators. As a result, institutions are trying to pay more and more attention to the expectations and comfort of the audience, positioning themselves as a meeting place that equalizes the social status of people and removes barriers to communication. The author concludes that museums are becoming an important point in the formation of cultural capital, which generates social networks that include people with similar education, tastes, cultural tastes.