Реферат: Терминология и используемые концепции english
Quite often, ecological crises become the specific reason for transition from the territories' sporadic colonisation within civilisations to their large-scale spatial assimilation. Such crises are being generated as an indications of the achieving the certain level of the space assimilation processes. Results of ecological crises generated by civilisations are usually migrations of their population to other regions. From that point of view, civilisations might also be considered as a cause for the growth of the SCS's population up to certain quantity. Most of the known civilisations are the facts of the distant history: they either remained in the past, or have grown into SCS-s. It is especially important to link the fact of the existence of civilisations as a quite reserved centres of culture and territories' assimilation and the fact that they often did not produce any inheritance to the fact that the general process of socio-cultural assimilation "re-covers" such formations, absorbs and "dissolves" them within.
Ecological crises as a reason for the civilisations' decay, or their drastic degradation, should be examined from the general positions of fundamental socio-cultural process of the territories' assimilation. In such context, it is clear that ecological crisis is the most efficient way and reason to make the population of a certain civilisation to "spread" around the under-populated territory of its own SCS.
SOCIO-CULTURAL CONTEST - process which is inherent only for socio-cultural systems. Its socio-cultural meaning lies in developing and selecting the most efficient, in a specific historical conditions, socio-cultural basis for a certain SCS which should determine further ways of solving this SCS' most fundamental and principal problems. Socio-cultural contests may take place during various periods of the SCS-s evolution and, as a rule, in a form of a cycle of civil wars, domestic quarrels and feuds, economic and cultural depression. They do usually leave the very gloomy and strange memories in the following generations and become the subject of subsequent falsifications from the side of their very own SCS-s. In reality, socio-cultural contests are absolutely necessary for the efficient growth and development of any SCS and are a kind of its response to changing arrangements of socio-cultural powers.
SOCIO-CULTURAL STANDARD - combination of the specific regulating principles and norms that rule a state's and society's organization, as well as specific forms through those internal potential of a socio-cultural formation is being realised. Initial socio-cultural standard emerges together with its socio-cultural formation. As for SCS's, it's being formed during first period of their evolution; then it may be essentially transformed as a result of a socio-cultural contest conducted by SCS. Transformation of a socio-cultural standard takes place only in SCS-s: it is an indication of their high adaptability to changing (socio-cultural) environment / conditions.
SOCIO-CULTURAL MIGRATIONS (SOCIO-CULTURALLY SIGNIFICANT MIGRATIONS) - migrations that are directed outside the traditional homeland of a certain SCS and aimed at the socio-cultural transformation of the alien territories into the new homeland of the SCS in question, or creating its naturally dependent vassals. Ability to generate such migrations is the unique quality of SCS-s. Specific causes that bring them about may be very different, but, as a rule, manifest themselves through generating a sort of the "end of the World" within traditional homeland.
Example of the migrations aimed at the expanding the own homeland is eastward flight of Russians to new territories in Siberia and Far East as from the second half of the XVI century, and especially - as from the second half of the XVII century. The result of the "time of troubles" within the traditional - at the time - Russian homeland and the Russian Orthodox church schism were mass migrations of the Russian population to new lands that thus became the new Russian homeland - not the result of a fortuitous, but socio-culturally grounded process.
Processes of the rise and growth of the Cossack movement in Moscow Tsardom and Russian Empire as well as resettlements of a considerable numbers of Russians in Baltic Republics and Central (Middle) Asia during Soviet times may serve as the examples of the migrations aimed at the creating naturally dependent vassals. Results of such "melting" actions and processes began revealing themselves only after the USSR disintegration. Transformed in a socio-cultural respect territories turned out to be greatly dependent from Russia.
Such processes are of universal character and take place in the evolution of actually all the SCS-s - socio-cultural migrations are not unique for any one of them.
SCS's EVOLUTION - process of the SCS's change through realisation of its own internal potential and taking into consideration outer factors and conditions. External factors may exert essential influence on SCS, mainly on its specific forms, but in general, process of the SCS's evolution is a product of its own internal development.
PERIOD - historically significant interval of time in the SCS's evolution during which radical and clearly identified transformation of the entire SCS's space, based on its own internal logic, takes place. Qualitatively redesigned organization of the entire SCS's space is usually the result of the completed period.
SUBPERIOD - a part of a period during which vital and definitely identified transformations of some territories within the SCS's space are being performed. Such transformations may be regarded as individual manifestations of a more fundamental processes of space assimilation within SCS.
The basic distinction between the period and subperiod is that changes occurred during a subperiod may be of a local character, connected only to a separate regions within SCS. A sum of subperiods forms a period. A period, depending on its own specifics and current tasks of a SCS, may include a varied number of empirically established subperiods (as a rule, from 2 to 5).
STAGE - a part of a subperiod within which clearly distinguished specific political, economic and/or social transformations / reorganisation of SCS, not necessarily connected with recurrent completed changes in a process of its space assimilation, take place.
Stage is usually a historically brief interval of time and is only identified when a very detailed analysis of the SCS's evolution is being made. Presence of a certain political, economic and/or social specifics in the SCS's evolution is a criterion to single out a stage.
Idea of a stage is extremely important to correctly interpret a historical data on specific SCS's evolution. Socio-cultural approach isn't just general theoretical construction, but it's a tool and basis for examination and interpretation of concrete processes and events.
APPENDIX 2.
TYPES OF THE SOCIO-CULTURAL FORMATIONS
SOCIO-CULTURAL TYPE'S INDICATIONS / QUALITIES
SOCIO-CULTURAL SPACE
1.1. Relatively large areas of permanent inhabitancy
Socio-cultural system (SCS)
Always possesses and controls significant territories
Socio-cultural domain (SCD)
Never comparable to the SCS' space. As a rule, it's much less than the territory of any taken separately SCS, and may be quite insignificant
Socio-cultural buffer zone
Never comparable with the SCS' space. As a rule, it's much less than the territory of any taken separately SCS, and as the neighbouring socio-cultural systems progress, decreases to a certain modest size
Mixed socio-cultural region
May possess quite large initial area, but demonstrates persistent tendency to its gradual reduction, due to various parts of the territory assimilation into and by other socio-cultural formations - socio-cultural systems and domains
1.2. Homeland where significant quantities of its population live permanently
Socio-cultural system (SCS)
Always has own homeland where significant part of its population lives continually
Socio-cultural domain (SCD)
In accordance with this particular criterion, there are two types of socio-cultural domains: