Tradition as a social factor

Introduction. The article examines tradition, a social phenomenon with a long history and great social significance that is currently not fully appreciated by Russian social science.

Purpose. To identify the essence of tradition as a cultural phenomenon, the features of its genesis, structure and social functions.

Theoretical foundations. In the social sciences and humanities, there are three basic approaches to the interpretation of tradition. The first approach can be described as functional. It involves considering tradition as a function of transmitting the values of a particular people or an entire civilization in the historical process. The second approach to the interpretation of tradition can be designated as subjective, due to the fact that here tradition is considered as a relation to the heritage of the ancestors. In this case, tradition is not the heritage itself, but the conviction of its value as a factor of public consciousness. The third approach is called the object approach, since tradition is understood here as a legacy of the past worthy of preservation and transmission to future generations. As applied to the analysis of modern social processes, the latter interpretation seems to be the most appropriate, since it correlates with the concept of "value", about which there is an acute debate in the modern world regarding the optimal structure of society.

Results and conclusions. Tradition is a social stereotype and a dynamic phenomenon. History is a process of the death of some social stereotypes and the emergence of others. In any society, one can single out the "core" – the primary tradition, which is the basis of society and determines the nature of all other elements of the system. It has a sacred character, gives meaning and organizes all other elements of culture. The primary tradition performs a semantic function in society, as well as the function of legitimizing political power. A complexly organized society may look like a set of traditions in which there is a primary tradition and secondary traditions as its variants. Tradition, in our opinion, is a legacy of the past that must be preserved in order to be passed on to future generations. The most important feature that distinguishes a tradition from a number of other cultural phenomena is its collective nature. Tradition is a dynamic phenomenon. History is the process of some social stereotypes dying out and others emerging. For this reason, it would be correct to consider traditions and innovations as social phenomena in their dialectical unity. Tradition is an exact analogy to the process of accumulation and transmission of experience by living organisms through genetic means. Since the process of tradition formation plays the same role in society as natural selection in nature, it is an object that has proven its value and the protection of the primary tradition of the social system is the key to the spiritual and physical survival of the people and the state.

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