Noun anthropology comes from the Greek words (man and thought, word) and means reasoning, or teaching, about a person. Adjective philosophical indicates a way of studying man in which an attempt is made to explain through rational thinking the very essence of man.
Philosophical anthropology- a branch of philosophy dealing with the investigation of the nature and essence of man.
In addition to philosophical anthropology, a number of other sciences are interested in man (physical anthropology - the subject of this science is questions of polyontology, population genetics, ethology - the science of animal behavior).
Psychological anthropology, the study of human behavior from a mental and psychological perspective.
Cultural anthropology(most developed) - studies the customs, rituals, kinship systems, language, and morality of primitive peoples.
Social anthropology– studies modern people.
Theological anthropology– the industry examines and explains the religious aspects of human understanding.
The ideological turn to naturalism in late XIX- early 20th century led to the usurpation of the concept of anthropology by the empirical social sciences, and especially by biology, genetics and race science. Only at the end of the 20s, or more precisely in 1927, Max Scheler (1874-1928) in his work “The Position of Man in Space” revived the concept of anthropology in its original philosophical meaning. This work of Scheler, together with his famous work "Man and History", made anthropology again aware of as an absolutely philosophical discipline. Other thinkers: Helmut Plesner, Arnold Gehlen. Scheler decided to assert that, in a certain sense, “all the central problems of philosophy come down to the question of what man is and what metaphysical position he occupies among all being, the world and God.”
Philosophical anthropology– fundamental science about the essence and essential structure of man, about his relationship to the kingdom of nature, about his physical, psychological, spiritual appearance in the world, about the main directions and laws of his biological, psychological, spiritual, historical and social development.
This also includes the psychophysical problem of body and soul.
Max Scheler believed that the Western European cultural circle is dominated by five main types of human self-understanding, i.e. ideological directions in understanding the essence of man.
First idea about man, dominant in theistic (Jewish and Christian) and church circles - religious. It is a complex result of the mutual influence of the Old Testament, ancient philosophy and the New Testament: the well-known myth about the creation of man (his body and soul) by a personal God, about the origin of the first couple of people, about the paradise state (the doctrine of the original state), about his fall, when he was seduced by a fallen angel - fallen independently and freely; about salvation by the God-man, who has a dual nature, and about the return thus achieved into the number of the children of God; eschatology, the doctrine of freedom, personality and spirituality, the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the flesh, the Last Judgment, etc. This anthropology of biblical faith has created a huge number of world-historical perspectives, ranging from Augustine’s “City of God” to the latest theological trends of thought.
Second, the idea of man that still dominates us today is ancient Greek. This is an idea "homo sapiens" expressed most definitely and clearly by Anaxagoras, Plato and Aristotle. This idea makes a distinction between man and animals in general. Reason (λόγος, νους) in man is considered as a function of the divine principle. Personality in man is the individual self-concentration of the divine spirit. The spirit is the mind, i.e. thinking in ideas; the sphere of feelings, emotions, will; active center, i.e. our Self; self-awareness.
Specifying definitions: 1. man is endowed with a divine principle, which all nature does not subjectively contain; 2. this is the beginning and that which eternally forms and shapes the world as a world (rationalizes chaos, “matter” into space), the essence in its principle one u the same; therefore, knowledge of the world is true; 3. this beginning, as a λόγος and as the human mind, is capable of translating its ideal contents into reality (“the power of the spirit”, “the autocracy of the idea”).
Almost all philosophical anthropology from Aristotle to Kant and Hegel (including M. Scheler) differed insignificantly from the doctrine of man presented in these four definitions.
Third human ideology is naturalistic, "positivistic", later also pragmatic teachings that I want to summarize with a short formula "homo faber". It differs in the most fundamental way from the theory of man as "homo sapiens" just outlined.
This doctrine of “homo faber” first of all generally denies man’s special, specific capacity for reason. There is no significant difference between man and animal: there is only power differences; Man is only a special kind of animal. Man, first of all, is not a rational being, not “homo sapiens”, but "a being determined by drives." What is called spirit, mind, does not have an independent, isolated metaphysical origin, and does not possess an elementary autonomous pattern consistent with the very laws of existence: it is only a further development of higher mental abilities, which we already find in apes.
What is a person here in the first place? He is, 1. an animal that uses signs (language), 2. an animal that uses tools, 3. a creature endowed with a brain, i.e. a creature whose brain, especially the cerebral cortex, consumes significantly more energy than in an animal. Signs, words, so-called concepts are also just guns, namely, only refined psychic tools. There is nothing in man that is not present in rudimentary form in some higher vertebrates...
The image of man, understood as homo faber, was gradually built, starting with Democritus and Epicurus, by such philosophers as Bacon, Hume, Mill, Comte, Spencer, and later by the evolutionist doctrine associated with the names of Darwin and Lamarck, and even later by pragmatist-conventionalist ( as well as fictionalist) philosophical doctrines…. This idea found significant support from the great psychologists of drives: Hobbes and Machiavelli should be considered their fathers; among them are L. Feuerbach, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and among the researchers of modern times are 3. Freud and A. Adler.
Fourth puts forward the thesis of the inevitable decadence man throughout his entire history and the reason for this decadence is seen in the very essence and origin of man. To the simple question: “What is a person?” this anthropology answers: man is deserter of life, life in general, its basic values, its laws, its sacred cosmic meaning. Theodore Lessing (1872-1933) wrote that: “Man is a species of predatory ape that has gradually developed delusions of grandeur from its so-called ‘spirit’.” Man, according to this teaching, is a dead end of life in general. An individual person is not sick, he may be healthy within his species organization - but a person as such there is a disease. Man creates language, science, state, art, tools only because of his biological weakness and powerlessness, because of the impossibility of biological progress.
This strange theory, however, turns out to be logically strictly consistent if - at this point, in full agreement with the doctrine of "homo sapiens" - we separate spirit (respectively, mind) and life as the last two metaphysical principles, but at the same time identify life with the soul, and the spirit - with technical intelligence, and at the same time - and this decides everything - to make the values of life the highest values. The spirit, like consciousness, then appears quite consistently as a principle that simply destroys, destroys life, that is, the highest of values.
Representatives of this understanding: Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, in some respects also Bergson and the modern direction of psychoanalysis.
Fifth- accepted the idea superman Nietzsche and laid a new rational foundation for it. In a strictly philosophical form, this occurs primarily among two philosophers: Dietrich Heinrich Kerler and Nikolai Hartmann (“ Ethics").
In N. Hartmann we find atheism of a new type and forming the foundation of a new idea of man. to God it is forbidden exist and God does not must to exist in the name of responsibility, freedom, purpose, in the name of the meaning of human existence. Nietzsche has one phrase that is rarely fully understood: “If Gods existed, how could I bear that I am not God? So, there are no Gods.” Heinrich Kerler once expressed this thought with even greater boldness: “What is the basis of the world for me if I, as a moral being, clearly and clearly know what is good and what I should do? If the world-foundation exists and it agrees with what I consider good, then I respect it as one respects a friend; but if she doesn’t agree, I don’t give a damn about her, even if she grinds me into powder along with all my goals.” It should be borne in mind: the denial of God here does not mean the removal of responsibility and a decrease in the independence and freedom of man, but precisely the maximum permissible increasing responsibility and sovereignty. Thus, Hartmann says: “The predicates of God (predestination and providence) should be transferred back to man.” But not on humanity, but on personality - namely, to that person who has the maximum of responsible will, integrity, purity, intelligence and power.
Educational edition
Belik A.A. In 43 - Cultural Studies. Anthropological theories of cultures. M.: Russian state. humanist univ. M., 1999. 241 s
BBK71.1 B 43 Educational literature on humanities and social disciplines for higher education and secondary special education educational institutions is prepared and published with the assistance of the Open Society Institute (Soros Foundation) within the framework of the Higher Education program. The views and approaches of the author do not necessarily coincide with the position of the program. In particularly controversial cases, an alternative point of view is reflected in the prefaces and afterwords.
Editorial Board: V.I. Bakhmin, Y.M. Berger, E.Yu. Genieva, G.G. Diligensky, V.D. Shadrikov.
ISBN 5-7281-0214-X © Belik A.A., 1999 © Russian State University for the Humanities, design, 1999
Preface
Section 1. Basic concepts. Subject of cultural studies
Introduction
Evolutionism
Diffusionism
Biology
Psychologism
Psychoanalysis
Functionalism
Section 2. Holistic cultural and anthropological concepts of the mid-20th century
White's theory
Kroeber's anthropology
Anthropology of Herskovitz
Section 3. Interaction of culture and personality. Features of the functioning and reproduction of crops.
Direction "culture-and-personality"
Childhood as a cultural phenomenon
Thinking and culture
ethnoscience
Ecstatic states of consciousness
Interaction of culture, personality and nature
Ethnopsychological study of cultures
Section 4. Theories of cultures of psychological and anthropological orientation in the 70-80s of the XX century
Classic psychoanalysis
Fromm's cultural studies
Humanistic psychology Maslow
Ethological approach to the study of cultures
Culturology and problems of future global development
Dictionary of concepts and terms
PREFACE
This textbook was created on the basis of a course in cultural studies taught by the author at the Faculty of Management, as well as at the psychological and economic faculties of the Russian State University for the Humanities. The book uses the author's scientific developments concerning various aspects of the study of cultures in cultural, social, and psychological anthropology.
The introduction analyzes theoretical problems, such as the definition of the concept of “culture”, its relationship with concrete historical reality, and characterizes the two most important types of cultures: modern and traditional. The qualitative originality of culture is shown through a special type of activity (social), inherent only to communities of people. The first section examines various theories of cultures, approaches to the study of phenomena, elements of culture (evolutionism, diffusionism, biologism, psychoanalysis, psychological direction, functionalism), which arose in the 19th - mid-20th centuries. The author sought to show as wide a range of different options for the study of cultures as possible, to present a panorama of views and points of view on the essence of cultural studies. This section is closely adjacent to the second section, which tells about holistic concepts of culture (A. Kroeber, L. White, M. Herskowitz), reflecting the trends of the cultural-anthropological tradition.
The third section is devoted to the study of the interaction between culture and personality. This is new for such courses, but the author believes that such research should become an integral part of cultural studies. This section includes the study of how a person thinks, experiences the world, acts and feels in different cultures. A significant role in the analysis of these processes is given to childhood as a special cultural phenomenon. The question of types of thinking in societies with different levels of technological development. The emotional side of cultures is also reflected, its Dionysian trait is viewed through altered states of consciousness and ecstatic rituals. The ethnopsychological study of cultures also became the subject of careful analysis.
IN last section The theories of cultures that became widespread in the 70-80s of the 20th century are studied. They opened new horizons in the development of cultural studies, updated methods, and expanded the subject of research. The various approaches to the study of cultures studied in this course serve another purpose: to show the diversity (pluralism) of points of view and concepts that contribute to the development of one’s own view of the historical and cultural process.
The author did not set himself the goal, and could not, due to limited space, to consider all types of cultural theories. Certain theories of cultures are considered depending on a number of circumstances, and primarily on the structure of the course, which contains as an important part the problems of cultural studies (culture and thinking, personality, nature and culture, etc.). I would like to emphasize that the main objective of the course is to show the interactions of the individual in culture, to draw students’ attention to the fact that behind the various “faces of culture” there is a person with his abilities, needs, goals, thanks to which cultural studies acquires a humanistic orientation. It is in connection with the expression of the personal principle that the last section examines theories of cultures of psychological and anthropological orientation.
To some extent, it is this circumstance that explains the lack of theories among Russian cultural researchers, since their main emphasis is on the ethnographic study of peoples. The concept of “culture” plays a less significant role for them, and they almost do not explore the interaction of culture and personality. In addition, the author follows the tradition that has developed in our country - to consider the concepts of domestic cultural scientists as a separate subject of research*.
* See: Tokarev S.A. History of Russian ethnography. M., 1966; Zalkind N.G. Moscow School of Anthropologists in Development national science about a human. M., 1974.
It should be noted that a significant addition to this course is the anthology “Anthology of Cultural Studies: Cultural and Social Anthropology” (M., 1998).
The author is grateful to the Open Society Institute (Soros Foundation) for supporting this project, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences S.A. Arutyunov and Doctor of Historical Sciences V.I. Kozlov for good advice and support in scientific research included in this textbook, Doctor of Historical Sciences V.N. Basilov - for active assistance in creating the textbook project. Separately, the author would like to thank Doctor of Historical Sciences E.G. Aleksandrenkov for his help in writing the chapter “Diffusionism”. The author is especially grateful to the professor of the Department of History and Theory of Culture of the Russian State University for the Humanities G.I. Zvereva, whose sensitive and attentive attitude made it possible to create a special educational course - cultural studies.
In addition, the author thanks the editorial board of the journal "Ethos" (USA), Professor E. Bourguignon (USA) and Professor I. Eibl-Eibesfeldt (Germany) for providing literature that was not included in Russian libraries. In assessing a number of trends in the study of cultures, the author relied on the work of the classic of Russian ethnology S.A. Tokarev.
Section 1 . Basic concepts. Subject of cultural studies.
INTRODUCTION
1. An idea of the object of study of cultural studies and the sciences of culture.
THE WORD cultura (Latin) means “processing”, “farming”, in other words, it is cultivation, humanization, changing nature as a habitat. The concept itself contains a contrast between the natural course of development natural processes and phenomena and the “second nature” artificially created by man - culture. Culture, therefore, is a special form of human life, qualitatively new in relation to previous forms of organization of living things on earth.
In history and in the modern era, a huge variety of types of cultures existed and exists in the world as local historical forms of human communities. Each culture, with its own spatial and temporal parameters, is closely connected with its creator - the people (ethnic group, ethno-confessional community). Any culture is divided into component parts (elements) and performs certain functions. The development and functioning of cultures is ensured by a special way of human activity - social (or cultural), the main difference of which is actions not only with objective-material formations, but also with ideal-shaped entities, symbolic forms. Culture expresses the specifics of the way of life, the behavior of individual peoples, their special way of perceiving the world in myths, legends, a system of religious beliefs and value orientations that give meaning to human existence. A complex of religious beliefs at various levels of development (animism, totemism, magic, polytheism and world religions) plays a serious role in the functioning of cultures. Often religion (and it acts as the most important element of spiritual culture) is a leading factor in determining the uniqueness of cultures and the main regulatory force in human communities. Culture, therefore, is a special form of people’s life activity, which allows the manifestation of a variety of lifestyles, material ways of transforming nature and creating spiritual values.
Structurally, culture includes: features of ways to maintain the life of a community (economy); specific ways of behavior; models of human interaction; organizational forms (cultural institutions) that ensure the unity of the community; formation of man as a cultural being; part or division associated with the “production”, creation and functioning of ideas, symbols, ideal entities that give meaning to the worldview that exists in a culture.
