Книга, прежде всего, будет интересна социологам, а также антропологам, социальным психологам, политологам, исследователям социальных коммуникаций, а также всем, кто старается разобраться в устройстве современного общества.
In modern society, symbols, though having lost their previous explicitness, continue to play much more important and powerful role. Struggling with a constant flow of information that almost swallows up, a person needs a tool to order and simplify the data to properly perceive and comprehend them. Symbols are nearly perfect way to achieve this. The only issue is their abstractness - there will never be a single interpretation that will be accepted by everyone. That is the reason for symbolic battles for the dominance of a certain interpretation, where culture and society become a battle field, and symbols are an effective weapon to win. It is especially evident in politics. Drawing upon the ideas of Albert Schutz, Pierre Bourdieu, Erving Goffman, phenomenon of «Solidarity» in Poland, the Author proves the power of symbols in modern society and their interconnectedness: while being created by society, symbols actively shape this society.
The book will be of special interest for anthropologists, sociologists, social psychologists, politics and culture experts, researchers of social communications as well as for all those who try to discover the basic principles of modern society.