The Role of Ethnic Non-Material Property for Intercultural Communications in Digital Society

Abstract

This paper is devoted to the intellectual property and spiritual (non-material and non-intellectual) property of ethnic minorities. The research is topical, because ethnic identity issues remain prevalent in the modern era, and questions of ethnic identity have become problematic and multifaceted due to the crisis of multiculturalism concepts and the ‘glocalization’ processes. Many languages of ethnic minorities are under the threat of disappearance. The main objective of this research is to define the role of Mother Language and ethnic non-material property for self-identification of different nationalities in digital society. The secondary objective is to consider what kind of non-material property is the most important in this context. Research methods to be used: methodology of system differentiation of Luhmann N. It is asserted in this work, that the main non-material property for ethnic minorities is intellectual property and spiritual (non-material and non-intellectual) property. Spiritual property is considered here from the non-religious point of view, mainly because of the author’s world-outlook. Another reason is that religious type of spiritual property is ideologically burdened in modern Russia. Non-religious spiritual property is of great importance for ethnic minorities, nevertheless it is under-estimated. Mother Language is a base for ethnic spiritual property. In contrast, religious spiritual property is conservative and backward similar to mental reservation (from the author’s point of view).
 Keywords: non-material property, intellectual property, ethnic minorities, intercultural communication, digital society