After the era of “great geographical discoveries,” a whole new world, full of diversity of cultural forms and lifestyle features, opened up before the eyes of amazed Europeans, who had just woken up from “medieval hibernation.” In the 19th century various types of cultures, descriptions of specific rituals and beliefs that existed in Africa, North and South America, Oceania and a number of Asian countries, formed the basis for the development of cultural and social anthropology. These disciplines make up a wide range of studies of local cultures, their interaction with each other, and the characteristics of their influence on them natural conditions. Many local cultures were then presented in the form of a cultural-historical process of two forms:
- linear-stage evolution of a progressive nature (from simpler societies to more complex ones);
- multilinear development of various types of crops. In the latter case, greater emphasis was placed on the originality, even uniqueness, of the cultures of individual peoples, and the cultural process was viewed as the implementation of various historically determined types (European development, “Asian” type of cultures, traditional cultures of Africa, Australia, South America, etc.).
In the 30s of the XX century. From cultural anthropology, a special anthropological discipline emerged - psychological anthropology, which made the interaction of personality and culture of various types the subject of its consideration. In other words, cultural studies began to take into account personal factor. It should be noted that all cultural and anthropological knowledge is often called ethnology. Ethnology is the study of various cultures in the unity of general theoretical and specific empirical (ethnographic) levels of analysis. This is the meaning in which this term is used in this textbook. The word “ethnographic” has been assigned the meaning of the primary collection of information about cultures (both experimental and field, obtained by the method of participant observation, as well as through questionnaires and interviews).
The term "anthropology" is used by the author in two main senses. Firstly, this term denotes the general science of culture and man. Cultural researchers used this meaning in the 19th century. In addition, anthropology was called cultural anthropology, psychological anthropology and social anthropology. There is also physical anthropology, the subject of which is the biological variability of the organism, the external “racial” characteristics of a person, the specificity of his intraorganic processes, determined by various geographical conditions.
The anthropological study of cultures is the core, the core of cultural knowledge as a whole. Such a study is organically connected with the study of the history of cultures, identified on the basis of the periodization of phases of cultural development (the culture of the ancient world, the Middle Ages, modern European culture, the culture of post-industrial society), regions of distribution (culture of European countries, America, Africa, etc.) or leading religious traditions (Taoist, Christian, Islamic, Buddhist types of culture...).
The object of study of cultural anthropology is primarily traditional societies, and the subject of study is kinship systems, relationships between language and culture, characteristics of food, housing, marriage, family, diversity of economic systems, social stratification, the importance of religion and art in ethnocultural communities. Social anthropology is the name given to cultural and anthropological knowledge in Europe, primarily in England and France. Its distinguishing features include increased attention to social structure, political organization, management and the application of the structural-functional research method.
The subject of cultural studies can be various forms of cultures, the basis for identifying which is time, place of distribution or religious orientation. In addition, the subject of cultural studies can be theories of culture developed in artistic form (fine arts, sculpture, music), in literature, as elements of philosophical systems. Cultural studies can be based on the analysis of text, individual aspects of the development of spiritual culture, primarily various forms art.
2. Approaches to defining the concept of “culture”
ALMOST all definitions of culture are united in one thing - this is a characteristic or way of life of a person, not animals. Culture is the basic concept to denote a special form of organization of people's lives. The concept of “society” is interpreted by many, although not all, cultural researchers as a collection or aggregate of individuals living together. This concept describes the life of both animals and humans. One can, of course, challenge such an interpretation, but it is very widespread in the cultural and anthropological tradition, primarily in the United States. Therefore, it is more appropriate to use the concept of “culture” to express the specifics of human existence*.
* In this textbook, the concepts of “society” and “culture” are often used as synonyms.
Diverse definitions of the concept “culture” are associated with one direction or another in the study of the theoretical concept used by various researchers. The first definition of the concept was given by the classic of the evolutionist movement E. Taylor. He viewed culture as the totality of its elements: beliefs, traditions, art, customs, etc. This idea of culture left an imprint on his cultural concept, in which there was no place for culture as a whole. The scientist studied it as a series of elements that become more complex in the process of development, for example, as the gradual complication of objects of material culture (tools of labor) or the evolution of forms of religious beliefs (from animism to world religions).
In addition to the descriptive definition, in cultural studies there were two competing approaches to the analysis of the concept of “culture” and, accordingly, to its definition. The first belongs to A. Kroeber and K. Kluckhohn. " Culture consists- according to them, - from internally contained and externally manifested norms that determine behavior, mastered and mediated through symbols; it arises as a result of human activity, including its embodiment in [material] means. The essential core of culture consists of traditional (historically established) ideas, primarily those to which special value is attributed. Cultural systems can be considered, on the one hand, as the results of human activity, and on the other, as its regulators""(1) . IN this definition culture is the result of human activity; behavioral stereotypes and their characteristics occupy a significant place in the study of cultures in accordance with this approach to definition.
L. White, in defining culture, resorted to an objective-material interpretation. Culture, he believed, is a class of objects and phenomena that depend on a person’s ability to symbolize, which is considered in an extrasomatic context (2) . For him, culture is an integral organizational form of human existence, but viewed from the perspective of a special class of objects and phenomena.
The book of A. Kroeber and K. Kluckhohn “Culture, a critical review of definitions” (1952) was specially devoted to the problem of defining culture, in which the authors cited about 150 definitions of culture. The success of the book was enormous, so the second edition of this work included more than 200 definitions of culture. I would like to emphasize that each type of definition highlights its own facet in the study of cultures, which sometimes becomes the initial setting for one or another type of cultural theory. Along with the definitions of culture by L. White, A. Kroeber and E. Taylor, there are a number of other types of definitions.
The so-called normative definitions of culture are associated with the way of life of a community. So, according to K. Wissler, " the way of life followed by a community or tribe is considered culture... A tribe's culture is a collection of beliefs and practices..."(3) .
A large group consists of psychological definitions of culture. For example, W. Sumner defines culture " as a set of human adaptations to his living conditions"(4) . R. Benedict understands culture as learned behavior that must be relearned by each generation of people. G. Stein expressed a specific point of view on culture. According to him, culture is search for therapy in the modern world. M. Herskowitz considered culture " as the sum of behavior and way of thinking that forms a given society"(5) .
A special place is occupied by structural definitions of culture. The most characteristic of them belongs to R. Linton:
"a) Culture is, ultimately, nothing more than the organized, repeated reactions of the members of a society;
b) Culture is a combination of acquired behavior and behavioral results, the components of which are shared and inherited by members of a given society" (6)
.
The definition given by J. Honigman can also be classified as structural. He believed that culture consists of two types of phenomena.
The first is “socially standardized behavior - action, thinking, feelings of a certain group.”
The second is "material products... of the behavior of some group"(7)
.
In subsequent chapters it will be shown how the starting points embedded in certain types of definitions are implemented in the real fabric of cultural theory. As a result of a brief overview of the types of definitions (in fact, there are even more types: genetic, functional definitions...), we can conclude that they are still talking about the form of organization of human life, its characteristics, belonging to different nations. In this manual, the term “ethnocultural community” will also be used to designate a separate culture.
In modern cultural studies (as well as in the anthropology of the 50-60s) there is one important debatable problem - about the status of the concept of “culture”: how the concept of “culture” relates to the phenomena, objects of reality that it describes. Some believe that the concept of culture (as well as the concept of ethnos and some other general categories-universals) are only pure ideal types, abstractions that exist in the heads of individuals (in this case, cultural scientists), logical constructs that are difficult to correlate with a specific historical reality. Others (among them, first of all, we should name the founder of cultural studies L. White) are of the opinion about the objective-material nature of culture, which, by the way, is expressed in definitions, considering culture as a class of objects, phenomena... and correlate the type of culture directly with the corresponding phenomena of social reality.
How is this contradiction resolved? First, each side defends its case based on its own definitions of culture. In this sense, there is some truth in both positions. True, the problem of correlating the concept and living, diverse reality remains. Proponents of understanding culture as a logical construct usually ask: show this culture, explain how to perceive it empirically. Naturally, culture as a form of organization of human experience, the way of life of an individual people, is difficult to see and touch, like a material thing. Cultural stereotypes exist only in human actions and cultural tradition. In addition, there is one circumstance here that is very significant for cultural studies and for the human sciences in general.
The peculiarity of culture lies precisely in the fact that some of its elements and phenomena exist as ideas (ideal formations) shared by all members of a given ethnocultural community. Ideas or images can be objectified, embodied in words, legends, in written form in the form of an epic or works of fiction, etc. The very concept of “is” or “exist” when applied to culture means not only material existence, but ideal , figurative functioning. Culture presupposes the presence of a special subjective reality, the most simple example which is a special attitude or mentality. Therefore, when considering the fundamentally very complex question of the relationship between the concept of culture and historical reality, we must remember that human social reality has two dimensions - the objective-material and the ideal-imaginative.
3. Traditional and modern cultures
ANTHROPOLOGICAL study of cultures necessarily includes explicit or implicit opposition and comparison of traditional and modern types of societies. Traditional culture (or type of society) is (to the very first approximation) a society in which regulation is carried out on the basis of customs, traditions, and institutions. The functioning of modern society is ensured by codified law, a set of laws amended through legislative bodies elected by the people.
Traditional culture is common in societies in which changes are imperceptible for the life of one generation - the past of adults turns out to be the future of their children. An all-conquering custom reigns here, a tradition preserved and passed on from generation to generation. Units of social organization consist of familiar people. Traditional culture organically combines its constituent elements; a person does not feel discord with society. This culture organically interacts with nature and is one with it. This type of society is focused on preserving its identity and cultural identity. The authority of the older generation is indisputable, which makes it possible to resolve any conflicts bloodlessly. The source of knowledge and skills is the older generation.
The modern type of culture is characterized by fairly rapid changes occurring in the process of continuous modernization. The source of knowledge, skills, and cultural skills is the institutionalized system of education and training. A typical family is “children-parents”, there is no third generation. The authority of the older generation is not as high as in traditional society; the conflict of generations (“fathers and sons”) is clearly expressed. One of the reasons for its existence is the changing cultural reality, which each time determines new parameters for the life path of the new generation. Modern society is anonymous, it consists of people who do not know each other. Its important difference is that it is unified-industrial, universally the same. Such a society exists primarily in cities (or even in megacities, in an endless urban reality, such as the east coast of the USA), being in a state of disharmony with nature, a global imbalance, called an ecological crisis. A specific feature of modern culture is the alienation of man from man, disruption of communication, the existence of people as atomized individuals, cells of a giant superorganism.
Traditional culture is pre-industrial, usually unwritten, and its main occupation is agriculture. There are cultures that are still in the hunting and gathering stage. A wide variety of information about traditional cultures is collected together in the “Ethnographic Atlas” by J. Murdoch, first published in 1967. Currently, a computer data bank of more than 600 traditional societies has been created (it is also known as the “Areal Card Index” human relations" - Human Relations Area Files). Analyzing individual problems of cultural studies, we use its data. In the following presentation, along with the term “traditional culture” (society), the concept of “archaic society” (culture), as well as “primitive society” will be used as a synonym. (culture) due to the latter's use by a number of cultural researchers.
It is quite natural to question the correlation of the identified types of cultures with real historical reality. Traditional societies still exist in South America, Africa, and Australia. Their character traits largely correspond to the type of culture we described earlier. The real embodiment of industrial culture is the USA, the urbanized part of European countries. True, it must be borne in mind that in rural areas of developed industrial countries there is a tendency to preserve the traditional way of life. Thus, two types of culture can be combined in one country - unified-industrial and ethnically distinctive, traditionally oriented. Russia, for example, is a complex combination of traditional and modern cultures.
Traditional and modern cultures are two poles in a wide range of intercultural studies. One can also distinguish a mixed type of societies-cultures involved in industrial modernization, but nevertheless retaining their cultural traditions. In a mixed traditional-industrial type of culture, elements of modernization and ethnically determined stereotypes of behavior, way of life, customs, national characteristics worldviews. Examples of such societies are Japan, some countries in Southeast Asia and China.
4. Cultural (social) and biological ways of life
AS IS CLEAR from the previous presentation, a fundamental role in the emergence, development and reproduction of cultures is played by the characteristics of human activity. This is also the aim of many of the original definitions of culture on which anthropologists base themselves. We are talking about the symbolic nature of culture, acquired stereotypes of action, a special (cultural) type of human behavior, or specific forms or types of activities that exist within a culture. So, man, interacting with the surrounding reality in a special way, created a “second nature” - material culture and an ideal-shaped sphere of activity. The creatures living on Earth have formed two types of life: instinctive-biological and cultural-expedient (social). Having compared them, we will try to answer the question of what is the specificity of the cultural way of activity.
With the instinctive type of life, hereditarily acquired (innate) behavioral stereotypes dominate, often very tightly linked to external natural conditions. The nature of activity is predetermined by the anatomical and physiological structure of the organism, which leads to specialization of animal activity (for example, predator, herbivore, etc.) and existence in a certain territory in a living environment, in limited climatic conditions. In the actions of animals, a decisive role is played by hereditary reactions to external events - instincts. They serve animals of a certain species as a way to satisfy their needs, ensure the survival and reproduction of the population (communities). The object of changes (necessary during the transformation of external conditions) is the organism, the body of the animal. Of course, it would be an extreme simplification to describe the biological type of life activity only within the framework formulas s-r(“stimulus-response”). In the instinctive type of life there is a place for learning and modification of innate stereotypes. Animals in experiments are able to solve mental problems, and in natural conditions they show instant resourcefulness. Moreover, ethological scientists talk about the presence of feelings in animals (devotion, selfless love for the owner), etc.
It is important to understand that the type of organization of animal life is no less (and maybe more) complex than that of humans. After all, animals have millions (!) of years of selection of forms of interaction with each other and the external environment. Despite the determining role of the genetic program in the biological type, studies of animal behavior carried out in recent decades have discovered a very complex world of relationships, regulated by finely tuned and at the same time plastic mechanisms of behavior. The biological type of life cannot be called inferior, i.e. a less developed way of activity compared to the cultural way. This is a different, qualitatively different type of activity, the peculiarities of the functioning of which we are gradually learning only now.
Let us give just one example of the possibilities of adaptation and development of means of protection and survival from the animal world. Everyone knows that bats use ultrasonic locator (sonar) to capture and locate their victims. More recently, it was discovered that some insects (a species of butterfly) have developed defensive reactions against bats. Some sensitively sense the touch of an ultrasonic locator, others have a more complex multi-level protection mechanism that allows them not only to feel the touch of an ultrasonic beam, but also to create strong interference, leading to temporary “jamming of the sonar” of the bat and the loss of its ability to navigate. space. Detection of a similar phenomenon in animals became possible only with the help of modern ultra-sensitive electronic technology. Summarizing brief description instinctive type of life, one should emphasize its complexity as a form of organization of living things and the presence within it of a number of phenomena, from which the human way of life subsequently developed (features of group behavior, organization of collective interaction in a flock, etc.).
The anatomical and physiological structure of the human body does not predetermine any one type of activity in fixed natural conditions. Man is universal by nature, he can exist anywhere on the globe, master a wide variety of activities, etc. But he becomes a man only in the presence of a cultural environment, in communication with other creatures similar to himself. In the absence of this condition, even his biological program as a living being is not realized, and he dies prematurely. Outside of culture a person is like Living being is dying. Throughout cultural history, man remains organically unchanged (in the sense of the absence of speciation) - all changes are transferred to his “inorganic body” of culture. Man, as a single biological species, has at the same time created a rich variety of cultural forms expressing his universal nature. In the words of the famous biologist E. Mayr, man specialized towards despecialization, i.e. he objectively has a basis for choice, an element of freedom.
