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Abstract

Introduction

Due to the rapid development of new communication the rate of interchange of information technology in contemporary culture space is growing every day. This trend contributes to the processes globalization that are taking place at present, the active processes Interchange's value, artistic, philosophical attitudes between societies of different cultures. The elements lose its authentic meaning. In particular, there is a religious symbols, which is being rethought, even in their own cultural space. Based on this, seems interesting analysis of the influence of religion on modern fashion.

1. Theme urgency

Topicality topic due to the value that becomes fashion for the subject of modern mass culture. With no ethnic or regional boundaries, not recognizing the difference between the layers of society, fashion transforms the religious symbolism in the symbolism of popular culture, destroys the authentic substantive content of religious symbols, promotes the mixing of different religious traditions symbologies. Investigation of the internal logic of these processes, the elucidation cause-effect relationships, predicting further development religious symbols as part of arts and crafts popular in popular culture seems to us very relevant for modern religious studies. Also note that the everyday consciousness of the subject of modern mass culture does not distinguish between the sacred symbol of religious tradition and a decorative element that does not contain metatext. Accordingly, the current research, in our opinion, will study the features of the transformation of the original meanings religious symbolism in fashion, as a part of modern mass culture.

2. Goal and tasks of the research

The purpose of this work is to study the characteristics of mutual religious symbols and fashion in the context of modern mass culture. In this study, we believe it is necessary to perform the following tasks:

1. Analysis of the literature on the subject, to create a theoretical framework of research;

 2. The analysis of the phenomenon of fashion in contemporary popular culture;

3. Finding and identifying the causes and ways to use religious symbols in fashion, as a part of modern mass culture;

4. Carrying out practical research, using methods of interrogation, questioning and observation to investigate the transformation of the substantive content of religious symbols in the mind of the subject of contemporary Ukrainian culture.

5. Analysis of peculiarities of transformation of the original content under the influence of religious symbols in the context of fashion, as part of mass culture;


The object of research is the phenomenon of fashion in the context of modern mass culture.

The subject of the study is to analyze the interaction of religious symbols and fashion, as part of mass culture.

3. Hypothesis

In our view, under the influence of fashion there are processes such as the depersonalization of "mass man" profane religious symbols in popular culture, changing its original meaning to the simulacra ('images of what actually is not "- in the words of Jean Baudrillard [3]) that in general a negative impact on the culture, depriving her of the deep meanings.

4. Alleged scientific novelty

As part of the master plan to get the actual scientific results in the following areas:

1. Confirming the working hypothesis of the study

2. Getting the results of practical research

3. Creating a scheme of transformation of religious symbols in fashion, as a part of modern mass culture, based on the results of the study

5. Alleged practical significance

- Results of the study can be used for authoring training course for students majoring in religious studies or history 

- Results of the study can be used to further develop the topic;

6. Review of existing literature

Interest in the phenomenon of mass culture emerged among philosophers and scientists for a long time. That is why the study of popular culture are reflected in many studies, both domestic and foreign authors. Theme of fashion, as a part of popular culture also has many supporters among researchers around the world. However, it is worth noting that the phenomenon of transformation of religious symbols in the fashion has not yet been studied systematically. At the moment, this issue is reflected in the relatively small amount of work. 

The emergence of the term "popular culture" was first noted in the U.S.А. in 1939, but in the conventional sense, his culturological Max Horkheimer first used in his work "Art and Mass Culture" [61], in 1941. The phenomenon of mass culture as a culture of "mass society" is reflected in the works of Friedrich Nietzsche [41], Weber [21], Freud [55], K. Jung [57], E. Fromm [56], J. Bentham, F. Leavis [60], R. Williams[62], R. Hoggart. These authors considered the popular culture as a particular type of culture, which replaced (or replace) the traditional forms of popular culture. In the works of philosophers and scientists, "mass culture" is interpreted as the ultimate expression of spiritual bondage, the social mechanisms of exclusion and oppression of the human person. Particular attention should be paid to the Spanish thinker Ortega y Gasset [45], which is in the "Dehumanization of society," explained one of the most critical and radical concepts in relation to mass culture. The ideas of Ortega y Gasset in tune with the ideas of K. Mannheim [49], Hannah Arendt. 

