Anna Matuchniak-Krasuska

Department of Sociology of Art

University of Łódź

Culture and Society

1. Culture as a sociological issue

1.1. Definitions of culture

This presentation of concepts and definitions of culture is based on

the works of famous polish sociologist Antonina Kłoskowska. The term “cul-
ture” itself has a positive connotation in all languages, as well as the adverb
“cultural”. The  word “culture” derives from the  Latin word colere – cul-
tivation, used always with an attribute, e.g. “the culture of grapevine” or
“the culture of corn”. The first person to use the term in its metaphorical
sense was Cicero, who in his Tusculan Theses called philosophy the  cul-
ture of the spiritual life. Culture was identified with harmony, work, value
and contrasted with nature associated with chaos and the wild. The cul-
ture helped to satisfy human needs to a greater extent. At the same time,
the term culture was linked with the term “cult”, that is an activity directed
to gods and ancestors. Human nature in philosophy and anthropology is
defined by cultural implications; man is the creator and the receiver of cul-
ture. Different aspects of this concept were emphasised in numerous theo-
ries: human as a social being (Aristotle, Marx), as a “working being” using
tools – homo faber, as a rational being – homo sapiens, as a being capable of
symbolising – homo symbolicus (Cassier).
234 Anna Matuchniak-Krasuska

There are two main kinds of definitions of the term “culture”:

–– the full/large one, called the “anthropological approach”, according
to which all human activities are cultural, in the  same sense as art, mu-
sic, literature, language, customs, religion, food, houses, furniture, weap-
ons etc.;
–– the limited one, in which only intellectual, moral and aesthetic as-
pects of human activity can be called cultural.
The limited definition is more popular with the common people but
for the scientific societies the full one is more appropriate. More than hun-
dred definitions of culture were studied by A. Kroeber and C. Kluckholn,
who presented us with a useful typology of six kinds of definitions of “cul-
ture”: enumerative, historical, psychological, genetic, normative, structural.
The first kind, the enumerative definitions, don’t meet the needs of sci-
entific usefulness, are inadequate (too shallow), because it’s impossible to list
all the spheres and elements of culture and furthermore – it is not efficient.
As an example, a definition by E. Tylor, an evolutionist, can be presented.
His definition combines elements of enumeration with anthropological con-
clusions: “Culture or civilisation is a complex entirety, encompassing knowl-
edge, beliefs, art, law, morality, customs and all types of other abilities and
habits aquired by a member of a society”1 (Kłoskowska, 1964, p. 21).
Historical definitions characterize culture with the use of key concepts
such as tradition, collective output, heritage, accumulation. The issues of
diffusion of culture, that is its transmission in time and space were ex-
amined by one of the fathers of Polish sociology, Stefan Czarnowski, who
claims that “Culture is the entirety of objectivised elements of social output
of groups of the same rank by virtue of their objectivity, set and capable of
spreading”. (Czarnowski, 1956, p. 2). “Objectivisation”, the key term in
the definition, means the existence of cultural entity in its material form,
available for the receiver. According to this interpretation, the division be-
tween material culture and spiritual one seems pointless. Spiritual culture,
such as religion, art, music, literature cannot exist without their material
carriers such as temples, liturgical objects, paintings, musical scores, re-
cords, copies of books. At the same time, material culture such as archi-
tecture, tools, various consumer goods cannot come into being without

1  All quatations translated by Anna Matuchniak-Krasuska.

 Culture and Society 235

spiritual background, such as planning, designing, creating a  recipe for

a given product. Cultural censorship, both in the time of Inquisition and
during Communist regime, was characterized by persecution and destruc-
tion of cultural objects such as books (later also copies of movies and other
data carriers) as well as prohibition to obtain, possess, read or watch. Index-
es of forbidden books allowed the existence of one or few copies in special
library magazines closed to public. Anti-communist movies were not per-
mitted for mass distribution and had been lying on the archive shelves for
years, gaining a special name of “shelvers” (Polish – półkownik).2
Psychological definitions concentrate on socialization and aculturation
of the individual, that is introducing the individual into culture, its norms,
patterns, models, values. Transmission of culture and learning it are matters
that border on sociology and psychology. All material elements of culture
being the products of humans, and also creations of nature that surround
us (mountains, rivers, territories and landscapes) were called “correlatives”
of culture by Stanisław Ossowski, who reserved defining elements of culture
for “attitudes and dispositions towards a  definite reaction to correlatives
of culture”. Culture had in his view only a spiritual, that is consciousness
related dimension, although, obviously, it was accompanied by the already
mentioned material correlatives (Ossowski, 1966). Transmission of culture
requires at the same time a transfer of the material object: a tool, a work
of art, and appropriate attitudes towards those objects. Lack of informa-
tion about specifications of a lace can cause its negative evaluation as just
a fabric full of holes. The history of culture is full of similar examples of
an unorthodox evaluation or usage of an object. This problem applies to
intergenerational transmission as well as to intercultural diffusion.
Structural definitions, in other words distributive definitions, are
devoted to the  variety of cultures and the  character of each culture on
the whole. This approach is typical for the famous anthropological school
of Franz Boas, also called “the school of culture and personality”, to which
other well – known researchers belonged, e.g. Ruth Benedict (renowned

2  It is a pun which has political connotations – “półka” in polish means “shelf ” where-

as the word “półkownik” means “colonel”. Although the Polish word for “colonel” is proper-
ly spelled as “pułkownik”, both words are pronounced in the same way.
236 Anna Matuchniak-Krasuska

