Profession of a culturologist in terms of the “Foundations of the state cultural policy”

Abstract

The state cultural policy in Russia is defined by the “Foundations of the state cultural policy”, approved by the decree of the President of the Russian Federation, 24 December 2014, and “Strategy of the state cultural policy for the period until 2030” approved by the decree of the Russian Government, 20 February 2016 No. 326-р. In light of these documents, which define culture as a factor of national security, the profession of a culturologist is gaining momentum. In this respect, there are two areas where the contribution of culturologists is of value: working towards the goals and objectives of the state cultural policy and expert evaluation of the results of this work. The first direction dictates the demand for culturologists in many areas of socio-cultural life, high among them, as it seems, is education, management of cultural institutions, and tourism. The second direction implies the need to establish expert councils at different levels for the evaluation of educational standards and curricula, various socio-cultural projects, the content of TV and radio programmes and other cultural products for their compliance with the goals and objectives of the state cultural policy. This and other types of expert work can be performed most productively only by expert culturologists. The author of the article suggests discussing the possibility of taking a number of practical measures, the implementation of which can positively affect national culture and, accordingly, raise the profile and demand for professional cultural scientists. These measure include making the discipline “cultural studies” compulsory in the state standards of higher education; developing the criteria for evaluating the performance of the education system such as compliance or noncompliance with the goals and objectives of the state cultural policy; appointing heads of cultural institutions, clubs and houses of culture from a pool of applicants with a relevant degree in cultural studies; introducing the position of a cultural expert for travel companies and agencies, clubs, houses and palaces of culture, parks of culture and rest. The author considers that the stated challenges may be resolved only if cultural studies embrace the human-centered dimension of culture. This indicates the need to develop a culturological theory based on anthropological principles.