Abstract: This article examines the phenomenon of collecting from the perspective of its social significance. Manifesting as a form of liberal activity, collecting historically resembled a captivating human activity based on the desire to release creative potential of an individual through collecting items. The author positions collecting as a social activity, the primary cause of which underlies the psychological type of personality. Analysis of these processes in the context of psychology allows explaining the essential aspects of collecting, when the collector is an actor of social creativity; as well as revealing negative moments that define collecting as one of the deviant forms of human behavior. The article compares various theoretical concepts on the topic of social practice of collecting. The author considers the key factors contributing to increase of the role of individual in the society. The novelty of this work consists in the conclusion on the fundamental traits of psychological type of a collector. These traits in a certain way form the inner potential of a collector, which he releases through collecting, as well as the forms of social activity that allow a collector to find self-fulfillment as a liberal creative personality.

Abstract: In the XXI century, under the effects of the globalization factors, mass consumerism culture and demonstrative consumption, there formed a new type of culturological way of thinking, which prompted new conceptual approaches towards the understanding of the collecting phenomenon. The basic function of collecting (preservation of the heritage of the past) is replaced by a demonstrative collecting, in which the value (both, material and spiritual) is substituted by the symbolic perception of demands of an individual, and the main motivating factor for the collector becomes consists in the desire of establish a certain level of prestige and effort to be a part of an elite social circle or demonstrate their individuality. These changes represent an objective and natural process, characteristic to the period of change in the paradigm of civilizational development, namely the transition from traditional industrial society towards a postindustrial one. This article gives detailed overview to the presented structural transformations of the forms of collecting, brought about by the development in cultural trends of consumer society.