Cultural And Value Dominants Of The Information Society

Abstract

In terms of globalization and informational civilization development, the transformation of previously established value ideas takes place and a new hierarchy of values is built. Currently, in the face of global changes, personal self-determination and revival of moral foundations in all spheres of life become of a key importance for a person. Therefore, the study of cultural values is becoming the core of research in this sphere for modern scientists. The leading approaches are philosophical and cultural, which allow to reveal the features of the dominant cultural values in the conditions of society informatization. In modern culture, tolerance becomes one of the value dominants, since it involves openness, respect, and appreciation of other cultures. It was revealed that in the conditions of society informatization, dialogue is important because it promotes cultural and information exchange, the formation of a united cultural space. The purpose of the article is to identify the value dominants in modern culture, study their transformation under the influence of information technology to determine the place of cultural values in the socio-cultural activities of a modern person. The research results are focused on a deep scientific analysis of cultural processes in the context of the information society. The materials of the article can be used in scientific and pedagogical activities and in the implementation of programs related to the problems of moral and cultural education of youth.

Keywords: Culturevaluestolerancenon-violencefreedomdialogue

Introduction

Modern culture clearly demonstrates the irreversible destruction of traditional cultural values and the formation of new ones. The Polish philosopher and theologian Tishner ( 2005) write about the significance of cultural values for a modern person who has lost faith, “...we found that our belief in the fundamental was in the situation of crisis. What should a person rely on in their decisions? Values appear to be a profitable pillar that does not require either faith in God or knowledge of the nature of man and the essence of things” (p. 389). The problem of values is central to the works of outstanding thinkers Rickert ( 2008) and Soloviev ( 2011), who first of all tried to reveal spiritual content in universal values.

In modern conditions, when humanity faces the threat of losing its own identity, only culture can act as an opposing, preserving factor, the presence of which allows a person to remain as they were and are today.

The core of culture is the basic traditional values. In recent years, attention to tradition has been steadily increasing, due to the increased interest in the problems of “collective memory”, cultural communication and continuity in modern society. As physical needs are satisfied, the problem of overcoming psychological anomalies arising as a result of the rampant development of progress becomes prior. Toffler ( 1973) notes: “Millions of people feel pathology around themselves, but do not understand its causes... It is rooted in the uncontrolled and indiscriminate nature of our rapid movement into the future” (p. 281). Common to the assessment of the new information age is the awareness that modern society generates a variety of forces that are hostile, primarily to man as a spiritual being.

Achievements in the development of information technology have violated or questioned many traditional ideas about values, the meaning of life, the role and place of culture in them. The process of dehumanization of culture has intensified, today's culture is rationalized and intellectualized, its sensual, intuitive content disappears. To perceive a cultural work, a person no longer needs a soul, only intelligence.

The problem of preserving culture in the current conditions is more relevant than ever, it becomes equivalent to the problem of the survival of humanity as a species. Culture is air, atmosphere, in its high samples is the ozone layer of civilization, without which it will not exist for long. The basis for its preservation is the basic cultural values that can serve as a fulcrum in counteracting the impending information flow.

Problem Statement

This article explores the problem of value dominants (tolerance, freedom, dialogue) as important factors in maintaining cultural integrity in the information society. The main aim involves solving the following problems: to consider the value content of non-violence and tolerance in the space of modern culture; to characterize the features of freedom as a way of personal and cultural expression; consider the value characteristics of dialogue in the context of modern information reality.

Research Questions

The value content of non-violence and tolerance in the space of modern culture

Despite the deadlocks that have emerged, the non-violence paradigm is making its way in the mass consciousness with great difficulties. This is understandable, since nonviolent actions are much more difficult to carry out compared to violent ones. The ideas of non-violence are deeply rooted in the realities of modern civilization, which put forward the main problem – the need to bridge the gap between information technology and morality. The topic of non-violence is quite popular in foreign (both Western and Eastern) social studies, and it is becoming more widespread in domestic literature. Apparently, this explains the fact that nonviolence programs that have become classical have appeared in various parts of the world – L. Tolstoy in Russia, M. Gandhi in India, and Martin Luther King in the USA.

The non-violent minimum is described through the idea of tolerance. Non-violence and tolerance are close concepts, sometimes they are used as synonyms. Non-violence, as a theoretical construct, being the goal, at the same time covers the totality of the means necessary for itself. Tolerance just offers such means that allow the idea of non-violence to be realized. In other words: if non-violence as an idea of creating a world is an ideal construction, then tolerance is the mechanism that allows this construction to be implemented.

The information and communication activity of modern society is an integral part of sociocultural processes. For example, PR-technologies, which suggest the content and methodology for the implementation of information, can be targeted both positively and negatively in terms of influencing the mass consciousness of the population. This range of exposure is determined by a complex mechanism called “manipulation”. In this situation, tolerance, as an important component of a person’s life position, which has its own values and interests, can mitigate a potential contradiction. Information culture generates not only its own cultural patterns, but also forms its own language for transmitting information. In this regard, it is important that it is not filled with aggressiveness, the opposition of “us-them”. The principle of tolerance, which regulates people’s relationships in the information society, does not allow the individual to fully explicate his negative attitude to the object of expression.

In the context of the study of the value dominants of modern culture, the study of tolerance as the basis of dialogue between mass and ethnic cultures is important. Modern European civilization contains both a tendency towards the unification of cultures and a strong desire to preserve ethnocultural uniqueness. And this once again testifies to the enormous importance that tolerance has for modern culture. Historical development today requires not only the unification of cultures, but also their internal development. Thus, the contradiction of modern development can be defined as the contradiction between the universal nature of the emerging global civilization and the preservation of the uniqueness of a separate culture. From this point of view, the value of tolerance becomes fundamental. In our opinion, addressing the problem of ethnic tolerance in this context is appropriate. Despite steady and intense contacts with other cultures, the peoples of the North Caucasus are more likely to adapt their near and far environment than to change themselves. The closeness of Caucasian cultures is determined by traditional conventions, prohibitions and religion. At the same time, North Caucasian cultures have always been accessible to others.

Thus, ethnic tolerance, which is manifested through human relations in all spheres of social and cultural life, will undoubtedly contribute to the preservation of national culture in the era of global informatization and the spread of mass culture.

Freedom as a value in the cultural and informational space of modern society. Now, it is customary to talk about the virtualization of society, since in all spheres of human activity, in human relations, images replace reality. The culture of virtuality transfers the interpretation and realization of freedom into the world of simulacra. In contrast to actual reality, expressing integrity, stability and completeness, virtual reality is a source of freedom and diversity. Entering cyberspace, a person starts to feel the fullness of freedom of action, their gains the opportunity to specifically feel the existance, find a new bodily image, and realize direct interaction with each other in cyberspace.

Considering the positive options for using information technology that contribute to the freedom of any human activity, including creative, we note the following. For example, in the field of education, virtual technologies fundamentally transform the process of mastering information, which makes it possible to present it in a qualitatively different form, creating the effect of being included in the learning environment. In addition, they allow you to introduce a game element into the learning process, which will undoubtedly help to make it livelier and more interesting. Modern computer networks can significantly expand the boundaries of the available information space, which, combined with virtual technologies, creates an opportunity for new forms of obtaining information. So, virtual museums have become a reality, the collections of which can be found without leaving your home; there is a rapid development of virtual libraries, where the submitted texts become as user-friendly as possible; in the virtual space create classrooms in which real lessons can be held with real students.

But the most intense occurrence of virtual reality is found in the media. It is based on their virtualization that we can talk about the facts of crowding out the reflection of reality by its simulation.

Thus, in modern culture, information technology broadens the horizons of freedom due to the ability of a person to use a physical presence to carry out any actions. This is the first step to blurring the boundaries of real and virtual reality, and, consequently, real and virtual freedom. In any kind of virtual reality, a person does not deal with a real object, but with their image – a simulation. The contradictory freedom of the information society is explained by Ramazanova ( 2015):

On the one hand, in conditions of free access to information included in sociocultural communications and information banks based on the latest information technologies, a person gets unlimited opportunities for self-realization and revealing creative abilities. On the other hand, the remoteness of informatization from its consumers increases the aggressive influence of information technology on the formation of behavioral stereotypes, value orientations, and lifestyle, as a result of which the alienation of a person from society is intensified. (p. 145)

Considering the development of modern culture as a steady process, it can be stated that civilization has approached the limits of its evolution and faced the need to transfer to a completely new quality. Under modern conditions, the understanding of the level and quality of human life is changing; the question of understanding and ensuring human freedom is acute.