An important milestone in the study of popular culture have become members of the Frankfurt school of philosophy M. Horkheimer [61], Adorno, W. Benjamin, Herbert Marcuse. In the treatment of T. Modleski, N. Van Zunena, D. J. Dyer popular culture uses the image of women, exploit it to achieve the commercial success of their products. Thus, the theory of feminism also gives a negative description of popular culture. In the matter of the phenomenon of mass culture, philosophers and scientists have no common opinion. The American sociologist D. White [49], for example, considers the first manifestations of popular culture battles of Roman gladiators. And according to the theory of A. Adorno [49], a prototype of popular culture should be regarded as a model of culture arose in England, XVII-XVIII centuries. Consideration of the social functions of popular culture is provided in the papers of J. Flier. 

The study of fashion, as part of mass culture was carried out in such foreign scientists and philosophers as R.Arnold, R. Barth [1], Berger [18], P. Bourdieu, I. Brenninkmeyer, T. Luckmann [18], M . Baudrillard [3], F. Braudel, T. Veblen [5], E. Viollet-de-Luc, F. Davis, A. Hoffman [26], S. Zeling [34], G. Simmel [35]. 

The works of such authors as John Bloomer [19], M. Mead, J. Moreno, Charles W. Morris, J. North, J. Raven, N. Smelser [52],  G. Tedzhfell, G. Tarde [11] reveal the process of institutionalization of fashion in contemporary culture. 

The study of religious symbols were such scholars as R. Guénon in the works "Symbols of the sacred science" and "Symbolism of the Cross", J. Kamberford, R. Kavedish, L. MacGregor, Umberto Eco, F. Goodman. Among the Russian authors who have devoted their work the study of popular culture, fashion and religious symbols can be called M. Lotman [39], EP Smolsky, T. Fetisov and V. Rudnev, V. Shestakov, G. Markov, and K. Teplitz, E. Shaginskuyu. 

Researchers fashion J. Basin [17], V. Bychenkova, V. Krasnov, B. Yerasov [33], VI Il'in [36], I. Kiloshenko [37], T. Kozlov, P. Lazarsfeld, V. Lyubimov [40], L. Orlov [44], L. Petrov [48], G. Rubinstein, Vladimir I. Tolstoy, M. Topalov, N. Frolov, L. Yatin, J. Alperin, P. Andreev, G. Andreev, E. Balabanova, I. Belousova. The researchers of religious symbols: V.Propp, A. Novikov, S. Lazutin, V. Sidelnikov, V. Hadrian-Peretz, V. Eremin, G. Kruglov. 

Of particular importance for the analysis of characters in the play mode research P. Sorokin, V. Bekhterev, A. Losev, K. Svasyana, E. Zazikinoy, G. Grinenko, E. Elbakyan, S. Medvedko, I. Monastery, G. Kutz [9].

7. Religious symbols in mass culture. Problem of the transformation of meanings

The phenomenon of mass culture emerged in the mid-twentieth century. The prerequisites for the emergence of mass culture can be regarded as historical processes, such as the democratization of culture, its industrialization, which created the mass production and mass consumption, respectively, urbanization as a process of concentration of population and economic growth processes in cities and massification as a process of active involvement in the mass of society. 