for her book “Patterns of Culture”), Margaret Mead, Ralf Linton, Abram
Kardiner. On the basis of arduous field research, these people learnt and
described many diverse cultures: Zuni Indians, Kwakiutli, Hopi, Navaho
and other islanders of the Pacific (Triobrandy, Samoa), as well as Japanese
and Russian culture. These are interesting monographic studies, allowing
to formulate generalisations. They point out to the cohesion of diverse for-
mulas within the confines of a given culture, applying to different spheres
of life: socialization, family and social relations, art, language, and through
that they compare their distinctness of formulas in different cultures. For
R. Linton “Culture is a  set of learnt behaviours and their consequenc-
es, the  elements of which are common for members of a  given society
and are spread within the  society” (Kłoskowska, 1964, p.  38). It is also
worthwhile to quote the  shortest definition from R. Benedict: “Culture
is a complex entity comprising habits acquired by humans as members of
a society” (Kłoskowska, 1964, p. 22). The multitude of formulas of culture
determines the wealth of the whole human culture. These researchers gave
arguments to fight ethnocentrism and eurocentrism in order to preserve
cultural relativism.
Genetic definitions, as the  name itself suggests, deal with the  rising
of human culture, the process of anthropogenesis expressed in the slogan
“from nature to culture”. It is not, as in the previous case, about specifica-
tions of each culture, but about the genesis of it as a universal phenomenon.
Anthropology of culture and philosophy uses the  output of archeology,
physical anthropology, genetics. Among representatives of this approach
were as diverse author as Bronisław Malinowski, anthropologist, originator
of the  practical trend; and Sigmund Freud, originator of psychoanalysis.
Within this approach, human needs are a  starting point, while cultural
(institutionalised) forms of satisfying them are the aim. Freud lists just two
elementary human needs situated in the  id sphere that follow the  prin-
ciple of pleasure: Eros as the  constructive drive of love and Tanathos as
the  destructive drive of death. Culture as a  sphere of norms, orders and
bans (the first and foremost of which is the taboo of incest) is situated in
the sphere of superego connected with the sphere of duty. The ego sphere, sit-
uated between the two already mentioned, obeys the rule of optimalisation.
Its mediation is not successful, as the title of Freud’s book Culture is the or-
 Culture and Society 237

igin of suffering suggests. This pessimistic vision of culture finds its conti-
nuity in the neopsychoanalysis of Erich Fromm and Karen Horney who
write about “the escape from freedom” and “the neurotic personality of our
times”. B. Malinowski presents a more optimistic vision of culture where
basic human needs can be satisfied with institutional assistance. The list of
primeval needs and cultural reactions is longer and encompasses the fol-
lowing pairs: metabolism – equipment, reproduction – affinity, organism’s
needs – shield, the need for safety – protection, the need for movement
– activities, the need for growth – teaching, the need for health – hygiene.
They are expressed in reference to a community (as above) or an individual.
The social need for reproduction would be equalled by the individual sexu-
al need. The obligation of satisfying the primeval needs results in emerging
of four kinds of derivative needs and cultural reactions to them. The need
for producing tools is equalled by the economy. The need for codification
and regulation of human behaviour is equalled by  social control. Trans-
mission of culture is carried out by education, and political organisation is
responsible for formation of collective action. B. Malinowski does not give
a full list of integrative needs linked to symbolic needs and human abilities
and built over the former ones. He lists the following cultural reactions to
the integrative needs: language, knowledge, magic, religion, art, ethics, mo-
rality. He also underlines blending of symbolic systems with direct human
actions. In the book Coral Gardens and Their Magic not only does he devote
himself to analysing farming, but also magic, which is an integral part of
garden cultivation. For the people of Triobrandy magic rituals connected
with the agricultural production are as essential and practical as digging up
the field, seeding and collecting crops. Also art is not an isolated sphere in
primeval societies: decorating elements of material culture such as houses,
pieces of clothing, tools, dishes leads to formation of a wide category of
practical arts which is connected with magic.
A. Kłoskowska’s wide anthropological definition of culture is based
on Linton’s definition mentioned above. Here is its original, Polish version
and an English translation: “Kultura stanowi złożoną całość, w skład któ-
rej wchodzą zachowania, przebiegające według wspólnych dla zbiorowo-
ści społecznej wzorów, przekazywanych i przyswajanych w toku interakcji,
oraz zawierająca wytwory tych zachowań” (Kłoskowska, 1964, p. 40).
238 Anna Matuchniak-Krasuska

“Culture is a  complex entirety consisting of human behaviours that

follow common social patterns transmitted and adopted through interac-
tion, and comprising the results of these behaviours”.
Later the same author stated that “culture is a multi-faceted entirety,
in which, through analysis, we can distinguish an internalised stratum of
norms, formulas and values lying in the consciousness of people; a stratum
of actions being the objectivised expression of that sphere, a stratum of cre-
ations of such activities or other objects becoming the objects of cultural
actions”. (Kłoskowska, 1991, pp. 23–24). Culture is composed of different
elements: behaviours, creations, and ideas. The first two are empirical, ob-
servable or interpersonal. The third one is intra-personal, mental, psycho-
logical; we can observe only its effects through behaviours and creations. So,
in the first, operational, definition, its author pays most attention to behav-
iours, in the second, the focus is on all aspects and the essence of culture.

1.2. Division of the field of culture

In the large field of anthropological culture A. Kłoskowska distinguishes

three specific areas: culture of existence, societal culture, symbolic culture.
In the first area, also called material culture or culture of civilisation (in
Polish – kultura bytu), we can place these tools of production and products
for consumption which have instrumental, practical and useful character.
They must be produced and remade, because they wear out. The notion of
progress can be employed to this sphere of technique. The mainly material
character of culture of existence does not exclude the use of signs, but al-
lows them to play only an instrumental role. The example of such situation
is an instruction how to use a tool or how to make a cake.
The  second area, societal culture (in Polish – kultura socjetalna), or-
ganises relations between members of society through legal, state and other
kinds of regulations in social relationships. Regardless of this instrumental
use of signs (like a civil or penal code) it creates a “residuum zone” – a real
force like courts, police, prisons, to assure respect of these values and to
keep society in order.
The third area, symbolic culture (in Polish – kultura symboliczna), is
characterised by the use of signs in non-instrumental aims, which is called
 Culture and Society 239

