SOCIAL AND STRUCTURAL DEPENDENCE OF EUROPEAN CULTURAL TRADITION

Background.The article is devoted to the issue of social representation of cultural traditions in terms of social and structural transformations, including the specifics of culture during the transition from caste to class society. The aim of the article is to highlight social and cultural correlates of historical transformation of European cultural tradition. Materials and methods. The study used the following methods: historical, structural and functional, comparative. Results. Attention is focused on differentiating the concepts of "social state" and "social class". The meaning of "feudalism" has been considered in details and clarified. It has been noted that the representatives of civilizational paradigm consider "feudal society" in the system of contrasting its to the "capitalist" one which includes both social and political, and economic meaning. Thus, this term is used mainly by the supporters of economic determinism. It has been proved that "Western" society has two main phases of social and structural development that meet caste-class and social class models. The basis of social class differentiation is inequality in mental and intellectual, values and moral culture, behaviors, social privileges system, not necessarily caused by economic inequality, while class society provides social inequalities associated with the institution of private property and division of labor. It has been clarified that economic criterion and inequality in ownership of the means of production is the basis of class differentiation. So, caste-class model of society should be considered as a historical type of social structure along with the ancient, "modern" and "postmodern" societies. The authors noted that the content of caste-class model of social structure is a clear view on the rights and responsibilities of people depending on their degree of belonging to a social hierarchy. Conclusion. By determining social and cultural determinant of Western cultural space it has been found that any system of values is mainly the product of group (class) interests.With the development of capitalism social class hierarchy will lose its significance while the social and class differentiation will stay. Moreover, under conditions of postmodern societies, as the majority of scientists say, we can observe leveling the established class contradictions, it means the class structure of society, due to the rapid post-industrial movement to gathering in mass.