Mass culture

Image 1.
The formation of mass culture

Modern mass culture has the ability to replicate not only material but also spiritual values, and therefore actively operates mythological stories and characters to sustain interest in modern humans to their products. As an element of popular culture of the modern communicative space, fashion has the ability to manipulate the mass consciousness, to subjugate the aspirations and thoughts of the individual. Fashion, in spite of the variability of its surface, has a number of sustainable features: it is an integral part of post-industrial consumer society, an important part of modern culture, a means of nonverbal communication, relaying the inner personality of the individual. Interaction of fashion and religion in the modern communicative society influences the policy of religious denominations in the world, the process of the emergence of new religious movements and motivations of conversion in various religious traditions. Based on the position of the communicative philosophy, namely the relevance of the theories of J. Wilson and D. Sperber [14] and the communicative theory of Jürgen Habermas [12], we can conclude that the communicative nature of fashion, its a game and the character of the sign. If, according to the theory of relevance to distinguish between the informational and communicative intentions (in the first case, it is only the desire to say something, and the second device is a desire in an explicit form), we can say that fashion usually uses information intention. The use of religious symbols in fashion allows for communicative intention. In traditional society, such symbols are clearly expressing human identity, his affiliation with a religious tradition. However, the information gets value for the modern man, the traditional symbols of other cultures is often falsified, incomplete, and its perception of the surface to the subject of mass culture. That is why, using written signs, items of clothing and ornaments, religious symbols of other cultures to represent themselves in society, the subject is automatically transforms them authentic meaning making in the elements of style, the symbolism of popular culture, not only desakraliziruya it for themselves, but by passing such distorted interpretation later in society. Communicative space, according to the theory of relevance, structured primary and secondary communicative processes [14]. Secondary (or poslekommunikativnye) processes associated with the discussion and dissemination of information, first obtained in the primary process. Only the primary communication process is a success, which continues in the secondary processes. Fashion is based on the priority of the secondary processes. The activity of the secondary processes can fashion a means of mass effect, in particular means of mass distribution of counterfeit information. Serge Moscovici [10], Jurgen Habermas [12], the main problem of mass exposure through the media see the lack of dialogue between speaker and listener. Thus, the fashion, as an instrument of mass effect, contributes to the processes of desacralization religious symbols in public consciousness of subjects of contemporary culture. In the modern communicative space pattern of behavior and appearance is created virtually, as the image. This situation is analogous to that described by Jean Baudrillard, referring to the priority of the models on reality [4]. In today's world of fashion designs through the process of propagation is simulated reference groups. Models in magazines and TV ads are served not only as a thing of a certain size, color, texture, and a desired image of social status, interpersonal relationships. This situation creates a problem of "fashion to religion", when the motivation for conversion into a religious tradition are not internal spiritual factors, as a tribute to social and cultural trends. Thus, in the modern communicative space where processes are actively occurring inculturation, but there is a lack of dialogue between the source and receiver of a problem desakratsizatsii, substantial transformation of the religious symbolism in relation to its active use in the fashion and beauty. The consequences of such processes is the wide range of examples of superficial religiosity, conversion to a religious denomination in the fashion, depreciation and blending of sacred symbols of different traditions in modern society.