“autothelic” (in Greek : auto – for, by yourself, telos – aim). The signs and
symbols in language, art, religion, science, entertainment and games are
used mainly as values in themselves, not for other aims. Paradoxically,
all symbolic spheres can have both autothelic and instrumental aspect.
We can study art for pleasure to have contact with beauty or we can
decorate our flats with pictures we admire. But we can also collect pic-
tures and others artistic objects because of their economic value or social
prestige they can give us. An artist can make “art for the sake of art” or
as a job. In the first case, he tries to invent something original, new and
splendid, belonging to the avant-garde, in the second, he must produce
“a kitsch”, loved by mass public ready to buy it. In religion, we can adore
God (an autothelic attitude) or ask him in a prayer for a favour in this or
in the other life (an instrumental attitude). Language of poetry is used for
pleasure and contact with beauty, but in all other circumstances of com-
munication it has an instrumental role. Entertainment and games have,
by definition, only the autothelic character. When we are forced to play,
we participate in a game by obligation, and this is not a free, voluntary
and spontaneous activity, which fact was emphasised by Johan Huizinga
(1967) and Roger Caillois (1973). Thus a game is a perfect example of
symbolic culture.
As mentioned before, symbolic culture is a restricted sphere of culture,
close to “spiritual culture”. Culture of existence was a synonym for “mate-
rial culture” or civilisation. We can also encounter other relations between
these notions. Culture and civilisation can have the same connotation, es-
pecially in different languages: French most often uses the term civilisation,
German – kultur. The Polish word kultura means both. In the evolutionist
theory, culture is the widest term, and civilisation a restricted one, being
the last and the best, the most developed stage of human culture, follow-
ing the stage of wilderness and that of barbarianism. In numerous theories
on the crisis of culture, civilisation is still the last, even though the worst
stage of culture. In historical and geographical studies, culture has a local or
national character, and the character of civilisation is global, linking a few
cultures at the same level of development. So we have the civilisation of
Indians of vast prairies, the civilisation of Latin Americans, the civilisation
of inhabitants of Mediterranean Sea etc.
240 Anna Matuchniak-Krasuska

2. Culture as communication

2.1. Three systems of cultural transmission

Culture is connected with society, because it exists thanks to and for its
people. This relation is shown in an elementary model of communication:

Author/Sender – Work of Art/Message – Public/Receiver

The first terms better describe communication in the arts, the second

– in mass media. In numerous theories this elementary chart is developed
in order to present other types of relations with primary and secondary
groups, leaders of opinion, political and technical domains. I would like to
present only one example by a Czech structuralist Roman Jakobson who
links six elements and functions: the expressive function is connected with
the author or the sender, the cognitive function is connected with the re-
ceiver. The phatic function links both. In our everyday communication we
have a lot of terms which do not give any information, but stimulate good
relations between interlocutors. These are the classic formulas of the begin-
ning and the end of conversations, like: “good morning”, “how are you”,
“nice to see you”, “good bye”; as well as rhetorical questions like: “do you
love me”, or terms: “darling”, “baby”  etc. The  representative function of
communication emphasises the context. It is connected with the cognitive
function and the  attitude of the  receiver who wants to get information
about reality or study an object. When a code like language, artistic con-
ventions and styles, are the objects of study, the metalinquistic function is
realised. A  work of art has mainly an aesthetic or poetic function, while
both have autothelic character.
As it has been shown, culture has social frames. A. Kłoskowska (1972,
1980) distinguishes three frames of transmission of culture: the  primary
system, the institutional system and the mass media system, based on two
main criteria. The first is a type of contact between the sender and the re-
ceiver, which may be direct, called “face to face interaction”, or indirect,
when two interlocutors are separated in time and/or space. In the first case,
the sender can use speech and gestures, which are transient forms of trans-
 Culture and Society 241

mission, in the second, transmission has to be recorded. The introduction

of writing (in various forms) was a crucial moment in the history of culture.
Later, at the  end of the  nineteenth century, the  invention of electronic
means of recording (radio, television) followed, and eventually, at the end
of the twentieth century, the introduction of digital data recording (com-
puters, internet). The second criterion is the formal or informal frame of
contact between the sender and the receiver.
The first system, called primary, is characterised by direct and informal
contact between interlocutors, like in a  family, a  group of colleagues or
friends, or in primitive societies. The  different examples show the  possi-
bility of applying this theory to diachronic historical study of these three
systems of transmission of culture. It is primary in an ontological sense,
that is in the life of a person who learns a mother tongue and behaviour
in his/her family, as well in philogenetic sense, i.e. in the development of
human society.
The second system, called institutional, is characterised by direct con-
tact between the  sender and the  receiver, but realised in a  frame of for-
mal institutions, like churches, schools, theatres, opera houses, clubs etc.
The roles of the sender are strictly distinguished and professional. Priests,
teachers, actors, musicians transmit specialised knowledge to their public.
The  history of this kind of institutions begins in ancient times (church,
school, theatre) and their development in European countries took place
in the  Middle Ages. The  first European universities were established in
England (Oxford, Cambridge), France (Sorbone in Paris, universities in
Toulouse, Montpellier) and Italy (Bologna, Padua, Naples, Siena) in XII
and XIII centuries. The first universities in Central Europe were created at
the same time, in Prague in 1348, and in Kraków in 1364 (The Jagiellonian
University). In contemporary societies, like in ancient times, most of these
institutions are placed in towns and big cities. Their public consists mostly
of educated people living in a spatial proximity, hence the name “elitist in-
stitutions”. The problems of transformation of Polish cultural institutions
and the problems of cultural participation of Polish society will be present-
ed below. The system of cultural institutions is local (in this case it is called
“the second system”) and supra-local, having national or international level
242 Anna Matuchniak-Krasuska

(in this case it is called “the fourth system”). The best cultural institutions

in each country belong to this fourth institutional system, like the Louvre
Museum and the Opera House in Paris, the “La Scala” Opera House in
Milan, the National Gallery in London, and some others.
The third cultural system is based on mass media like books, jour-
nals, cinema, radio, television, internet, named here in the order of their
chronological appearance. The  study of their history is a  great topic of
its own which cannot be discused in this text, however. The visual forms
of art presented in churches and cathedrals, especially the gothic forms
of the Middle Ages, like sculptures, paintings, stained-glass windows, in
which the  lives of saints as well as scenes from the  Old and the  New
Testament were presented, were called Biblia pauperum, that is Bible
for the poor (illiterate) people. It is the first historical example of visual
media, directed towards mass public. The mass media are called so, be-
cause they have a single or quantitatively limited sender and a large pub-
lic, which is called “mass public”. For the most interesting and popular
events presented on television it may be almost a whole national or in-
ternational population. We can learn at once what happened in another
part of the world, hence Marshall McLuhan, a Canadian scientist, called
the  contemporary world “a  global village”. While describing two main
criteria that characterise the system of transmission of culture, one must
emphasise that the sender’s end is very formalised and submitted to con-
trol (especially political), but the receiver’s end is informal. The contact of
the sender and the receiver is indirect, but all media try to introduce some
elements of more natural and direct contact. That is why most magazines
have a column called “letters from our readers” with replies by journalists,
and television presenters smile to their viewers and talk to them as if they
were in their homes (“nice to meet you this evening”, “I’m glad that you
are spending this evening with us” etc.). The system of mass media is more
accessible and democratic than the institutional system. It does not create
intellectual, economic and spatial barriers. In order to be truly popular,
it uses a  lot of pictures and not too complicated language, adapted to
the level of primary school graduates, basic education of a large public. It
links informational and distractive functions. Problems of publicity and
 Culture and Society 243