Thus, under the conditions of culture informatization, a person learns the joy of freedom, a certain standard of living, but all this can disappear, since freedom is enjoyed not only by individuals, but also by global forces that determine conditions, norms, standards of life.

The value of dialogue as a form of intercultural communication. At the beginning of the XXI century, when the global communication space turns into a necessary condition for everyday existence, more and more people are involved in intercultural relations. Their value-normative attitudes are often quite different, which complicates mutual understanding and actualizes the problems of dialogue. “A dialogue should be understood not only as a lively communication, but also as a person’s assimilation of world cultural values, understanding of the uniqueness of a different culture, an attitude toward cultural heritage and modern culture” ( Chernikova, 2018, p. 286). The dialogue as the basis of tolerance and compromise is considered in the works of Shalin ( 2000), Janmaat and Mons ( 2011).

It is more clearly recognized that failures in the implementation of the dialogue, misunderstanding and rejection of a different culture cause severe damage to sociocultural stability. Thus, dialogue is becoming increasingly valuable. The outstanding Russian scientist Bakhtin ( 1986) believed that the dialogue of cultures is the basis of conflict-free cultural development. He also believed that the dialogue should include modern cultures that have very significant specifics.

Dialogue between cultures has always been carried out. In the last period, in connection with the development of cultural communications, it has become more controversial, which is expressed in the conflict of two trends. On the one hand, the culture of each nation, determining its spiritual uniqueness, at the same time becomes the property of all mankind. The dialogue carried out in various forms provides an increasing understanding between nations and helps to reveal its spiritual uniqueness. On the other hand, the cultural differences of peoples and the inability of cultural understanding and dialogue have recently become one of the leading causes of international conflicts. Chernikova ( 2018) notes that “in conditions of modernization of Russian society, dialogue between cultures should be in the form of cultural consolidation, which involves the unification and cohesion of cultures, taking into account their ethnocultural characteristics” (p. 290).

The specificity of modern dialogue is that the perception of culture by an individual people is universal, although the scale of values is varied, and dialogue forms express the cultural peculiarity of an ethnos. Culture, therefore, acts as a subject of interaction (dialogue) with another culture, primarily as an original ethnic tradition, an independent cultural entity.

The problems of the current stage are national disunity, breaking of intercultural relations, absence of strategic plans of the state for the implementation of ethnocultural interaction. An important factor and a “stabilizing force” in intercultural interaction is religion. The dialogue of religions is also of relevance. It is a complex contradictory process and includes, on the one hand, a tendency toward confessional rapprochement, and on the other, towards confessional hostility. A similar situation is characteristic of the North Caucasus, where various religious denominations are concentrated. Because the spiritual basis of North Caucasian culture along with Christianity is Islam, the interaction of cultures must be built on the principles of tolerance with respect to the religious will of peoples.

In modern society, information technologies often perform the functions of forming a single socio-cultural space as a space of dialogue. The culture spread by the media of communication is today a universal channel for broadcasting its basic meanings. The main task of modern culture is the formation of the semantic and value space within the boundaries of which it becomes possible to establish mutual understanding between all members of society, regardless of their belonging to various social communities or cultural worlds.

Purpose of the Study

Based on the review of the subject field and the tasks posed in the article, the aim of the work is to study tolerance, freedom and dialogue as the dominant values of modern culture in the context of sociocultural changes related to the informatization of society.

Research Methods

As the methodological base of this study, we used the fundamental teachings set forth in the works of domestic and foreign scientists in the field of cultural values, tolerance, freedom, dialogue. In the study of cultural values and their transformation were used the work of Mironov ( 2007), Rickert ( 2008), Stepin and Kuznetsova ( 2004), Tishner ( 2005). Of great importance for the analysis of non-violence and tolerance are the ideas of outstanding humanists L. Tolstoy and M. Gandhi. To understand tolerance as a value of modern society based on respect for another person, the article uses the works of Apresyan et al. ( 2018) and Tishkov ( 2002). When considering dialogue as the basis of intercultural interaction, the source is the dialogue theories developed by Bakhtin ( 1986), Bibler ( 1991), Buber ( 1995).

