The concept of «mentality» as a cultural category

Kovaleva Inna A.

The article is devoted to the history of the origin and formation of the term "mentality". The article considers the process of searching for the necessary definitions in science to develop common approaches to understanding the mentality; provides an idea of the contribution of Western European and Russian, as well as Soviet scientists to the development of the concept of "mentality"; determines the dependence of the definition of the concept of "mentality" on the nature of research tasks and the social position of the researcher.

Keywords:mentality, periods of scientific formation of the term, cultural and social diversity of peoples, search for definitions, scientific category