Culture, no doubt, was born withby man. The need to comprehend the world and oneself, to influence reality, to work out a certain experience for the next generations distinguishes man from all other representatives of living nature. Culture in a broad sense is the way of human existence in this world, and cultural universals are its kind of systematization.
Each community has its own norms, values,beliefs, ideas and stereotypes - a set of codes that determines the perception of reality and dictates human behavior in a given situation. People pass on this experience to the next generation - this is how history flows. But in each specific culture (people, nation, state) there are realities and related concepts that are common to all people on the planet.
Cultural universals are a kind ofgeneralization of the experience of civilization. Whatever nationality a person belongs to, whatever time he is born, what views and ideas he adheres to and whatever social environment he belongs to, there is a certain system of signs that encodes ideas of the world and of interaction with by him. This happens because all the representatives of the human race are arranged according to the same biological laws, have the same needs, they are all equal to the tasks that nature sets before them.
The word "universal" came to us from the medievalphilosophy, so the wise men of the past denoted general concepts The term “cultural universals” contains the same meaning: the universal cultural features characteristic of all representatives of humanity.
All people on Earth have a need forprocreation and in the care of life and safety. In this regard, in culture there are ideas about kinship, about hygiene requirements, about ways to optimize labor. Without exception, all people are born and die: all nations have traditions and rituals that accompany these two great processes. People have the need to survive not alone, but together. Therefore, all the inhabitants of the planet have customs associated with living together: the division of labor, cooperation, greetings and farewells, etc. All people share the ability to laugh and cry, sleep, eat, exercise physical activity, etc. Around these categories is formed certain material and spiritual activities of people. Its fruits are cultural universals. Examples are names, kinship, communication, education, professional association, technology, cosmogony, fortune telling, calendar, hygiene, cooking, games, dancing, clothing and body decorations, decorative art, religion, social self-determination, politics, etc.
However, it should be understood that within eachseparate culture, the content of a particular cultural universal is specific. All nations have the custom of creating a family, but some people have 18 years to marry, others may marry a girl at 8 years old. Or, for example, the nature of funeral rites can vary considerably in different cultures, although the very presence of funerary customs, symbols and rules exists everywhere.
The famous anthropologist who devoted his life to studyingman - his origin and interaction with the environment, soon imbued with the greatest interest in the cultures of the peoples of the planet. The scientist was about twenty-four years old when he traveled around the world, after which he began to study the characteristics of traditional cultures of tribes and peoples at Yale Research University, USA. Together with his colleagues, Murdoch created an impressive database of world culture and classified the elements inherent in the representatives of all cultures, which are nothing but cultural universals. The list, which included more than eighty categories, with the development of civilization is growing. Cultural universals studied well-known ethnographers, anthropologists and sociologists - Bronislav Malinovsky, Adolf Bastian, Leslie White, Clark Wissler, Emile Durkheim, Marcel Moss, Georg Simmel, Tolkott Parsons.
Cultural universals are definitely related to allpeople on Earth, because they are one foundation for the identity of each individual culture. Today, the main human needs are to preserve ecology and scientific and technical progress, to develop human rights protection technologies and peacemaking ideas. Accordingly, modern cultural universals are developing in these areas.
