The problem of cultural crisis in romanian and european sociology

• Author: Maria Pescaru
• Position: Faculty of Education Sciences University of Pitesti, Pitesti, Romania
• Pages: 137-145

AGORA International Journal of Juridical Sciences, www.juridicalj ournal.univagora.ro

ISSN 1843-570X, E-ISSN 2067-7677

No. 2 (2012), pp. 137-145

137

THE PROBLEM OF CULTURAL CRISIS IN ROMANIAN AND

EUROPEAN SOCIOLOGY

M. Pescaru

Maria Pescaru

Faculty of Education Sciences

University of Piteti, Piteti, Romania

*Correspondence: Maria Pescaru, University of Piteti, 45 Turceti St., Piteti, Arge,

Romania

E-mail: mariapescaru@yahoo.com

Abstract

The crisis phenomena which roam the present day world laid their mark upon

spiritual life. The urge towards bringing form to perfection in its struggle against the

rebellious and amorphous matter represents human condition’s capacity of self-exceeding its

status. Through creation and artistic knowledge, man clears up the unknown paths of the

future and offers himself inner peace and an existential certitude in what concerns his place

in the Universe and his future.

From the point of view of the crises manifesting themselves at the macro-social level,

social disorder represents the main sociological indicator. Social disorder manifests itself

primarily through denying some traditional values. This seems to be the consequence of

speeding up life’s evolution as it is seen in the framework of technical civilization:

acceleration rather through cultural diffusion - or through mimetic cultural pretensions –

than through a real intellectual and moral education; acceleration through double-dealing

cultural education, abstract and intensive; through alteration of the parents - children

relationships; through multiplication of pleasure opportunities, entertainment and evasion;

through the young peoples’ chase for shallow acquisitions, difficult to accomplish by honest

means, but indispensable for satisfying the temptations. This way, the anomic phenomena of

the 21

st

century go hand in hand with nature’s transcendental and symbolical framework.

The main issue of this paper is understanding the role of culture in scattering the

darkness of distrust between peoples, the invitation to cooperation through plenary

communication of values conferring dignity and meaning to human existence, one of the

culture’s role being that of offering new perspectives to human progress.

Keywords:

Cultural crisis, spiritual life, human condition.

Introduction

The processes of globalization involving world-wide economy and the necessity of

solving the vital problems of humanity constitute a basic characteristic of our time. The

aspiration to perfecting form in the conflict with the rebellious and amorphous substance

represents the capacity of self-surpassing of human condition, which, through creation and

artistic knowledge, deciphers the unknown paths of the future and offers inner pace and an

existential certitude to the individual in his relationship with his place in the universe and his

future perspectives. That is why we must not be in agreement with the negativistic tendency

regarding the destiny of culture in contemporary world, or with the elitist idea of eluding the

cultural values from their unavoidable process of communication and receptivity.

Freed from the tyranny of the official culture, the peoples in the South-Eastern part of

Europe develop their own national culture beginning with the dialectical combination of the