advertising, propaganda, and manipulation are connected mostly with

the system of mass media.
These three systems can be analysed diachronically, by order of chron-
ological appearance, and synchronically, in their co-existence in contempo-
rary societies.

2.2. Cultural activeness of Polish society

Real cultural competence is based on cultural participation in the in-

stitutional system. As mentioned above, theatres, opera houses, cinemas,
clubs and libraries are not evenly distributed on the territory of a nation,
which fact creates spatial barriers to participation. To be correctly un-
derstood and adequately admired, these institutions require further edu-
cation at the level of secondary school. The two facts have been of great
importance, always and everywhere. Recently, in Poland, an economic
barrier is observed regarding cultural participation. The  great political,
economical and social transformation that began in 1989 causes great
unemployment and impoverishment of the Polish society.
A new social category of “the new poor” has become visible, equal-
ing about 40% of all population. By social standards these are ordinary
people, families with one or two children, where one or two parents have
a low-paying job or where one or both are unemployed. They are not able
to cover the  cost of living (rent, electricity, gas, food). In comparison,
the category of “the old poor” comprising the dregs of society, the old,
the ill and the lonely, equaled around 10% both in the times of the Polish
Peoples’ Republic and in the interwar period. “The new poor” are people
who bear the brunt of the transformation most. They cannot afford any
expenditures on culture. A cinema ticket costs more than the daily cost
of living, a trip to the cinema for a family of four means spending half
of the  average monthly income. The  same explanation applies to other
cultural institutions. Detailed data on the participation of Polish society
in the  second system of culture, including the  diversity resulting from
the interaction of the main independent variables are given in tables 1,
2 and 3.
244 Anna Matuchniak-Krasuska

Table 1
Place of living and participation in the second system of culture

Attendance in%
Artistic institution Attendants living Attendants living
Total
in cities in villages
Theatre 15 22 6
Operetta 6 8 2
Opera 4 4 13
Philharmonic 7 11 1
Museum 23 29 3
Art galleries 13 19 5

Source: M. Falkowska, (1992). Zarys zmian w życiu kulturalnym Polaków. In: M. Gra-
bowska (ed.), Barometr kultury, Warszawa.

Table 2
Level of education and participation in the second system of culture

Attendance in%

Artistic institution Professio-

Primary Secondary Higher
Total nal schools
education education education
graduates
Theatre 15 7 9 22 42
Operetta 6 4 3 8 13
Opera 4 3 2 5 9
Philharmonic 7 3 3 12 20
Museum 23 12 18 29 53
Art galleries 13 7 9 15 37

Source: M. Falkowska, (1992). Zarys zmian w życiu kulturalnym Polaków. In: M. Gra-
bowska (ed.), Barometr kultury, Warszawa.
 Culture and Society 245

Table 3
Living conditions and participation in the second system of culture

Attendance in%
Artistic institution Very difficult Rather difficult Easy living con-
Total
living conditions living conditions ditions
Theatre 15 7 13 23
Operetta 6 4 5 8
Opera 4 2 2 7
Philharmonic 7 5 5 12
Museum 23 13 22 28
Art galleries 13 14 23 53

Source: M. Falkowska, (1992). Zarys zmian w życiu kulturalnym Polaków. In: M. Gra-
bowska (ed.), Barometr kultury, Warszawa.

In a  nutshell, the  cultural participation of the  Polish society can be

represented on a triangular chart. Its base is the level of mass culture, con-
centrated around TV, radio, newspapers, and media having 60 to 90%
recipients among the whole population. The medium level gathers 35 to
60% recipients interested in film and literature. The  top, elitist level of
10 to 25% of the population are people who visit theatres, opera houses,
museums and art galleries. The relatively high position of museums, entic-
ing 23% of the population is interesting in comparison to the very small
public of opera viewers (4%). It does not, in any way, mean mass interest
for fine arts and lack of favour of music. This phenomenon has been called
“the  holiday museum syndrom”. Visiting museums during holidays and
time free of work is common, regardless of their rank. It can be the mu-
seums of the  fourth system, such as the  Louvre, Prado or the  National
Gallery, and regional museums of the second system, which are of lower
rank. At the  same time, it is common not to visit museums, even those
most renowned, which are in the  direct neighbourhood of our places of
residence. In both cases the lifestyle is the decisive factor: at home we work
and we do not have to worry that a museum will perish; there will always
246 Anna Matuchniak-Krasuska

be time to visit it, but during holidays, we have more leisure time and we
feel obliged to take the opportunity. This phenomenon has been described
for the first time by a renowned French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu (1962)
researching the  visitors of museums in France, Greece, The  Netherlands
and Poland.
It is worthwhile to present the criteria of participation, as they are
not identical in cases of various media and artistic institutions. People
who were to a play at least once during the past year can be called theatre
spectators. To be considered a reader you have to read a book every two
months. “How many hours a  day do  you watch TV?” is the  question
we direct to television viewers. The figures given are to be interpreted in
the context of intensity of cultural participation. As statistical and soci-
ological studies show, the situation in Poland is not much different from
that of other European countries. Some differences may concern specific
public or auditoria, but not the division of public between the three levels
mentioned above.
So, in Poland, only 25% of population can be considered to partic-
ipate in cultural events. That means that 75% are excluded from culture!
Some factors influencing cultural exclusion can be mentioned, such as
lower level of education and cultural competence, difficult life conditions,
countryside as a place of habitation (far away from cultural institutions).
The symptoms of exclusion can be divided into objective and subjective.
The first category includes economic and lifestyle indicators. In general,
these are limited expenses for culture, education, and also a long distance
from artistic institutions (including elitist institutions like theatres and
the popular ones like cinemas). Between 1980 and 1996 the number of
spectators decreased twice (from 250 to 150 out of 1000 inhabitants, and
six times in case of movies (from 3000 to 500 out of 10 000 inhabitants).
At the  same time the  phenomenon of home centered culture (video,
tv-movies and television in general) is observed. This attitude, regardless
of its reasons is called cultural passiveness. Subjective factors include lim-
itation of cultural needs and aspirations, and also acceptation for one’s
own weak cultural participation. These personal feelings are heightened
 Culture and Society 247

