The development of culture at the present stage briefly. Features of modern spiritual life in Russia

In Russia, the beginning of the 90s of the last century is characterized by an accelerated disintegration common culture USSR into individual national cultures, for which not only values common culture USSR, but also cultural traditions of each other. The sharp contrast between different national cultures led to an increase in cultural tension and caused the collapse of a single social cultural space.

culture modern Russia, organically connected with the previous periods of the country's history, found itself in a completely new political and economic situation, which radically changed many things, first of all - the relationship of culture with power. The state has ceased to dictate its requirements to culture, and culture has lost a guaranteed customer.

Since the common core disappeared cultural life as a centralized management system and a unified cultural policy, identifying ways to further cultural development became a matter of the society itself and the subject of sharp disagreements. The range of searches is extremely wide - from following Western models to an apology for isolationism. The absence of a unifying cultural idea is perceived by a part of society as a manifestation of a deep crisis in which Russian culture by the end of the 20th century. Others see cultural pluralism as the natural norm of a civilized society.

If, on the one hand, the elimination of ideological barriers created favorable opportunities for the development of spiritual culture, then, on the other hand, the economic crisis experienced by the country, the difficult transition to market relations, increased the danger of commercialization of culture, the loss of national features in the course of its further development. The spiritual sphere generally experienced in the mid-90s acute crisis. The desire to direct the country towards market development has led to the impossibility of the existence of individual areas of culture, objectively in need of state support.

At the same time, the division between the elite and mass forms culture, between the youth environment and the older generation. All these processes are unfolding against the backdrop of a rapid and sharp increase in uneven access to the consumption of not only material, but cultural goods.

For the above reasons, the first place in culture began to be occupied by the mass media, called the "fourth power".

In modern national culture uncombinable values ​​and orientations are strangely combined: collectivism, conciliarity and individualism, egoism, huge and often deliberately politicized and demonstrative apathy, statehood and anarchy, etc.

If it is quite obvious that one of the most important conditions for the renewal of society as a whole is the revival of culture, then specific movements along this path continue to be the subject of fierce discussions. In particular, the role of the state in the regulation of culture becomes a subject of dispute: should the state interfere in the affairs of culture, or will culture itself find means for its survival. Here, apparently, the following point of view has been formed: providing freedom to culture, the right to cultural identity, the state takes upon itself the development of strategic tasks of cultural construction and the responsibility for the protection of cultural and historical national heritage necessary financial support for cultural property. However, the specific implementation of these provisions continues to be questionable. The state, apparently, is not fully aware that culture cannot be farmed out to business, its support, including education, science, has great value to maintain the moral and mental health of the nation. Despite all the contradictory characteristics of the national culture, society cannot allow separation from its cultural heritage. A decaying culture is little adapted to transformations.

Various opinions are also expressed about the ways of developing culture in modern Russia. On the one hand, it is possible to strengthen cultural and political conservatism, as well as to stabilize the situation on the basis of ideas about Russia's identity and its special path in history. However, this is fraught with a return to the nationalization of culture. If in this case there will be automatic support for cultural heritage, traditional forms creativity, then, on the other hand, foreign influence on culture will inevitably be limited, which will greatly complicate any aesthetic innovations.

On the other hand, in the context of Russia's integration under outside influence into the world system of economy and culture and its transformation into a "province" in relation to global centers, it can lead to the dominance of alien tendencies in domestic culture, although the cultural life of society in this case will also be more stable account of the commercial self-regulation of culture.

In any case, the key problem remains the preservation of the original national culture, its international influence and the integration of cultural heritage into the life of society; integration of Russia into the system of universal culture as an equal participant in world artistic processes. Here, state intervention in the cultural life of the country is necessary, since only in the presence of institutional regulation it seems possible to fully use the cultural potential, radically reorient the state cultural policy, and ensure the accelerated development of the domestic cultural industry within the country.

Numerous and very contradictory tendencies are manifested in modern domestic culture, partially indicated above. In general, the current period of development of national culture is still transitional, although it can be stated that certain ways out of the cultural crisis have also been outlined.

