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WojciechŚwiątkiewicz
displaytheirimagesbymeansofreflectingontheirownconstructions:
literature,music,folkways,religiousbeliefs,conditionoffamilies,aswell
asattitudesreferringtochildrenandelderlypersons,strongandweakpeo-
ple,one’sfriendsandindividualsofsimilarinterests,and,finally
,tothe
authoritiesandpoliticalengagementassuch.AndrzejTyszkaexpresses
asimilarviewwhenheappropriatelyobservesthat“cultureisacultof
values.”
2
Inthissense,cultureisaframeworkwhichisdependedupon
eachtimewhenmembersofagivencommunityandpartiestoagiven
societalinteractionareinapositiontodrawtheirinterpretationsfrom
theinter-subjectivelysharedandtraditionallysafeguardedpoolofknowl-
edge(values)inordertoarriveatmodusvivendiand,consequently
,aimto
realizetheirparticularobjectivesonthatverybasis.3
Followinginthefootstepsofreflectionstypicaloftheclassical
sociologyinPoland,onemayrefertoadefinitionthatwasverbalized
byJanSzczepańskianumberofyearsago:“avalueisanymaterialor
idealobject,anyideaorinstitution,anyimaginedortangibleobject
whichindividuals—orsocialgroupings—arewillingtorespect,to
ascribeimportancetoit,andtotreatachievingitintermsof
acompulsion.”
4
WhenelaboratinguponSzczepański’sdefinition,one
istemptedtosaythatanindividual,whoisinpossessionofthoseval-
uableobjects,doesnotwanttobedeprivedofthematanycost,and
prizestheseitemsashis/herownpossessions,assomethingobviousand
natural;thatis,asthesepartsofone’ssocialpersonalityandcultural
identitythatdonotevokeanydoubts.Inthisparticularsense,Janusz
Mariańskiisalsorightwhenheconcludeshisexpositionofsociologi-
caltheoriesofvalueswiththefollowingpassage:“[…]sociologymost
frequentlytendstounderstandvaluesintermsofitemsthatevokepos-
itiveemotions,concentratehumandesiresandaspirations,functionas
importantordesirableobjectsinhumanlife,comprisethemostdesired
goalstobeattained,or,finally
,constitutetreasuredobjectsofone’sdaily
pursuits.”5
2A.Tyszka:Kulturajestkultemwartości.Komorów1999.
3SeeJ.HabeRMas:TheTheoryofCommunicativeAction,Vol.2:LifeworldandSys-
tem:ACritiqueofFunctionalistReason.Boston1985.
4J.Szczepański:Elementarnepojęciasocjologii.Warszawa1970,pp.97—98.Transla-
tionmine.
5J.MaRiański:Wprowadzeniedosocjologiimoralności.Lublin1989,p.165.Transla-
tionmine.