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Cultural orders in space and time of the emergent state

stmm. 2026 (1): 79–94

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/sociology2026.01.079

Full text: https://stmm.in.ua/archive/ukr/2026-1/7.pdf

NATALIIA KOSTENKO, Doctor of Sciences in Sociology, Professor, Head of the Department of Sociology of Culture and Mass Communication, Institute of Sociology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (12, Shovkovychna St., Kyiv, 01021)

natalia.kostenko@gmail.com

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4689-8886

Cultural evolution is not as hasty as it sometimes seems to us; in any case, modern cultural orders are quite thoroughly explained by the conceptualizations of the last century in the most expressive versions of both the sociology of conflicts and the sociology of compromises, which are in no way opposed to each other in the logic of analysis of reality but are autonomous and do not exclude complementarity.

One type of order is focused on the morphology of the conflict of cultural epochs and states in the terms of Georg Simmel, on the interaction of the flow of life and forms of culture, initially fixing their correspondence but subsequently losing it, up to the complete rejection by life of the forms that weigh it down, the rejection of the form of culture in general. We are talking about the opposition of the individual and society, about the insoluble conflict between individual life, which sacrifices its manifestations in favor of socially approved patterns, and cultural form, which gives rise to the “tragedy of culture.” The second perspective, on the contrary, avoids dramatic states, and places the focus on consumption, which Michel de Certeau presents as a multidimensional space of possibilities for anonymous creativity thanks to the special tactics of the ordinary person to bypass the established order, inventing an everyday life that is acceptable to him. Of course, any “branding of creativity” takes it out of the space of secrecy and into the public eye, but it is unlikely to completely neutralize its inspiration from “micro-freedom” (in Certeau’s terms). There is also a third, broader perspective on cultural orders, which has been rooted in the sociological tradition since Sombart and Weber and refers to the “spirit of capitalism”, its value and ethical justifications, and today to the “spirit of digital capitalism” in the space of action of “ethics of decision”, “solutionism” (Oliver Nachtwey, Timo Seidl), the essence of which is the belief that any social problem can be solved by “the correct use of the correct technologies.” The models of modern cultural orders presented in the article help to more accurately understand their interaction with social and economic orders, including in the circumstances of war, when Ukrainian society is in an emergent state as a result of Russian aggression.

Keywords: models of modern cultural orders, M. Foucault, “the tragedy of culture” by G. Simmel, “the invention of everyday life” by M. de Certeau, the tradition of discourse on the “spirit of capitalism”, W. Sombart, M. Weber, L. Boltanski and E. Chiapello, “the spirit of digital capitalism”

Referenes:

  1. Boltanski, L., Chiapello, E. (2007). The New Spirit of Capitalism. London: Verso.

  2. Boltanski, L., Thévenot, L. (2006). On Justification: Economies of Worth. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400827145

  3. De Certeau, M. (1988).The Practice of Everyday Life / Tr. by S. Rendall. London, UK; Berkeley; Los Angeles CA: University of California Press.

  4. Foucault, M. (1994). The Order of Things. An Archaeology of Human Sciences. New York: Vintage Books Editions.

  5. Frisby, D. (1985). The First Sociologist of Modernity. Theory, Culture & Society, 2(3), 49-53. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276485002003006

  6. Kemple, T. (2010). Thomas Kemple introduces David Frisby's writings in Theory, Culture & Society. Retrieved from: https://www.theoryculturesociety.org/blog/thomas-kemple-introduces-david-frisby-on-georg-simmel-and-social-theory

  7. Kostenko, N. (2022). Inside and outside of identity in the cultural experience of pandemic and war. [In Ukrainian]. Sociology: Theory, Methods, Marketing, 2, 5-21. https://doi.org/10.15407/sociology2022.02.005

  8. Lefebvre, H. (1991). The Production of Space / Tr. by D. Nicholson-Smith. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell; Cambridge, MA: Cambridge Center.

  9. Lucas, G. (1991). Georg Simmel. Theory, Culture & Society, 8(2), 145-150. https://doi.org/10.1177/026327691008003010

  10. Morozov, E. (2013). To Save Everything, Click Here: Technology, Solutionism and the Urge to Fix Problems That Don't Exist. New York, NY: Public Affairs.

