INTER-CIVILIZATIONAL CONTACTS IN THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST IN THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF ETHNO-MENTAL COMPONENTS OF THE LIFE SYSTEM
Authors:   Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint Petersburg, Russia, Bereznitsky Sergey V. 
Published: July 2023

The article is devoted to the analysis of the mechanism of ethnocultural projection of European mentality, ethics, morality, trade technologies, sociocultural image of merchants, industrialists, officials, military officers, cultural workers, who influenced in the second half of 19th – early 20th centuries on the development of the Russian Far East in industrial, trade, transport, scientific, educational discourses and on the life system in general. The most significant influence on the process of development and transformation of the Far Eastern outskirts of the Russian Empire was exerted by the German settlers. The research methodology based on Max Weber's concept of entrepreneurial ethics, is based on the belief that the history and culture of the Russian Far East in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries, on the one hand, are linked to the all-Russian sociocultural processes and, on the other hand, to the Far Eastern specificity that emerged as a resulting of the influence of the European mentality. The article reveals the essence, structure and functions of trade, transport, industrial companies in the Amur region, Primorye and Sakhalin. The analysis of the phenomenon of the emerged regional culture is relevant. The immigrants, The article is devoted to the analysis of the mechanism of ethnocultural projection of European mentality, ethics, morality, trade technologies, sociocultural image of merchants, industrialists, officials, military officers, cultural workers, who influenced in the second half of 19th – early 20th centuries on the development of the Russian Far East in industrial, trade, transport, scientific, educational discourses and on the life system in general. The most significant influence on the process of development and transformation of the Far Eastern outskirts of the Russian Empire was exerted by the German settlers. The research methodology based on Max Weber's concept of entrepreneurial ethics, is based on the belief that the history and culture of the Russian Far East in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries, on the one hand, are linked to the all-Russian sociocultural processes and, on the other hand, to the Far Eastern specificity that emerged as a resulting of the influence of the European mentality. The article reveals the essence, structure and functions of trade, transport, industrial companies in the Amur region, Primorye and Sakhalin. The analysis of the phenomenon of the emerged regional culture is relevant. The immigrants, carriers of different ethno-cultural mental models and ethnic stereotypes of behaviour, not only transformed this territory, the surrounding world in an industrial way, but also planned its development in the long term, for what purpose they used their own financial resources and efforts to create scientific and cultural institutions: Society studying the Amur region, the East Institute, the future Far East State Technical University, they financed ethnographic expeditions. The result of the work is the author's conviction that mental attitudes have sufficient stability, a reliable basis for the development of the Far Eastern region, for a positive dialogue of cultures, for optimal adaptation of immigrants to a foreign cultural environment, to different natural and climatic conditions and regional specifics.