Cultural space in online communities and virtual social networks

The paper examines the basic concepts of understanding the cultural space by A. Moles, P. Sorokin, A.S. Karmin, V.L. Benin and other scientists. The research reviews the problems of cultural understanding of network structures, societies, and online communities from the perspective of their opposition to the hierarchical structures. The main points of the social network theory of M. Castells, B. Wellman and other researchers are considered. A number of issues related to the cultural space functioning in a modern Internet environment are identified. The background of virtual social networks are presented; their current status and functionality are demonstrated; the history of their scientific analysis is described. Possible ways of developing the cultural space in a virtual environment are considered, and the promising research areas in this regard are determined. The latter include the studies on national and ethnic cultural space and their functioning in popular social networks.