Theories of Culture, Ways of Life and Identities

Historical overview of the notion of culture and etymological layers of its meaning. Critique of the concept of culture and basic kinds of its understanding and definitions. Culture as a way of life and habitus. Development of understanding of people's (folk) culture and traditional culture and folklore; divisions of culture to low, high, elite, mass, etc.; popular culture and subcultures. Diffusion and evolution of cultural traits; cultural relativism; patterns of culture; inculturation, acculturation; innovation and tradition; dynamics of culture; intercultural comparisons. Culture as a symbolic sphere. Sign, icon, symbol and symbolic communication. Semiological understanding of subjectivation processes. Socialization and inculturation. Body in culture. Initiation, liminality and dialectics of 'communitas' and 'structure' (Turner). Social organization and structure, social roles and statuses; interactions, social institutions. Individual, person and subject. Interpellation of an individual into the subject. Symbolic intractionism and system theory. Identification processes; individual and collective identifications. Comparison of the processes in identities formation in the past (ways of life and social stratification) and modern world (from subcultures to scenes), Nature and culture; systemic analysis of culture (culture as auto-poetic system). Mystification of the notion of culture; critique of the concept of culture. Construction of national and ethnic identities. Chauvinism, xenophobia and racism.