Meaning and Characteristics of Aesthetic Culture

Meaning 

Aesthetic culture is an integral part of the total culture of a society. It expresses the ideas, aspirations, dreams, values, and attitudes of its people. It is assumed that the aesthetic culture of the rural society helps the historical movement of old types and the emergence of a new life for the rural people. Rural sociology to understand the movement of the rural society itself as it progressed from its part shape to its present one. It will also disclose the changes in the psychological structures of the rural people and their subgroups.

Characteristics of Aesthetic Culture of Rural Society 

According to leading sociologists, the following principal arts constitute the aesthetic culture of rural society.

1. Graphic Arts like painting, drawing, engraving, and so on.
2. Plastic Arts involve the manipulation of materials.
3. Folklore comprised proverbs, myths, riddles, and music.
4. Dance and drama combine the three forms mentioned above.

Chief Characteristics of Aesthetic Culture in Subsistence Societies

Herskovief, Sorokin, Limmerman, and Galpina have given various specific characteristics of the aesthetic culture of the rural people. The following are the most important among them:

1. Art Was Fused with Life: In the opinion of Sorokin, “The arts were not sharply differentiated from religion, intellectual pursuit, and magic. Aesthetic elements entered practically all daily occupations.”
2. Every person took part in artistic activities: Present day society where the people are divided into artistic performing and the audience. In the earlier society all people such as men, children women participated in artistic activities. Then a little number of artists existed in that society. 
3. Art was a Feminist Affair: In the early societies the life of the rural people ‘had a feminist character. As a result this rural art, which was fused with the life of the rural people, also bore the impression of feminism. 
4. Simple Techniques: Rural art was the goods of the village artisan industry and the family itself often made some of these at home. This aspect is in sharp contrast to the instruments of modern art which are the products of specialized modern industries and are therefore complex, highly specialized, varied, and multiform.
5. Agrarian life processes the main constituent: Art was fused with life.  It depicted the life of the rural people in various aspects, economic, social, and religious. Agricultural characteristics are most clearly manifest in songs, music, dances, stories, literature, pantomimes, festivals, dramatic performances, and similar forms of the arts. 
6. Art creations were predominantly collective creations, collective in spirit: Rural people collectively perform on various programs such as drams, Jatra, etc. on the other hand urban people perform individually. 
7. Non-commercial: Self-sufficient economy has existed in rural society. They produce for only their consumption not for the market. The thinkers and artists used their artistic products only for their own consumption.
8. Transmission from generation to generation: In the early or pre-modern societies there were no printing presses and there did not any schools or academies. Then the younger learn from the elder about art and knowledge. In this way, art and knowledge are transferred to the younger.