Sociocultural aspects of the concept of "society" in traditional Tuvan culture

Danchay-ool Ayas Anatolyevich ORCID: 0000-0002-0060-8783 PhD in Philosophy Associate Professor; Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences and Humanities; Krasnoyarsk State Medical University named after Professor V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation 124 Marx Street, room 401, Krasnoyarsk Territory, 660022, Russia dayas@inbox.ru Other publications by this author

Mongush Salbak Oner-Oolovna PhD in Philosophy Associate Professor; Department of Philosophy; Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education 'Tuvan State University' 667000, Russia, Republic of Tyva, Kyzyl, Lenin str., 5, office 205 monghush.1975@mail.ru Other publications by this author

1. Introduction

The dynamism of the modern world creates a wide range of opportunities for human self-realization, but at the same time, many problems arise. Since the era of modernization, it has been extremely difficult to bridge the spiritual gap between people. Meanwhile, traditional social forms have not yet lost their relevance. Among them, the social structure of Tuvan culture stands out, which has developed authentic concepts of man, consciousness, nature and society over the course of centuries of history, as well as undergone the processes of modernization and globalization.

Modern Tuvan culture is characterized by an original worldview system, which includes pagan, Buddhist and modernized elements, in which contradictory features of the monotheistic Christian worldview and substantial materialism are manifested. As a result of the mixing of traditional cultural phenomena with modernized concepts, contradictory processes in the development of Tuvan society have inevitably arisen since the twentieth century, which requires an understanding of the initial state of the concept of "society" and its transformation in the course of history.

2. Relevance of the research

The relevance of this problem is indisputable, since the alienation of individuals from society and each other in modern times becomes obvious ^[1]. The problem of the value and spiritual unity of society is becoming extremely acute, since as a result of secularization and the imposition of atheism, the influence of the religious ethical system is weakened. It is unclear what can effectively unite people in an atomized society, not only globally, but also on a local scale. At the same time, for Tuvans, alienation from their native nature, which is the inspiration and guardian of the spiritual and value system, becomes a vital problem ^[2]. Cultural alienation itself is intensified by weakening the syncretic worldview and forming an abstract perception of nature through a substantial understanding of matter. There is a shift in the value orientations of Tuvinians ^[3].

Basically, in the studies of Tuvan society, identity ^[4,5,6] and features of social changes were determined as a subject ^[7]. But sociological, cultural and philosophical research has not been aimed at understanding the content of the concept of "society" in Tuvan culture, the elements of which are formed in the system of autochthonous naturalistic beliefs and socio-practical activities.

3. Goals and objectives of the article

The purpose of this study is to identify the main features of the conceptual understanding of society in the Tuvan culture, formed in a syncretic worldview in which a person is thought of in unity with nature ^{[8, p. 49]}. The subject of the study is the ideological elements of Tuvan culture in its traditional state, namely before modernization and globalization. By analyzing the authentic essences of Tuvan culture, we will try to identify the main contours of the concept of society.

4. Methodology

The disclosure of the authenticity of the concept of society in Tuvan culture requires the use of a cultural and anthropological approach that recognizes the intrinsic value of the culture of each nation ^[9]. As a specific aspect of the chosen approach, the relativistic direction is applied, which ensures freedom from the Eurocentric paradigm, which seeks to unify cultural phenomena through the logic used. This choice is determined by the complexity of applying the classical European methodology to a culture in which an abstract way of worldview has not been formed and there are no rational concepts containing an unambiguous meaning.

The emphasis on the connection between culture and society in this study was made possible through the application of a socio-cultural approach, which indicates the fundamental importance of culture in the development of society. The historical method was used to identify the content of the transformation processes of Tuvan culture and society.

The concept of "society" has a special manifestation in different cultures. Which is quite logical, since local cultures, which are relevant only for a limited space, develop peculiar models of a person and his activities. But in order to detect accents in his understanding in dissimilar traditions, it is necessary to use a comparative method. The very understanding of the concept in this study is based on its understanding as the result of sensory-contemplative, mental, cognitive, and practical activities ^[10]. Therefore, the concept of "society" in the traditional Tuvan culture is analyzed by us in various aspects.