  11. Nachtvey, O., Seild, T. (2024). The Solutionist Ethic and the Spirit of Digital Capitalism. Theory, Culture & Society, 41(2), 91-112. https://doi.org/10.1177/02632764231196829

  12. Noelle-Neumann, E. (1984). The Spiral of Silence: Public Opinion-Our Social Skin. Chicago: University of Chicago.

  13. Simmel, G. (1968). The Conflict in Modern Culture and Other Essays / Tr. by P. Etzkorn. New York: Teachers College Press.

  14. Simmel, G. (1998 [1911]). Der Begriff und die Tragödie der Kultur. In: Philosophische Kultur - Über das Abenteuer, die Geschlechter und die Krise der Moderne. Berlin: Wagenbach.

  15. Simmel. G. (2002). The Conflict of Modern Culture. Posted May 23. Retrieved from: https://condor.depaul.edu/dweinste/theory/CoMC.html

  16. Sombart, W. (1902). Der Moderne Kapitalismus. Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot.

  17. Turner, F. (2006). From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226817439.001.0001

  18. Van Gogh exhibition in Lille. (2024). Retrieved from: https://vangoghexpo.com/lille/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=ad&utm_campaign=259596_lil&utm_content=720980081469&utm_term=_&gad_source=5&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrfzm_5mYiwMVLysGAB23QS5qEAEYASAAEgIiOvD_BwE

  19. Wagner-Tsukamoto, S. (2012). Questioning the Weber Thesis: Capitalist Ethics and the Hebrew Bible? Sociology Mind, 2(1). Retrieved from: www.scirp.org/journal/sm https://doi.org/10.4236/sm.2012.21001

  20. Weber, M. (2007). The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism / Tr. by T. Parsons; intro by A. Giddens. London: Routledge.

  21. Wittgenstein, L. (1958). The Philosophical Investigations. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell Ltd.

Received 20.09.2025

Accepted for publication after review 20.12.2025

Cultural orders in space and time of the emergent state

stmm. 2026 (1): 79–94

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/sociology2026.01.079

Full text: https://stmm.in.ua/archive/ukr/2026-1/7.pdf

NATALIIA KOSTENKO, Doctor of Sciences in Sociology, Professor, Head of the Department of Sociology of Culture and Mass Communication, Institute of Sociology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (12, Shovkovychna St., Kyiv, 01021)

natalia.kostenko@gmail.com

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4689-8886

Cultural evolution is not as hasty as it sometimes seems to us; in any case, modern cultural orders are quite thoroughly explained by the conceptualizations of the last century in the most expressive versions of both the sociology of conflicts and the sociology of compromises, which are in no way opposed to each other in the logic of analysis of reality but are autonomous and do not exclude complementarity.

One type of order is focused on the morphology of the conflict of cultural epochs and states in the terms of Georg Simmel, on the interaction of the flow of life and forms of culture, initially fixing their correspondence but subsequently losing it, up to the complete rejection by life of the forms that weigh it down, the rejection of the form of culture in general. We are talking about the opposition of the individual and society, about the insoluble conflict between individual life, which sacrifices its manifestations in favor of socially approved patterns, and cultural form, which gives rise to the “tragedy of culture.” The second perspective, on the contrary, avoids dramatic states, and places the focus on consumption, which Michel de Certeau presents as a multidimensional space of possibilities for anonymous creativity thanks to the special tactics of the ordinary person to bypass the established order, inventing an everyday life that is acceptable to him. Of course, any “branding of creativity” takes it out of the space of secrecy and into the public eye, but it is unlikely to completely neutralize its inspiration from “micro-freedom” (in Certeau’s terms). There is also a third, broader perspective on cultural orders, which has been rooted in the sociological tradition since Sombart and Weber and refers to the “spirit of capitalism”, its value and ethical justifications, and today to the “spirit of digital capitalism” in the space of action of “ethics of decision”, “solutionism” (Oliver Nachtwey, Timo Seidl), the essence of which is the belief that any social problem can be solved by “the correct use of the correct technologies.” The models of modern cultural orders presented in the article help to more accurately understand their interaction with social and economic orders, including in the circumstances of war, when Ukrainian society is in an emergent state as a result of Russian aggression.