by the prevailing mood of the society, connected with, in this case justi-

fied, nostalgia for the past. In the considerable part of the society there
is a sustained tendency to expect help in organising and financing cul-
tural participation. One third of the population would like retention of
such practices as organised trips or partial payment of cinema and theatre
tickets by the company or government. At the same time, the prestige of
culture and cultural participation decreases in comparison to other, both
material and spiritual, values.
The statistical data presented in table 4 show the number of cultural
institutions in Poland, the region of Łódź and the city of Łódź, as well as
the number of their attendants.

Table 4
Cultural institutions in Łódź and the region and number of their attendance

Number of attendants
Institutions and
attendance in 2001 Poland Region of Łódź Łódź

Libraries 88 000 590 210

Number of readers
(in millions) 7.4 0.474 0.142
Theatres and music 180 13 16
institutions
Viewers & listeners
(in millions) 10.1 0.593 0.523
Movies 661 44 14
Viewers (in millions) 27.6 1.69 1.21
Museums 656 41 10
Visitors (in millions) 15.1 0.541 0.215
Galleries 256 22 17
Visitors (in millions) 2.6 0.190 0.154

Source: Mały Rocznik Statystyczny Polski 2002, GUS, Warszawa 2002; Rocznik Sta-
tystyczny Województwa Łódzkiego, 2002, Urząd Statystyczny Łódź, Łódź 2002; Statystyka
Łodzi, Urząd Statystyczny Łódź, Łódź 2002.
248 Anna Matuchniak-Krasuska

3. Nation and national culture

3.1. The theory of nation

The notion of “nation” derives from the Latin word natio, and natio

itself derives from nascere – which means “to give birth”. This etymology,
which in fact is identical in many other European languages, finds reflection
in the common concepts of nation as a natural event based on the com-
munity of origin and the community of land. The statutory solutions le-
gitimize these concepts by granting nationality on the basis of “the blood
right” (ius sanguinis) and “the land right” (ius soli), deriving from birth or
long term residence on a given territory.
Issues concerning the nation and national culture are of considerable
significance in the Polish sociological literature, both in the works of clas-
sical authors in the  field of sociology, such as Florian Znaniecki (1952),
Stanisław Ossowski (1984), Antonina Kłoskowska (1996), and in the em-
pirical investigations of contemporary researchers. Polish sociologists are
not isolated in their research; the  list of European and American histo-
rians, sociologists, anthropologists and political researchers concentrating
on these issues is a long one. However, there is no unanimity in regard to
the origin of nation and its character among these scientists.
Some philosophers, historians, politicians (especially those whose work
date from the  20th century, such as Geller, Greenfiels, Tilly, Hobsbawm,
Bardach), accentuate political functions of a  nation as “an ethnically di-
versified community subordinate to one nation, the  administrative poli-
tics which leads to gradual unification in the sphere of culture”. (Bardach,
1993, cited after Kłoskowska, 1996). This view focuses on the  phase of
existence of a  nation that formed on the  basis of historical and cultur-
al community and whose members’ awareness of its autonomy results in
the demands for political autonomy, which in turn leads to the creation of
an independent country.
The  anthropological and political approaches (represented by  An-
derson, Armstrong, Deutsch, Naroll, Ossowski, Smith, Zientara, Tilly,
Znaniecki) focus on the relations between the forming countries and their
ethnic basis. This allows one to analyse both the  genesis of a  nation as
 Culture and Society 249

the most sophisticated form of ethnic as well as territorial community, (eth-

nic group, tribe, people, nation) and the peculiarity of national Minorities
within bigger societies and the acculturations and assimilations they are ex-
posed to. Characterizing the so called “culture unit”, that is an ethnic group
or a small local community as the smallest entity used when researching
societies (especially primeval), Raoul Naroll (cited after Kłoskowska, 1996)
gave ten criteria that are the basis of its identification, e.g. The continu-
ity of territory, political organisation, language, name, common history,
common culture, ecological adjustment. The theme of numerous elements
of culture, which contribute to the specific entirety of national culture is
also investigated by other researchers. There are many objective and sub-
jective elements of nation, which at the same time are the factors for its
genesis and development. The important factors are common territory, his-
tory, tradition and economy. This list is not comprehensive, and none of
the factors is a condition necessary or sufficient for the existence of a coun-
try. There have been nations living in Diaspora (the Jews), nations divid-
ed into different countries or being under control of some other country
(i.e. Poland, Greece, nations of the  former Soviet Union, Kurds), biand
multilingual nations (Belgium, Switzerland, India), nations of coexisting
religions. Karl Deutsch (cited after Kłoskowska, 1996) calls these different
elements “blocks of culture”, C. Geertz (cited after Kłoskowska, 1996) ar-
ranges them into functional entireties using the “dense description” meth-
od. A. Kłoskowska (1996) points out that while the blocks belonging to
the  peripheral elements of a  given culture are replacable, the  central el-
ements, called the  core values, stay unchanged. The  core values balance
the shortcomings concerning other elements important to the nation. In
case of Poland, the lack of national entity in the 19th century was balanced
by the religious and cultural bond. The term “a Pole – a catholic”, which
comes from that period, characterizes national bonds, especially in the sit-
uation when the neighbouring countries are of different religion: the prot-
estant Germany, and the  orthodox Russians. The  nation is understood
here as a social and cultural community, with institutions independent of
the country. Examples from the history of Poland from the times of the par-
titions, or the activity of “Solidarity” from the times of the Polish People’s
Republic, illustrate the legitimacy of this thesis. F. Znaniecki (1952) has
250 Anna Matuchniak-Krasuska