In modern Russia, spiritual life is a reflection of the same processes that are taking place in other areas of social development.

Reformatting the economy into a market economy, updating social structures, restructuring the political system and complex relationships with the rest of the world - all this greatly affects the spirituality and culture of society.

What features characterize the spiritual life of modern Russia

In the Russian spiritual tradition, which was kept and cultivated during the times of the USSR, there was a priority of unselfishness and honesty. Working solely for money material goods, without moral incentives was considered an unworthy occupation. It was indecent to praise oneself, shout about one's achievements and good results in any area. In the current capitalist conditions, each person should present himself favorably in his resume as an excellent specialist, briefly and vividly reflect his professional successes. That is, it is more expensive to sell yourself.

Careerism, which at the time Soviet Union condemned, in our time is presented as the basis of the success of every person. And also the attitude to material motivation in work has changed. The pinnacle of prestige and success in modern society are those professions that can give a person the maximum profit. Such changes in the consciousness of society have a strong influence on all aspects of spiritual and cultural life.

Changing the cultural vector

In art there was a complete commercialization. The author creates a product, expecting only financial profit from it, and not setting the task of creating piece of art as it was before. The sphere of true art is moving further and further away from the perception of the masses. She becomes inaccessible to perception ordinary person because of its sophisticated aesthetics. Today, many people talk about the absence of the spiritual component of the modern generation of our citizens, about the influence of clichés of Western culture.

In the vast majority of cases, this is a true statement, because, thanks to globalization, the speed of dissemination of any information among a wide mass of people, so-called cultural universals are created, which are most often focused on an intellectually limited “connoisseur”. current culture in Russia is being reformatted due to changes in our society and under outside influence. The dynamics of cultural life in our country, as well as its instability, rapid changes in cultural landmarks create certain trends in spiritual values ​​in modern Russia.

What determines the trends of the spiritual life of modern society

The level of development of culture and spirituality of society can be determined:

  • by the volume of cultural values ​​created in it;
  • along the boundaries of their distribution;
  • according to how people perceive them.

One of key features development of cultural and spiritual life in our country is colossal social and cultural gap between the capital and big cities with the province, which should cause serious concern among politicians and scientists.

Constantly evaluate the level of cultural and spiritual changes is extremely important. Necessary know how many research institutes, universities, libraries, theaters, museums in the country etc. But quantity does not mean quality yet, it is necessary to control the saturation and content of the spiritual and cultural component in these institutions. That is evaluate quality scientific works, level of education, books and films. Taken together, these indicators reflect the very goal of cultural and spiritual education of society.

Dubious projects

It is required to take into account not only what has been created in the field of culture and spirituality, but also how society uses it. The most important criterion cultural dynamics is the achieved level of social equality of people, including in familiarizing a person with spiritual values.

Nowadays, the media deliberately try to direct people's attention to the problems of other states, while keeping silent about the catastrophic internal situation in the country. The Ministry of Culture of Russia often provides large financial support, to put it mildly, to dubious projects, ignoring the really necessary and important works. All this together in many cases leads to a split in society and destabilization of spirituality and culture.

Downward movement

Another important aspect of the development of society is considered opportunity necessary conditions for implementation creativity and talent. Today, the situation of the spiritual and cultural component in Russian society is rightfully assessed as catastrophic, because:

Such a depressing state in the cultural sphere of our country is primarily due to the inefficient distribution of finances, theft of funds in one form or another. The crisis state of the economy itself is already a secondary factor, since the crisis itself is a consequence of the inefficient work of the Cabinet of Ministers and the deliberate destruction of almost all sectors from industry to culture.

The socio-cultural sphere is financed on a residual basis, while allocating huge sums for pseudo-cultural events and projects.

With the allocation of funds by the Ministry The main task of the authorities is to make a profit rather than supporting culture in the country.

To cultivate spirituality in society, it is unacceptable to save on the development of culture as its commercialization is unacceptable. This leads to the impoverishment of the spirit of society and its degeneration as a civilization in the broadest sense.