Human activity is indirect. Between himself and nature he places objects of material culture (tools, domesticated animals and plants, housing, clothing, if necessary). Mediators - words, images, cultural skills - exist in the interpersonal sphere. The entire cultural organism consists of complexly organized intermediaries, cultural institutions. In this sense, culture is considered as a kind of superorganism, an inorganic human body. Human activity is not subject to the “stimulus-response” scheme and is not only a response to external stimuli. It contains a mediating moment of reflection, conscious action in accordance with a goal that exists in ideal form in the form of a plan, image, intention. (It is not for nothing that the Russian scientist I.M. Sechenov considered thinking as an inhibited reflex, i.e. mediated by a period of time.)
The ideal-planning nature of activity is a fundamental feature that makes it possible for the existence and constant reproduction of culture. Having an idea of a thing or action, a person embodies it in external reality. He objectifies emerging ideas and images in material or ideal form. A specific feature of the cultural mode of activity is the externalization of its products. E. Fromm spoke about the need for external realization of human creative ability; M. Heidegger used a metaphor to describe this process: the concept of “being thrown into the world”; Hegel designated this phenomenon as objectification (of ideas).
The peculiarity of the human way of activity is such that another person can understand the meaning of the purpose of this or that embodied cultural product. Hegel called this deobjectification. Let us give the simplest example of such a phenomenon. Based on the forms of labor tools from prehistoric eras discovered by archaeologists, one can understand their function, purpose, and the “idea” that their creator had in mind. This method of activity opens up the possibility of understanding the cultures of long-vanished peoples.
At the same time, we must not forget that a person acts not only with material objects, but also with ideal forms (mental activity of the most varied kinds). This determines the division of cultural reality into ideal and objective-material. At the same time, the first acquires independent development in culture and becomes the most important regulator of relationships between people. The presence of an ideally planning feature of activity allows us to talk about models, patterns of desired behavior and action that an individual learns in each culture.
A person can transform the world with the help of imagination, similar to how a child in childhood changes ordinary objects into fairy-tale ones in play reality. K. Lorenz called this creative aspect of activity the ability to visualize, create situations that have no analogues in reality.
An important aspect of human activity is its symbolic character. The most common signs in culture are words, the meaning of which is not related to the material, sound form. Many rituals, or rather their cultural purpose and functions, do not directly follow from the content of ritual actions, but have a symbolic meaning
In the second half of the 19th century. a crisis emerged in the mythological school: it reached a dead end due to the hopelessness of attempts to explain all beliefs, folk customs and traditions, folklore on the basis of ancient astral mythology.
Under these conditions, the outstanding representative of German classical philosophy, Ludwig Feuerbach, tried to find and substantiate the anthropological essence of religion. Putting forward human needs and interests as the subject of religion, the philosopher argued that “the gods are people embodied... fulfilled desires”1 i.e. He reduced the essence of religion to the essence of man, seeing in every religion a reflection of human existence. Feuerbach put forward the idea that it was not God who created man, but, on the contrary, man created God in his own image and likeness in such a way that in the sphere of religion, man separates his own qualities and properties from himself and transfers them in an exaggerated form to an imaginary being - God.
Feuerbach also sought to find out how religion is formed in the human mind, what role in this process belongs to consciousness and its individual aspects. In his opinion, religious images are created by fantasy, but it does not create a religious world out of nothing, but comes from concrete reality, but at the same time distorting this reality: fantasy lights up only from natural and historical objects. Sharing the above-mentioned theories of ignorance, deception and fear, Feuerbach argued that these aspects, together with the abstracting activity of thinking and emotions, give rise to and reproduce religion throughout history. But these factors are realized when a person experiences a feeling of dependence on nature.
Based anthropological theory Feuerbach, on the same idea of human nature as the source of religion, later arose the anthropological school, otherwise called the “animist theory.” The most prominent and productive representative of this school, the English scientist Edward Tylor (1832-1917), considered faith in “spiritual beings,” souls, spirits, etc., as a “minimum of religion.” This faith arose because primitive man He was especially interested in those special states that he and those around him experienced at times: sleep, fainting, hallucinations, illness, death. From this belief in the soul, other ideas gradually developed: about the souls of animals, plants, about the souls of the dead, about their fate, about the transmigration of souls into new bodies, or about a special afterlife where the souls of the dead live. Souls gradually turn into spirits, then into gods, or into a single god - the Almighty. Thus, from primitive animism, in the course of gradual evolution, all the various forms of religion developed.
The interpretation of the riddle of human origin has always depended on the degree of cultural and social development. For the first time, people probably thought about their appearance on Earth back in the ancient Stone Age, tens of thousands of years away from us.
Man of the ancient Stone Age (like some peoples close to him in terms of level of social development that have survived to this day) did not put himself above other living beings, did not separate himself from nature. A very clear idea of this can be obtained in the book of the famous scientist, researcher of the Ussuri region V.K. Arsenyev, Dersu Uzal:
“Dersu took the pot and went to get water. A minute later he returned, extremely dissatisfied.
What's happened? - I asked the gold. - My river goes, I want to take water, the fish swears. - How does he swear? - the soldiers were amazed and roared with laughter... Finally, I found out what was the matter. At that moment, when he wanted to scoop up water with a pot, the head of a fish stuck out from the river. She looked at Dersa and opened and closed her mouth.
“Fish are people too,” Dersu finished his story. - I can say that too, just quietly. Ours understand that he is not there."
Obviously, our distant ancestor reasoned approximately this way. Moreover, primitive people believed that their ancestors came from animals. Thus, the American Indians from the Iroquois tribe considered the marsh turtle to be their ancestor, some tribes of East Africa considered the hyena to be their ancestor; California Indians believed that they were descendants of steppe wolves-coyotes. And some of the aborigines of the island of Borneo were sure that the first man and woman were born from a tree fertilized by a vine entwining it.
The biblical myth of the creation of man, however, also has more ancient predecessors. Much older than this, for example, is the Babylonian legend, according to which a man was fashioned from clay mixed with the blood of the god Bel. The ancient Egyptian god Khnum also sculpted a man from clay. In general, clay is the main material from which the gods sculpted people in the legends of many tribes and peoples. Some of the nationalities even explained the appearance of races by the color of the clay used by the gods: from white - a white man, from red - red and brown, etc.
The Polynesians had a widespread legend according to which the first people were supposedly made by the gods from clay mixed with the blood of various animals. Therefore, the character of people is determined by the disposition of those animals with whose blood they are “mixed.” Thus, thieves can be people whose ancestors were created using the blood of a rat. The blood of a snake is for infidel people. Courageous and persistent people were “mixed” with the blood of a rooster.
Similar ideas have existed among people for centuries. But at the same time, another thought arose in ancient times - the idea of the natural origin of man. Initially, it was just a guess that carried a grain of truth. Thus, the ancient Greek thinker Anaximander from Miletus (VII-VI centuries BC) believed that living beings arose from silt heated by the sun, and that the appearance of people is also associated with water. Their bodies, in his opinion, first had a fish-like shape, which changed as soon as the water threw people onto land. And according to Empedocles (5th century BC), living beings were formed from a mud-like mass, warmed by the internal fire of the Earth, which sometimes breaks out.
The great thinker of antiquity, Aristotle, shared animal world according to the degree of his perfection, and considered man a part of nature, an animal, but an animal...social." His ideas influenced the Roman poet and materialist philosopher Lucretius Cara, the author of the poem "The Nature of Things." He sought to explain the emergence of people by the development of nature, and not by the intervention of God:
Since there was still a lot of heat and moisture left in the fields, then everywhere, wherever it was convenient, queens grew, attaching themselves to the ground with their roots, which opened when their embryos, in their mature years, wanted to escape from the phlegm and needed to breathe...
And then, in ancient times, the idea of the similarity between man and ape arose. Hanno of Carthage believed, for example, that the gorillas of the West African coast were people covered with hair. Such ideas are quite understandable: apes have long amazed people with their resemblance to humans and were often called “forest people.”
However, even those ancient researchers who pointed out the kinship between man and animals and more or less correctly determined his position in nature, could not assume that man descended from low-organized forms of life. And this is not surprising. Indeed, in those distant times, the dominant idea was the nature and, therefore, the structure of the human body as created once and for all, not subject to development.
The Middle Ages, as we know, were a long night for all fields of knowledge. Any living thought in those days was mercilessly extinguished by the church. But man - God's creation - was under a special ban; no one dared to study him. But despite everything, several scientists dared to study the structure of the human body. These were, for example, Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564), author of a book on the structure of the human body; William Harvey (1578-1657), an anatomist who laid the foundation of modern physiology with his work on blood circulation; Nicholas Tulp (1593-1674), founder comparative anatomy.
And later, the idea of the relationship between man and ape came to the minds of many scientists. It was impossible to answer the question about the emergence and development of man, based only on anatomical studies and comparison of people with the mammals closest to humans (primarily monkeys). First of all, it was necessary to solve in its entirety the problem of the natural evolution of nature as a whole.
The development of navigation and great geographical discoveries revealed more and more new species of animals and plants to people. The Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus was the first to classify plants and animals. In his classification, he combined humans and monkeys into one group, noting that they had many common characteristics.
Philosophers could not help but pay attention to the information accumulated by natural scientists. Thus, the German philosopher I. Kant in his “Anthropology” (1798) noted that only a revolution in nature is capable of turning chimpanzees and orangutans into humans, giving them the opportunity to move on two legs and providing them with an arm. And even earlier, he anonymously published a sympathetic review on lecture by the Italian anatomist P. Moscati from Pavia, who argued that human ancestors walked on all fours. Some French materialist philosophers of the 18th century also came quite close to understanding that the monkey was the initial creature in human evolution. Diderot, for example, believed that between a man and a monkey there is only a quantitative difference. Helvetius in his work “On the Mind” (1758) noted that a man is distinguished from a monkey by certain features of his physical structure and habits.
One of the naturalists who came up with a hypothesis about the origin of man from the ape was the young Russian naturalist A. Kaverznev. In his book “The Rebirth of Animals,” written in 1775, he argued that it is necessary to abandon religious views on the creation of the world and living organisms, and consider the origin of species from one another, since there is a relationship between them - close or distant. Kaverznev saw the reasons for changes in species primarily in the way of nutrition, in the influence of climatic conditions and the impact of domestication.
And yet, most scientists in the 18th century adhered to the so-called concept of the “ladder of beings,” expressed by Aristotle. According to it, the series of living beings on Earth begins with the most lowly organized and ends with the crown of creation - man.
For the first time in the history of science, the French natural scientist J.B. Lamarck came close to a correct understanding of the problem of the origin of man. He believed that the once most developed “four-armed” stopped climbing trees and acquired the habit of walking on two legs. After several generations, the new habit became stronger, the creatures became two-armed. As a result, the function of the jaws also changed: they began to serve only for chewing food. Changes also occurred in the structure of the face. After the completion of the “reconstruction,” a more advanced breed, according to Lamarck, should have settled throughout the Earth in areas convenient for it and expelled all other breeds. Thus, their development stopped. Due to growing needs, the new breed improved its abilities and, ultimately, its livelihood. When the society of such perfect beings became numerous, consciousness and speech arose.
And although Lamarck was unable to reveal the causes of human genesis, his ideas had a huge influence on the development of scientific thought, in particular the great English naturalist Charles Darwin, with whose name the victory of evolutionary teaching is inextricably linked.
Even at the beginning of his career, in 1837-1838, Darwin noted in his notebook: “If we give room to our assumptions, then animals are our brothers in pain, illness, death, suffering and hunger, our slaves in the hardest work, our comrades in our pleasures; they all trace their origins, perhaps, to one common ancestor with us - we could all be merged together.”
Subsequently, Charles Darwin devoted two works to the question of man: “The Origin of Man and Sexual Selection” and “On the Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals” (1871 and 1872). His works provoked the most furious attacks from defenders of religion. The church became one of Darwin's main opponents. This is quite understandable: his teaching radically undermined its age-old dogmas.
At first, even among scientists, the number of Darwin's supporters was insignificant. And yet, soon the greatest natural scientists of the time realized the significance of the ingenious discovery. For example, the Englishman T. Huxley ardently defended the evolutionary theory against all kinds of attacks. His comparative anatomical studies convincingly showed the kinship of humans and apes in many ways. Darwin and E. Haeckel supported him. In his extensive work "General Morphology of Organisms, the general principles of the science of organic forms, mechanically substantiated by Charles Darwin's reformed theory of the origin of species," the German naturalist recreated the pedigree of mammals. There is also a genealogical line in it, running from prosimians to monkeys and further to humans. Haeckel declared the existence of an ape-man in the human pedigree and called this creature Pithecanthropus. And in 1874 he published “Anthropology” - a special work devoted to the problem of the origin of man.
Charles Darwin collected and summarized the vast material accumulated by science before him, and came to the conclusion that man, like all other living beings, arose as a result of an extremely long and gradual development. As in all living nature, in this process one can observe variability, heredity, struggle for existence, natural selection and adaptability to environmental conditions.
The great naturalist believed that the origin of man from lower forms of life is proven, firstly, by the similarity in the structure of the body and its functions in humans and animals, secondly, by the similarity of some signs of the embryo and its development and, thirdly, by the presence of human vestigial (inherited from lower animals) organs. Darwin paid much more attention to the last feature than to the first two. The fact is that the first two proofs were also recognized by opponents of his theory, including defenders of religion: after all, they did not contradict the Christian myth about the divine creation of man. But it was absolutely clear that the intelligent “will of the creator” could not “create” useless organs in humans (for example, the small connecting membrane in the inner corner of the eye - a remnant of the nictitating membrane of reptiles - or the hair on the body, the coccygeal bone, the appendix, the mammary glands in men).
Darwin examined in detail the “method” of human development from a certain lower form. The Creator evolutionary theory I tried to take into account all possible factors: the influence of the environment, training of individual organs, stoppages in development, the connection between variability various parts body. He noted that humans gained a huge advantage over other types of living beings thanks to upright walking, the formation of the arm, the development of the brain, and the emergence of speech. All these properties, according to Darwin, man acquired through the process of natural selection.
Comparing the mental abilities of humans and animals, Charles Darwin collected a large number of facts proving that humans and animals are brought together not only by certain instincts, but also by the rudiments of feelings, curiosity, attention, memory, imitation and imagination. The scientist also considered the problem of man's place in nature. He suggested that our ancestors were monkeys of the “humanoid subgroup,” which, however, were not similar to any of the living monkeys. Darwin considered Africa to be the ancestral home of humans.
K. Marx and F. Engels highly appreciated Darwin's theory. At the same time, the founders of dialectical materialism criticized Darwin for his mistakes. Thus, they pointed out that the scientist, succumbing to the influence of the reactionary teachings of Malthus, attached excessive importance to intraspecific struggle.
