Values of cultural institutions - study of Tomsk mass media

The given article relies on the method ofcontent analysis of Tomsk mass media in order to identify the predominant values of cultural institutions. The latter comprise thetheatre, the cinema, the library, the museum, the sports institution and others. The objects of analysis are two patterns of values:paternalistic (conventional) pattern and activist (contemporary) pattern. The paternalistic (conventional) pattern may include such valuesas family, collectivity, traditions, discipline, custom, beneficence, solidarity, charity, authoritativeness and free-will. The activist(contemporary) pattern may include human life, freedom/independence, job/career, initiative, well-being, leadership, creativity,personality and innovation. ''Tradition'' has turned out to be the most frequently mentioned value. The semantic field of this value isrepresented in Tomsk mass media as the repetition of significant events in the life of the town, anniversaries, celebrations, i.e. assomething that has become a part of the region's history and culture as a whole. In terms of its significance ''tradition'' is followed by''innovation''. ''Innovation'' can be referred to as ''novelty, something completely different from customary and traditional''. The followingsemantic constructs have marked ''innovation'' as value: ''brand-new'', ''modernization'', ''cutting edge'' as well as a semantic construct''brand-new'' manifesting itself in such words as ''unfamiliar'', ''changed'', ''unusual'', etc. Tomsk mass media associate this value with theactivity of a person, community or organization undertaking something uncharacteristic of their previous activity. Predominance ofthese two values reflects two strategies of forming the image of Tomsk. The first strategy consists in the preservation and consolidationof the historical, cultural and architectural diversity of the town. The second strategy is conversion of Tomsk into a modern town with adeveloping innovative activity and modernization of all spheres of cultural, socio-economic and scientific life. However, representationof this value basically reflects the initial formal changes in the culture and the region as a whole. ''Innovation'' value is complemented byother values included into the activist pattern, such as human life, job/career, creativity, personality, initiative, freedom/independence,well-being and leadership. Thus, in total the activist cluster of values is more significant than the paternalistic one, which allows to makea conclusion about the formation of a definite image of a human capable of expressing personal attitude to the existing reality but not yetready to drastically renew it.

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