The study of tolerance, freedom and dialogue as the dominant values of modern culture involves use of extensive methodological tools. The leading approach is the philosophical and cultural approach, which not only reveals the nature, essence and ways of implementing these values, but also helps to find ways to optimize them. A comparative research method was used to study different views on the problem of evolution and transformation of cultural values. The historical and philosophical method allows you to reconstruct the views of thinkers on the relationship of freedom and dialogue; the dialectical method helps to clarify the inconsistency of the manifestation of freedom in the information field. The study of the dominant cultural values tolerance, freedom, dialogue) and their manifestation in the information society involves the use of a synergistic approach that allows us to consider these concepts in order to overcome destruction, entropy, and minimize the potential for social and cultural conflicts.

Findings

Based on a study related to the characterization of the dominant values of the information society culture, we came to the following results.

In the culture of the information society, there is a steady process of destruction of traditional values and their replacement with stereotypes of the mass information society. The widespread use of virtual space and its accessibility leads to unification of culture and transformation of spiritual values. Under the current conditions of global changes for humans, an important problem is the problem of personal self-determination, the revival of the value foundations of culture. It is proved that in the cultural plan, the information society is a complex and controversial phenomenon. Given this, the main cultural values are non-violence, tolerance, freedom, intercultural dialogue.

The article shows that in the context of expanding informatization of society, the scientific interest in the concept of “tolerance” does not fade, which many scientists consider a spiritual value, as a quality of a person that contributes to the formation of a person’s openness to the world and other people. As a moral value, tolerance does not deny the existence of differences, contradictions and possible conflicts, but at the same time it does not allow manifestations of violence and intolerance.

It is proved that in a new situation, a new person has many new opportunities for the free disclosure of his personality, cultural and spiritual growth, which are the key to overcoming the cultural crisis. However, there is a danger of the destruction of the human’s spiritual world and his transformation into an instrument of information expansion. For this purpose, the information system creates a virtual world built by information manipulators with guaranteed cultural hegemony of the values that customers need.

In the framework of this study, it was revealed that dialogue is important, as it promotes cultural and informational exchange, the formation of a single sociocultural space. Recently, the dialogue between cultures has become more controversial, which finds expression in the conflict of two trends. On the one hand, the culture of each nation, determining its spiritual uniqueness, becomes the property of all mankind. On the other hand, the cultural differences of peoples and the inability to cultural understanding and dialogue have recently become one of the leading causes of interethnic wars and international conflicts.

Conclusion

The analysis of the cultural values common in information society showed the importance and necessity of studying this issue. The study notes that values act as an integrative basis for both the individual and society. Destruction of the value basis inevitably leads to a social crisis. Hence, in an obvious way, such problems as the crisis of culture and morality, the decline in the value of human life originate. The diversity of values, their difference, and sometimes the opposite, creates the need for their ordering. A person needs to understand the question of which values it is impossible to do without, and which are secondary. In this regard, the problem arises of identifying dominant values of an imperative nature and contributing to the preservation of personal and cultural integrity.

The analysis of tolerance, freedom and dialogue as the dominant values of the information society has led to the conclusion that they form the inner core of modern culture. These values are powerful motivators of a person’s social behavior; they are the key incentives for achieving goals and the formation of standards of socio-cultural assessments.

References

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Publication Date

31 October 2020

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978-1-80296-091-4

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European Publisher

Volume

92

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1st Edition

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Sociolinguistics, linguistics, semantics, discourse analysis, translation, interpretation

Cite this article as:

Chernikova, V. E., Parsieva, L. K., Taysaeva, B. M., & Ramazanova, S. R. (2020). Cultural And Value Dominants Of The Information Society. In D. K. Bataev (Ed.), Social and Cultural Transformations in the Context of Modern Globalism» Dedicated to the 80th Anniversary of Turkayev Hassan Vakhitovich, vol 92. European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences (pp. 1554-1561). European Publisher. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2020.10.05.205