The disadvantages of Darwin's provisions also include an overestimation of the role of natural selection in the history of the development of countries and peoples. Darwin was unable to identify the basic property of the developed person and therefore argued that there are no qualitative differences between man and ape. Hence the misconception about the role of labor in the process of human evolution, a misunderstanding of the significance of his ability to work, to social production. That is why Darwin could not illuminate the reverse influence of social production on natural selection, or show that with the emergence of man, biological laws were replaced by social laws. The question of the qualitative uniqueness of this process was first resolved by K. Marx and F. Engels.
The founders of dialectical materialism were the first to clearly formulate the position that man was separated from the animal world by production, which is always a social activity. It was labor that radically changed the nature of humanoids and created Homo sapiens. They attached great importance to the role of purely biological factors in the formation of man.
“The first premise of all human history,” wrote K. Marx and F. Engels, “is, of course, the existence of living human individuals. Therefore, the first concrete fact that must be stated is the bodily organization of these individuals and their relationship to the rest of nature determined by it."
The positions of Marx and Engels on the role and relationship of biological and social factors in the history of people are convincingly confirmed by the data modern science, help to correctly understand the significance of natural selection in human evolution. The role of natural selection in the course of human formation was constantly decreasing. The social factor began to play the main role.
Anthropology is a set of scientific disciplines involved in the study of man, his origin, development, existence in the natural (natural) and cultural (artificial) environments.
In short, the subject of anthropology is man.1) as a general science about man, combining knowledge of various natural sciences and humanities;
2) as a science that studies human biological diversity.
Soviet anthropology, according to the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, consisted of the following main sections: human morphology, the doctrine of anthropogenesis and racial studies.
Human morphology is divided into somatology and merology. Somatology studies patterns of individual variability human body in general, sexual dimorphism in body structure, age-related changes in size and proportions from the embryonic period to old age, the influence of various biological and social conditions on body structure, human constitution. This section is most closely related to medicine and is essential for establishing standards for physical development and growth rates, for gerontology, etc.
Merology studies variations in individual parts of an organism. Comparative anatomical studies, part of merology, are devoted to elucidating the similarities and differences of each organ of the body and each organ system of humans in comparison with other vertebrates, mainly mammals and most importantly primates. As a result of these studies, the family ties of man with other creatures and his place in the animal world are clarified. Paleoanthropology studies the bone remains of fossil humans and close relatives of humans - higher primates. Comparative anatomy and paleoanthropology, as well as embryology, serve to clarify the problem of the origin of man and his evolution, as a result of which they are included in the doctrine of anthropogenesis, which is closely connected with philosophy, as well as with Paleolithic archeology, Pleistocene geology, higher physiology nervous activity humans and primates, psychology and zoopsychology, etc. This section of Anthropology examines such issues as the place of man in the system of the animal world, his relationship as a zoological species to other primates, the restoration of the path along which the development of higher primates took place, the study of the role of labor in the origin of man, identifying stages in the process of human evolution, studying the conditions and reasons for the formation of a modern type of man.
Racial studies - the branch of Anthropology that studies human races, is sometimes not quite accurately called “ethnic” Anthropology; the latter refers, strictly speaking, only to the study racial composition individual ethnic groups, i.e. tribes, peoples, nations, and the origin of these communities. Racial studies, in addition to the above-mentioned problems, also studies the classification of races, the history of their formation and such factors of their occurrence as selective processes, isolation, mixing and migration, the influence of climatic conditions and the general geographical environment on racial characteristics. In that part of racial research that is aimed at studying ethnogenesis, Anthropology conducts research together with linguistics, history, and archeology. When studying driving forces race formation Anthropology comes into close contact with genetics, physiology, zoogeography, climatology, and the general theory of speciation. The study of race in Anthropology has implications for many problems. It is important for resolving the question of the ancestral home of man modern look, the use of anthropological material as historical source, coverage of problems of systematics, mainly small systematic units, knowledge of the laws of population genetics (See Population genetics), clarification of some issues of medical science. geography. Race studies are important in the scientific basis of the fight against racism.
Biological anthropology deals with the study of historical and geographical aspects of variability biological properties human - anthropological characteristics.
The subject of study of biological (or physical) anthropology is the diversity of human biological characteristics in time and space. The task of biological anthropology is to identify and scientifically describe the variability (polymorphism) of a number of human biological characteristics and systems of these (anthropological) characteristics, as well as to identify the reasons that determine this diversity.
Levels of study of biological anthropology correspond to almost all levels of human organization.
Physical anthropology has several main sections - areas of study of human biology. We can talk about historical anthropology, which studies the history and prehistory of human diversity, and geographical anthropology, which studies the geographic variability of humans.
History of anthropology
Physical anthropology took shape as an independent scientific discipline in the second half of the 19th century. Almost simultaneously in the countries Western Europe and in Russia the first scientific anthropological societies were established, the first special anthropological works began to be published. The founders of scientific anthropology are P. Brock, P. Topinar, K. Baer, A. Bogdanov, D. Anuchin.
The period of formation of physical anthropology includes the development of general and specific anthropological methods, specific terminology and the very principles of research are formed, the accumulation and systematization of materials concerning issues of origin, ethnic history, and racial diversity of humans as a biological species take place.
Russian anthropological science already by the beginning of the 20th century. was an independent discipline and was based on a continuous scientific tradition of an integrated approach to the study of man.
ANTHROPOLOGY IN RUSSIA
Anthropology in Russia has become a biological science about the structure of the human body, about the diversity of its forms.
The official year of the “birth” of anthropology in Russia is considered to be 1864, when, on the initiative of the first Russian anthropologist A. Bogdanov (1834–1896), the Anthropological Department of the Society of Lovers of Natural History (later renamed the Society of Lovers of Natural History, Anthropology and Ethnography - OLEAE) was organized. The origins of anthropological research in Russia are associated with the names of V. Tatishchev, G. Miller and other participants and leaders of various expeditions (to Siberia, to the north, Alaska, etc.), accumulating the anthropological characteristics of various peoples Russian Empire throughout the 18th–19th centuries.
One of the greatest naturalists of the 19th century, the founder of modern embryology, an outstanding geographer and traveler, K. Baer (1792–1876) is also known as one of the largest anthropologists of his time, as the organizer of anthropological and ethnographic research in Russia. His work “On the Origin and Distribution of Human Tribes” (1822) develops the view of the origin of humanity from a common “root”, that the differences between human races developed after their settlement from a common center, under the influence of different natural conditions in their habitat areas .
The works of N. Miklouho-Maclay (1846–1888) are of great importance. Being a zoologist by profession, he glorified Russian science not so much with his work in this area as with his research on the ethnography and anthropology of the peoples of New Guinea and other areas of the South Pacific.
Development of Russian anthropology in the 60s-70s. XIX century called the “Bogdanov period”. Moscow University professor A. Bogdanov was the initiator and organizer of the Society of Natural History Lovers.
The most important task of the Society was to promote the development of natural science and the dissemination of natural historical knowledge. The program of work of the Anthropological Department included anthropological, ethnographic and archaeological research, which reflected the views of that time on anthropology as a comprehensive science about the physical type of man and his culture.
D. Anuchin made a great contribution to the development of Russian anthropology.
The first major work by D. Anuchin (1874) was devoted to anthropomorphic monkeys and represented a very valuable summary of the comparative anatomy of higher apes. A characteristic feature of all the activities of D. Anuchin was the desire to popularize science, while maintaining all the accuracy and rigor of scientific research. The beginning of the “Soviet period” of Russian anthropology is also associated with the activities of D. Anuchin.
3. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSE OF DISCIPLINE “ANTHROPOLOGY”
The general goal of anthropology is the study of the origins and historical existence of man.
Anthropology views man as a kind of social animal, on the one hand, having strong biological roots in the past, on the other, having received, in the course of evolution, great differences from animals, associated, first of all, with the strongly expressed social character of the human psyche.
Anthropological knowledge is necessary for students of psychological, pedagogical, medical and social specialties and all specialists working in the field of human studies. They allow you to deepen your knowledge about biological essence man and at the same time emphasize his features that distinguish man from the system of the animal world - first of all, his spirituality, mental activity, social qualities, cultural aspects of its existence, etc.
The task of anthropology is to trace the process of interaction between biological patterns of development and social patterns in human history, to assess the degree of influence of natural and social factors; study the polymorphism of human types due to gender, age, physique (constitution), environmental conditions habitats, etc.; to trace the patterns and mechanisms of human interaction with his social and natural environment in the conditions of a specific cultural system.
Students must study anthropogenesis, its natural and social nature, the interrelation and contradictions of natural and social factors in the process of human evolution; learn the basics of constitutional and developmental anthropology and their role in social and socio-medical work; master the concepts of raceogenesis, ethnogenesis and know the genetic problems of modern human populations; know the basic needs, interests and values of a person, his psychophysical capabilities and connection with social activity, the “person - personality - individuality” system in its social development, as well as possible deviations, the basic concepts of deviant development, its social and natural factors must be mastered, anthropological foundations of social and socio-medical work.
4.PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Physical anthropology is the biological science of the structure of the human body and the diversity of its forms.
The diversity of a person in time and space consists of the manifestations of a large number of very different traits and characteristics. An anthropological characteristic is any feature that has a specific state (variant), which reveals similarities or differences between individuals.
Special sections of anthropology are devoted to the study of genetic, molecular, physiological systems of traits; morphology is studied at the level of organs and their systems, at the level of the individual. The variability of these characteristics is studied at the supra-individual – population level.
Objectives of physical anthropology - scientific description of biological diversity modern man and interpretation of the reasons for this diversity.
Methods of anthropological research:
a) morphological;
b) genetic (especially population genetics);
c) demographic (relationship of demography with population genetics);
d) physiological and morphophysiological (ecology and human adaptation);
e) psychological and neuropsychological (anthropology and the problem of the emergence of speech and thinking; racial psychology);
f) ethnological (primatology and the emergence of human society and family);
g) mathematical (biological statistics and its role for all branches of anthropology).
Anthropology studies the historical and geographical aspects of the variability of human biological properties (anthropological characteristics). In terms of its content, it belongs rather to the range of historical disciplines, and in methodological terms, it clearly belongs to the field of biology.
Also, historically, physical anthropology has been divided into three relatively independent areas of research:
Anthropogenesis (from the Greek anthropos - man, genesis - development) is an area that includes a wide range of issues related to the biological aspects of human origin. It is human morphology viewed over time measured on a geological scale;
Race and ethnic anthropology, which studies the similarities and differences between groups of human populations of different orders. Essentially, this is the same morphology, but considered on a scale of historical time and space, that is, on the entire surface of the globe inhabited by humans;
Morphology itself, which studies variations in the structure of individual human organs and their systems, age-related variability of the human body, its physical development and constitution.
5.POPULATION AND ITS TYPES
A population (literally, population) is understood as an isolated collection of individuals of the same species, characterized by a common origin, habitat and forming an integral genetic system.
According to a more detailed interpretation, a population is a minimal and at the same time quite numerous self-reproducing group of one species, inhabiting a certain space over an evolutionarily long period of time. This group forms an independent genetic system and its own ecological hyperspace. Finally, this group, over a large number of generations, turns out to be isolated from other similar groups of individuals (individuals).
The main population criteria are:
Unity of habitat or geographical location (area);
Unity of origin of the group;
The relative isolation of this group from other similar groups (presence of interpopulation barriers);
Free crossing within the group and adherence to the principle of panmixia, i.e., equal probability of meeting all existing genotypes within the range (absence of significant intrapopulation barriers).
The ability to maintain for a number of generations such a number that is sufficient for self-reproduction of the group.
All of the above biological definitions are equally valid for humans. But since anthropology has a dual focus - biological and historical, two important consequences can be drawn from the presented formulations:
The biological consequence: individuals belonging to a population should be characterized by somewhat greater similarity to each other than to individuals belonging to other similar groups. The degree of this similarity is determined by the unity of origin and territory occupied, the relative isolation of the population and the time of this isolation;
The corollary is historical: the human population is a special category of populations that has its own characteristics. After all, this is a community of people, and population history is nothing more than the “fate” of an individual human community, which has its own traditions, social organization and cultural specifics. The vast majority of populations have a unique, rather complex and still undeveloped hierarchical structure, subdividing into a number of natural smaller units and at the same time being part of larger population systems (including ethno-territorial communities, racial groups, etc.) .
6. ANTHROPOGENESIS: BASIC THEORIES
Anthropogenesis (from the Greek anthropos - man, genesis - development) - the process of development of modern man, human paleontology; a science that studies the origins of man and the process of his development.
A set of approaches to studying the past of humanity includes:
1) biological sciences:
Human biology – morphology, physiology, cerebrology, human paleontology;
Primatology – paleontology of primates;
Paleontology – vertebrate paleontology, palynology;
General biology – embryology, genetics, molecular biology, comparative anatomy.
2) physical sciences:
Geology – geomorphology, geophysics, stratigraphy, geochronology;
Taphonomy (the science of burial of fossil remains);
Dating methods – decay of radioactive elements, radiocarbon, thermoluminescent, indirect dating methods;
3) social sciences:
Archeology – Paleolithic archeology, archeology of later times;
Ethnoarchaeology, comparative ethnology;
Psychology.
The number of theories about the origin of man is huge, but the main ones are two – the theories of evolutionism (which arose on the basis of the theories of Darwin and Wallace) and creationism (which arose on the basis of the Bible).
For about a century and a half, discussions have been raging between proponents of these two different theories in biology and natural science.
According to evolutionary theory, man evolved from apes. The place of man in the order of modern primates is as follows:
1) suborder of prosimians: sections lemuromorphic, lorimorphic, tarsimorphic;
2) suborder of anthropoids:
a) section of broad-nosed monkeys: family of marmosets and capuchins;
b) section of narrow-nosed monkeys:
Superfamily Cercopithecoidae, family Marmosetaceae (inferior narrow-nosed): subfamily of Marmosetaceae and slender-bodied;
Superfamily hominoids (higher narrow-nosed):
Family of gibbons (gibbons, siamangs);
Pongid family. Orangutan. African pongids (gorilla and chimpanzee) as the closest relatives of humans;
Hominid family. Man is its only modern representative.
7. MAIN STAGES OF HUMAN EVOLUTION: PART 1
Currently, the following main stages of human evolution are distinguished: Dryopithecus - Ramapithecus - Australopithecus - Homo habilis - Homo erectus - Neanderthal man (paleoanthropus) - Neoanthropus (this is already a modern type of man, homo sapiens).
Dryopithecus appeared 17–18 million years ago and went extinct about 8 million years ago, living in tropical forests. These are early apes that probably originated in Africa and came to Europe during the drying up of the prehistoric Tethys Sea. Groups of these monkeys climbed trees and ate their fruits, since their molars, covered with a thin layer of enamel, were not suitable for chewing rough food. Perhaps the distant ancestor of man was Ramapithecus (Rama - the hero of the Indian epic). It is believed that Ramapithecus appeared 14 million years ago and went extinct about 9 million years ago. Their existence became known from jaw fragments found in the Siwalik Mountains in India. It is not yet possible to establish whether these creatures were upright.
