Eva Polak: Supposedly-actuality and conditions for success

Nature and culture are 2 concepts opposed to each another and complementary to each other. What is not nature is simply a culture and vice versa. Culture is besides the consequence and consequence of nature. It is synonymous with all human activities and results, mainly in the intangible sphere. Thus, culture can include everything that is simply a product of deliberate reflection of man and was created thanks to his work.

The article comes from a magazine Transformations No 1-4 (72-75) 2012. Thank you for agreeing to print the text.

According to the encyclopedic definition, culture is simply a full of the spiritual and material achievements of society, including the patterns of conduct characteristic of the society, It is simply a collection of taught phenomena (i.e. transmitted not through genes, but through education and learning) and is temporal and spatial in nature[1].

Culture is simply a system, so each single culture has its own interior logic. It is besides an area of interior differentiation. Culture is besides a human adaptation mechanism; it is simply a mediator between man and the environment that inhabits him. Man changes the environment and is at the same time subject to the cultural influence of the environment. Especially in the last fewer decades, the process of shrinking the sphere of nature and expanding the expansion of culture can be observed. Man is increasingly interfering with nature, changing it or destroying it.

The environment is degraded, forests, meadows, water reservoirs vanish from the ground. Artificial lakes, artificial riverbeds, genetically modified fresh plant and animal varieties are formed. Nature's attribute has no longer been associated with specified phenomena as hair color, facial features, carcase growth, gesturery, facial expressions, voice tempre, aging. All of this is being interfered more and more by man transforming himself and the surrounding environment according to the expectations of modern culture.

The behaviour of people, including consumers, employees, voters, investors, is being modified thanks to the increasingly common usage of intellectual cognition in politics, business or more – interpersonal relations. The increasing interest and usage are enjoyed by PR tools, marketing or even neuromarketing.

If everything can be governed by economical principles and utilized for commercial purposes, the degree of human interference in nature increases. If there is request for certain goods in the market, there will surely be supply.

Not only the natural colour of hair or the natural facial expressions can be replaced by their artificial counterparts, but their counterparts have almost all natural goods, there are artificial diamonds, pearls, leather, flowers etc. Artificial is the odor and colour of bread and artificially, washed out of emotion, the bank individual addresses us.

In commercial reality (shops, workplaces, service institutions, etc.) and human relationships, scripting and phase plan are becoming increasingly important. Thus, the human environment, as well as itself and his behaviour, reactions, image is becoming increasingly artificial. In the modern planet there is almost a one-way flow between donors and recipients of contemporary cultural goods. Cultural patterns no longer make as a consequence of long-term social interactions. Global rules are formulated and imposed in accordance with the interests of the strongest – production and financial capital. It has both alleged hard and soft power. It extends not only in the material sphere, but aims to monopolize culture, the planet of symbols, ideas, values, and time, behaviour and desires besides in the field of symbolic culture. Fills in certain nonsubjective content processes related to greater planet availability.

According to K. Krzysztofek, transnational corporations, which have concentrated a large part of economic, political and symbolic power in their hands, have become a fresh invisible global cultural authority. As he writes, they aim to algorithmize man, his thinking, his behavior, his relation with others[2].

According to R. Reich, supranational capital can find scientists from major centres who are able to prove everything or establish a pseudo-scientific institute, foundations, associations, make social movement, organize pseudo-scientific congresses that support their arguments and demands.

With appropriate tools, it can convince citizens to have the most absurd and socially harmful ideas[3].

In order to get fresh outlets or places of placement of own capital, you request to sale your culture in advance and gain supporters for it. To make money selling goods and services, you must first convince people to get them, make fresh needs, desires, whims and make the level of satisfaction, sense of fulfillment, self-fulfillment and social promotion dependent on having circumstantial objects.

People communicate with consumption signs[4]. The most crucial form of human activity was not production, intellectual work or social activity, but consumption (the evidence of the social position and the main sources of human pleasure).

B. Barber states that the planet of consumption sells not only goods, but ideologies, aspirations and lifestyles[5]. People are characterized or even distinguished by the objects they get and the lifestyle they choose. They decide the image and position of a man who, erstwhile buying fresh gadgets, gains a fresh identity in the eyes of the surroundings. It's about self-promotion. Freedom is understood as freedom of consumer choice. To grow its boundaries, people are turning from savings books society to credit card society[6], which banks and another credit institutions are eager to use.