Spiritual life in the 21st century in Russia - other features

Features of the spiritual life of modern society in Russia is also characterized by a sharp decline in the socio-economic status of ordinary cultural workers. A large number of specialists go to other areas, some leave the country.

In the modern so-called cultural and spiritual sphere, two directions have formed:

  • Lack of spirituality, hypocrisy and falsehood.
  • The manifestation of discontent and protest on almost any occasion.
  • The imposition of immoral, meaningless directions.

All this forms a soulless, intellectually limited society, which eventually begins to consider vulgarity and stupidity as the norm, while ridiculing nobility, honesty and decency.

Negative phenomena in the ROC

The spiritual cleansing of society has ceased, there is a slide into the abyss of ignorance and moral deformity. Those who are responsible for the creation and dissemination of spirituality and culture are in reality aloof from culture itself.

The church has become a kind of closed joint-stock company for the elect. Instead of bringing spirituality to people, she actually just earns money on faith. The Russian Orthodox Church is busy obtaining ownership of land and architectural monuments, and is increasing its capital.

Classical culture is being replaced by a Western surrogate based on the humiliation of those who have a low social status and admiration for those who are rich. In fact, spirituality, humanity is replaced by the cult of money. The personality itself is not important, the main thing is getting benefits.

Revival as the main task

rebirth classical culture is the most important task for society both in Russia and in the rest of the world. Lack of spirituality is the problem of all mankind, which in our days has almost all turned into ordinary consumers of one type or another of the product. Necessary preserve and revive the classical and folk cultural heritage left to us by our ancestors, in which universal human values ​​are dominant. Honor, kindness, honesty and decency are some of the classic spiritual and cultural components.

In modern Russia, spirituality is degrading, belittling and distorting the merits of people who lived in Soviet time. Achievements Soviet society, be it colossal industrial, construction or cultural achievements, they try to either hush up or declare them a failure. This happens for various reasons, one of which is the limited knowledge and critical thinking.

there is hope

Despite the fact that the state of spiritual and cultural life in modern Russia can be called catastrophic, there is still hope for its revival. Against the backdrop of the total dominance of our media and Internet space by a Western surrogate of culture (low-grade films, meaningless performances and exhibitions, programs that broadcast stupidity to society), a person’s need for a real, true spiritual culture is increasingly manifesting. The very terms spirituality and culture are again acquiring the meaning that was originally laid down in them.

Most of society was fed up with the mediocre culture that they tried to replace our classical spirituality. There is a renewed interest in own history, culture, literature, national traditions. Universities and schools are beginning to pay more and more attention to this area, students and schoolchildren study in comparative tables history, writing term papers and essays on the spiritual life of Russia in the past, present and future.

What phenomena characterize modern Russian culture - conclusions

A person of the 21st century cannot be outside of culture and spirituality, just like society as a whole. After all, spirituality is that area in the life of society that is associated with the creation and dissemination of spiritual and cultural values ​​and the satisfaction of spiritual needs of a person.

The following factors, which are contradictory, can be attributed to the features of spiritual development in the 21st century in Russia:

  • The internationalization of culture, which can more accurately be called ersatz culture.
  • The removal of censorship, in which it is allowed to say and show whatever the author wants.
  • Growing interest in the origins of spirituality.
  • Search for real cultural trends in society.

What do we have to do

I would like to hope that the Ministry of Education will realize its mistakes and blunders made in the nineties and zero, when an attempt was made to abandon its spiritual and cultural origins, replacing them with the so-called progressive Western novelty. While educational material was massively replaced by a new one, the basis of which were texts created at the expense of the Soros Foundation.

