Ryazantsev I.P., Ardelyanova Y.A. Spiritual-moral culture as a social phenomenon: A theoretical-methodological analysis. RUDN Journal of Sociology. 2026. Vol. 26. No. 3. Pp. 888-901. DOI: 10.22363 ...

Текст статьи на сайте журнала URL: https://journals.rudn.ru/sociology/article/view/52837 (дата обращения 22.10.2026)

Abstract

The article offers a theoretical conceptualization of spiritual and moral culture as a complex and multidimensional social phenomenon. The relevance of the study is determined by contemporary civilizational shifts, the process of digitalization, and value pluralism. The goal is to conduct a systematic analysis of the structural levels, key functions, and historical dynamics of spiritual and moral culture through the lens of a sociological approach. The theoretical and methodological basis of the article is a synthesis of institutional, structural‑functional, and cultural‑historical approaches, which allows us to view spiritual and moral culture both as a product of social institutions and as a mechanism for maintaining the stability of the system, as well as a dynamic value system that changes over historical time. It is shown that spiritual and moral culture is a synthetic unity of three foundations — spirituality (orientation towards transcendent meanings), morality (a system of norms), and symbolic systems (language, rituals, art), which enables it to perform key social functions. The authors examine the following functions of spiritual and moral culture: integrative (forming a collective identity), regulatory (internal moral control), compensatory (overcoming existential threats), and educative (transmitting values in the process of socialization). Three levels are identified in the structure of spiritual and moral culture: value‑semantic, normative‑regulatory, and symbolic‑practical. Particular attention is paid to the transformation of spiritual and moral culture in the context of modernization, secularization, and postmodernism, as well as to its crises caused by globalization and digitalization. Spiritual and moral culture is not merely a moral regulator but a fundamental factor in the stability of the social system, capable of withstanding dehumanization and anomie; however, its effectiveness depends on the depth of the internalization of values, rather than on formal ritualization.