THE ROLE OF MENTALITY IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIETY: SOCIOCULTURAL HYPOTHESIS

Nikolay I. Gubanov, Nikolay N. Gubanov

Nikolai I. Gubanov, DSc in Philosophy, Professor, Head of the Department of Philosophy and History, Tyumen State Medical University, Odessa St., 54, 625023 Tyumen, Russia. E-mail: gubanov48@mail.ru

Nikolay N. Gubanov, DSc in Philosophy, Associate Professor, N. E. Bauman Moscow State Technical University, 2nd Bauman St., 5/1, 105005 Moscow, Russia. E–mail: gubanovnn@mail.ru

Theory and history of culture

2017

Vol. 43

Pp. 38–51

October 10, 2016

March 15, 2017

008+130.2

60.55.2

Сategory of mentality has additional heuristic capabilities compared to traditional categories of the mental life. Firstly, it serves as an integral characteristic of the uniqueness of the man’s mental world, and secondly, ensures an understanding of the specific type of perception of the world by the subject, thirdly, explains the distinct way of subject’s activity — his behavior, communication, performance. Since mentality determines the mode of activity of a social group or an individuum, the human activity orientation and its specificity, mentality can be interpreted as a core of the group and personal culture, as well as a strategic cultural program of the subject. One of the basic clashes of society is a contradiction between mentality, containing new cultural forms, and the social relations. In the course of the individual cultural creativity development as a response to the multiple challenges of history, new mental characteristics are generated in the mentality of the intellectual elite`s representatives. They come up with innovative programs of human being activity — performance, behavior, communication. The new mental characteristics spread in society and become components of group mentalities. This accrued contradiction between the mass mentality and the old social relations generates a constructive tension; overcoming of the tension through the reproductive activity of subjects can establish more progressive social relations. Social inertia and conservatism are in turn intrinsic to the old elements of mentality.  They can obstruct the establishment of new social relations. Therefore, mentality is of contradictory nature, embodying the dual opposition of tradition and innovation. At the same time mentality is a stimulating factor of the social progress, and a factor that holds back excessively large and rapid social changes. There are many driving forces of the society development: changes in a way of material production, in the culture in general and in education in particular, in engineering, in science. But the most significant force, apparently, displays the changes in mentality that generate new forms of reproductive activity of the subject in the economic, political, social and mental spheres.

mentality; culture; history challenges; sociocultural tension; constructive tension; mentality functions; innovation and tradition.

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