also advocated this thesis, opting for the culturalist view of the nation and
supporting it by the role of cultural institutions in the genesis of a nation
(writers, artists, musicians, national ideologists, historians, etnographists,
professionals and their associations) as subjects creating a nation. The au-
thor did not limit his concept to the  case of Poland, but also included
the history of Greece, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Serbia, showing that
the community of culture is more permanent than the government (often
being the oppressive tool of a foreign country).
The historical perspective in the research of a nation is not uniform.
Some people connect the genesis of contemporary nations with the indus-
trial revolution (a viewpoint correlated with the political view on the na-
tion), others with former periods in history (a viewpoint correlated with
the culturalist view on the nation). The evidence for the crystallisation of
national awareness in France, Germany and the Czech Republic was found
as early as in the eleventh and twelfth century. The indicators of this aware-
ness were e.g.: distinguishing the king, who was the authority, from the na-
tion and the so-called “linguistic nationalism”. Taking into consideration
wider temporal frames for the analysis of the genesis of nations does not
at all mean identifying the Middle Ages or the Renaissance form of nation
with the ones formed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
In conclusion we can quote the most general thesis by E. Hall, say-
ing that “a universal theory of nationalism cannot be formulated” (Hall,
1993, cited after Kłoskowska, 1996) and also the  preliminary definition
by A. Kłoskowska: “The nation is seen here as a large community of people
connected by a community of culture, facilitating mutual agreement and
unification of its members” (Kłoskowska, 1996, p. 8). Altogether, and in
reciprocal relations, we define three Major notions: nation, the  national
culture, and the national identification.
Numerous terms characterize attitudes towards one’s own culture as
well as towards other cultures and consider the positive and the negative
aspects of these attitudes. The  term “patriotism”, meaning the  love for
one’s country and one’s nation, along with the  readiness for sacrifices in
its name, has positive connotations. At the same time patriotism does not
negate other countries’ laws and respects them (Słownik wyrazów obcych,
1980, p.  730). However, the  terms nationalism, chauvinism, ethnocen-
 Culture and Society 251

trism, xenophobia, and racism have negative connotations. Nationalism is

an ideology and politics subordinating everything to the best interest for
one’s own country, demanding special privileges for it, discriminating other
countries (or national Minorities), often in an aggressive manner (ibidem,
p. 655). Chauvinism is an extreme, full of hatred form of nationalism. Xen-
ophobia is an aversion or enmity towards foreigners and for the foreign.
(ibidem, p. 540). Authors of the series “Xenophobe’s guide to…” explain
xenophobia as an irrational fear of foreigners, probably justified, always un-
derstandable. Ethnocentrism is simply concentrating on one’s own nation,
not connected with xenophobic dislike for the foreign. The most extreme
and negative phenomenon is racism, which is a set of beliefs in the allegedly
unevenbiological as well as intellectual and social value of the human races.
It combines with the faith in the supremacy of one race and its right to
rule all others. Racist theories have been discredited in science and politics.
As an outstanding English philosopher Bertrand Russell stated, the  only
common feature of all the racist theories is the belief in the supremacy of
the race to which the author of the theory belongs.

3.2. National culture and its canon

A. Kłoskowska formulates the following definition of national culture:

“A set of ways of acting, norms, values, symbols, beliefs, knowledge and
symbolic works, which by some community is regarded as its own, dedicat-
ed to it, grown up from its traditions and historical experiences and valid
on its territory”. (Kłoskowska, 1996, p. 37). The author emphasises that
the national culture has a syntagmatic character. She puts together all dif-
ferent elements and systems to create a specific and homogeneous system.
The most important paradigms taken into consideration by the construc-
tion of the national culture are: language, literature, art, religion, customs,
symbols, tradition.
National culture is a common treasure for the society and knowledge
of it is obligatory for the members of the nation. The knowledge of na-
tional culture, and especially of its canon, in connection with an attitude
towards it, is characterized by  A. Kłoskowska (1996) as cultural valence.
252 Anna Matuchniak-Krasuska

The author distinguished four kinds of cultural valence, taking into con-

sideration knowledge and attachment to one culture (univalence), to two
cultures (bivalence, a term analogous to “bilingualism”), to several cultures
(polyvalence), and lack of knowledge of any culture (ambivalence). Cultur-
al valence would be an objective indicator of membership of a given nation.
It is worth underlining that national culture does not exist in a void, but
is surrounded by  other national cultures, towards which positive stances
(the sphere of universalization), or negative stances (the sphere of ignorance
and rejection) can be taken. Polyvalence is situated in the sphere of univer-
salisation. A perfect knowledge of the culture of Poland, Russia, Germany
and France was possessed by a Polish artist Józef Czapski, whose complex
biography is presented by A. Kłoskowska (1996) in a chapter entitled Jo-
seph Czapski: Polish Identification and Cultural Polymorphism”.
Cultural ambivalence, deriving from lack of education, hardships of
life and migratory complications, is not a common phenomenon, not even
in the  situations on the  borders of cultures. It is, however, a  social and
individual problem. Cultural univalence, in connection with the  feeling
of duty for the culture of one’s own nation, is the norm. Nevertheless, not
all the members of a given nation, even those most educated and patriotic,
happen to have a considerably broad knowledge of all their national cul-
ture. That is why a separate part of national culture has been distinguished,
which, as the most significant, is to be known to every member of a com-
munity and is to be a  bondcreating feature. It is the  canon of national
culture passed on by family, school, and media. This canon is composed of
facts, names, poems, paintings, songs etc.
This canon is rather permanent, but it also changes from time to time.
These changes are connected with the  new artistic successes of nation-
al poets, writers and musicians. For example, two Polish poets received
the Nobel Prize in literature recently: Czesław Miłosz in 1980, and Wisława
Szymborska in 1997, so they became important for national culture and
their works will be taught at schools. This is a typical, progressive situation.
But a canon can change quickly and it can change a lot. It is a symp-
tom of important political, economical and social changes in a society. It
was similar in the case of all the great revolutions, the French at the end
 Culture and Society 253

