ETHNICITY AND CULTURE : IDENTIFICATION AND MENTAL DIMENSIONS

Abstract

Purpose of the article. To analyze the relationship between ethnicity and culture through the prism of identification and mental dimensions. Research methodology. The study was conducted using an analysis of scientific literature, a comparative and conceptual approach, as well as the integration of culturological, sociological and psychological methods.
Scientific novelty. The relationship between ethnic identity, mentality and culture as a mechanism for
transmitting values and norms, especially in conditions of social transformations, has been established.
Practical significance. The results of the study can be used to develop cultural, educational and social programs
to support ethnic self-awareness and interethnic tolerance in conditions of war and social transformations.
Conclusions. Ethnicity is a complex socio-cultural and cognitive phenomenon that is formed in the process of
interaction between an individual and a community, and its content is provided by culture through a system of symbols,
values, norms and practices. Ethnic identity is manifested in emotional-cognitive self-identification and is realized
through language, traditions, rituals and art, while language acts as a stable marker of identity and a means of
transmitting cultural experience. Mentality and mentality reflect the specificity of the community's worldview,
determine behavioral models, value orientations and ways of interpreting social reality, being formed under the
influence of history, cultural environment and socialization. Culture determines both ethnic identity and mental models,
ensuring their continuity and reproduction through inculturation, communication and intergenerational transfer of
experience, and interaction with other ethnic groups and cultural differences contribute to the actualization of ethnic
self-consciousness.