Australopithecines, which inhabited Africa 1.5–5.5 million years ago, were the link between the animal world and the first people. Australopithecines did not have such natural defenses as powerful jaws, fangs and sharp claws, and were inferior in physical strength to large animals. The use of natural objects as weapons for defense and attack allowed Australopithecines to defend themselves from enemies.
In the 60–70s. XX century in Africa, the remains of creatures were discovered whose cranial cavity volume was 650 cm3 (significantly less than that of a human). The most primitive pebble tools were discovered in the immediate vicinity of the discovery site. Scientists suggested that this creature could be classified as a member of the genus Homo, and gave it the name Homo habilis - a skilled man, emphasizing his ability to make primitive tools. Judging by the remains found, dating from 2–1.5 million years ago, Homo habilis existed for more than half a million years, slowly evolving until it acquired significant similarities with Homo erectus.
One of the most remarkable was the discovery of the first Pithecanthropus, or Homo erectus, discovered by the Dutch scientist E. Dubois in 1881. Homo erectus existed from approximately 1.6 million to 200 thousand years ago.
The most ancient people have similar characteristics: a massive jaw with a sloping chin protrudes strongly forward, a low sloping forehead has a supraorbital ridge, the height of the skull is small compared to the skull of a modern person, but the volume of the brain varies between 800-1400 cm3. Along with obtaining plant food, Pithecanthropus engaged in hunting, as evidenced by the finds in their places of life of bones of small rodents, deer, bears, wild horses, and buffalo.
8. MAIN STAGES OF HUMAN EVOLUTION: PART 2
The most ancient people were replaced by ancient people - Neanderthals (at the place of their first discovery in the valley of the Neander River, Germany).
Neanderthals lived during the Ice Age from 200 to 30 thousand years ago. The wide distribution of ancient people not only in areas with a warm favorable climate, but also in the harsh conditions of glaciated Europe indicates their significant compared to ancient people progress: ancient people knew how to not only maintain, but also make fire, already spoke, the volume of their brain is equal to the volume of the brain of a modern person, the development of thinking is evidenced by the tools of their labor, which were quite diverse in shape and served for a variety of purposes - hunting animals, butchering carcasses, building houses.
The emergence of elementary social relationships among Neanderthals was revealed: caring for the wounded or sick. Burials are found for the first time among Neanderthals.
Collective actions already played a decisive role in the primitive herd of ancient people. In the struggle for existence, those groups that successfully hunted and better provided themselves with food, took care of each other, achieved lower mortality among children and adults, and better overcome difficult living conditions won. The ability to make tools, articulate speech, the ability to learn - these qualities turned out to be useful for the team as a whole. Natural selection ensured the further progressive development of many traits. As a result, the biological organization of ancient people improved. But the influence of social factors on the development of Neanderthals became increasingly stronger.
The emergence of people of the modern physical type (Homo sapiens), who replaced ancient people, occurred relatively recently, about 50 thousand years ago.
Fossil people of the modern type possessed the entire complex of basic physical features that our contemporaries also have.
9.EVOLUTION AND THE SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS
An important and still unresolved question in science is the reconciliation of evolution and the second law of thermodynamics. Is it possible to reconcile the theory of universal evolution from inanimate matter to the spontaneous generation of living things and further through the gradual development of the simplest single-celled organisms into complex multicellular organisms and, ultimately, into man, in whom there is not only biological but also spiritual life, with the second law of thermodynamics, which Is it so universal in nature that it is called the law of growth of entropy (disorder), operating in all closed systems, including the entire Universe?
So far, no one has been able to solve this fundamental problem. The simultaneous existence of universal evolution and the law of entropy growth as universal laws of the material Universe (as a closed system) is impossible, since they are incompatible.
At first glance, it is natural to assume that macroevolution can take place locally and temporarily (on Earth). A number of current evolutionists believe that the conflict between evolution and entropy is resolved by the fact that the Earth is an open system and the energy coming from the Sun is quite sufficient to stimulate universal evolution over a vast geological time. But such an assumption ignores the obvious fact that the influx of thermal energy into open system directly leads to an increase in entropy (and, consequently, to a decrease in functional information) in this system. And in order to prevent a huge increase in entropy due to the influx of large amounts of thermal solar energy into the earth’s biosphere, the excess of which can only destroy, and not build, organized systems, it is necessary to introduce additional hypotheses, for example, about such a biochemical information code that predetermines the course of the hypothetical macroevolution of the earth’s biosphere, and about such a global, complex conversion mechanism for converting incoming energy into work for the spontaneous emergence of the simplest reproducing cells and further movement from such cells to complex organic organisms that are still unknown to science.
10.PREREQUISITES OF EVOLUTIONISM AND CREATIONISM
Among the basic premises of the doctrine of evolutionism are the following:
1) the hypothesis of universal evolution, or macroevolution (from inanimate to living matter). – Nothing confirmed;
2) spontaneous generation of living things in non-living things. – Nothing confirmed;
3) such spontaneous generation occurred only once. – Nothing confirmed;
4) single-celled organisms gradually developed into multicellular organisms. – Nothing confirmed;
5) there should be many transitional forms in the macro-evolutionary scheme (from fish to amphibians, from amphibians to reptiles, from reptiles to birds, from reptiles to mammals);
6) the similarity of living beings is a consequence of the “general law of evolution”;
7) evolutionary factors explainable from the point of view of biology are considered sufficient to explain the development from the simplest forms to highly developed ones (macroevolution);
8) geological processes are interpreted within very long time periods (geological evolutionary uniformitarianism). – Very controversial;
9) the process of deposition of fossil remains of living organisms occurs within the framework of the gradual layering of rows of fossils.
The corresponding counter-presuppositions of the doctrine of creationism are also based on faith, but have a self-consistent and factually consistent explanation:
1) the entire Universe, the Earth, the living world and man were created by God in the order described in the Bible (Gen. 1). This position is included in the basic premises of biblical theism;
2) God created, according to a reasonable plan, both unicellular and multicellular organisms and, in general, all types of organisms of flora and fauna, as well as the crown of creation - man;
3) the creation of living beings occurred once, since they can then reproduce themselves;
4) evolutionary factors explainable from the point of view of biology (natural selection, spontaneous mutations) change only the existing basic types (microevolution), but cannot violate their boundaries;
5) the similarity of living beings is explained by the single plan of the Creator;
6) geological processes are interpreted within short time periods (catastrophe theory);
7) the process of deposition of fossil remains of living organisms occurs within the framework of a catastrophic model of origin.
The fundamental difference between the doctrines of creationism and evolutionism lies in the difference in ideological premises: what underlies life - a reasonable plan or blind chance? These different premises of both doctrines are equally unobservable and cannot be tested in scientific laboratories.
11. CONSTITUTIONAL ANTHROPOLOGY: BASIC CONCEPTS
The general constitution is understood as an integral characteristic of the human body, its “total” ability to respond in a certain way to environmental influences, without disturbing the connection between the individual characteristics of the organism as a whole. This is a quality characteristic of all individual characteristics subject, genetically fixed and capable of changing in the process of growth and development under the influence of environmental factors.
The private constitution refers to individual morphological and (or) functional complexes of the body that contribute to its prosperous existence. This concept includes habitus (external appearance), somatic type, body type, features of the functioning of the humoral and endocrine systems, indicators of metabolic processes, etc.
Constitutional features are considered as a complex, that is, they are characterized by functional unity. This complex should include:
Morphological characteristics of the body (physique);
Physiological indicators;
Mental properties of personality.
In anthropology, particular morphological constitutions are most developed.
The work of a huge number of anthropologists, physicians and psychologists is devoted to the development of constitutional schemes. Among them are G. Viola, L. Manouvrier, K. Seago, I. Galant, V. Shtefko and A. Ostrovsky, E. Kretschmer, V. Bunak, U Sheldon, B. Heath and L. Carter, V. Chtetsov, M Utkina and N. Lutovinova, V. Deryabin and others.
Constitutional classifications can be further divided into two groups:
Morphological, or somatological, schemes in which constitutional types are determined on the basis of external signs of the soma (body);
Functional diagrams in which Special attention assigned to the functional state of the body.
12. CONSTITUTIONAL SCHEMES OF E. KRETSCHMER AND V. BUNAKA
E. Kretschmer believed that heredity is the only source of morphological diversity.
It should be noted that his views were the basis for the creation of most later classifications. The types he identifies under other names can be recognized in many diagrams, even if the principles of their construction differ. Obviously, this is a consequence of reflecting the real diversity of people, noted by E. Kretschmer in the form of discrete types. However, this scheme is not without drawbacks: it has a specific practical purpose - preliminary diagnosis of mental pathologies. E. Kretschmer identified three main constitutional types: leptosomal (or asthenic), picnic and athletic.
Similar, but without many of the shortcomings of the previous scheme, is the somatotypological classification developed by V. Bunak in 1941.
Its fundamental difference from E. Kretschmer’s scheme is a strict definition of the degree of importance of constitutional features. The diagram is built according to two coordinates of the physique - the degree of development of fat deposition and the degree of muscle development. Additional features are the shapes chest, abdominal area and back. V. Bunak’s scheme is intended to determine the normal constitution only in adult men and is not applicable to women; body length, bone component, as well as anthropological features of the head are not taken into account.
The combination of two coordinates allows us to consider three main and four intermediate body types. Intermediate options combine the characteristics of the main types. They were identified by V. Bunak, since in practice very often the expression of the features underlying the scheme is not entirely clear and features of different types are often combined with each other. The author identified two more body types as undefined, although, in fact, they are also intermediate.
13. CONSTITUTIONAL SCHEME B. DERYABINA
Having analyzed the entire range of available constitutional schemes (and there are many more of them than were considered), the domestic anthropologist V. Deryabin identified two general approaches to solving the problem of continuity and discreteness in constitutional science:
With an a priori approach, the author of the scheme, even before its creation, has his own idea of what body types there are. Based on this, he constructs his typology, focusing on those characteristics or their complexes that correspond to his a priori ideas about the patterns of morphological variability. This principle is used in the vast majority of constitutional schemes we have examined;
The a posteriori approach does not involve simply superimposing the scheme of individual morphological diversity on objectively existing variability - the constitutional system itself is built on the basis of the fixed scale of variability, taking into account its patterns. With this approach, theoretically, objective patterns of morphofunctional connections and correlation of traits will be better taken into account. The subjectivity of the typology is also reduced to a minimum. In this case, the apparatus of multidimensional mathematical statistics is used.
Based on measurements of 6,000 men and women aged 18 to 60 years, V. Deryabin identified three main vectors of somatic variability, which together represent a three-dimensional coordinate space:
The first axis describes the variability of overall body size (overall skeletal dimensions) along the macro- and microsomia coordinate. One of its poles is people with small overall sizes (microsomia); the other is individuals with large body sizes (macrosomia);
The second axis divides people according to the ratio of muscle and bone components (determining the shape of the musculoskeletal system) and has a variation from leptosomy (weakened development of the muscle component compared to the development of the skeleton) to brachysomy (inverse ratio of components);
The third axis describes the variability in the amount of subcutaneous fat deposition in different body segments and has two extreme manifestations - from hypoadiposis (weak fat deposition) to hyperadiposis (strong fat deposition). The “constitutional space” is open on all sides, so any person can be characterized with its help - all existing constitutional variability fits into it. Practical use carried out by calculating 6–7 typological indicators using regression equations for 12–13 anthropological dimensions. Regression equations are presented for women and men. Based on these indicators, the exact place of the individual in the three-dimensional space of the constitutional scheme is determined.
14.ONTOGENESIS
Ontogenesis (from the Greek ontos - being and genesis - origin), or life cycle is one of the key biological concepts. This is life before and after birth, it is a continuous process of individual growth and development of the body, its age-related changes. The development of an organism should in no case be represented as a simple increase in size. Human biological development is a complex morphogenetic event; it is the result of numerous metabolic processes, cell division, an increase in their size, the process of differentiation, the formation of tissues, organs and their systems.
Anyone's height multicellular organism, starting with just one cell (zygote), can be divided into four large stages:
1) hyperplasia (cell division) – an increase in the number of cells as a result of successive mitoses;
2) hypertrophy (cell growth) - an increase in cell size as a result of water absorption, protoplasm synthesis, etc.;
3) determination and differentiation of cells; Cells that have “chosen” a program are called deterministic further development. During this development, cells specialize to perform certain functions, that is, they differentiate into cell types;
4) morphogenesis - the end result of the mentioned processes is the formation of cellular systems - tissues, as well as organs and organ systems.
Without exception, all stages of development are associated with biochemical activity. Changes occurring at the cellular level lead to changes in the shape, structure and function of cells, tissues, organs and, finally, the whole organism. Even if obvious quantitative changes (growth itself) are not observed, qualitative changes are constantly taking place in the body at all levels of organization - from genetic (DNA activity) to phenotypic (shape, structure and functions of organs, their systems and the body as a whole). Thus, it is during the growth and development of the organism that a unique hereditary program is realized under the influence and control of various and always unique environmental factors. The transformations occurring in the process of ontogenesis are associated with the “emergence” of all types of variability in human biological characteristics, including those discussed earlier.
The study of ontogenesis is a kind of key to understanding the phenomenon of human biological variability. Various aspects of this phenomenon are studied by embryology and developmental biology, physiology and biochemistry, molecular biology and genetics, medicine, pediatrics, developmental psychology and other disciplines.
15.FEATURES OF HUMAN ONTOGENETIC DEVELOPMENT
Human ontogenetic development can be characterized by a number of general features:
Continuity - the growth of individual organs and systems of the human body is not infinite; it follows a so-called limited type. The final values of each trait are determined genetically, that is, there is a reaction norm;
Graduality and irreversibility; The continuous process of development can be divided into conditional stages - periods, or stages, of growth. It is impossible to skip any of these stages, just as it is impossible to return exactly to those structural features that were already evident at previous stages;
Cyclicality; Although ontogenesis is a continuous process, the pace of development (the rate of changes in characteristics) can vary significantly over time. A person has periods of growth activation and inhibition. There is a cyclicity associated with the seasons of the year (for example, an increase in body length occurs mainly in the summer months, and weight in the fall), as well as a daily cycle and a number of others;
Heterochrony, or multitemporality (the basis of allometricity) is the unequal rate of maturation of different body systems and different traits within the same system. Naturally, in the first stages of ontogenesis the most important, vital systems mature;
Sensitivity to endogenous and exogenous factors; growth rates are limited or activated under the influence of a wide range of exogenous environmental factors. But their influence does not take developmental processes beyond the boundaries of a broad norm of reaction determined hereditarily. Within these limits, the development process is maintained by endogenous regulatory mechanisms. In this regulation, a significant share belongs to the genetic control itself, implemented at the level of the organism due to the interaction of the nervous and endocrine systems (neuroendocrine regulation);
Sexual dimorphism is the most striking characteristic of human development, manifesting itself at all stages of its ontogenesis. IN Once again Let us recall that the differences caused by the “gender factor” are so significant that ignoring them in research practice neutralizes the significance of even the most interesting and promising works. Another fundamental characteristic of ontogenesis is the individuality of this process. The dynamics of ontogenetic development of an individual person is unique.
