Culturalism

In philosophy and sociology, culturalism (new humanism or Znaniecki's humanism) is the central importance of culture as an organizing force in human affairs.[1][2][3] It is also described as an ontological approach that seeks to eliminate simple binaries between seemingly opposing phenomena such as nature and culture.[4]

The concept was originally coined by the Polish-American philosopher and sociologist Florian Znaniecki in his book Cultural Reality (1919) in English and later translated into Polish as kulturalizm. Znaniecki had introduced a similar concept in earlier Polish language publications which he described as humanism (humanizm).[3]

Origins

Znaniecki's culturalism was based on philosophies and theories of Matthew Arnold (Culture and Anarchy), Friedrich Nietzsche (voluntarism), Henri Bergson (creative evolutionism), Wilhelm Dilthey (philosophy of life), William James, John Dewey (pragmatism) and Ferdinand C. Schiller (humanism).[5] He synthesized their theses and developed an original humanistic stance, which was first presented in Cultural Reality.[6]

Znaniecki's philosophy favored the advantages of rational, systematic knowledge.[7] He also attempted to reconcile the threads of the phenomenological and pragmatic views to counter naturalism.[7] Aside from naturalism,[3][8][9] Znaniecki was critical of a number of then-prevalent philosophical viewpoints: intellectualism,[10] idealism,[8] realism,[8] and rationalism.[3] He was also critical of irrationalism and intuitionism.[10] His criticisms became the bases of a new theoretical framework in the form of culturalism.[8][9][11]

Characteristics

Znaniecki's "culturalism" was an ontological and epistemological approach aiming to eliminate dualisms such as the belief that nature and culture are opposite realities.[9]

This approach allowed him to "define social phenomena in cultural terms".[1] Znaniecki was arguing for the importance of culture, noting that our culture shapes our view of the world and our thinking.[12] Znaniecki notes that while the world is composed of physical artifacts, we are not really capable of studying the physical world other than through the lenses of culture.[13]

Among the fundamental aspects of the philosophy of culturalism are two categories: value and action.[9] Elżbieta Hałas, who calls it an "antithesis to the intellectual dogmas of naturalism", identifies the following assumptions:[10]

"The subject-object dualism must be overcome and thought should be united with reality."
"Reality is not an absolute order but changes in a creative evolution."
"All images of the world are relative."
"It is false to oppose nature and culture or to subordinate culture to nature."
"Value is the most general category of the description of reality."

Znaniecki's philosophy of culturalism laid the foundation for his larger theoretical system, based around another concept of his, "humanistic coefficient."[14] Though originally a philosophical concept,[3] culturalism was further developed by Znaniecki to inform his sociological theories.[5]

Znaniecki's culturalism influenced modern sociological views of antipositivism and antinaturalism.[15]

References

Hałas (2010), p. 12.
Hałas (2010), p. 214.
Dulczewski (1984), pp. 186–187.
Freeman, Matthew (2016). Industrial Approaches to Media: A Methodological Gateway to Industry Studies. London: Springer. p. 133. ISBN 978-1-137-55175-7.
Hałas (2010), p. 51.
Ritzer, George (2004). Encyclopedia of Social Theory. London: SAGE Publications. p. 897. ISBN 978-1-4522-6546-9.
Hałas, Elżbieta (2010). Towards the World Culture Society: Florian Znaniecki's Culturalism. Peter Lang. p. 52. ISBN 978-3-631-59946-4.
Piotr Kawecki (1999). "Heroism and Intimacy of Post-modern Morality". In Bo Stråth; Nina Witoszek (eds.). The Postmodern Challenge: Perspectives East and West. Rodopi. pp. 129–130. ISBN 978-90-420-0755-0.
Hałas (2010), p. 21.
Hałas (2010), p. 52.
Sztompka (2002), pp. 52–53.
Dulczewski (1984), pp. 187–188.
Dulczewski (1984), p. 189.
Hałas (2010), pp. 55, 172.
Sztompka (2002), p. 2425.

