Cultural Assessment: Issues of Methodology

Abstract

This article gives a brief overview of works devoted to the topic of expert assessment in humanities and cultural studies. It considers cultural assessment from the perspective of the value-normative approach to culture (the corresponding definition is given). The author substantiates the subjective approach to cultural assessment as differentiated from the assessment carried out with the help of special technical methods. The article then explores the key meaning of basic notions ”assessment” and ”culture” and demonstrates how their synthesis forms the concept of ”cultural assessment”. This article is an attempt to distinguish cultural assessment from other methods which are carried out in the field of culture and works of art (art, literary and philological assessment). There are five main parameters that should be analyzed. They are: the values inherent to the object; norms immanent to the object; object resistance to foreign cultural influences; alongside with an object’s ability object to reproduce and communicate its own value-normative content and be applied to cultural policy by the engaged actors. The author explains how to achieve the objectification of results for this type of assessment. In conclusion, this work proves cultural assessment to be an efficient tool, which also allows specific interpretation of its results in the context of cultural diversity and contradictions between the bearers of cultures.