Цивилизационные основания общества и социальная структура

Abstract

The paper poses a question on the applicability and possible meanings of “civilization” in modern society. Arnold Toynbee used it widely to define human societies as the products of various types of natural environment. In different landscapes humans looked for optimal ways to survive and thereby created conditions for the rise of specific civilization cultures. The researchers of the past regarded the Indian caste system a typical example of a social structure determined by culture. M. Weber defined castes as a system based on status. Celesten Bugle claimed that castes were a variant of a professional structure crystallized in cultural codes. Julius Boeke proposed his own theory of dual cultures in areas where modern culture meets archaic cultures of culturally-determined inequalities. The research results allows to conclude that civilizations can be divided into strong and weak types. Strong civilization possess means to enforce the forms of inequality based on culture. Weak civilizations create an environment where social structure is determined by a configuration of social and political forces, including state policies. At present Russia is a weak civilization in which cultural patterns of life do not have significant influence on the forms and scale of inequality.