On the Problem of Studying the Wellbeing as a Cultural Phenomenon

he article takes on the problem of wellbeing as a phenomenon of culture. Before turning to the disclosure of the essence of wellbeing from the viewpoint of the cultural and philosophical approach, the article reveals the advantages and weaknesses of the linguistic and econo­mic approaches to the analysis of well­being. Therefore, the linguistic approach allows us to keep in the research focus the twofold essence of wellbeing, reflected in the two root linguistic nature of the word. Another strong point of the linguistic approach is the opportunity of retaining in the research focus the welfare not as an abstract idea, but as a phenomenon connec-
ted with the subject — the carrier of wellbeing. The weakness of linguistics is manifes­ted when it becomes necessary to interpret the wellbeing as a cultural phenomenon, i.e. when the wellbeing carrier is not an abstract subject, but a subject of culture. The posi­tive side of the economic approach is its concreteness, though expressed through pragmatism. The welfare, as an object of desire by a certain subject, appears for the economist only as a benefit. This circumstance becomes, within the framework of the economic approach, the watershed between beneficial and “unbeneficial” welfares, understanding by the former ones the income and profit — the value in economic terms. However, when it comes to the welfares whose value is determined by beyond-pragmatic cultural reasons, the econo­mic approach appears less adequate. Hence, the article states that to study the well­being as a universal and generic phenomenon from the field of culture, the most appropriate approach is the cultural and philosophical one. This approach considers the well­being as a state that shows perfection, ontological status, social character and universality. Its subject — the well­being carrier — is characterized by a person free from jealousy, desiring for order and morality. In the case of characterizing the elite through the wellbeing as a cultural phenomenon, the elite must be preoccupied not with its own wellbeing but with the wellbeing of the people it is destined to lead.

1. Gorushkina S.N. Uslugi uchrezhdenii kul’tury kak instrument realizatsii gosudarstvennoi kul’turnoi politiki [Services of Cultural Institutions as a Tool for Implementing State Cultural Policy], Cand. soc. sci. diss. 22.00.06. Moscow, 2011, 205 p.

2. Dolgin A.B. Ekonomika simvolicheskogo obmena [The Economics of Symbolic Exchange]. Moscow, INFRA-M Publ., 2006, 630 p.

3. Abankina T. Ekonomika zhelanii v sovremennoi “tsivilizatsii dosuga” [The Economics of Desire in the Modern “Civilization of Leisure”]. Available at: http://www.stranaoz. ru/2005/4/ekonomika-zhelaniy-v-sovremennoycivilizaciidosuga (accessed 26.10.2017).

4. Rubinshtein A.Ya., Muzychuk V.Yu. (eds). Kul’tura i rynok. Opekaemye blaga [Culture and Market. The Patronized Goods]. St. Petersburg, Aleteiya Publ., 2013, 400 p.

5. Reznik G.A., Akifyev I.V. Vliyanie kul’tury na formirovanie natsional’nogo blagosostoyaniya [The Influence of Culture on the National Welfare Formation], Vestnik Samarskogo gosudarstvennogo ekonomicheskogo universiteta [Bulletin of the Samara State University of Economics], 2012, no. 5 (91), pp. 84—89.

6. Rubinshtein, A.Ya. Opekaemye blaga: institutsional’nye transformatsii [The Patronized Goods: Institutional Transformations]. Moscow, Institut Ekonomiki RAN Publ., 2011, 42 p.

7. Ekonomika [Economics], Filosofskii slovar’ terminov i ponyatii [Philosophical Dictionary of Terms and Concepts]. Available at: http://www.phildic.ru/ekonomika (accessed 26.10.2017).

8. Borodai A.D. Kul’turnaya elita Rossii: opyt identifikatsii [The Cultural Elite of Russia: Experience in the Identification], Vestnik Kazanskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta kul’tury i iskusstv [Bulletin of the Kazan State University of Culture and Arts], 2012, no. 3—1, pp. 30—36.

9. Ashin G.K., Kravchenko S.A., Lozinsky E.D. Sotsiologiya politiki. Sravnitel’nyi analiz rossiiskikh i amerikanskikh politicheskikh realii [Sociology of Politics. The Comparative Analysis of Russian and American Political Realities]. Moscow, Ekzamen Publ., 2001, 608 p.

10. Shokhin V.K. Blago [Welfare], Novaya filosofskaya entsiklopediya. Elektronnaya biblioteka instituta filosofii RAN [New Philosophical Encyclopedia. The Electronic Library of the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences]. Available at: https://iphlib.ru/greenstone3/library/collection/newphilenc/ document/HASH01b7effd088db83f68128fb7 (accessed 26.10.2017).

11. Dobrokhotov A.L. Ontologiya [Ontology], Novaya filosofskaya entsiklopediya. Elektronnaya biblioteka instituta filosofii RAN [New Philosophical Encyclopedia. The Electronic Library of the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences]. Available at: https://iphlib.ru/greenstone3/library/collection/newphilenc/ document/HASH0155bae870519c2e6689cb55 (accessed 26.10.2017).

12. Sharman R. The Invention of Fine Art: Creating a Cultural Elite in a Marginal Community, Visual Anthropology, 2004, no. 17 (3—4), pp. 345—367.

13. Griffiths D., Miles A., Savage M. The End of the English Cultural Elite, The Sociological Review, 2008, vol. 56 (1), pp. 187—209.

14. Lazutkina E.V. Assotsiativnyi eksperiment po metodike A. Nazarova i R. Sokolova “Seriya tematicheskikh assotsiatsii” s vyrazheniem-stimulom “sovremennaya rossiiskaya kul’turnaya elita” v studencheskoi auditorii Sibirskogo federal’nogo universiteta [Associative Experiment by A. Nazarov and R. Sokolov’s Procedure “Series of Thematic Associations” with the Stimulus “Contemporary Russian Cultural Elite” among Students of the Siberian Federal University], Istoricheskaya i sotsial’noobrazovatel’naya mysl’ [Historical and Social-Educational Ideas], 2016, vol. 8, no. 5/1, pp. 183—192.

15. Ljunggren J. Elitist Egalitarianism: Negotiating Identity in the Norwegian Cultural Elite, Sociology, 2017, no. 51 (3), pp. 559—574.

16. Kitov Yu.V. K voprosu o napolnenii kul’turnykh interesov sovremennoi rossiiskoi elity [On the Filling of Cultural Interests of the Modern Russian Elite], Kul’tura v kontekste gumanitarnogo znaniya [Culture in the Context of the Humanities]. Moscow, 2007, pp. 69—79.

17. Petrova M.G. Kul’turnaya elita sovremennoi Rossii: problemy i perspektivy [Cultural Elite of Modern Russia: Problems and Prospects], Pro Nunc. Sovremennye politicheskie protsessy [Pro Nunc. Modern Political Processes], 2008, no. 1 (8), pp. 116—127.

18. Plato. Timei [Timaeus], Platon. Soch. v 3 t. T. 3, ch. 1 [Plato. Works in 3 volumes. Volume 3, part 1]. Moscow, Mysl’ Publ., 1971, pp. 457—541.

19. Bibikhin V.V. Blago [Welfare], Novaya filosofskaya entsiklopediya [New Philosophical Encyclopedia]. Moscow, Mysl’ Publ., 2001. Available at: www.psyoffice.ru/5-enc_ philosophy-147.htm (accessed 26.10.2017).