16.STAGES OF ONTOGENETIC DEVELOPMENT
The process of ontogenetic development is logically divided into two stages:
The period of prenatal development is the intrauterine stage, lasting from the moment of formation of the zygote as a result of fertilization until the moment of birth;
Postnatal development – earthly life person from birth to death.
The maximum increase in body length growth in the postnatal period is observed in the first months of life (approximately 21–25 cm per year). In the period from 1 year to 4–5 years, the increase in body length gradually decreases (from 10 to 5.5 cm per year). From 5–8 years of age, a weak growth spurt is sometimes observed. At the age of 10-13 years in girls and 13–15 years in boys, a clearly pronounced acceleration of growth is observed - a growth spurt: the rate of growth in body length is about 8-10 cm per year in boys and 7-9 cm per year in girls. Between these periods, a decrease in growth rates is recorded.
The maximum rate of fetal growth is characteristic of the first four months of intrauterine development; body weight changes in the same way, with the difference that the maximum speed is observed more often at the 34th week.
The first two months of intrauterine development are the stage of embryogenesis, characterized by the processes of “regionalization” and histogenesis (cell differentiation with the formation of specialized tissues). At the same time, due to differential cell growth and cell migrations, parts of the body acquire certain outlines, structure and shape. This process - morphogenesis - continues actively until adulthood and continues until old age. But its main results are visible already at the 8th week of intrauterine development. By this time, the embryo acquires the main characteristic features of a person.
By the time of birth (between 36 and 40 weeks), the rate of fetal growth slows down, since by this time the uterine cavity is already completely filled. It is noteworthy that the growth of twins slows down even earlier - at a time when their total weight becomes equal to the weight of a single 36-week fetus. It is believed that if a genetically large child develops in the uterus of a woman of small stature, mechanisms of growth retardation contribute to a successful birth, but this does not always happen. The weight and body size of a newborn are largely determined by the external environment, which in this case is the mother’s body.
Body length at birth averages about 50.0-53.3 cm in boys and 49.7-52.2 in girls. Immediately after birth, the rate of body length growth increases again, especially in a genetically large child.
Currently, body length growth slows down significantly in girls aged 16–17 years and in boys aged 18–19 years, and up to 60 years, body length remains relatively stable. After about 60 years of age, a decrease in body length occurs.
17.PERIODIZATION OF ONTOGENESIS
The oldest periodizations of ontogenesis go back to antiquity:
Pythagoras (VI century BC) distinguished four periods of human life: spring (from birth to 20 years), summer (20–40 years), autumn (40–60 years) and winter (60–80 years). These periods correspond to formation, youth, the prime of life and its decline. Hippocrates (V-IV centuries BC) divided the entire life path of a person from the moment of birth into 10 equal seven-year cycles-stages.
Russian statistician and demographer of the first half of the 19th century. A. Roslavsky-Petrovsky identified the following categories:
The younger generation – minors (from birth to 5 years old) and children (6-15 years old);
Blooming generation - young (16–30 years old), mature (30–45 years old) and elderly (45–60 years old);
The fading generation is old (61–75 years old) and long-lived (75–100 years old and older).
A similar scheme was proposed by the German physiologist M. Rubner (1854–1932), who divided postnatal ontogenesis into seven stages:
Infancy (birth to 9 months);
Early childhood (from 10 months to 7 years);
Late childhood (from 8 to 13–14 years);
Adolescence (from 14–15 to 19–21 years);
Maturity (41–50 years old);
Old age (50–70 years);
Honorable old age (over 70 years old).
In pedagogy, the division of childhood and adolescence into infancy (up to 1 year), pre-pre-adolescence is often used. school age(1–3 years), preschool age(3–7 years old), junior school age (from 7 to 11–12 years old), middle school age (up to 15 years old) and senior school age (up to 17–18 years old). In the systems of A. Nagorny, I. Arshavsky, V. Bunak, A. Tour, D. Guyer and other scientists, from 3 to 15 stages and periods are distinguished.
The pace of development can vary among representatives of different generations of the same population of people, and epochal changes in the pace of development have repeatedly occurred in the history of mankind.
At least over the last century and a half, up to the last 2–4 decades, a process of epochal acceleration of development has been observed. Simply put, the children of each successive generation became larger, matured earlier, and the changes achieved were maintained at all ages. This amazing trend reached significant proportions and extended to many populations of modern humans (although not all), and the dynamics of the resulting changes were surprisingly similar for completely different groups population.
From about the second half of the 20th century. At first, a slowdown in the rate of epochal growth was noted, and in the last one and a half to two decades we are increasingly talking about stabilizing the pace of development, that is, stopping the process at the achieved level and even about a new wave of retardation (deceleration).
18.DECISION
The term “race” refers to a system of human populations characterized by similarity in a set of certain hereditary biological characteristics (racial characteristics). It is important to emphasize that in the process of their emergence, these populations are associated with a specific geographical area and natural environment.
Race is a purely biological concept, as are the very characteristics by which racial classification is carried out.
Classic racial characteristics include appearance features - the color and shape of the eyes, lips, nose, hair, skin color, overall facial structure, and head shape. People recognize each other mainly by facial features, which are also the most important racial characteristics. Signs of body structure are used as auxiliary signs - height, weight, physique, proportions. However, the characteristics of the body structure are much more variable within any group than the characteristics of the head structure and, in addition, often strongly depend on environmental conditions - both natural and artificial, and therefore cannot be used in racial studies as an independent source.
The most important properties of racial characteristics:
Signs of physical structure;
Traits that are inherited;
Traits, the severity of which during ontogenesis depends little on environmental factors;
Signs associated with a specific habitat - distribution zone;
Signs that distinguish one territorial group person from another.
A union of people based on a common identity and self-determination is called an ethnos (ethnic group). It is also produced on the basis of language, culture, traditions, religion, economic and cultural type.
When determining their belonging to a particular group, people talk about nationality. One of the simplest forms of social ethnic organization of people is a tribe. A higher level of social organization is called nationalities (or people), which unite into nations. Representatives of one tribe or other small ethnic group usually belong to the same anthropological type, since they are relatives to one degree or another. Representatives of one people can already differ markedly anthropologically, at the level of different small races, although, as a rule, within the same large race.
A nation unites people absolutely regardless of their race, since it includes different peoples.
19.RACIAL CLASSIFICATIONS
There are a large number of racial classifications. They differ in the principles of construction and the data used, the groups included and the underlying characteristics. Various racial schemes can be divided into two large groups:
Created based on a limited set of features;
Open, the number of features in which can vary arbitrarily.
Many of the early systems belong to the first version of classifications. These are the schemes of: J. Cuvier (1800), who divided people into three races based on skin color;
P. Topinard (1885), who also distinguished three races, but determined the width of the nose in addition to pigmentation;
A. Retzius (1844), whose four races differed in a combination of chronological characteristics. One of the most developed schemes of this type is the classification of races created by the Polish anthropologist J. Czekanowski. However, the small number of features used and their composition inevitably lead to the conventionality of such schemes. At best they can reliably reflect only the most general racial divisions of humanity. In this case, very distant groups that differ sharply in many other characteristics can come together randomly.
The second type of classification includes most racial schemes. The most important principle of their creation is geographical position race First, the main ones are identified (the so-called large races, or races of the first order), occupying vast territories of the planet. Then, within these large races, differentiation is carried out according to various morphological characteristics, and small races (or second-order races) are identified. Sometimes races of smaller levels are also distinguished (they are very unfortunately called an anthropological type).
Existing open racial classifications can be divided into two groups:
1) schemes that distinguish a small number of basic types (large races);
2) schemes that distinguish a large number of basic types.
In group 1 schemes, the number of main types ranges from two to five; in group 2 schemes their number is 6–8 or more. It should be noted that in all these systems several options are always repeated, and the increase in the number of options depends on giving individual groups a higher or lower rank.
Almost all schemes necessarily highlight at least three general groups(three large races): Mongoloids, Negroids and Caucasians, although the names of these groups may change.
20.EQUATORIAL LARGE RACE
The equatorial (or Australo-Negroid) large race is characterized by dark skin color, wavy or curly hair, a wide nose, a low middle bridge, a slightly protruding nose, a transverse nostril, a large mouth slit, and thick lips. Before the era of European colonization, the habitat of representatives of the equatorial great race was located mainly south of the Tropic of Cancer in the Old World. The large equatorial race is divided into a number of small races:
1) Australian: dark skin, wavy hair, abundant development of tertiary hair on the face and body, very wide nose, relatively high nose bridge, average cheekbone diameter, above average and tall height;
2) Veddoid: poor hair development, less wide nose, smaller head and face, shorter height;
3) Melanesian (including Negrito types), unlike the previous two, is characterized by the presence of curly hair; in terms of the abundant development of tertiary hair and strongly protruding brow ridges, some of its variants are very similar to the Australian race; in its composition the Melanesian race is much more variegated than the Negroid;
4) the Negroid race differs from the Australian and Veddoid (and to a much lesser extent from the Melanesian) in very pronounced curly hair; It differs from the Melanesian in its thicker lips, lower bridge of the nose and flatter bridge of the nose, slightly higher eye orbits, slightly protruding sub-brow ridges and, in general, higher stature;
5) the Negrillian (Central African) race differs from the Negroid race not only in its very short stature, but also in the more abundant development of tertiary hair, thinner lips, and a more sharply protruding nose;
6) the Bushman (South African) race differs from the Negroid race not only in very short stature, but also in lighter skin, a narrower nose, a flatter face, a very flattened bridge of the nose, small face size and steatopygia (deposition of fat in the buttock region).
21.EURASIAN GREAT RACE
The Eurasian (or Caucasoid) large race is characterized by light or dark skin color, straight or wavy soft hair, abundant growth of a beard and mustache, a narrow, sharply protruding nose, a high bridge of the nose, a sagittal arrangement of the nostrils, a small oral slit, and thin lips.
Distribution area – Europe, North Africa, Western Asia, Northern India. The Caucasoid race is divided into a number of minor races:
1) Atlanto-Baltic: light skin, light hair and eyes, long nose, tall;
2) Central European: less light pigmentation of hair and eyes, slightly shorter height;
3) Indo-Mediterranean: dark coloring of hair and eyes, dark skin, wavy hair, an even longer nose than in previous races, a slightly more convex bridge of the nose, a very narrow face;
4) Balkan-Caucasian: dark hair, dark eyes, convex nose, very abundant development of tertiary hair, relatively short and very wide face, tall;
5) White Sea-Baltic: very light, but somewhat more pigmented than the Atlanto-Baltic, medium hair length, relatively short nose with a straight or concave back, small face and average height.
22.ASIAN-AMERICAN RACE
The Asian-American (or Mongoloid) large race is distinguished by dark or light skin tones, straight, often coarse hair, weak or very weak beard and mustache growth, average width of the nose, low or medium-height nose bridge, slightly protruding nose in Asian races and strongly protruding in American ones, average thickness of lips, flattened face, strong protrusion of cheekbones, large face size, presence of epicanthus.
The range of the Asian-American race covers East Asia, Indonesia, Central Asia, Siberia, and America. The Asian-American race is divided into several minor races:
1) North Asian: lighter skin color, less dark hair and eyes, very weak beard growth and thin lips, large size and very flattened face. As part of the North Asian race, two very characteristic variants can be distinguished - Baikal and Central Asian, which differ significantly from each other.
The Baikal type is characterized by less coarse hair, light skin pigmentation, weak beard growth, low nose bridge, and thin lips. The Central Asian type is presented in various variants, some of which are close to the Baikal type, others - to variants of the Arctic and Far Eastern races;
2) the Arctic (Eskimo) race differs from the North Asian race in coarser hair, darker pigmentation of the skin and eyes, lower frequency of epicanthus, slightly smaller zygomatic width, narrow pear-shaped nasal opening, high bridge of the nose and a more protruding nose, thick lips;
3) the Far Eastern race, compared to the North Asian race, is characterized by coarser hair, darker skin pigmentation, thicker lips, and a narrower face. It is characterized by a large skull height but a small face;
4) the South Asian race is characterized by an even more pronounced expression of those features that distinguish the Far Eastern race from the North Asian race - greater dark skin, thicker lips. It differs from the Far Eastern race in having a less flattened face and shorter stature;
5) the American race, varying greatly in many characteristics, is generally closest to the Arctic, but possesses some of its features in an even more pronounced form. Thus, the epicanthus is almost absent, the nose protrudes very strongly, the skin is very dark. The American race is characterized by large facial dimensions and noticeably less flattening.
23.INTERMEDIATE RACES
Races intermediate between the three great races:
The Ethiopian (East African) race occupies a middle position between the Equatorial and Eurasian great races in skin and hair color. Skin color varies from light brown to dark chocolate, hair is often curly, but less spirally curled than that of blacks. Beard growth is weak or average, lips are moderately thick. However, in terms of facial features, this race is closer to the Eurasian. Thus, the width of the nose in most cases varies from 35 to 37 mm, a flattened shape of the nose is rare, the face is narrow, height is above average, and an elongated type of body proportions is characteristic;
The South Indian (Dravidian) race is in general very similar to the Ethiopian, but is distinguished by straighter hair and somewhat shorter stature; the face is a little smaller and a little wider; the South Indian race occupies an intermediate place between the Veddoid and Indo-Mediterranean races;
The Ural race, in many respects, occupies a middle position between the White Sea-Baltic and North Asian races; A concave bridge of the nose is very characteristic of this race;
The South Siberian (Turanian) race is also intermediate between the Eurasian and Asian-American large races. The percentage of mixed races is significant. However, with the general mild expression of Mongolian features, very large facial dimensions are observed in this race, but smaller than in some variants of the North Asian race; in addition, a convex or straight bridge of the nose and medium-thick lips are characteristic;
The Polynesian race, according to many systematic characteristics, occupies a neutral position; she is characterized by wavy hair, light brown, yellowish skin, moderately developed tertiary hair, a moderately protruding nose, and somewhat thicker lips than those of Europeans; rather prominent cheekbones; very tall, large face size, large absolute width of the nose, rather high nasal index, significantly smaller than that of blacks and larger than that of Europeans; the Kuril (Ainu) race, in its neutral position among the races of the globe, resembles the Polynesian; however, some features of the larger races are more clearly expressed in it. In terms of very strong hair development, it ranks one of the first places in the world. On the other hand, it is characterized by a flattened face, shallow depth of the canine fossa, and a rather large percentage of epicanthus; hair is coarse and significantly wavy; short stature.
24.HEREDITARY AND SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT
The diversity of people is explained by human biology - we are born with different genes. At the same time, human biology is the source of human diversity because it was it that determined both the possibility of human society and its necessity.
The external variability of a person is a product of society: sexual and geographical, racial and ethnic differences acquire in society social forms due to the development of the social division of labor and the distribution of types of labor among people according to “birth”, “property” or “abilities”.