7.1. Fashion and person in mass culture. Their influence on each other.

Culture - this is an extremely complex and multifaceted phenomenon, which was formed throughout the history of mankind and of every nation, gaining new attributes, shapes, dimensions, etc. Each cultural epoch has its own special relationship to time. G. Tarde [11], exploring the different attitudes to time, in many cultures, the shared cultural epoch to the era of the custom, which still preferred, traditional, and the era of fashion, where the predominant thrust of the new [11]. The main difference between eras of fashion eras of the customary focus on the human era fashion solving urgent problems, different from the human custom of the era, which seeks to achieve long-term time-ideals. The history of mankind is the history of layers of different cultures to each other. "Wherever enters our mind - wrote Jaspers - we see people scattered, multiple attempts to unity and a predisposition to it, which is due to contact between people and cultures we see the development, carried out by layering different cultures during the conquest, which eliminates impressive in its effect mixing of peoples" [13]. These processes of mixing and layering not only gave rise to the majestic world culture, but also the phenomenon of mass culture, characteristic of the period, which began with the mid-twentieth century. Popular culture is a product of scientific and technological progress, which allowed replication of not only material but also spiritual values. In this regard, fashion has become an integral part of modern mass culture. According to Ukrainian researcher of fashion, G. Kutz [9], etymologically the word "fashion" in French "mode" comes from the Latin term "modus", meaning "measure, rule, regulation, way, way." Thus, many studies of fashion, it is treated as a tool for imitation, copying. However, with the advent of mass culture, fashion has become associated with the category does not follow, but with growing consumption, believing that artificially stimulates the rapid development of new modules (Werner Sombart [8], T. Veblen [5]). In our view, an urgent problem today is the loss of a sense of human reality of time, its value. Status of human popular culture can be expressed in words of Karl Jaspers [13]: "Man, as it were dissolved in what should be a means and not an end, not to mention a sense of ... Expanding its existence, he sacrifices his existence, in which it finds itself. " The phenomenon of fashion as well as possible can see the focus of "mass man" in its present, dissolved in time. Fashion, like science, seeks to overcome the time, but when it tries to find a stable, unchanging (V. Skoda), the fashion chops time, forcing people to forget about the past and future, drowned in his present. The life of modern man, in our opinion, in general, consists of three main components: the private, public, and the ideal - a model that exists only in the human imagination. Privacy, which is an achievement of democracy, is not only a heritage of civilization, but also risk. It was here that weakens self-control and self-observation for man by his actions and deeds. When in the course of its everyday life people all the time They reflect on their behavior, interaction with the environment, dreams to create your ideal image. Popular culture, which improves the mechanisms for a comprehensive simulation values, helps a person to substitute its own personality by artificial means, for example, using the tools of fashion.

Анимация: 9 кадров, количество циклов - бесконечное, 150 Кб
Image 2.
Depersonalization of "Mass  person" by fashion  in modern mass culture (animation  : 9  frames, 150 Кb)

Clothing and accessories, communications equipment, the way of entertainment - all this makes the image of the human simulacrum - a plausible likeness of what is actually there, as there is no real basis (J. Baudrillard [4]). Instead of realizing their ideal image in real time, "mass man" makes it virtually, that does not require much effort from him, does not provide for a long time and distance from the target to the result. Thus, mass culture, people always feel the need to maintain the viability of their image, and can not escape from its present, leaving the past and the future for the speculative model of the ideal of his life. These processes present a very negative impact on the progress of mankind in general. The standardization of mass culture leads to a leveling of its true value, because there is a general all "superficial, insignificant and indifferent" (K. Jaspers [13]), the development of intellectual and creative abilities of the person stopped, as if he ceases to be real - his experiences, feelings, emotions, and desires more associated not with any real people and virtual things and images. It should be noted that in addition to fashion, "separation" of a person from the real-time also contribute to such components of popular culture as advertising, media, Internet, etc. Thus, mass culture, in its fundamental basis is opposed to culture in its authentic sense of where cultural objects were intended to awaken thought and feelings of people care about them.

8. Conclusion

The use of religious symbols in fashion, as a part of modern mass culture and its transformation under the influence of fashion, changing the setup man receptive of popular culture in relation to the sacred religious symbols undoubtedly be of interest to researchers. 

The study was carried out: 

1. Analysis of a large volume of literature devoted to the themes of popular culture, fashion and religious symbols 

2. Preliminary analysis of the theoretical data 

3. Prepare questions for the practical study on.

Further efforts are aimed at carrying out such work: 

1.  Work with others in the literature sources on the topic of master's work 

2. Carrying out practical research by using survey methods, questionnaires and observation 

3. Development of the theory of transformation under the influence of religious symbols of fashion

4. Confirming the working hypothesis

This master's work is not completed yet. Final completion: December 2012. The full text of the work and materials on the topic can be obtained from the author or his head after this date.

                               An example of the use of religious symbols in a fashion

Пример использования религиозной символике в моде Пример использования религиозной символики в моде Пример использования религиозной символики в моде пример использования религиозной символики в моде Пример использования религиозной символики в моде пример использования религиозной символики в моде

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