Russian civilization experience in historical and culturological conceptualization

This paper provides a summary of experience in historical and culturological conceptualization of the Russian civilization phenomenon in the process of historical and cultural development. In the first section of this paper, the authors provide a methodological basis for the study, detailing its elements, such as culture typology, communicative theory of historic process, theories of modernization and theories of civilizations. Culture typology is used as a cognition method for understanding culture based on creation of an abstract culture model. To define topology, authors use dual opposition approach, distinguishing between “traditional culture” and “non-traditional culture”, and define each type of culture in qualitative terms. The communicative theory of historic process is defined by characteristics that describe two types of information certainty and models of behavior of an individual in the society typical for these types. As for modernization theories, the authors focus on the moment of transition from traditional culture to post-traditional culture. Theories of civilizations provide for qualitative characteristics of the Russian civilization. Based on the study findings, the authors develop a complete methodological model for understanding the Russian civilization in historical perspective. In the second section, the authors provide a summary of social and cultural development of the Russian civilization. The authors concentrate on key milestones of the Russian history to demonstrate historical and cultural impacts of the most significant events in the Russian civilization. The paper provides facts evidencing that the Russian culture pertains to traditional cultural type. The third section outlines key findings of the study. The authors come to a conclusion that the Russian culture is a core element of the Russian civilization. The Russian culture represents a specific type of traditional culture resistant to modernization processes, capable to regenerate the tradition following system transformations, enabling dynamic sustainability of the Russian civilization, creating a positive background for social and cultural development in historical perspective.