Keywords: models of modern cultural orders, M. Foucault, “the tragedy of culture” by G. Simmel, “the invention of everyday life” by M. de Certeau, the tradition of discourse on the “spirit of capitalism”, W. Sombart, M. Weber, L. Boltanski and E. Chiapello, “the spirit of digital capitalism”

Referenes:

  1. Boltanski, L., Chiapello, E. (2007). The New Spirit of Capitalism. London: Verso.

  2. Boltanski, L., Thévenot, L. (2006). On Justification: Economies of Worth. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400827145

  3. De Certeau, M. (1988).The Practice of Everyday Life / Tr. by S. Rendall. London, UK; Berkeley; Los Angeles CA: University of California Press.

  4. Foucault, M. (1994). The Order of Things. An Archaeology of Human Sciences. New York: Vintage Books Editions.

  5. Frisby, D. (1985). The First Sociologist of Modernity. Theory, Culture & Society, 2(3), 49-53. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276485002003006

  6. Kemple, T. (2010). Thomas Kemple introduces David Frisby's writings in Theory, Culture & Society. Retrieved from: https://www.theoryculturesociety.org/blog/thomas-kemple-introduces-david-frisby-on-georg-simmel-and-social-theory

  7. Kostenko, N. (2022). Inside and outside of identity in the cultural experience of pandemic and war. [In Ukrainian]. Sociology: Theory, Methods, Marketing, 2, 5-21. https://doi.org/10.15407/sociology2022.02.005

  8. Lefebvre, H. (1991). The Production of Space / Tr. by D. Nicholson-Smith. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell; Cambridge, MA: Cambridge Center.

  9. Lucas, G. (1991). Georg Simmel. Theory, Culture & Society, 8(2), 145-150. https://doi.org/10.1177/026327691008003010

  10. Morozov, E. (2013). To Save Everything, Click Here: Technology, Solutionism and the Urge to Fix Problems That Don't Exist. New York, NY: Public Affairs.

  11. Nachtvey, O., Seild, T. (2024). The Solutionist Ethic and the Spirit of Digital Capitalism. Theory, Culture & Society, 41(2), 91-112. https://doi.org/10.1177/02632764231196829

  12. Noelle-Neumann, E. (1984). The Spiral of Silence: Public Opinion-Our Social Skin. Chicago: University of Chicago.

  13. Simmel, G. (1968). The Conflict in Modern Culture and Other Essays / Tr. by P. Etzkorn. New York: Teachers College Press.

  14. Simmel, G. (1998 [1911]). Der Begriff und die Tragödie der Kultur. In: Philosophische Kultur - Über das Abenteuer, die Geschlechter und die Krise der Moderne. Berlin: Wagenbach.

  15. Simmel. G. (2002). The Conflict of Modern Culture. Posted May 23. Retrieved from: https://condor.depaul.edu/dweinste/theory/CoMC.html

  16. Sombart, W. (1902). Der Moderne Kapitalismus. Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot.

  17. Turner, F. (2006). From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226817439.001.0001

  18. Van Gogh exhibition in Lille. (2024). Retrieved from: https://vangoghexpo.com/lille/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=ad&utm_campaign=259596_lil&utm_content=720980081469&utm_term=_&gad_source=5&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrfzm_5mYiwMVLysGAB23QS5qEAEYASAAEgIiOvD_BwE

  19. Wagner-Tsukamoto, S. (2012). Questioning the Weber Thesis: Capitalist Ethics and the Hebrew Bible? Sociology Mind, 2(1). Retrieved from: www.scirp.org/journal/sm https://doi.org/10.4236/sm.2012.21001

  20. Weber, M. (2007). The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism / Tr. by T. Parsons; intro by A. Giddens. London: Routledge.

  21. Wittgenstein, L. (1958). The Philosophical Investigations. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell Ltd.

Received 20.09.2025

Accepted for publication after review 20.12.2025

LATEST PRINTED ISSUE

LATEST FREELY ACCESSIBLE MATERIALS

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