French Cultural Studies: Features and Trends

The purpose of the article is to identify the features of French cultural studies, as well as to reveal the social nature of French culturology. Given the logic of this article, an important task is to demonstrate the development of French cultural research, to outline the features of the development of culturology in the French sociocultural space. The research methodology deals with the study of sources on the history of culturology in France and its place in the science system of this country. The author of the article applies an interdisciplinary approach and the guidelines of the assemblage theory. The scientific novelty of the article consists in determining the features of the development of cultural research in France. In particular, we are talking about finding a place for culturology and cultural research. This paper addresses the problematic issue of the specific character and significance of Études culturelles in the system of sciences in France. Conclusions. French cultural studies — Études culturelles — focuses on three key fields: art, writing, language. French culturologists are convinced that the linguistic environment cannot exist separately from society. Therefore, French research in the field of cultural studies balances between two areas: humanities and social science. In particular, the article demonstrates that French culturology is characterised by the following points: understanding of culture as a visible territory where the struggle to protect a certain idea of France continues; the emphasis on the concept of “nation”; the connection between the development of culture and educational reform; the creation of a universal system of national education by the state; attention to the development of language and literature. In France, cultural studies remains controversial, something poorly understood, because French thinkers are classics for these interdisciplinary humanities. The idea of resistance and “denial of culture” often comes to the fore. However, there is a theme that unites French culturologists: the criticism of relativism, which is attributed to culturology in the name of protecting the school.