About the book: 2014 / The publication is a systematic and detailed presentation of modern knowledge about the complex and diverse phenomenon of culture. The foundations of the theory and history of culture as a whole are presented, as well as the prospects for its development from the author’s point of view. The structure of the manual corresponds to three fundamental questions about culture: what is culture (Section I), how did it arise and what are the characteristics of various cultural areas (Section II), why does it exist and what are the general patterns of its development (Section III).