2025 № 4 (55)

UDC 316.7; 7.073; 792.073 

BBC 60.562.6; 60.564.0; 71.4; 85.330,009

DOI: 10.51678/2226-0072-2025-4-80-105 

For cit.: Ushkarev A.A., Dukov E.V. Network Transformation of Cultural Activity. Hudozhestvennaya kul’tura [Art & Culture Studies], 2025, no. 4, pp. 80–105. https://doi.org/10.51678/2226-0072-2025-4-80-105. (In Russian)

Ushkarev Alexander A. 

D.Sc. (in Culture Studies), PhD (in Art History), Department of Cultural Policy and Economics of Art, State Institute for Art Studies, 5 Kozitsky Lane, Moscow, 125375, Russia 

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1675-9495 

ResearcherID: ХТН-7702-2023

a.ushkarev@sias.ru; al_ush@mail.ru

Dukov Evgeny V.

D.Sc. (in Philosophy), PhD (in Art History), Professor, Chief Researcher, Mass Media Arts Department, State Institute for Art Studies, 5 Kozitsky Lane, 125375, Moscow, Russia 

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2097-369X

ResearcherID: AAR-6655-2021

edukov@rambler.ru

Network Transformation of Cultural Activity 

Abstract. The role of art in human life is fluid, but it is never limited to artistic and aesthetic aspects. Numerous sociological studies conducted worldwide in recent decades have documented shifts in society’s cultural needs and significant dynamics in human relationships with art. This has led to the emergence of a number of theories and concepts of cultural activity explaining the ongoing sociocultural transformations from the perspectives of various academic schools. Meanwhile, cultural reality is constantly changing, and new trends in cultural activity no longer fit within previous concepts; they require rethinking from a contemporary perspective. Sociological surveys in recent years have documented the emergence of new models of cultural consumption based on the exploitation of the social functions of art. For many, contact with art is increasingly becoming not an aesthetic experience, but a symbol of belonging to the ‘cultural elite’, a tool for self-promotion, the formation of a positive image, and competitiveness within numerous social hierarchies. In the context of digitalization of cultural consumption and the growth of online public activity, the social significance of art is acquiring a completely new understanding and mass demand. The concept of network transformation proposed in the article helps explain how the destruction of information barriers, coupled with the population’s online activity, is changing patterns of human interaction with art.

Keywords: cultural activity, art audience, models of cultural consumption, theatre, social networks, online activity, empirical research

Sources:

AIS “Statistika” GIVTS Minkul’tury Rossii [Automated Information System “Statistics” of the Main Information and Computing Center of the Ministry of Culture of Russia]. Available at: https://stat.mkrf.ru/indicators/ (accessed 25.08.2025). (In Russian)

Materialy sotsiologicheskikh oprosov publiki opery i baleta Moskovskogo akademicheskogo muzykal’nogo teatra im. K.S. Stanislavskogo i Vl.I. Nemirovicha-Danchenko: Ehlektronnaya baza dannykh [Materials from Sociological Surveys of the Opera and Ballet Audiences of the K.S. Stanislavsky and Vl.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Musical Theatre: Electronic Database], State Institute for Art Studies. Moscow, 2023. (In Russian)

Materialy II Vserossiiskogo oprosa teatral’nykh zritelei Rossiiskoi Federatsii: Ehlektronnaya baza dannykh [Materials of the 2nd All-Russian Survey of Theater Spectators of the Russian Federation: Electronic Database], State Institute for Art Studies. Moscow, 2025. (In Russian)

Materialy sotsiologicheskikh oprosov auditorii muzykal’nykh teatrov goroda Moskvy: GBUK g. Moskvy “Moskovskii muzykal’nyi teatr “Gelikon-opera” pod rukovodstvom Dmitriya Bertmana», GBUK g. Moskvy “Moskovskii teatr “Novaya Opera” imeni E.V. Kolobova» i Moskovskogo teatra myuzikla: Ehlektronnaya baza dannykh [Materials of Sociological Surveys of the Audience of Musical Theaters of the City of Moscow: “Moscow Musical Theater “Helikon-opera” under the direction of Dmitry Bertman”, “E.V. Kolobov Moscow Theater “Novaya Opera”” and the Moscow Musical Theater: Electronic Database], State Institute for Art Studies. Moscow, 2025. (In Russian)

References:

Bugulova I. Pochemu tseny na spektakli rastut, no zritelei ehto ne pugaet? [Why Are Theatre Prices Rising, but Audiences Aren’t Scared?]. Rossiiskaya gazeta, 02.09.2024. Available at: https://rg.ru/2024/09/02/naskolko-dorog-nam-teatr.html (accessed 27.08.2025). (In Russian)

Bourdieu P. Formy kapitala [Forms of Capital], transl. M.S. Dobryakova. Ehkonomicheskaya sotsiologiya, 2002, vol. 3, no. 5, pp. 60–74. (In Russian)

Ves’ mir — teatr! Teatralov v nashei strane stanovitsya vse bol’she [All the World’s a Stage! There Are More and More Theatergoers in Our Country]. VTSIOM Novosti, 2024, February 26. Available at:  https://wciom.ru/analytical-reviews/analiticheskii-obzor/ves-mir-teatr (accessed 28.08.2025). (In Russian)