of the 18th century, the Russian in the beginning of the 20th century and

the  introduction of the  communist system and ideas in Eastern Europe
after the World War II and its end in 1989. All schoolbooks on Polish liter-
ature and history were changed after 1945, and later after 1989.
Other problems are connected with social structure and the  organ-
isation of the  system of education. Two sociologists, from both sides of
the English Channel showed it clearly: a Frenchman, Pierre Bourdieu, and
an Englishman, Basil Bernstein. The first deals with the construction of na-
tional canon on the basis of a specific culture of high society, which he calls
“the legal culture of dominant classes”. These are poems, novels, paintings,
music works, foreign languages, and philosophy. All popular class culture,
like folk music, dance, fine arts are not taught at school. B. Bernstein shows
that teaching at school is realised in a specific language – “the formal code”,
typical for children from upper and middle classes. There is a completely
new and different language for children from lower classes, who at home
use “the limited code”. They have two kinds of difficulties at school: the lin-
guistic and the content– related. Success at school and a school diploma are
the necessary conditions for social promotion. So the system of education
in well-developed European countries is apparently democratic, because it
is organised on the basis of principles of high society. It allows reproducing
a  society from generation to generation. There is a  very simple indicator
which shows a perfect social reproduction by a strong correlation of level
of education of grand father, father and son. In France there was a small
probability that a son of a worker would begin and attain higher education,
especially in very prestigious faculties of law or medicine; the degree of prob-
ability of such studies was about 3% for a boy and 1% for a girl. That means
that national culture and its canon can be contested “from the bottom”.
But they are contested too “from the top” by artists and scientists of
the avant-garde. They often emphasise other values: international, modern-
ist, counter-cultural, postmodernist etc. A  renowned Polish 20th century
writer, Witold Gombrowicz, contested Polish national culture.
National culture has a great enemy, namely, popular mass culture. In-
dependently of the  existence of national stars and specific national folk
musicians, popular culture is more a fruit of “globalisation”.
254 Anna Matuchniak-Krasuska

Any national culture cannot be isolated from other cultures. Processes

of diffusion and cultural exchange are normal and necessary for cultural
development. Some Poles admire Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and the Beatles
very much, but also like Chopin and feel him more familiar, closer to their
own experience.

3.3. National identity

The conception proposed by the renowned Polish sociologist Stanisław

Ossowski is widely accepted in the scientific milieu and well adapted to ex-
plain collected data as well as personal experiences.
He distinguished two types of national links and two types of homelands:
1.  The habitual link (in Polish więź nawykowa, in French le lien habit-
uel) is founded on one’s own experience and concerns one’s “small coun-
try”, “private country”, “homeland”. Everybody knows his village or town,
his region, regional language or dialect, customs, food, art etc., and likes
them because they are his own.
2.  The ideological link (in Polish więź ideologiczna, in French le lien
ideologique) is founded on a reflexive, intellectual, conscious attachment to
national culture, values and territory of one’s nation. It is not a close rela-
tionship in terms of territory, place of birth or the place where childhood
is spent, but the country and the nation as a whole. It is one’s ideological
country, one’s native country.
Nobody can pretend to know the whole country by his own experi-
ence, especially if it is a big country like Poland, France, Spain or Italy, or
very big like the USA or Russia, not a small one like Monaco or Luxem-
bourg. But there are some methods to construct and to establish a link with
the country and make it more personal. Domestic tourism, during holidays
or school times, is one of the best. Children visit the capital of their coun-
try, other important places and historical monuments. Another visual way
to show a country is a map with boundaries and the neighbouring coun-
tries. Maps are used sometimes for political and ideological aims, so they
are often inadequate. Such was the case of a map of Poland presented in
German schoolbooks between 1945 and 1970, showing boundaries from
 Culture and Society 255

1939. The  situation changed after a  political agreement between Poland

and Germany in the seventies. The national culture is an intellectual and
affective way to create ideological links with one’s country. In the Polish
situation, the role of national culture and catholic religion was very impor-
tant, because once the map did not show Poland at all. Between 1795 and
1918 there was no Polish independent state, the country was divided into
three partitions between the three neighbouring empires: Russian, Prussian
and Austrian. Foreign enemies fought against Polish upheavals and against
Polish culture considered dangerous from their point of view, because it
made it hard to diminish Polish peoples’ feeling for their national identity.
Many artists, priests, and teachers were killed, imprisoned or sent to Sibe-
ria. A similar situation occurred during the World War II with oppression
from both the German and the Soviet state.
Another famous Polish sociologist, Florian Znaniecki (1952) dis-
cussed the spread of national consciousness and solidarity, using examples
from history of many nations, not just the Poles. Two methods were used:
propaganda and education. In contrast to careful, but long–termed edu-
cation, propaganda, though not perfect, brings the desired results quickly.
Both methods used four basic socio-techniques of national acculturation:
the cult of heroes, myths of common descent and racial unity, attachment
to the native land as the possession of a group, and the appeal for united
defense against a common enemy.
“A hero impersonates the most important values of a social group, and
his continuous glorification contributes to the maintenance of group sol-
idarity” – explained Znaniecki (1952, p. 83). He distinguished four types
of national heroes, types we can easily find examples of in each national
culture canon. First are the legendary folk heroes, famous figures in stories
or poetry. Then are the  religious heroes – saints whose cult is endorsed
by  the  Church. Third, we have great kings and warriors whose cult was
initiated by  political groups. Eventually, a  relatively new type – cultural
heroes: scientists, artists, writers, and all kinds of creative geniuses appear.
(Znaniecki, 1952, p. 83).
A person can have more then one homeland and more then one coun-
try. Here are some examples.
256 Anna Matuchniak-Krasuska

First is the  case of a  homeland – “small, private country”. One can

be attached to the place of his birth, the place where he spent his child-
hood, the place where he studied, or the place where he used to spend his
holidays, and feel that this territory belongs to him in a way. He says: “it’s
mine”, “it’s ours”, “in my village we used to…” These “private homelands”
can be situated in different countries or states. It is the case of people who
traveled a  lot or lived in different countries because of family situation,
work or political reasons. We can find both historical and contemporary
examples. Władysław Mickiewicz, a  son of the  greatest Polish romantic
poet Adam Mickiewicz, spent all his life outside Poland, especially in Paris.
So his homeland was Paris, his country – France and Poland. The  great
poet himself, Adam had his homeland in the region of Wilno in Lithuania,
and in Paris too. Being an exile, he taught Slavic literature at College de
France in Paris. In Paris he wrote splendid poems about his homeland and
his country.

