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TheValue-OrientedMeaningoftheFamily…
Theaxiologicalcrisisanddirections
ofaxiologicaltransformations
11
Studiesconcerningaxiologicalsystemsandtheirtransformationsmay
beconsideredtoconstituteacomfortablevantagepointforinvestigating
thecoursesofchangesafectingsocietiesandcultures.Inthiscontext,
onemaypostulatethattheconditionofPolishsocietycanbecharac-
terizedasfacingaperiodofimportantculturaltransformations,anage
markedbyaspecific“turningpoint”inhistory
.Thetaskofdiscardingthe
manaclesofcollectivistmentality—ascharacterizedbysubmissiveatti-
tudestowardsthestate,holdingontothefeelingofslaveinnocence,and
distrustexpressedininterpersonalrelationships—isneithereasynorfast,
especiallywhenonerecognizesthattheseattitudeswereforgedduringthe
timesofsocialism.Attheverysametime,watchingTVnewsseemssuf-
ficientenoughtonoticenumerousandterrifyingexamplesofaxiological
crisis.
Theconditionofcontemporary
,inherentlyglobalizedsocietymaybe
definedintermsof“axiologicalwarpedness.”Theterm,needlesstosay
,
isametaphorstandingforchangeability
,instability
,dynamics,dispersion,
or—insomecases—fortheactofchasingsomethingaway
,especially
whenitisdoneinbrutal,ruthless,fierce,orirrecoverableways.
Thefeelingofstabilitywithreferencetosocialorderisbeingunder-
minedbyongoingprocessesofdiversification(bothintermsofcultural
contentsanddistances),homogenizationofmassculture,theriseofnew
relationshipsamongdiferenttypesofvalues,andtheintensifieddifer-
entiationamongaxiologicalsystemsandhierarchies.Concurrently
,the
criticalawarenessthatnorms,values,symbols,behaviouralpatternshave
relativecharactersis,asPeterL.Bergerteachesus,nolongerlimitedto
elitistgroupsofintellectualsand,consequently
,becomesasociallydis-
seminatedfactofculture.6Atthesametime,oneobservesthattendencies
ofsubjectivist,utilitarian,orrelativistdescentsarebeingdisseminated,
whichisnotonlybeingjustifiedbyvariouspragmaticconsiderations,but
alsorecognizedastheoreticallygroundedfoundationsthatcallforawide-
spreadsocialacclaim.
Whentheall-encompassingsphereofmoralityistakenintoaccount,
axiologicalcrisisistantamountto,ontheonehand,becomingliber-
atedfromtheimmutabilityanddurabilityofvaluesand,ontheother
hand,totheindividualizationand,whatisevenmoresignificant,the
subjectivizationofvalues.Inthisparticularcontext,culturalrelativism
6P.L.BeRgeR:InvitationtoSociology.AHumanisticPerspective.NewYork1963.