5. Review of publications

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the cultural-anthropological approach was applied to archaic cultural traditions that had not undergone a transformation of their content in modernization and industrialization. The comparative aspect of the chosen approach chosen in this study is described in the works of G. Spencer ^[11], E.B. Tylor ^[12], A.R. Radcliffe-Brown ^[13], J.P. Murdoch ^[14]. Also valuable for this study were the publications of R. Benedict ^[15] and M. Mead ^[16], which emphasize the complexity of the process of inculturation and the influence of culture on worldview.

In the twentieth century, Tuvan culture was analyzed in a variety of ethnographic, historical, linguistic, and religious studies. But a detailed analysis of the content of concepts and phenomena remained a significant gap. Other problems of Tuvan culture are also being investigated in modern Russia. The sociocultural approach to the analysis of Tuvan culture was used in the publications of Yu.V. Popkov, E.A. Tyugashev ^[17], C.K. Lamazhaa ^[18], Dongak V.S.^[19]. The ideological features of Tuvan culture from the standpoint of philosophy are revealed in the works of O.M. Khomushku ^[20], A.K. Kuzhuget ^[21], M.B. Kenin-Lopsan ^[22]. Linguistic research is aimed at identifying common Turkic roots, semiotic dynamics, functioning and preservation of the Tuvan language. However, these studies do not reveal the issues of the influence of the concept of "society" on the development of Tuvan culture and society.

6. The results of the study

The Republic of Tyva is a region of the Russian Federation, the uniqueness of which is due to its geographical isolation and remoteness. From the beginning of our era to the twentieth century, its territory was part of the possessions of various nomadic empires. In 1944, Tyva became part of the USSR, which determined its further development. The underdevelopment of their own political institutions had an impact on the formation of a corpus of words describing social and cultural institutions. At the same time, ethnic and cultural unity allows us to operate with such a concept as "traditional Tuvan culture". From the perspective of modern civilization, it is possible to define such features of Tuvan society as patriarchy and traditionalism, which ensures the preservation of the social and tribal structure.

The social norms of Tuvan society are formed in unity with a syncretic picture of the world in which society is an organic part of nature. This understanding was possible due to the anthropomorphization of natural phenomena, as well as the lack of desire to contrast society and nature ^{[8, p.50]}. In this regard, collective values are placed above individual values, and in general, an individual person finds himself only in the social system ^[23]. At the same time, nature is thought concretely, since an abstract-rational type of thinking has not been developed ^[24]. All processes are understood in a system of cyclic time and limited space. Everything that is not included in this system does not have the characteristic of being, which makes it clear that there is no abstract and absolute being in the Tuvan culture. This feature of Tuvan culture led to the formation of an authentic concept of society in which cultural values protected nature and society.

The traditional Tuvan culture in its conceptual core is formed on the operation of local space ^[25], which is natural for traditions that have not developed a total and open epistemology. The internal contradiction of the worldview was quite natural and justified. Here, the understanding of man and society does not contain abstract concepts, since imaginative thinking, based on a free interpretation of myths, does not strive for strict consistency and structurality. Of course, in the Tuvan language one can find Turkic, Mongolian, Sanskrit universal concepts that reveal the understanding of man and society, but they took root in the popular consciousness due to the possibility of actualization in a specific area.

A qualitative change in the shamanistic Tuvan culture occurs with the penetration of the Tibetan-Mongolian tradition into the Tuva of Buddhism. Through this non-theistic world religion, an authentic picture of the world is consolidated in Tuvan culture, in which there is no substantial perception of man and the world. Due to this gentleness, Buddhism organically coexisted with shamanism, but more importantly, it formed a special model of social structure based on the unity of "Buddha, Dharma, Sangha" ^{[26, p.270]}. The peculiarity of this model was the lack of desire to rebuild the social system, and the stimulation of following the norms of social discipline ^{[26, p.277]}. Buddhism does not have a substantial understanding of man and the world ^[27], which quite organically fits into the general system of worldview of traditional Tuvan culture.