Gadamer H.-G. Istina i metod: Osnovy filosofskoi germenevtiki [Truth and Method: Foundations of Philosophical Hermeneutics], transl. from German, ed., intr. article B.N. Bessonov. Moscow, Progress Publ., 1988. 704 p. (In Russian)

Zhilyaeva Ya. Ehkonomika anshlaga: k chemu privedet teatral’nyi bum v Rossii [The Sold-Out Economy: What Will Russia’s Theater Boom Lead To?]. Forbes, 2024, April 13. Available at: https://www.forbes.ru/forbeslife/508739-ekonomika-anslaga-k-cemu-privedet-teatral-nyj-bum-v-rossii? (accessed 27.08.2025). (In Russian)

Lazzarato M. Nematerial’nyi trud [Non-material Labor]. Khudozhestvennyi zhurnal, 2008, no. 69. Available at: https://moscowartmagazine.com/issue/23/article/369 (accessed 24.08.2025). (In Russian)

Toffler A. Tret’ya volna [The Third Wave], transl. from English, sc. ed., preface P.S. Gurevich. Moscow, AST Publ., 1999. 781 p. (In Russian)

Ushkarev A.A. Auditoriya muzykal’nogo teatra: sotsiokul’turnaya dinamika [Musical Theatre Audiences: Sociocultural Dynamics]. Moscow, Gosudarstvennyi institut iskusstvoznaniya Publ, 2025. 160 p. (In Russian)

Ushkarev A.A. Portal v volshebnyi mir. Al’ternativnaya model’ priobshcheniya k iskusstvu [The Portal to a Magic World. An Alternative Model of Introduction to Art]. Hudozhestvennaya kul’tura [Art & Culture Studies], 2025, no. 1, pp. 34–57. https://doi.org/10.51678/2226-0072-2025-1-34-57. (In Russian)

Fokht-Babushkin Yu.U. Iskusstvo v zhizni lyudei: Konkretno-sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya iskusstva v Rossii vtoroi poloviny XX veka: Istoriya i metodologiya [Art in People’s Lives: Specific Sociological Studies of Art in Russia in the Second Half of the 20th Century: History and Methodology]. St. Petersburg, Aleteya Publ., 2001. 557 p. (In Russian)

Becker H. Art Worlds. University of California Press, 1982. 392 p.

Bourdieu P. Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1977. 248 p.

Bourdieu P. The Field of Cultural Production: Essays on Art and Literature. Columbia University Press, 1993. 322 р.

Bourdieu P., Darbel A. L’Amour de l’art: Les musées d’art européens et leur public. Paris, Les Éditions de Minuit, 1966. 256 p. (Collection “Le sens commun”).

Danto A.C. The Transfiguration of the Commonplace: A Philosophy of Art. Harvard University Press, 1981. 212 p.

Dickie G. Defining Art. American Philosophical Quarterly, 1969, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 253–256.

DiMaggio P. Cultural Capital and School Success: The Impact of Status Culture Participation on Grades of U.S. High School Students. American Sociological Review, 1982, vol. 47, no. 2, pp. 189–201.

DiMaggio P. Classification in Art. American Sociological Review, 1987, vol. 52, no. 4, pp. 440–455.

DiMaggio P. Constructing an Organizational Field as a Professional Project: US Art Museums, 1920–1940. The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis, eds. W.W. Powell & P.J. DiMaggio. Chicago, London, University of Chicago Press, 1991, pp. 267–292.

Erickson B. Culture, Class and Connections. American Journal of Sociology, 1996, vol. 102, no. 1, pp. 217–251.

Gans H.J. Popular Culture and High Culture: An Analysis and Evaluation of Taste. New York, Basic books, 1974. XII, 179 p.

Jenkins H. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York, New York University Press, 2006. 368 р.

Katz-Gerro T. & Sullivan O. Voracious Cultural Consumption: The Intertwining of Gender and Social Status. Time Society, 2010, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 193–219.

Lizardo O. How Cultural Tastes Shape Personal Networks. American Sociological Review, 2006, vol. 71, no. 5, pp. 778–807.

Marcel Duchamp: Interviews und Statements, gesammelt, übersetzt und annotiert von Serge Stauffer, hrsg. von Ulrike Gauss. Stuttgart, Graphische Sammlung Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Ostfildern-Ruit, Edition Cantz, 1992. 256 s.

Pariser E. The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding from You. New York, Penguin Press, 2011. 294 p.

Pasquier D. Sociabilités et sortie au théâtre. Cultures études, 2013, no. 1. https://doi.org/10.3917/cule.131.0001. Available at: https://shs.cairn.info/revue-culture-etudes-2013-1-page-1?lang=fr&tab=texte-integral (accessed 24.08.2025).

Peterson R. & Kern R.M. Changing Highbrow Taste: From Snob to Omnivore. American Sociological Review, 1996, vol. 61, no. 5, pp. 900–907.

Received 24.09.2025

Accepted 16.10.2025