Russian Culture -- Global Culture Series

Author: Yao Hai
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-01
Features: Russia's unique geographical conditions and history have led to the diversity of its cultural components. The gradual formation of this multicultural society has been a process of contradiction and mutual penetration between the traditional national culture and foreign heterogeneous cultures. Particularly since modern times, cultural conflicts, competitions, compromises, and integrations have been the fundamental characteristics and main content of Russia's cultural development process. Russia's Westernization demonstrates a relatively backward country's strong desire to shorten the gap with advanced nations and catch up with global trends, with the means being to learn from the West and introduce more advanced heterogeneous cultures. The large-scale entry of Western culture has led to widespread cultural divisions. In the modern Russian cultural process, the dual nature of the Tsarist regime's policies deserves attention. The Tsarist regime both advocated Westernization and made every effort to limit this process. Another feature of modern Russian cultural development has been that for a long time, new European cultures had a distinct upper-class character, while traditional patriarchal cultures influenced the majority of the population—primarily farmers. The process of Westernization led to a cultural separation between the upper and lower classes, widening the gap between them. This cultural separation and opposition between the upper and lower classes added a dramatic element to Russia's progress. The broader context of the modern Russian cultural process is Russia's development on the path of Westernization, which represents Russia's historical choice to turn toward the West, catch up with global trends, and aspire to become a strong nation in Europe and the world. Despite numerous twists and even reversals, the Westernization policy established by Peter the Great has dominated the modern Russian historical process. Russia and the West—this has been the core issue of Russian thought since modern times. Russian history shows that as long as it lags behind the West, it needs to learn from the West and introduce elements from Western culture that can strengthen itself. Meanwhile, the Russian society's in judging the values of Western and Russian cultures will not disappear and will inevitably be fully reflected in social thought and social movements.