The main form of management was nomadic cattle breeding and therefore settlements with a large number of inhabitants are not found in the space of Tuva, as a result of which there were no mechanisms for regulating a close social system. Difficult climatic conditions did not allow farming on a significant scale. The environment with which the Tuvans interacted was insignificant. Only a close circle of relatives made up the absolute majority of the social system. It is logical that the family in Tuvan society is one of the main values, as it ensures survival in difficult natural, political and economic conditions ^[28]. The family was the basis for the transfer of folk knowledge, which helped to survive ^[29]. It is not for nothing that in the Turkic languages of the peoples of Siberia, life in society is understood primarily as life in the family ^{[30, p.90]}. Culture is a system of images, ideas, concepts expressing a certain picture of the world.

Any social system inevitably develops an ethical model, which shows the characteristics of a particular society. It is logical that through cultural practices, a model of social structure is instilled in young people. In pre-written cultures, broadcasting is carried out in the family circle through folklore, household items, inventory, and lifestyle. As a vivid example, we can turn to the yurt as a model of the world, the source of wisdom of the people, the space of the family, the result of a nomadic lifestyle. It goes without saying that a mythological worldview functions in such a culture. In this model, an integral family-related system is formed, in which each person plays a specific role. It is important to emphasize that in Tuvan culture the child is initially thought of as a full-fledged person, in understanding his essence there is no idea of inferiority, which is formed in European culture on the basis of the soteriology of Christianity. The original sinfulness and limitations of man in the Abrahamic religions are overcome only in unity with the Absolute. Due to the lack of universal anthropology and total thinking encompassing all things, eschatology and teleological worldview have not been formed in Tuvan culture. For Tuvans, the existence of man and society are fully revealed in the forms of nature. The verbal transmission of cultural traditions retains the importance of the family and society in cultures that do not focus on writing in their development ^[31]. The relevance of the family as a value in modern Tuvan society is proved by the high birth rate ^[32], declaring its importance in the course of sociological research.

The steady development of Tuvan society and culture was replaced by abrupt changes in all spheres of society in the twentieth century since the beginning of modernization in the vector of the Soviet Union. The shamanistic-Buddhist worldview system was replaced by atheistic materialism. Such a change was carried out through the breakdown of the young political system, the repression of the local clergy, the transition to a settled socio-economic system, and the construction of a universal education system on the European model. Before the Soviet modernization, a significant part of Tuvans possessed the Old Mongolian script ^[33], the vocabulary describing cosmological concepts was much wider. Before the modernization, the family and ancestral system was built on a complex family, close relatives participated in the transfer of traditions and collective experience. With industrialization, the nuclear family became established in Tuvan society ^{[14, p.19]}, older relatives began to move away. Socialization models have changed, and social strata of the industrial world have emerged. Internal migration of the population increased, which led to a mixture of places of settlement of ancient tribal groups, which nevertheless have not lost their importance even in modern times. As a result, the system of relations between man, society and nature has changed dramatically. It began to develop on the model of the European worldview, which is built on a religious-substantial system that encompasses all existence and unifies the phenomena of culture and worldview.

To understand the content of the concept of "society" in Tuvan culture, it is necessary to analyze the meaning of specific words that reveal the meanings of the social sphere. In the Tuvan language, "society" is translated as niitilel^[34]. This word is a derivative construct of the word niichi, which means "common". When referring to the etymology of the word "society" in Russian, we find that it also comes from "general" ^[35]. However, in Russian, this word is the same root as "communicate", which is quite logical. When referring to the etymology of the English word "society", it is found that it comes from "comradeship" and "communication" ^[36]. But such a logic of the construction of this word is not found in the Tuvan language. "Communication" in the dictionary is translated into Tuvan as "kharylzaa" ^[37], and "communicate" as "kharylzazhyr, aralazhyr, chorzhur" ^[38], which can be translated as "interact". The word "niitilel" in the Tuvan language does not form a verb. As a result, "niitilel" in the modern Tuvan language can be interpreted as an artificially created word during the modernization of Tuvan culture in Soviet times.

