Russian culture in the context of the dynamics of economic strategies

The authors focus on the changing status of culture in the context of changing priorities in economic theories and social reality. The authors distinguish three main periods in the recent history of culture in Russia that allow to characterize sustainable trends in justification of dominant characteristics of culture in its relationship with the economy. The authors focus on the search for the basis of culture identification in the consumer paradigm. The article analyses the constructive and destructive effects of the “economy of impressions” and the economy of desires; the opportunities for using the resources of culture in the innovative development of the economy and global competition; the growth points and risk zones associated with the trend of “repackaging” culture in the cultural/creative industries. Realising that the growth of the symbolic component in the structure of both production and consumption in the creative economy is logical, the authors call for more cautious application of traditional mechanisms of economic growth stimulation in relation to culture, as this may lead to the exhaustion of the nation’s cultural capital, loss of cultural identity markers and intrinsic value.