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DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONCEPT OF NATIONAL CHARACTER WITHIN «CULTURE AND PERSONALITY» SCHOOL: CRITICISM AND TRANSFORMATION // Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology. 2021. Issue 3 (33). P. 127-138

The article is devoted to such a topical and controversial phenomenon as national character. The article examines the development of the concept of national character during the existence of “culture and personality” school. The main problematic of the concept was connected with its validity and application not only within the framework of cultural anthropology, but also in sociology and psychology. During the early “culture and personality” school (1927–1945) E. Sapir and R. Benedict laid the foundations of the school, as well as the main directions of the methodological development of the concept — such approaches as the “basic personality structure” by A. Kardiner and “modal personality” by K. Du Bois, the problem of research of a national character in the context of the reliability of the results and work with complex social structures and nations in general is raised. Within the framework of the early period, the influence of the Second World War on the development of the concept of national character is shown and the reasons for the demand for research within the framework of the national character are indicated. In the later period of the school's activity (1946–1969), there is an increase in criticism from sociologists and psychologists not only of a national character, but also of “culture and personality” approach for the lack of empirical data. During this period, special attention is paid to the development of approaches that study the personal characteristics of representatives of nations. At the same time, a methodological basis for cross-cultural research is being formed and the groundwork for creating cross-cultural psychology is being formed. Throughout the article, two waves of criticism of the national character are presented, the result of which in the late 1960s was the denial of the existence of national character by a significant number of scientists as a phenomenon of national life, and “culture and personality” school experienced a crisis and fell into decay. Various assessments of the studies of that time on the development of national character within the framework of the “culture and personality” school are shown, as well as proposals for a way out of the methodological crisis.

Keywords: national character, culture and personality, anthropology, modal personality, basic personality structure