Цивилизационный подход как концептуальная рамка анализа социокультурных связей России и стран Востока: эвристический потенциал и ограничения

Abstract

The article examines the principles, features, and varieties of the civilizational approach, which the authors consider to be the main methodological tool for analyzing socio-cultural ties between Russia and the countries of the East. From the standpoint of the civilizational approach, socio-cultural ties can be considered as a form of responses to the challenges of the present times (A. Toynbee). The authors track the evolution of the civilizational approach, its integration into a wide range of socio-humanitarian branches of knowledge, and the expansion of its heuristic potential through the introduction of methodological guidelines of constructivism, transnationalism, and the concept of «soft power». The authors note the following advantages of the civilizational approach: it allows analyzing socio–cultural relations in the long-term historical perspective, the problematic field of research is expanding – it is possible to deconstruct narratives, explicate discursive ways of building a dialogue of civilizations, forms of constructing civilizational identity, etc. The article highlights the humanistic potential of the civilizational approach and its predictive capabilities. The application of the civilizational approach in the context of the study of the development of socio-cultural ties between Russia and the countries of the East makes it possible to identify mechanisms for preserving cultural diversity, original traditions, and defend one's civilizational choice. The authors see the disadvantages of the civilizational approach in the excessive pluralization of interpretations of «civilization», as well as the ideologization and politicization of this concept.