In the press and television, there are tempting offers: ‘credit in 15 minutes’, ‘great cash collection’, ‘dreaming at hand’, etc. According to the advertising slogan, “live now, pay later” banks extend their credit offer to impatient and undervalued consumers. It is becoming easier to get a debt or a nobilitating gold or diamond credit card, a debt to repay earlier loans, a debt to supplement its monthly income for home and housing security, etc.[7]. Thanks to bank loans, the level and kind of consumption frequently shows not the current economical position of the consumer, but his aspirations and ambitions.

The acquisition of increasingly sophisticated goods is simply a kind of illusion, illusion, and is identified with solving life's problems, buying prestige, youth, beauty, realization of dreams and entertainment. It has a cultural sense, an emotional sense, and is intended to be a origin of experience. The corporations find what is fashionable ‘trends’, ‘cool’, which should show social standing, success, and find prestige. They sale not only goods and services, but besides ideas, values, customs, sensations, desires, manage leisure time, control the behaviour of workers and consumers [8].

Transnational capital manipulates human desires, creates needs and aspirations. National and cultural cultures imposed certain standards and made demands on people. marketplace culture, consumer culture says: you can do whatever you want, you can be whatever you want, and you gotta strive for happiness in your own way[9], you just gotta improve your consumer attitudes. National cultures gave people an identity. Modern man tries to buy himself an identity through certain consumption and learned behavior. People who are convinced of the originality of their own views and the uniqueness of their own way of life do not realize that their behaviour results from force on them. The wide scope of information, culture and the general marketplace gives the impression of increasing freedom of choice. However, this diversity has strict limits, and an excess of stimulus causes a individual to choose what is straight suggested to him.

Individualisation of preferences requires reflection, reflection, individual experience or discussions that form the ability to think logically[10]. But there is no time and no conditions. As Th. Friedman writes, the planet is becoming more and more standardized, depleted by "deflation"[11].

Consumption so seems to be a determinant of social position, authority, respect, admiration.

Once upon a time, respect and admiration had to be earned with your full life, now it is adequate to self-create, the kind of consumption, the thought of yourself. Increasingly sophisticated sociotechnology, human neurolinguistic programming, social engineering, persuasion and manipulation techniques become increasingly valued and desirable skills without which it is impossible to accomplish success. For example, according to neurolinguistic programming, it is not essential to be honest with a individual in order to gain confidence, but a akin body attitude, a akin expression on the face, breathe at a akin rate and usage akin linguistics[12]. Soft skills courses are becoming increasingly popular among educational offers, including even seduction schools.

Corporate power penetrates the subconscious and penetrates the deepest layers of social life. In particular, public space, commercializes human life, undermines values and social ties[13]. It creates norms, desirable lifestyles, behaviour and social relations. Its work is just commercialized consumption, which is based on the discovery that contrary to the dominant belief inactive in the late 19th century that human needs are limited and countable, desires can be multiplied indefinitely, telling people that without their satisfaction they will be unhappy. Escalating desires that must outweigh their possibilities of satisfying them and sustaining the state of continuous unsaturatedness is the foundation of an economy based on consumption. Another "discovery of modern commercialised culture is the belief that everything is simply a commodity and has its price".

Commercialisation involves adapting activities, attitudes, behaviours, social relations, aspirations, aspirations, assessments to marketplace economy conditions[14] .

At present, the place at the level of the social ladder determines the market, the needs of the economy and the values and attitudes it prefers. All activities take on the character of production and commercial activities, and the product offered by them becomes a commodity which is subject to request and supply law. The most crucial nonsubjective of commercialised activity of an economical operator, institution, entity or social interaction is economical efficiency and profit. This nonsubjective is subject to all decisions and actions taken, even in non-market areas specified as healthcare, education, politics towards old people, direct interpersonal relations. The consequences of commercialisation and economicisation of culture are mainly changes in the sphere of symbols and ideas. conventional values, ideas are replaced by marketplace values, commercial ones.

The place of ethics is aesthetics; morality – effectiveness; fact – usefulness; loyalty – flexibility; content – form; emotionality – rationality; empathy – assertivity; solidarity – individualism; cohesion, continuity – fragmentation; wisdom – competence – media; authority – idol, advisor; welfare state – repressive state; citizens – consumers, investors, customers; participatory democracy – oligarchy democracy, authoritarianism, plutocracy; conventional community – virtual, commercial, prestigious community; social relations – marketplace relations[15].