The absence of a word that has a similar meaning is not a disadvantage of a particular culture, but indicates the presence of an alternative worldview system. The social in the system of a syncretic worldview is not isolated into a separate sphere of human existence. The formation of the concept of society requires the creation of abstract concepts of the state, citizen, duty, and good. However, due to the absence of an autochthonous political system in Tuvan society and the absence of abstract rational thinking that creates a set of concepts and universals, these concepts have not been formed. This is the reason why the concept of society has not been formed in the Tuvan language, and even more so there were no conditions for the emergence of the concept of "civil society". In the European tradition, the concept of "society" is formed in a system of teleological worldview based on abstract conceptual thinking that constructs the universals of man, society and being. Communication was aimed at maintaining a system of spiritual unity in the social system, which is a special phenomenon in existence. Directly in the Middle Ages, the social system was thought of as given by the transcendent Absolute through its spiritual unity by man, in one way or another such an understanding functions until modern times.

The spiritual substantialization of the individual and society also did not occur in Tuvan society, as a result of which there is no clear boundary between the interests of man and society. This is also confirmed by the conclusion of the team of authors that the concept of personal space was alien to Tuvan culture ^{[30, p.128]}, therefore, it can be assumed that there was no rigid boundary between the individual and the public. The economic system of Tuvan society, in accordance with the formational approach, remained at the level of feudalism, which did not lead to the emergence of the institution of private property. The economic interests of the individual were dissolved in the generic interests. The absence of a formalized system in interactions between individuals is quite natural, since there are generic relationships that form the entire social structure ^{[13, p.27]}.

The syncretism of culture formed a special mindset in which there is no separation of subject and object. As a result, we see that a person in the traditional Tuvan culture did not operate in his thinking with social or state categories, but only with generic and family ones. Man could not take himself beyond the bounds of nature, but he could not take himself beyond the bounds of family or clan either.

7. Conclusion

Thus, the concept of "society" in Tuvan culture is not revealed in the form of a specific concept. The syncretism of Tuvan culture led to the inseparability of various spheres of human existence. In Tuvan culture, the social functional structure did not become dominant, as it happened in European culture ^{[39, p.164]}. The absence of an urban social system and a formalized structure of interaction did not require the development of abstract and abstract thinking. In addition, the concept of "society" is not revealed in Tuvan culture through the "subject-object" system, it is quite organically inscribed in the naturalistic-generic worldview. Social aspects are revealed through family, clan, and tradition. A person, conceptualizing himself as a part of nature, also understands society as a natural part of nature.

As a result, we found out that the word "niitilel" is an artificially created neologism that does not reveal the content of the concept of "society" in Tuvan culture. At the same time, the preservation of an authentic understanding of society in Tuvan culture is proved by the high level of proficiency in the Tuvan language, which is the main means of communication among Tuvans^[32]. The political, economic, cultural, and social interests of a person were not distinguished into individual ones, they manifested themselves at the family and clan level.

Together with the modernization of Tuvan culture, a dynamic transformation of the social system of Tuvan culture began. Naturalism and collectivism of thinking are gradually beginning to be replaced by individualism. The individual becomes autonomous in relation to the social system. But ancient images, mythologems and concepts have not completely lost their significance in modern Tuvan culture. Reverence for nature is still preserved, which ensures the functioning of a naturalistic spiritual system. The concept of sustainable development in modern times is a natural result of humanity's appeal to environmental problems and understanding of nature as an important source of spiritual values. The moral and ethical system of Tuvan society in the modern hyperdynamic world can be preserved with the careful actualization of a syncretic worldview, which will not lose the organic unity of man and nature.

The results of the research can be applied in the development of pedagogical materials, the definition of methodology and problems of sociological and cultural studies. Further disclosure of the synthesis of archaic social concepts with modern concepts formed in industrial and post-industrial culture is required.