Sources

Dulczewski, Zygmunt (1984). Florian Znaniecki: życie i dzieło (in Polish). Wydawnictwo Poznańskie. ISBN 978-83-210-0482-2.
Hałas, Elżbieta (2010). Towards the World Culture Society: Florian Znaniecki's Culturalism. Peter Lang. ISBN 978-3-631-59946-4.
Sztompka, Piotr (2002). Socjologia: Analiza społeczeństwa. Znak. ISBN 978-83-240-0218-4.

Culture
Outline
Sciences	Cultural anthropology Cultural astronomy Cultural ecology Cultural geography Cultural neuroscience Cultural studies Culturology Culture theory Security culture Neuroculture
Subfields	Bioculture Cross-cultural studies Cross-cultural communication Cross-cultural leadership Cross-cultural psychiatry Cross-cultural psychology Cultural analytics Cultural economics Cultural entomology Cultural history Cultural mapping Cultural mediation Cultural psychology Cultural values Culturomics Intercultural learning Intercultural relations Internet culture Philosophy of culture Popular culture studies Postcritique Semiotics of culture Sociology of culture Sound culture Theology of culture Transcultural nursing
Types	Constructed culture Dominant culture Folk culture High culture Individualistic culture Legal culture Low culture Microculture Official culture Political culture Civic Popular culture Urban Primitive culture Subculture Alternative culture list Super culture Vernacular culture Culture by location
Aspects	Acculturation Cultural appreciation Cultural appropriation Cultural area Cultural artifact Cultural baggage Cultural behavior Cultural bias Cultural capital Cross-cultural Cultural communication Cultural conflict Cultural cringe Cultural dissonance Cultural emphasis Cultural framework Cultural heritage Cultural icon Cultural identity Cultural industry Cultural invention Cultural landscape Cultural learning Cultural leveling Cultural memory Cultural pluralism Cultural practice Cultural property Cultural reproduction Cultural system Cultural technology Cultural universal Cultureme Enculturation High- and low-context cultures Interculturality Manuscript culture Material culture Non-material culture Organizational culture Print culture Protoculture Safety culture Technoculture Trans-cultural diffusion Transculturation Visual culture
Politics	Colonial mentality Consumer capitalism Cross cultural sensitivity Cultural assimilation Cultural attaché Cultural backwardness Cultural Bolshevism Cultural conservatism Cultural contracts Cultural deprivation Cultural diplomacy Cultural environmentalism Cultural exception Cultural feminism Cultural genocide Cultural globalization Cultural hegemony Cultural imperialism Cultural intelligence Cultural liberalism Cultural nationalism Cultural pessimism Cultural policy Cultural racism Cultural radicalism Cultural retention Cultural Revolution Cultural rights Cultural safety Cultural silence Cultural subsidy Cultural Zionism Culture change Culture minister Culture of fear Culture war Deculturalization Dominator culture Interculturalism Monoculturalism Multiculturalism Biculturalism Pluriculturalism Polyculturalism Transculturism
Religions	Buddhism Christianity Catholicism Cultural Christians Protestantism Role of Christianity in civilization Eastern Orthodoxy Mormonism Cultural Hindus Islam Cultural Muslims Judaism Sikhism
Related	Animal culture Archaeological culture Bennett scale Cannabis culture Circuit of culture Civilization Coffee culture Cross-cultural Cultural center Cultural competence Cultural critic Cultural determinism Cultural diversity Cultural encoding Cultural evolutionism Cultural homogenization Cultural institution Cultural jet lag Cultural lag Cultural literacy Cultural mosaic Cultural movement Cultural mulatto Cultural probe Cultural relativism Culture speculation Cultural tourism Pop-culture Cultural translation Cultural turn Cultural sensibility Culture and menstruation Culture and positive psychology Culture and social cognition Culture gap Culture hero Culture industry Culture shock Culturgen Children's culture Culturalism Cyberculture Death and culture Disability culture Deaf culture Emotions and culture Intercultural communication Intercultural competence Languaculture Living things in culture Media culture Oppositional culture Participatory culture Permission culture Rape culture Remix culture Tea culture Transformation of culture Urban culture Welfare culture Western culture
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Category

Culturalism

Origins

Characteristics

References

Sources

Further reading