It should be understood that without a foundation consisting of spirituality and culture, inherited from our ancestors, the further development of society is impossible. It is necessary to reject pseudo-cultural Western values, to revive and spread true spirituality in society. At the same time, it is necessary to lay a new cultural and spiritual component in society, based on morality, art, science and religion.

culture in modern society is experiencing a state defined by the vast majority of researchers as "crisis", "critical", "borderline", "threshold" or "interepochal". The overflow of the epistemological space with such a number of synonyms in modern science testifies to strenuous attempts to comprehend the socio-cultural process in post-Soviet Russia. On the one hand, modern culture is influenced by the socio-political and socio-economic mechanisms that are being formed today in society. On the other hand, culture itself has a significant impact on them, thus acting as a kind of catalyst for the social process. Such a situation is considered in modern science as a "transitional type of culture", when the cultural situation goes beyond the boundaries of the previous qualitative state ("culture type"), but still does not reach the integrity of a new type and another system level.

The modern stage of rethinking cultural values ​​and further fate cultures of Russia largely depend on its spiritual state, social and citizenship every Russian, as well as from the development of the wealth of domestic and world culture. Therefore, the current cultural situation in our country cannot be assessed unambiguously and categorically, since, firstly, it is extremely complex and contradictory, and secondly, the depth and scale of the changes taking place in it are still not clear enough.

To date, scientists identify the following most obvious problems of culture in modern Russia.

  • 1. Erosion of the spiritual identity of Russian culture, which leads to the unification of customs, traditions and way of life (especially the urban population) according to foreign models. The result of mass replication of the Western way of life and behavior patterns is the standardization of cultural needs, the loss of national and cultural identity and the destruction of cultural identity.
  • 2. De-ideologization of culture and elimination of the state monopoly on culture. In terms of content, this led, on the one hand, to greater freedom of creativity and freedom of choice in the field of culture, on the other hand, to a loss of control over the quality and level of cultural products offered to the consumer. All this ultimately hinders the normal process of interaction between culture and society.
  • 3. Commercialization of culture. Currently, this process is one-sided: Russia's rich prefer to invest in the entertainment industry (this is still a highly profitable area). At the same time, institutions such as educational institutions, museums, theaters, libraries, classical art are not of commercial interest, they are experiencing difficulties due to lack of funding. This leads to a crisis of these institutions. In this situation, the younger generation, which is increasingly moving away from spiritual culture, is of particular concern, since the discrepancy between the declared priority of universal human values ​​and real life leads to the destruction of moral foundations and legal nihilism.

Note!

Nihilism (from lat. nihil- negation) as a social phenomenon expresses the negative attitude of the subject (group, class) to certain values, norms, views, ideals, individual, and sometimes all aspects of human existence.

  • 4. Growing interest in national cultures. This leads to the formation of respect for them, but at the same time, an increase in attention to national cultures is often used in their own selfish interests. political elites leading to the destabilization of the social and state structure and order in society.
  • 5. Cultural and communicative apathy of the population, which leads to a weakening of interest in reading in favor of visual, spectacular forms (primarily television), a drop in attendance at theaters, museums, and libraries.
  • 6. The problem of the state of the Russian language, which is considered as an indicator of culture. Scientists note that today in the Russian language there have been negative changes that have led to a decrease in the level of literacy, to the spread of foreign words, to the widespread use of foul language in everyday speech.
  • 7. Influence of globalization processes on Russian culture in the conditions of economic and political changes in the life of Russian society. On the one hand, the ego leads to the development of intercultural exchange and interaction, on the other hand, it creates a threat of destruction of national cultures, which causes a response in the defense of one's own culture, stimulates interest in the past of culture, its origins, and dominants.

In the modern cultural life of Russia, the younger generation is responsible for the preservation and development of national cultural traditions and values, as well as for the civilized integration of Russia into the world community and cultural space. Therefore, the development of a methodology for cultural policy and the development of mechanisms adequate to it, with clearly defined priorities, as well as increased attention to the relevant key problems of the formation of culture in modern Russia, are of particular relevance.

It is worth noting today the positive factors in the development of Russian culture:

  • 1) the number of types and forms has expanded artistic creativity, as well as enriched the range of cultural undertakings through the development of various kinds public associations, movements, clubs and associations;
  • 2) domestic cultural exchange has become richer;
  • 3) the feeling of cultural isolation disappeared;
  • 4) in galleries, museums, exhibitions returned many artistic values, previously unfairly consigned to oblivion;
  • 5) the huge humanitarian potential of Russian culture – philosophical, cultural, sociological, psychological, economic thought – is in demand and in many respects is being re-acquired;
  • 6) the use of specific and targeted support for various initiatives, carried out in the form of targeted programs.

