ESTONIANS’ CULTURE OF LIVING

Abstract

The article takes an interdisciplinary approach to a topical category such as the “culture of living” by the example of a particular post-Soviet country. Factors that have determined its fast transformation from a former outskirt of a totalitarian empire into a developed country in the modern world are analyzed from the viewpoints of history, sociology and psychology, amounting to a study in social history, the history of mentalities, as well as cultural studies. From the perspective of the “New Science of History” considered are the megatrends affecting the world throughout recent decades, notably, the growing importance of the human factor and the definition of indices that measure the success of states with this regard. These include the indices of “happiness” and “wellbeing”, estimated with precision and published annually in World Happiness Reports. Noteworthy is that, for years, the top positions have been occupied by North European countries, including the least of them by territory, population and resources, Estonia. The present study is to prove the culture of living as the key factor here, which in Estonia’s case is considerably high. Reviewed are the historical circumstances that have molded the national mentality – the core engine of the making of culture in general and the culture of living in particular. It’s emphasized that the Estonians turned out capable of giving adequate response to the challenges of history, that of modernization being the key one. Cherishing tradition, this people appeared able to embrace and implement innovation. Over and over, the Estonian example supports the core tenet of synergetics: more successful is a complex open system that reacts adequately to changes in its environment. Estonia managed to perform transition from the industrial to the post-industrial society, with the help of the culture of living that, in turn, is changing respectively. Estonia’s experience is important for Ukraine, which also has to transcend not just from the position of a Russian / Soviet colony to an independent state, but also to a cutting-edge modern nation.