The successes of human genetics have led not only to unconditional achievements in understanding its nature, but also to errors caused by the absolutization of the role of genes in the development of the individual. The main difference between people from the point of view of genetics is the difference between the genotype (the “program” of the evolution of the organism) and the phenotype (all manifestations of the organism, including its morphology, physiology and behavior, at specific moments in its life). Several mistakes lead to negative consequences and pedagogical practice. They boil down to statements like: a) genes determine the phenotype; b) genes determine limiting capabilities and c) genes determine predispositions.
It is a mistake to assert that genes determine the phenotype, i.e. that the genotype can accurately determine the phenotype of an organism. It is upbringing, the place and nature of work, and social experience that determine differences in phenotypes. It is also erroneous to assert that genes determine the maximum capabilities of a person (organism). Metaphorically, this situation can be illustrated by the theory of “empty cells”: the genotype determines the number and size of cells, and experience fills them with content. With this understanding, the environment can only act as “depleted” or “enriched” from the point of view of the possibility of filling the cells specified in advance at birth.
The idea that genotypes determine the predispositions of an organism (person) is also quite erroneous. The idea of a predisposition (for example, to be fat or thin) assumes that a tendency occurs under normal conditions. In relation to humans, “normal environmental conditions” look extremely vague, and even average values for the population, taken as standards, do not help here.
25.THEORY OF DIVISION OF LABOR
There are several types of division of labor: physiological, technological, division of human labor, social and most importantly.
Physiological division refers to the natural distribution of types of labor among the population by sex and age. The expressions “women’s work” and “men’s work” speak for themselves. There are also areas of application of “child labor” (the list of the latter is usually regulated by state law).
The technological division of labor is by its nature infinite. Today in our country there are about 40 thousand specialties, the number of which is growing every year. In a general sense, the technological division of labor is the division of the general labor process aimed at the production of material, spiritual or social benefits into separate component parts due to the requirements of the technology for manufacturing the product.
The division of human labor means the division of the labor of many people into physical and mental - society can support people engaged in mental labor (doctors, people of science, teachers, clergy, etc.) only on the basis of increasing labor productivity in material production. Mental labor (technology development, education, advanced training of workers and their upbringing) is an increasingly expanding area.
The social division of labor is the distribution of types of labor (the results of the technological division of labor and the division of human labor) between social groups of society. To which group and how does this or that life “share” fall in the form of this or that set of types of labor, and, consequently, living conditions - this question is answered by an analysis of the work of the mechanism of labor distribution in society at a given time. Moreover, the very mechanism of such distribution continuously reproduces classes and social strata, functioning against the background of the objective movement of the technological division of labor.
The term “main division of labor” was first introduced into scientific circulation by A. Kurella. This concept denotes the process of acquiring a value characteristic through labor, divided into past and living. All past labor, concentrating in itself in an objectified form the strength, knowledge, abilities, skills of workers, comes into the sphere of possession, disposal and use of private individuals or organizations (cooperatives, joint-stock companies, the state) and acquires the status of property protected by the legal laws of the state. In this case, private property acts as a measure of ownership of the past labor of the entire society; its form, which brings surplus value, is called capital (financial, entrepreneurial). Living labor in the form of the ability to do it also acts as property, but in the form of labor power as a commodity.
26.SYSTEM OF BASIC HUMAN NEEDS
The initial basic need of a person, according to A. Maslow, is the need for life itself, that is, the totality of physiological and sexual needs - for food, clothing, housing, procreation, etc. Satisfying these needs, or this basic need, strengthens and continues life, ensures the existence of the individual as a living organism, a biological being.
Security and safety are the next most important basic human need. Here is concern for guaranteed employment, interest in the stability of existing institutions, norms and ideals of society, and the desire to have a bank account, an insurance policy, there is also a lack of anxiety for personal safety, and much more. One of the manifestations of this need is also the desire to have a religion or philosophy that would “bring into system” the world and determine our place in it.
The need for belonging (to a particular community), involvement and affection is the third basic human need, according to A. Maslow. This includes love, sympathy, friendship, and other forms of strictly human communication, personal intimacy; this is the need for simple human participation, the hope that suffering, grief, misfortune will be shared, and also, of course, the hope for success, joy, and victory. The need for affection and belonging is the flip side of a person's openness or trust in being - both social and natural. An unmistakable indicator of dissatisfaction with this need is a feeling of rejection, loneliness, abandonment, and uselessness. Satisfying the need for communication (belonging, involvement, affection) is very important for a fulfilling life.
The need for respect and self-esteem is another basic human need. A person needs to be valued - for his skill, competence, independence, responsibility, etc., so that his achievements, successes, and merits are seen and recognized. Here considerations of prestige, reputation, and status come to the fore. But recognition from others is not enough - it is important to respect yourself, have self-esteem, believe in your uniqueness, indispensability, and feel that you are busy with necessary and useful work. Feelings of weakness, disappointment, helplessness are the surest evidence of dissatisfaction with this need.
Self-expression, self-affirmation, self-realization is the last, final, according to A. Maslow, basic human need. However, it is final only according to classification criteria. In reality, as the American psychologist believes, truly human, humanistically self-sufficient development of a person begins with it. A person at this level asserts himself through creativity, the realization of all his abilities and talents. He strives to become everything that he can and (according to his internal, free, but responsible motivation) should become. A person’s work on himself is the main mechanism for satisfying the need in question.
27.SOCIO-CULTUROLOGICAL ASPECTS OF ANTHROPOGENESIS
In the broadest context, a synonym for the word “culture” is “civilization.” In the narrow sense of the word, this term refers to artistic and spiritual culture. In a sociological context, this is a characteristic way of life, thought, action, system of values and norms for a given society, person. Culture unites people into integrity, society.
It is culture that regulates the behavior of people in society. Cultural norms regulate the conditions for satisfying human inclinations and impulses that are harmful to society - aggressive inclinations, for example, are used in sports.
Some cultural norms that affect the vital interests of a social group, society, become moral norms. The entire social experience of mankind convinces us that moral norms are not invented or established, but arise gradually from Everyday life and social practices of people.
Culture as a phenomenon of consciousness is also a way, a method of value development of reality. The active activity of a person and society to satisfy their needs requires a certain position. We must take into account the interests of other people and other communities; without this there is no conscious social action. This is a certain position of a person, a community, which is monitored in relation to the world, in the assessment of real phenomena, and is expressed in mentality.
The fundamental basis of culture is language. People mastering the world, fix it in certain concepts and come to an agreement that a certain combination of sounds is given a certain meaning. Only a person is able to use symbols with the help of which he communicates, exchanges not only simple feelings, but also complex ideas and thoughts.
The functioning of culture as a social phenomenon has two main trends: development (modernization) and preservation (sustainability, continuity). The integrity of culture is ensured by social selection, social selection. Any culture preserves only what corresponds to its logic and mentality. National culture always strives to impart a national flavor to new cultural acquisitions - both its own and those of others. Culture actively resists elements alien to it. Relatively painlessly updating peripheral, secondary elements, culture exhibits a strong reaction of rejection when it comes to its core.
Any culture is capable of self-development. This is what explains the diversity of national cultures and national identity.
28.CULTURE OF MODERN SOCIETY
The culture of modern society is a combination of different layers of culture, i.e. the dominant culture, subcultures and even countercultures. In any society one can distinguish high culture (elite) and folk culture (folklore). The development of the media has led to the formation of the so-called mass culture, simplified in semantic and artistic terms, technologically accessible to everyone. Mass culture, especially with its strong commercialization, can displace both high and folk culture.
The presence of subcultures is an indicator of the diversity of a society’s culture, its ability to adapt and develop. There are military, medical, student, peasant, and Cossack subcultures. We can talk about the presence of an urban subculture, its national specificity with its own system of values.
According to R. Williams, American and Russian cultures are characterized by:
Personal success, activity and hard work, efficiency and usefulness at work, owning things as a sign of well-being in life, a strong family, etc. (American culture);
Friendly relations, respect for neighbors and comrades, detente, avoidance real life, tolerant attitude towards people of other nationalities, the personality of a leader, leader (Russian culture). Modern Russian culture There is also a phenomenon that sociologists have called the Westernization of cultural needs and interests, primarily of youth groups. The values of national culture are being supplanted or replaced by examples of mass culture, focused on achieving the standards of the American way of life in its most primitive and simplified perception.
Many Russians, and especially young people, are characterized by a lack of ethnocultural or national self-identification; they cease to perceive themselves as Russians and lose their Russianness. The socialization of youth takes place either on the traditional Soviet or on the Western model of education, in any case non-national. Most young people perceive Russian culture as an anachronism. The lack of national self-identification among Russian youth leads to an easier penetration of Westernized values into the youth environment.
29.SOCIAL PROBLEMS OF ANTHROPOLOGY
Social work includes a set of means, techniques, methods and methods of human activity aimed at social protection of the population, working with various social, gender, age, religious, ethnic groups, with individuals in need of social assistance and protection.
A social worker needs knowledge of integrative socio-anthropological, socio-medical, psychological and pedagogical areas, which allows him to provide practical assistance to needy, socially vulnerable segments of the population.
Social education forms the professional and moral qualities of a specialist on the basis of a body of scientific knowledge in such sections of the social sciences and humanities as social anthropology, psychology, pedagogy, social ecology, social work. This includes social medicine, social gerontology, rehabilitation sciences and other sciences.
The most important part of social knowledge is the study of man himself and his relationships with nature and society. The human community as a complex system of relationships, subject, like everyone else, to complex systems, probabilistic laws of development, requires an integrated approach when studying and analyzing all spheres of human life.
30.BIOCHEMICAL INDIVIDUALITY
Each person has a unique genotype, which in the process of growth and development is realized into a phenotype under the influence and interaction with a unique combination of environmental factors. The result of this interaction is manifested not only in the variety of body features and other characteristics that we have considered. Each person has a unique composition of biologically active substances and compounds - proteins, hormones, the percentage of which and their activity change throughout life and demonstrate various kinds cyclicality. In terms of the scale of variability, it is biochemical individuality that is primary, while external manifestations are only a weak reflection of it.
The concept of biochemical individuality is based on similar data on the exceptional diversity of a person’s biochemical status and the role of this special aspect of variability in the vital processes of the body under normal conditions and in the development of various pathologies. The development of the problem largely owes to the activities of the school of the American biochemist R. Williams, and in our country to the activities of E. Khrisanfova and her students. Biologically active substances determine many aspects of human life - the rhythm of cardiac activity, the intensity of digestion, resistance to certain environmental influences and even mood.
Based on data from numerous studies, the possibility of using a biotypological (constitutional) approach to the study of human hormonal status has been established:
The reality of the existence of individual endocrine types in humans is substantiated (the relatively small number of encountered models of the endocrine formula compared to their possible number);
The types of endocrine constitution have a fairly clear genetic basis;
The most pronounced correlations between different systems of endocrine signs characterize extreme variants of hormonal secretion;
These options are quite clearly associated with extreme manifestations of morphological constitutional types (according to different schemes);
Finally, the hormonal basis of different types of constitution was established.
31. MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS ACCORDING TO E. KRETCHMER
According to the German psychiatrist E. Kretschmer, people suffering from manic-depressive psychosis have a picnic constitutional type: they often have increased fat deposition, a rounded figure, a wide face, etc. It was even noticed that they develop baldness early.
The exact opposite set of external signs is usually present in patients with schizophrenia. To the greatest extent, it corresponds to the asthenic constitutional type: a narrow, thin body, a thin neck, long limbs and a narrow face. Sometimes people with schizophrenia have pronounced hormonal imbalances: men are eunuchoid, and women are muscular. Athletes are less common among such patients. E. Kretschmer, in addition, argued that the athletic body type corresponds to epileptic disorders.
The author identified similar relationships in healthy people. However, in healthy people they are much less pronounced, since they represent, as it were, the middle of the variability of the psyche (the norm), while patients occupy an extreme position in this series. In healthy people, tendencies towards one or another “edge” are expressed in the stable manifestation of schizothymic or cyclothymic character traits or temperament (now we would rather call this phenomenon accentuations).
According to E. Kretschmer, mentally healthy picnics are cyclothymic. They seem to display in a hidden and smoothed form the features inherent in patients with manic-depressive psychosis.
These people are sociable, psychologically open, and cheerful. Asthenics, on the other hand, exhibit the opposite set of mental traits and are called schizothymics - accordingly, they have a tendency to character traits that resemble manifestations of schizophrenia. Schizotimics are uncommunicative, withdrawn, and self-absorbed. They are characterized by secrecy and a tendency to internal experiences. People with an athletic constitution are ixothymic; they are leisurely, calm, not very eager to communicate, but do not avoid it either. In the understanding of E. Kretschmer, they are closest to the average standard of health.
Various studies either confirmed or refuted the main conclusions of E. Kretschmer. The main disadvantages of his work are methodological oversights: using clinic orderlies as the “norm” absolutely does not reflect the morphological and mental realities existing in society, and the number of people examined by E. Kretschmer is too small, so the conclusions are statistically unreliable. In more carefully conducted studies, such obvious (unambiguous) connections between mental characteristics and body features were not found.
32. CHARACTERISTICS OF TEMPERAMENT ACCORDING TO W. SHELDON
Quite strict connections between morphology and temperament were described by W. Sheldon (1942). The work was performed at a different methodological level and deserves greater confidence. When describing temperament, the author did not use a discrete type, but components, just as was done in his constitutional system: 50 traits were divided by W. Sheldon into three categories, on the basis of which he identified three components of temperament, each of which was characterized by 12 traits . Each characteristic was assessed on a seven-point scale, and GPA the entire component was determined by 12 criteria (the analogy with the constitutional system is obvious here). Sheldon identified three components of temperament: viscerotonia, somatotonia and cerebrotonia. Having examined 200 subjects, Sheldon compared them with data on somatotypes. While individual somatic and “mental” signs showed a weak relationship, constitutional types showed a high association with certain types of temperament. The author obtained a correlation coefficient of about 0.8 between viscerotonia and endomorphia, somatotonia and cerebrotonia, cerebrotonia and ectomorphia.
People with a viscerotonic temperament are characterized by relaxed movements, sociability, and, in many ways, psychological dependence on public opinion. They are open to others in their thoughts, feelings and actions and most often, according to W. Sheldon, have an endomorphic constitutional type.
Somatotonic temperament is characterized primarily by energy, some coldness in communication, and a tendency to adventure. Although sufficiently sociable, people of this type are secretive in their feelings and emotions. Sheldon obtained a significant connection between somatotonic temperament and mesomorphic constitutional type.
Continuing the trend towards decreased sociability, the cerebrotonic temperament is characterized by secrecy in actions and emotions, a craving for loneliness, and constraint in communicating with other people. According to Sheldon, such people most often have an ectomorphic constitutional type.
33.CONSTITUTIONAL FEATURES
Constitutional signs are divided into three main groups: morphological, physiological and psychological signs.
Morphological characteristics are used to determine body types. Their inheritance has probably been studied the most. As it turns out, they are most closely associated with a hereditary factor compared to the other two groups. However, the mode of inheritance of most of these traits is not precisely known, since these traits depend not on one, but on many genes.