Litwo, ojczyzno moja, ty jesteś jak zdrowie.

Ile cię trzeba cenić, ten tylko się dowie
Kto cię stracił. Dziś piękność twą w całej twej ozdobie
Widzę i opisuję, bo tęsknię po tobie.

Lithuania, my country thou are like health.

How much thou shouldst be prized only he can learn,
Who has lost thee. To-day thy beauty in all its splendor
I see and describe, for I yearn for thee.3
(Adam Mickiewicz, Pan Tadeusz, Inwokacja)

A  person can have more then one country as an ideological coun-

try. This situation is called by A. Kłoskowska (1996) “the double national
identification”, in opposition to the most common situation of “the inte-
gral national identification” concerning one country. The first country may
be the one of one’s parents’ origins, the second the country where a per-

3  Translated by George Rapall Noyes (1930), J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., London.
 Culture and Society 257

son lives, works or wants to stay. More then two “loved countries” create
a  “cosmopolitan identification”. In some situations, due to complicated
biography and lack of education, one cannot be sure of his national identi-
fication (“I don’t know whom I am”.). National identification is an answer
to the question: “Who am I?”, given by yourself, or to the question: “Who
are you?” given by others in different situations (administrative, cultural,
tourist…).
These issues were the  subject of A. Kłoskowska’s research, based on
biographical interviews being much of case studies with the representatives
of national Minorities: Belarusians, Ukrainians, Germans from the territo-
ry of Silesia, and young Poles from the centre of the country, as the rep-
resentatives of the  dominating culture (Kłoskowska, 1996). In the  years
1992–1994, the author collected seventy interviews recorded on tape and
then accurately rewritten, which gave over three thousand pages of data.
It was the basis of qualitative studies of issues concerning the knowledge
of national culture (the already discussed notion of cultural valence) and
national identification. Whereas the  cultural valence could be an objec-
tive indicator of national membership, the national identification would be
a subjective one. The studies of biographies and autobiographies of people,
focused on their connections with culture (or cultures) and nation (or na-
tions) are, according to Kłoskowska, described as “searching for the roots
of the  national culture”, existing in actions and experiences of people.
The  theoretical and empirical relationship between these two variables is
shown in table 5. In the table two stars indicate cases confirmed in the col-
lected data, one star indicates possible cases, and a blank space indicates
logically impossible relations.
The young generation of Poles from the centre of the country proved to
have an integral Polish national identification and was characterised by cul-
tural univalence, which applied to the Polish culture, of course. The situ-
ation of the people from the national and cultural borders of our country
was more complex though. The  national identification of the  researched
Silesians was not uniform, and situated itself on the Polish-German contin-
uum, with respect to various categories accentuating the ideological nation/
nations (Poland, Germany), and/or their local nation: a  Pole, a  Silesian,
258 Anna Matuchniak-Krasuska

Table 5
National identification and national culture valence

National Culture Valence

identification Univalence Bivalence Ambivalence Polyvalence
1 2 3 4
Integral
** ** **
Double 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12
Problematic
** * * *
14 13 16
Cosmopolitan 13
** * *

**  –  situation confirmed by collected data

*  –  situation not confirmed by collected data, but possible
– without star – situation logically immpossible.

Source: A. Kłoskowska (1996). Kultury narodowe u korzeni. Warszawa, p. 129.

a  Silesian Pole, a  Silesian, neither a  German nor a  Pole, a  German and

a Pole, a Polish German, a Silesian German, a German. National identifi-
cations of Belarusians applied to the local homeland, the land of Białystok,
and to the three ideological homelands: Poland, Belarus and Ukraine, and
also to the  Orthodox Church. The  following responses, being proofs of
univalence, bivalence and ambivalence, appeared in the group researched
by  Kłoskowska: a  Belarusian, a  maybe Belarusian, an orthodox Belaru-
sian, a Belarusian and a Pole, a maybe Pole, a Ukrainian. In the studies of
A.  Sadowski (1997), the  situation of orthodox Poles appeared most dif-
ficult, marginalised by  the  two “model” populations: catholic Poles and
orhodox Belarusians: a Pole, an orthodox Pole, a Pole of the orthodox reli-
gion, a Pole of the orthodox origin, a Pole of Belarusian origin, a Pole-citi-
zen of Poland. In the group of the Ukrainian Minority, born and living in
Poland, the affirmation of the “Ukrainity” was strong, as well as with un-
derlining of Ukrainian nationality and Polish citizenship (a Polish Ukrain-
ian, an Ukrainian from Poland), and with occasional ambivalence (“How
 Culture and Society 259

much am I Polish, how much am I Ukrainian?”). However, there was no

Ukrainian of uniform Polish identification.
Uncertainty concerning national identification, often accompanied
by ambivalence, is a situation hard to bear for an individual, similar to un-
certainty of origin, family, sex or name. Cultural bivalence and polyvalence
alongside with double national identification or a  cosmopolitan attitude
enrich an individual’s personality. They form the  basis for “openness” to
other nations and other national cultures. It does not mean that cultural
univalence and uniform cultural identification are correlated with being
isolated from other cultures and nations. Recent studies on national affinity
and antipathy in different countries show the existence of spheres of uni-
versalisation and alienation, marked in the schema by A. Kłoskowska de-
scribing the national culture. In conclusion of her book, the author writes:
“In view of the present study, personal intercultural contacts and intercom-
munication alone are no omnipotent means able to eliminate the dangers
of nationalism based on the conflict of actual practical interests, but they
may contribute to the attenuation of xenophobia flowing from historical
tradition and they may prevent the totalisation of conflicts”. (Kłoskowska,
1996, p. 468.)
Participating in the  Erasmus part of the  Lifelong Learning Pro-
gramme, we are actively involved in the process of overcoming xenophobia
and building “open nations”.