culturology

Culturology is an interdisciplinary field dedicated to the study of culture, its production, representation, and transformation within societies. It analyzes cultural practices, symbols, values, norms, and identities, as well as how cultures intersect with power, technology, and globalization. The field seeks to understand both everyday cultural life and large-scale cultural formations such as institutions, media systems, and art.

Scholars employ a range of methods drawn from anthropology, sociology, history, philosophy, literary and media studies. Approaches include qualitative analysis, discourse analysis, ethnography, semiotics, and comparative studies of cultural systems. Culturology often emphasizes meanings, social context, and processes of change over time rather than focusing on single artifacts.

Historically the label has been used in some European and post-Soviet contexts to describe an overarching, interdisciplinary approach to culture, distinct from but related to cultural studies, anthropology, and sociology. In other regions, culturology appears as a broad umbrella term for comparative cultural analysis.

Applications of culturology include education, cultural policy, heritage management, media and communications research, marketing, and urban and social planning. Critics argue that the term can be overly broad or imprecise and that methodological standards vary across contexts. Nevertheless, culturology remains a modality for understanding how culture shapes and is shaped by social life.