Such programs include the following.

  • 1. Target programs federal character:
    • – "Formation, restoration, preservation and effective use of museum funds";
    • - "Support for young talents in the field of culture and art";
    • - "Preservation and development of national cultures of the peoples of Russia, interethnic cultural cooperation."
  • 2. Target programs regional character:
    • - for example, "Development of culture and tourism in the Bryansk region" (2014-2020).
  • 3. Target programs municipal character:
    • - for example, "Development and preservation of culture and art in the city of Bryansk" (2013-2017).

Studying the place and role of culture in public life, the laws of its development has a large practical value. IN modern conditions becomes clearly visible: it is impossible to carry out economic and political programs excluding cultural level population. In other words, raising the cultural level is a necessary prerequisite for socio-economic growth.

The processes of cultural development are not interrupted by the decay state structures and fall political regimes. culture new Russia was organically connected with all previous periods of the country's history and at the same time experienced the impact of a new political and economic situation.

The relationship between culture and power has changed radically. The state stopped dictating its requirements to her, and she lost her “guaranteed customer”. The common core of cultural life has disappeared - the centralized control system; the ideological principles on which the unified cultural policy was based were destroyed. Determining the paths for further development has become the business of the society itself and the subject of heated discussions. Some perceive the absence of a unifying socio-cultural idea as a manifestation of a deep crisis in which Russian culture found itself by the end of the 20th century. Others see cultural pluralism as the natural norm of a civilized society.

The collapse of the USSR and the collapse of the communist system led to the breaking of the habitual foundations of life for millions of people. Moral guidelines and moral norms were blurred. With the disappearance of official ideology, an ideological vacuum has formed. The Russian Orthodox Church launched an active work in the field of education, upbringing and culture.

The state cultural policy in post-Soviet Russia is aimed at solving a national problem - the preservation and accumulation of the country's cultural potential and ensuring the continuity of traditions. The state strives to support the education system, Scientific research, various currents and directions in artistic life cities and villages, the center and the province, as well as to ensure the availability of educational and cultural institutions. The new concept of cultural policy is the basis of the federal targeted programs for the preservation and development of culture and art, adopted in 1993 and 1997 and given the status of presidential programs. In addition to them, similar regional programs. In 1996, the Council for Culture and Art under the President of the Russian Federation was formed. It was supposed to become an advisory body that would inform the head of state about the state of affairs in the field of culture and art and take part in the discussion of state policy in this area and conduct an examination of draft laws. Throughout the 90s. a new legal framework for activities in the field of culture was created. Federal program “Culture of Russia. 2001-2005" in accordance with the priorities of state policy, it included three subprograms - "Development of culture and preservation of cultural heritage", "Archives of Russia" and "Cinematography of Russia". In the Federal program 2006-2011. the task of preserving cultural heritage was also in the first place. significant place was given to the formation of a single cultural space and the creation of conditions to ensure equal access to cultural values ​​and information resources various groups citizens. The question of adapting cultural institutions to market conditions was still acute. It is no coincidence that this task is included in the program as one of the main ones. Even under the conditions of political and economic stabilization, less budgetary funds were allocated for culture than was planned in the Federal Program. In 2011, the development of a new federal program"Culture of Russia" for 2012-2016

Average. Federal and regional programs were financed only by 65-70% of what was planned, therefore, they were not fully implemented. The Council under the President played the role of a "decorative and advisory" body rather than an advisory one. Gradually, its functions were reduced to awarding state prizes in the field of literature and art.

The economic reform of 1992, aimed at the transition to a market economy, caused tangible damage to the socio-cultural sphere. State funding for culture began to decline: from 81% in 1993 to 60% in 1997 of the 1991 level. From 1985 to 1995, budget funding for science decreased 15-18 times in comparable prices.

A sharp reduction in state funding for science, public education, cultural and educational institutions and, as a result, delays in payment wages led to the impoverishment of workers in these industries. The most active part of the specialists changed jobs. By 1996, the number of people employed in research institutes has decreased in comparison with 1990 by more than 2 times. The "scientific brain drain" abroad for the year amounted to 3.5 thousand people. In 1995/96 academic year Russian schools lacked 13,500 teachers.

Under these conditions, cultural institutions had to look for alternative sources of funding. A system of paid education emerged. Funds for financing scientific and research projects, state scientific foundations (RFBR, RGNF), as well as Russian branches of foreign foundations are open. Sponsorship appeared - financing commercial structures cultural organizations or events. Many cultural institutions have themselves engaged in commercial activities.

Despite the transition to a multi-channel system of financing and the reduction of public spending, budget funds continue to be the main source in the field of education, science and culture in general. Privatization in the sphere of culture affected, first of all, the production of goods and servants - handicraft enterprises, the printing industry, cultural and leisure centers. Most rapidly private enterprise mastered areas that bring profit - show business, gallery business, distribution of audio and video products, publishing.

In difficult material conditions most scientific institutes, universities, theaters, musical groups managed to survive. Moreover, new scientific institutes, universities, academies, museums, film studios, theaters, concert halls, orchestras. So, in St. Petersburg, to the three existing state symphony orchestras in 1992-1993 added six new ones. From 1990 to 1997 more than 500 museums were opened in the country. The number of scientific institutions increased over this period by 40%.

Far from all institutions of culture and science registered in the first half of the 1990s were destined for a long life. Many of them failed to secure sustainable funding and were closed.

There was a sharp decline in film production, especially noticeable after the rise of previous years. If in 1985 86 were released feature films, then in 1991 - 375, and in 1996 - only 30. The critical state of domestic film production led to the adoption in 1996 of the Law "On State Support for Cinematography". Although the measures envisaged by him were not fully implemented, the revival of domestic cinema began.

Decentralization of cultural management has led to the revitalization of cultural life Russian province. Many cities have become venues for major scientific conferences, various festivals and holidays of folk art, exhibitions of fine arts.

Much has been done to preserve the cultural heritage. returned historical names many Russian cities and streets renamed over the years Soviet power. New museums of historical and local lore profile have been created. A significant contribution to the restoration of monuments of religious architecture is made by the Russian Orthodox Church, to which the previously closed churches and monasteries were transferred. The most valuable objects belonging to the national heritage, such as the cathedrals of the Moscow Kremlin, are used jointly by the state and the church. The most valuable collections of icons remained in the expositions of state museums.

Improvement of the economic situation of the country in the 2000s. allowed to expand work on the restoration of cultural monuments. For the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg, museum and park complexes of the city were restored. In Moscow, after reconstruction, the Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve was opened in 2007, in 2011 - Grand Theatre And Big hall Moscow Conservatory.

Cultural space does not disappear with the collapse of states and political regimes. It has a certain stability and continues to develop in new conditions.

The modern culture of Russia is organically connected with all previous periods of the history of our country.

At present, the relationship between power and culture has changed. The party-state dictate has gone, the unified system of culture management has disappeared, and many cultural processes are now developing autonomously (Table 25.2).

The state in post-Soviet Russia assumed the functions of preserving and accumulating cultural potential, supporting the system of education and sciences, as well as ensuring the availability of educational and cultural institutions. However, funds for this are sorely lacking, which leads to the commercialization and Westernization of culture.

Table 25.2

Culture of modern Russia

Peculiarities :

  • changing the relationship between power and culture;
  • lack of censorship and party-state diktat

Education

A combination of state and non-state forms of education.

Adoption of the RF Law "On Education" (1992).

Start of educational reform (since 2000)

A difficult situation due to a sharp reduction in public funding.

