Flea markets of Volgograd: cultural and socio-psychological specificity

Abstract

From the point of micro-urbanism studying the city cultural environment staging on everyday practices, the authors consider relations of flea markets as a phenomenon of modern culture to such universals of human being as labour, game, exchange, childhood, generation, daily routine. It is researched in the article, Volgograd flea market (‘Pet market’), its social structure, its place in city environment, communication peculiarities, and its socially psychological ‘atmosphere’. Within the framework of studying the anthropology of a thingin the region culture, the way of attitude to things and socio-cultural patterns generated by flea markets as the phenomenon of the city culture of Volgogradare shown. It is stated, that the expansion of flea markets into the culture of various countries may be considered as a part of estatization and gamification of life, from one side, and puerilization of culture, from the other side. And also,it might be the essential potential for the development of modern cities as cities of culture, the significant element of creative urban economy and the resource to the cultural tourism.