RUDN journal of Sociology (Dec 2018)
CULTURAL INDUSTRIES: CLONING OF IDEAS AND MEANINGS
Abstract
Despite the obvious interest of the media to cultural industries, this specific segment of the intellectual market still remains outside the focus of sociological interest. For example, “products with subtext” deserve our close attention for they are responsible for the ideological consistency of the information society especially due to the fact that information technologies, having become part of the production chains of cultural industries, have significantly expanded the functions of education and leisure. The seemingly heterogeneous productions of ideas and meanings are quite similar and unified in the elaboration of the repertoire, creation of the cult of the hero of his time and the culture of consumption of information products. E. Morin mentioned that creative technologies possess the “ability to standardize great romantic themes, thus, transforming archetypes into stereotypes”. Under the widespread digitization of production, this process has gained unprecedented dynamics, scale, ideological orientation and material interest. The persisting dramas of the Cold War and the post-Soviet conflicts prove that the “smart power” of Russia’s opponents is quite effective. On the one hand, it consolidates the public opinion of other countries, and, on the other hand, deforms the political culture of the object of its influence by sophisticated manipulations of the world picture of the younger generations. Investors of cultural industries not only invest in the expansion of a profitable intellectual business but also serve the political reproduction of power, which, in turn, provides optimal conditions for the “dual-use products” entering foreign information fields and cultural spaces. Whether or not the Russian society is ready to neutralize and counter the new class of information threats - the authors consider this and some other debatable issues.
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