Awarding the Nobel Prize to Russian scientists (2000 - Zh. I. Alferov, 2003 - A. A. Abrikosov and V. L. Ginzburg). Brain drain abroad

11printing and bookmaking

Adaptation to market conditions. Full satisfaction of people's needs in printed products

Literature

Postmodernism (S. Sokolov, V. Pelevin, D. Galkovsky and others). Realism (V. Astafiev, B. Vasiliev, G. Baklanov and others). Historical and publicistic works (A. Solzhenitsyn, V. Kozhinov, etc.)

Cinema

Crisis of national cinema. Gradual revival of the film industry (election in 1998 of II. S. Mikhalkov as chairman of the Union of Cinematographers of the Russian Federation)

Education. During the period of change, education managed to maintain stability and to some extent adapt to new conditions. In 1992, the Law of the Russian Federation "On Education" was adopted, which consolidated humanistic principles. The network of educational institutions became diverse, where, along with ordinary general education schools, gymnasiums, lyceums, colleges, and private schools were actively functioning.

Since 2000, a new educational reform has begun, officially called the modernization of the education system. It provided, first of all, the introduction of a unified state exam in basic subjects school curriculum for graduates, based on the results of which enrollment in universities was made on a competitive basis.

In 2003, Russia joined the so-called Bologna process, which provides for the creation of a single European space in the system of higher professional education, where the main principles are two-level education (bachelor - master), European system credit units (credits), academic mobility of students and teachers.

On September 1, 2013, the new Federal Law "On Education in the Russian Federation" came into force, which regulates not only managerial and financial and economic relations in the field of education, but also the content of the latter (including

to educational programs and standards), and also prescribes in more detail the rights and responsibilities of participants in the educational process. According to this federal law education is divided into general, vocational, additional education and vocational training. Concept changed higher education. Its system now includes not only bachelor's, specialist's and master's degrees, but also postgraduate professional education- training of highly qualified personnel.

The science. Russian science continues to be in difficult situation in connection with the reduction of state funding and low wages. Talented scientists who are not in demand at home go abroad. Scientists are supported by research grants from various (mainly foreign) foundations.

Of the outstanding scientific events, it is worth noting the award Nobel Prizes in physics by Russian scientists Zh. I. Alferov for 2000 and A. A. Abrikosov, V. L. Ginzburg for 2003.

Publishing and mass media. Of all the spheres of culture, printing and book publishing most successfully fit into market relations. The transition to the market eliminated the shortage of paper, and the most diverse products (sometimes of low artistic quality) filled the bookshelves.

In the absence of censorship, the media, both newspaper and electronic, are also developing dynamically, creating a huge advertising space for their activities. In 1994, the first non-state channel, NTV, began working on television.

Literature. Literature is characterized by the presence of different genres, but postmodernism prevails (V. Erofeev "Moscow-Petushki", S. Sokolov "School of Fools", which appeared before the early 1990s). From modern Russian writers these tendencies are reflected in the works of V. Pelevin, D. Galkovsky, Yu. Buid, V. Pietsukh and others.

Writers of the realistic direction continued to work successfully: V. Astafiev ("Cursed and Killed"), B. Vasiliev ("Deaf"), G. Baklanov ("The Own Man").

Major historical and documentary studies "The Red Wheel" and "Two Hundred Years Together" were published by AI Solzhenitsyn.

Cinema. Hard times experienced domestic cinema. Reduction state support almost killed Russian cinema. The screen filled with Hollywood productions, usually of low quality. From the second half of the 1990s. the situation has somewhat improved. The production of domestic art paintings, festival life became more active, the Moscow International Film Festival began to be held annually, festivals in Sochi and Vyborg became traditional. The greatest interest of the audience was caused by the film by N. Mikhalkov "The Barber of Siberia" (1999), "Secrets palace coups"S. Druzhinina (2000-2003).

Since 1998, the Union of Cinematographers has headed II. S. Mikhalkov, who proposed a program to bring cinema out of the crisis.

Thus, the development of cultural processes in modern Russia is controversial character. On the one hand, this is complete freedom of expression for the creative intelligentsia, and on the other hand, difficult conditions for existence in market conditions with insufficient financial assistance from state structures.