Of all the constitutional characteristics, the least genetically determined are the parameters associated with the development of the fat component. Of course, the accumulation of subcutaneous fat occurs not only in conditions of excess high-calorie food, but the tendency of this connection between the level of nutrition and fat deposition is so obvious that it is rather a pattern. But the availability of food and genetics are two different things.
Physiological characteristics are apparently somewhat less genetically determined than morphological ones. Due to the huge qualitative diversity of signs combined as physiological, it is difficult to talk about them in general. Obviously, some of them are inherited using a single gene, while others are characterized by polygenic inheritance. Some depend little on the environment and heredity will play a significant role in their manifestation. Others, for example, heart rate, depend strongly on environmental conditions, and the heredity factor will rather play the role of a determining probabilistic force. Using the example of heartbeat, this would mean that with a certain heredity, a person will be predisposed to rapid heartbeat, say, in a tense situation. Another person under these conditions will be less prone to heart palpitations. And in what conditions a person lives and in what situations he finds himself, of course, does not depend on heredity.
The dependence of the psyche on the genetic factor is assessed at three different levels:
The basic neurodynamic level - nerve stimulation at the cellular level - is a direct derivative of the morphology and physiology of the nervous system. It certainly depends on genetics to the greatest extent;
The psychodynamic level - the properties of temperament - is a reflection of the activity of the forces of excitation and inhibition in the nervous system. It already depends more on environmental factors (in the broad sense of the word);
The actual psychological level – features of perception, intelligence, motivation, nature of relationships, etc. – depends to the greatest extent on upbringing, living conditions, and the attitude of the people around him towards a person.
34.PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
Physical development means “a complex of properties of an organism that determines the reserve of its physical strength.”
P. Bashkirov quite convincingly proved that the reserve of physical strength is an extremely conditional, although applicable in practice, concept. As a result of research, it was found that the physical development of a person is well described by the ratio of three body parameters - weight, body length and chest girth - i.e., characteristics that determine the “structural and mechanical properties” of the body. To assess this level, indices constructed from these parameters (Broca's index and Pignier index), as well as weight-height indicators (Rohrer index and Quetelet index) and the “ideal” weight formula, which is the ratio of weight and body length, corresponding to a certain idea of the ideal ratio of these parameters. For example, a common formula is that body weight should be equal to length bodies minus 100 cm. In reality, such formulas only work for some people of average height, since both parameters grow disproportionately to each other. A universal formula cannot exist even theoretically. The method of standard deviations and the method of constructing regression scales have been used. Standards for physical development in children and adolescents have been developed and regularly updated.
Assessment of physical development, of course, is not limited to the three listed indicators. Great importance have assessments of the level of metabolism, the ratio of active and inactive components of the body, features of the neuroendocrine, cardiovascular, respiratory systems, skeletal muscle tone, taking into account biological age, etc.
By assessing a complex of constitutional characteristics, we can make assumptions about the potential (predisposition) to a particular disease. But there is not and cannot be a direct “fatal” relationship between body type and a certain disease.
35.ASTHENIC AND PICNIC TYPE
To date, accumulated big number information on the frequency of morbidity in people with different morphological, functional and psychological constitutions.
Thus, people of asthenic build have a tendency to diseases of the respiratory system - asthma, tuberculosis, acute respiratory diseases. This is usually explained by a “low reserve of physical strength,” but most likely it is simply due to less thermal insulation of the body due to the lack of a fat component. In addition, asthenics are more susceptible to digestive system disorders - gastritis, stomach and duodenal ulcers. This, in turn, is due to the greater nervousness of asthenics, a greater risk of neuroses and, according to E. Kretschmer, a tendency to schizophrenia. Asthenics are characterized by hypotension and vegetative dystonia.
The picnic type, being in many ways the opposite of the asthenic one, has its own risks of disease. First of all, these are diseases associated with high blood pressure - hypertension, as well as the risk of coronary artery disease, strokes, and myocardial infarction. Associated diseases are diabetes mellitus and atherosclerosis. Picnics are more likely to suffer from gout, inflammatory skin diseases and allergic diseases. They may have a greater risk of cancer.
The association of muscular type with pathologies has been much less studied. It is possible that muscular people are more susceptible to stress and related illnesses.
A significant conclusion from studies of the constitution is that it is incorrect to talk about “bad” or “good” variants. In practice, the global scale of variability is practically inapplicable here. Positive or negative qualities(risks) of certain constitutional types appear only under certain environmental conditions. Thus, the likelihood of getting pneumonia in an athletic person in Russia is much greater than in an asthenic person in New Guinea. And an asthenic person working in a flower shop or archive is much more likely to get an allergy than a picnic person working as a school teacher. An asthenic person will feel much better at the forge of a steelworks or in a greenhouse than a picnic or an athlete; a picnic will feel better than an asthenic person and an athlete - in some office, at a sedentary job, in a building with an elevator. The athlete will show better results in sports or working as a loader.
36.TARDE'S THEORY OF SOCIALIZATION
The origins of the theory of socialization are outlined in the works of Tarde, who described the process of internalization (acquisition by an individual) of values and norms through social interaction. Imitation, according to Tarde, is a principle that forms the basis of the socialization process, and it is based both on physiological needs and the resulting desires of people, and on social factors (prestige, obedience and practical benefit).
Typical social attitude Tarde recognized the “teacher-student” relationship. IN modern views Such a narrow approach to socialization has already been overcome. Socialization is recognized as part of the process of personality formation, during which the most general personality traits are formed, manifested in socially organized activities regulated by the role structure of society. Learning social roles takes place in the form of imitation. General values and norms are acquired by the individual in the process of communication with “significant others”, as a result of which normative standards become part of the structure of the individual’s needs. This is how culture penetrates into the motivational structure of the individual within the framework of social system. A socializer needs to know that the mechanism of cognition and assimilation of values and norms is the principle of pleasure-suffering formulated by S. Freud, brought into action through reward and punishment; the mechanism also includes the processes of inhibition (repression) and transfer. Imitation and identification of the student are based on feelings of love and respect (for the teacher, father, mother, family as a whole, etc.).
Socialization is accompanied by education, i.e., the teacher’s purposeful influence on the child being educated, aimed at developing the desired traits in him.
37.LEVELS OF SOCIALIZATION
There are three levels of socialization (their reality has been empirically tested, as evidenced by I. Cohn, in 32 countries): pre-moral, conventional and moral. The pre-moral level is characteristic of relationships between children and parents, based on the external dyad “suffering - pleasure”, the conventional level is based on the principle of mutual retribution; The moral level is characterized by the fact that the actions of the individual begin to be regulated by conscience. Kohlberg suggests distinguishing seven gradations at this level, up to the formation of an individual’s own moral system. Many people do not reach the moral level in their development. In this regard, the term “moral pragmatism” appeared in a number of Russian party programs, meaning that it is necessary to fight for the triumph of the moral law in people’s business relations. Society is gradually sliding down to the level of “situational morality”, the motto of which is: “What is moral is what is useful in a given situation.”
In childhood, a child wants to be like everyone else, so imitation, identification, and authorities (“significant others”) play a big role.
The teenager already feels his own individuality, as a result of which he strives to “be like everyone else, but better than everyone else.” The energy of self-affirmation results in the formation of courage, strength, and the desire to stand out in the group, not differing in principle from everyone else. The teenager is very normative, but in his own environment.
Youth is already characterized by the desire to “be different from everyone else.” A clear scale of values emerges that is not demonstrated verbally. The desire to stand out at any cost often leads to nonconformism, the desire to shock, to act contrary to public opinion. Parents at this age are no longer authorities for their children, unconditionally dictating their line of behavior. Youth expands its horizons of vision and understanding of life and the world, often due to the denial of the usual parental existence, and forms its own subculture, language, tastes, and fashions.
The stage of true adulthood, social maturity, is characterized by the fact that a person asserts himself through society, through a role structure and a value system verified by culture. What becomes significant for him is the desire to continue himself through others - loved ones, a group, society and even humanity. But a person may not enter this stage at all. People who have stopped in their development and have not acquired the qualities of a socially mature personality are called infantile.
38.THEORY OF VIOLENCE
The focus of theories of violence is the phenomenon of human aggressiveness. Let us note at least four areas of research and explanations of human aggressiveness:
Ethological theories of violence (social Darwinism) explain aggressiveness by the fact that man is a social animal, and society is the bearer and reproducer of the instincts of the animal world. The boundless expansion of an individual's freedom without the necessary level of development of his culture increases the aggressiveness of some and the defenselessness of others. This situation was called “lawlessness” - absolute lawlessness in the relations of people and in the actions of the authorities;
Freudianism, neo-Freudianism and existentialism argue that human aggressiveness results from the frustration of an alienated personality. Aggression is caused by social reasons (Freudianism removes it from the Oedipus complex). Consequently, the main attention in the fight against crime should be paid to the structure of society;
Interactionism sees the reason for people’s aggressiveness in a “conflict of interests”, incompatibility of goals;
Representatives of cognitivism believe that human aggressiveness is the result of “cognitive dissonance,” i.e., inconsistency in the subject’s cognitive sphere. Inadequate perception of the world, conflicting consciousness as a source of aggression, lack of mutual understanding are associated with the structure of the brain.
Researchers distinguish two types of aggression: emotional violence and antisocial violence, i.e. violence against the freedoms, interests, health and life of someone. Human aggressiveness, or more precisely, crime as a consequence of the weakening of self-regulation of behavior, human genetics tries to explain in its own way.
39.DEVIANT AND DELIQUENT BEHAVIOR
There is hardly a society in which all its members behave in accordance with general normative requirements. When a person violates norms, rules of behavior, laws, then his behavior, depending on the nature of the violation, is called deviant (deviant) or (at the next stage of development) delinquent (criminal, criminal, etc.). Such deviations vary greatly: from omissions school activities(deviant behavior), to theft, robbery, murder (delinquent behavior). The reaction of people around you to deviant behavior shows how serious it is. If the offender is taken into custody or referred to a psychiatrist, it means that he has committed a serious violation. Some actions are considered offenses only in certain societies, others - in all without exception; for example, no society condones the killing of its members or the expropriation of other people's property against their will. Drinking alcohol is a serious offense in many Islamic countries, and refusing to drink alcohol in certain circumstances in Russia or France is considered a violation of accepted norms of behavior.
The seriousness of an offense depends not only on the significance of the norm violated, but also on the frequency of such violation. If a student leaves the classroom backwards, it will only cause a smile. But if he does this every day, then the intervention of a psychiatrist will be required. A person who has not previously been brought before the police can be forgiven for even a serious violation of the law, while a person who already has a criminal record faces severe punishment for a minor offense.
IN modern society the most significant norms of behavior affecting the interests of other people are written into laws, and their violation is considered a crime. Sociologists usually study the category of offenders who break the law because they pose a threat to society. The more burglaries there are, the more people fear for their property; the more murders there are, the more we fear for our lives.
40. THEORY OF ANOMY E. DURKHEIM
Most often, offenses are impulsive acts. Biological theories are of little help when it comes to crimes that involve conscious choice.
The theory of anomie (disregulation) occupies an important place in explaining the causes of deviant behavior. E. Durkheim, exploring the causes of suicide, considered the main reason to be a phenomenon he called anomie. He emphasized that social rules play a major role in regulating people's lives. Norms guide their behavior; people know what to expect from others and what is expected of them. During crises, wars, radical social changes life experience doesn't help much. People are in a state of confusion and disorganization. Social norms are being destroyed, people are losing their bearings - all this contributes to deviant behavior. Although E. Durkheim's theory has been criticized, his basic idea that social disorganization is the cause of deviant behavior is considered generally accepted.
Rise social disorganization not necessarily related to the economic crisis or inflation. It can also be observed when high level migration, which leads to the destruction of social ties. Note that crime rates are always higher where there is high population migration. The theory of anomie was developed in the work of other sociologists. In particular, ideas about “social hoops” were formulated, i.e. the level of social (settled life) and moral (degree of religiosity) integration, the theory of structural tension, social investment, etc.
41.THEORIES OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
Structural strain theory explains many delinquency by personality frustration. Declining living standards, racial discrimination and many other phenomena can lead to deviant behavior. If a person does not occupy a strong position in society or cannot achieve his goals by legal means, then sooner or later he will experience disappointment, tension, he begins to feel inferior and may use deviant, illegal methods to achieve his goals.
The idea of social investing is simple and somewhat related to tension theory. The more effort a person has spent to achieve a certain position in society (education, qualifications, place of work and much more), the more he risks losing if he breaks the laws. An unemployed person has little to lose if he gets caught robbing a store. There are certain categories of degenerate people who specifically try to get into prison on the eve of winter (warmth, food). If a successful person decides to commit a crime, he usually steals huge sums, which, as it seems to him, justify the risk.
Attachment theory, differentiated communication. We all have a tendency to show sympathy, to feel affection for someone. In this case, we strive to ensure that these people form a good opinion of us. Such conformity helps maintain appreciation and respect for us and protects our reputation.
The theory of stigma, or labeling, -
this is the ability of influential groups in society to label certain social or national groups as deviants: representatives of certain nationalities, the homeless, etc. If a person is labeled as a deviant, then he begins to behave accordingly.
Proponents of this theory distinguish between primary (personal behavior that allows a person to be labeled a criminal) and secondary deviant behavior (behavior that is a reaction to the label).
The theory of integration was proposed by E. Durkheim, who compared the conditions of a traditional rural community and major cities. If people move around a lot, then social ties are weakened, many competing religions develop, which mutually weaken each other, etc.
42.CONTROL IN SOCIETY
Any society, for the purpose of self-preservation, establishes certain norms, rules of behavior and appropriate control over their implementation.
There are three main forms of control possible:
Isolation – excommunication from society for hardened criminals, up to and including the death penalty;
Isolation - limiting contacts, incomplete isolation, for example, a colony, a psychiatric hospital;
Rehabilitation – preparation for returning to normal life; rehabilitation of alcoholics, drug addicts, and juvenile offenders. Control can be formal or informal.
System of formal control - organizations created to protect order. We call them law enforcement. They have varying degrees of severity: tax inspectorate and tax police, police and riot police, courts, prisons, correctional labor colonies. Any society creates norms, rules, laws. For example, biblical commandments, rules traffic, criminal law, etc.
Informal control is unofficial social pressure from others, the press. Punishment through criticism and ostracism is possible; threat of physical harm.
Any society cannot function normally without a developed system of norms and rules that require each person to fulfill the requirements and responsibilities necessary for society. People in almost any society are controlled primarily through socialization in such a way that they perform most their social roles unconsciously, naturally, due to habits, customs, traditions and preferences.
In modern society, of course, for social control, rules and norms established at the level of primary social groups. A system of laws and punishments for violation of established requirements and rules of conduct is being formed on a society-wide scale, and group control is being applied. government agencies management on behalf of the entire society. When an individual is unwilling to follow the laws, society resorts to coercion.
The rules vary in severity, and any violation of them entails different penalties. There are norms-rules and norms-expectations. Norms-expectations are regulated by public opinion, morality; norms-rules are regulated by laws and law enforcement agencies. Hence the corresponding punishments. A norm-expectation can turn into a norm-rule, and vice versa.