The characteristic feature of modern times is besides the blurring of borders between states, cultures, as well as between fact and falsehood; reality and phase plan and spectacle; information and disinformation, manipulation; personality and created image; private and public sphere; legal and illegal; ethical and unethical; wisdom and stupidity, times of science, work and free time; employment and unemployment; youth, mature age and old age; theirs and strangers; economical power and political power: state and suprastate power; the boundaries of economical operators and differences between political parties are blurred.

Culture is, by definition, an artificial thing, a product of a community and situations that its members experience. However, commercialising culture results in an even higher degree of “artificialisation”. It does not arise spontaneously, objectivized, but has an increasingly intentional and utilitarian character. Therefore, it is said about virtualization of reality, simulated reality, pretend reality, slogans, artifactilization of the environment, imitivity, role-playing, planet of illusion, illusion, game of appearances, theatricalization of life. This last word can be called into question, due to the fact that theatre, unlike contemporary culture, is associated with the alleged higher culture, non-utilitarianism, intellectual reflection, ethics, striving for fact and instilling noble attitudes.

The consequences of the above mentioned processes are: marketing, massaging, imitivity, consumerism, standardisation, tandemization, primitiveization, infantilism, manipulativeism, dehumanization, cultural technology[16]. The process of globalisation, which causes, among another things, the deteritorialization of cultural phenomena and processes, can besides be seen, for example, in the highland bar on the Baltic beach, Chinese, Indian or Thai restaurants anywhere in the world, fast food offering any regional food anywhere, you can buy African masks on the street in Warsaw or Brussels, spend time on a sea beach in the vicinity of Berlin, play with the sounds of African cultural music at the discotheque in Moscow, or feel the taste of exotic travel by visiting the appropriate subject park, copies of celebrated monuments or cinemas displaying films in 3D technology. The good culture has been ripped out of their local context and is part of a commercial offer.

Traditional, real communities besides vanish – no longer integrates the workplace, the state, school, residence, organization or even spiritual affiliation. conventional communities[17], where emotional ties prevailed and people were interdependent, were replaced by: marketplace communities, commercial communities, where people have a common interest at the moment; changing and carnival communities[18] where people have a common event, a situation; prestigious communities where a weak social position is similar. They are surrogates of real communities and bonds. People participate, for example, in artistic events and banquets, where they “come out”, they belong to prestigious clubs, they live in exclusive, closed districts, they participate in integration events, abroad trips organized by producers of goods they acquire, physically meet in buying centres, amusement parks, at airports, but no of the presented situations serves to establish authentic ties. Z. Bauman calls them pseudo-places and pseudo-situations in which certain rules of conduct must be respected and no social interaction must be involved[19].

G. Ritzer divides the products of culture and human behaviour into “something” and “nothing”. ‘Nothing’ is about this artificial unified world, which has no circumstantial characteristics and individual characteristics. He calls his elements e.g. non-politics, non-university, non-church, non-democracy; directed speeches, statements he calls non-speak. [20] A. Aldridge defines modern-day supposedly-Community lifestyle enclaves (e.g. at a golf club) [21]. More and more often, membership must be paid. Communities, just as human life is commercialised[22] The richness of the marketplace offer and at the same time the diversification of the economical situation of the society makes it possible to minimise the danger of gathering people with highly different social statutes in circumstantial places and situations. They constitute a cleared space from “foreign”

BIBLE:

1. Aldridge A., Consumption, Warsaw 2006.
2. Aronson E., Human Social Being, Warsaw 1995.
3. Barber B., Jihad v McWorld, Warsaw 2000.
4. Barber B., Consumed, Warsaw 2007.
5. Baudrillard J., Symulakry and Simulation, Warsaw 2005.
6. Bauman Z.., Liquid Modernity, Kraków 2006,
7. Bauman Z., Labour, Consumerism and fresh Poors, Kraków 2006.
8. Bauman Z., Sociology, Poznań 1996.
9. Bauman Z., Work, Consumerism and fresh Poors, Warsaw 2006.
10. Cialdini R. B., Influence on People, Warsaw 2001
11. Deborah G., Society of the performance and Reflections on the society of the performance, Warsaw 2006.
12. Jungle in the office, “Le Nouvel Observateur” dated 17.01.2002, for: “Forum”, 2002, No 12 of 18–24.03.2002.
13. Forodar R., Europe divided by a wall, “Newsweek” of 19.02.2006.
14. Franklin B., Packaging Politics. Political Communication in Britain’s Media Democracy, London 1994.
15. Fredt J. G., Governments of the Invisible, “Observateur” of 2003, for: “Forum” 2004, No. 4.
16. Friedman Th., Flat World, Warsaw 2007.
17. Jamieson K. H., Dirty Politics. Deception, Distraction and Democracy, Oxford 1992.
18. Capitalism destroys democracy, with R. Reich, Appendix to “Politics” 2007, No. 39.
19. Kapuściński R., The Raising Stream of History. Records of the 20th and 21st centuries, Kraków 2007.
20. Kapuściński R., self-portrait of reporter, Kraków 2004, p. 107.
21. Klasgen M., Me and I again, “Süddeutsche Zeitung” of 9.01.2008, for: “Forum” 2008, No 3.
22. Klawitter N., Propaganda dogs always at your service, for: “Forum” 2006, No 32/33.
23. Krzysztofek K., @lgorhythmic society?, “Transformations” December 2005.
24. Krzysztofek K., Digital and analog – 2 cultures, 2 participations. Implications for cultural participation of Poles, “Transformations”, December 2006.
25. Forge R., Globalisation, Geopolitics and abroad Policy, "International Affairs", 2000, No 1.
26. Mathews G., Supermarket Culture, Warsaw 2005.
27. I don't love Kasanrdy, with B. Barber, for: “Forum” 2006, No. 43/44.
28. Pole E., Globalisation and socio-economic diversity, Warsaw 2009.
29. Pole E., Civilization and Culture, Zesz. Sciences. KNoC UG, “Civilizations in Time and Space” 1998, No. 4.
30. Pole E., Economics of Culture and its consequences, in: Economics and its social environment, ed. A. Czyżewski, A. Matuszak, Wyd. KPSW, Bydgoszcz 2012.
31. Ritzer G., Globalization of Nothing, Warsaw 2007.
32. ‘Rzeczpospolita’ of 4.11.2008, p. B-3.
33. "Rzeczpospolita" of 7.05.2007, p. B-2.
34. Sennett R., Character Corrosion. individual consequences of working in fresh capitalism, Warsaw 2006.
35. Soros G., Crisis of planet Capitalism, Warsaw 1999.
36. Szymanski W., Must globalisation be irrational? Warsaw 2007, p. 127.
37. Zacher L. W., Games for Future Worlds, Warsaw 2006.
    

Footnotes:

(1) E. Pole, Civilization and Culture, Zesz. Science. KNoC UG, “Civilizations in Time and Space”, 1998, No. 4,
p. 68.
(2) K. Krzysztofek, @lgorhythmic society?, “Transformations” December 2005, s/60.
(3) Capitalism destroys democracy, conversation. With R. Reich, Appendix to ‘Politics’ 2007, No 39.
(4) See B. Barber, Consumed, Warsaw 2007.
(5) B. Barber, Jihad v McŚwiat, Warsaw 2000, p. 151.
(6) Z. Bauman, Work, Consumerism and fresh Poors, Kraków 2006, p. 63.
(7) In the United States, about 2 million people a year are bankrupt. British debt, £1.35 trillion, is greater than Britain's GDP. In Poland, between 2003 and 2007, the value of mortgage loans taken up increased by 60%, with 122,000 Poles having problems with their repayment in 2007. In 2012, more than 2 million people admitted to the problems of repayment of loans in Poland.
(8) Z. Bauman, Liquid Modernity, Kraków 2006, p. 243; K. Krzysztofek, @lgorhythmic ....
(9) G. Mathews, Supermarket Culture, Warsaw 2005. p. 27.
(10) G. Debord, Society of the performance and Reflections on the society of the performance, Warsaw 2006,
p. 170; R. Kapuściński, The Rising Stream of History. Records of the 20th and 21st centuries, Kraków 2007, p. 14.
(11) Th. Friedman, Flat World, Warsaw 2007.
(12) Neurolinguistic programming is simply a collection of communication techniques designed to create
and modify patterns of perception and reasoning in people. These are techniques of human impact
Mind. For example, R.B. Cialdini, Influence on People, Warsaw 2001.
(13) G. Soros, Crisis of planet Capitalism, Warsaw 1999, p. 24.
(14) E. Polak, Economics of Culture and its Consequences, in: Economics and its Social Environment, ed. A.
Czyżewski, A. Matuszak, Wyd. KPSW, Bydgoszcz 2012, pp. 193 – 209.
(15) E. Polak, Globalisation and Socio-economic Diversity, Warsaw 2009, p. 213.
(16) See L. W. Zacher, Games for Future Worlds, Warsaw 2006; K. Krzysztofek, Digital and analog – two
Cultures, 2 participations. Implications for Cultural Participation of Poles, Transformations, December
2006.
(17) Community – a group of socially interdependent people with common traditions, history,
collective memory and participating in practices which it sees as goals in itself.
(18) Z. Bauman, Liquid ..., pp. 152–170.
(19) Ibid.
(20) Cf. G. Ritzer, Globalization of Nothing, Warsaw 2007.
(21) A. Aldridge, Consumption, Warsaw 2006, p. 94.
(22) MultiBank advertising leaflet (offer for the richest customers): Aquarius Club – common passions. The Club of Exclusive Banking MultiBank Aquarius is simply a place bringing together the most demanding Clients, who anticipate from the bank more than just the best product prices and investment opportunities. In addition to the unique banking offer of members of the Club, we besides want to offer a sense of community and belonging to a narrow, elite group of best Multi-Bank Clients. For an attractive scope of financial products members of the Aquarius Club besides receive a package of non-financial services. It includes cruises and trekkings prepared specifically for members of the Club, lodges for members of the Club in the largest Polish theatres, amphitheatres, operas and performance halls, club tables in restaurants throughout Poland, passes for the most crucial cultural events, the Multi Discount program – services and products covered by the discount program, the anticipation of ordering wines from Winnica Klubowa on-line.
(23) See J. Baudrillard, Symulakry and Simulation, Warsaw 2005.
(24) More than half of the value of the commercial training marketplace in Poland is the expenditure of companies on improvement
"soft" skills of employees related to e.g. self-presentation skills, building social relations, coping with stress, the art of public speaking, squad work, leadership
and widely understood management psychology, “Rzeczpospolita” of 7.05.2017, p. B-2.
(25)R. Sennett, Corrosion of Character. individual consequences of working in fresh capitalism, Warsaw 2006.
(26) Ibid. p. 125.
(27) Z. Bauman, Liquid Modernity... p. 51.
(28) In Poland, despite rising earnings and low earnings – before the unemployment crisis, the level of satisfaction with work from 49 in 2007 to 43 points in 2008 (world average 60 points). ‘Rzeczpospolita’ of 7.05.2008. According to the European Foundation for the Improvement of surviving and Working Conditions in Europe, 28% of workers (44 million people) complain about stress; Jungle in the office, “Le Nouvel Observateur” dated 17.01.2002, for: “Forum” 2002, No. 12 of 18–24.03.2002.
(29) Z. Bauman,., Labour, Consumerism and fresh Poors, Warsaw 2006, p. 75.
(30) A. Aldridge, op. cit., p. 65.
(31) Z. Bauman, Sociology, Poznań 1996 p. 75.
(32) E. Aronson, Human Social Being, Warsaw 1995, p. 78.
(33) B. Franklin, Packaging Politics. Political Communication in Britain’s Media Democracy, London 1994,
p. 23. The function of the media was appreciated by the French president N. Sarkozy, who systematically directs his individual life and is happy to show them on tv screen and in colorful magazines. For the viewers he stood
becoming almost a character from the series: M. Klasgen, Me and again, “Süddeutsche Zeitung” from 9.01.2008, for:
‘Forum’ 2008, No 3.
(34) Mr Forgear, Globalisation, Geopolitics and abroad Policy, "International Affairs" 2000, No. 1.
(35) R. Kapuściński, Self-Portrait of a Reporter, Kraków 2004, p. 107.
(36) N. Klawitter, Propaganda dogs always at your service, for: ‘Forum’ 2006, No 32/33.
(37) Lt. K. H. Jamieson, Dirty Politics. Deception, Distraction and Democracy, Oxford 1992.
(38) J. G. Fredt, Governments of the Invisible, "Observateur" of 2003, for: "Forum" 2004, No. 4.
(39) B. Barber claims that politicians can instrumentalize fear and benefit from it. I do not love Cassandra, a conversation with B. Barber, for: “Forum” 2006, No. 43/44.
(40) N. Klawitter, op. cit.
(41) Szymanski W., Must globalisation be irrational? Warsaw 2007, p. 127.
(42) ‘Rzeczpospolita’ of 4.11.2008, p. B-3.
(43) R. Forodar, Europe divided by a wall, "Newsweek" of 19.02.2006.