| Great changes have happened to society and to cultural life during the transforming period of modern society in China: from unification to differentiation. The differentiation of culture is certain to cause the differentiation of literature and its values.The paper is based on the differentiation of the literary values during the transforming period of modern society in China. The author analyzed the characteristics of the literary values' differentiation from the modernization.The paper consists of three parts:I . The transforming situation of modern society in ChinaChina is now in a historic transforming period. In economy, it is transforming from natural and planned economy to commodity and market economy. In politics, from cen tralization to democracy, from ruling by person to ruling by law. In culture, from being sealed up to being open, from singlism to pluralism. China belongs to the undeveloped countries, whose social transformation is characterized by poor starting points and less preparation in economy, politics and culture. And it is not adaptable or harmonious to the world's development level and tendency of modern society. The course of the social transformation of China also has its own characteristics. During this time, China has achieved great success in modernization construction. But there exist some negative factors, such as alienation, materialism, eagerness for wealth, urbanization, nervousness, loneliness, value puzzlement, moral imbalance and the loss of belief.II . The differentiation of culture and literary needs caused by social transformationCultural activities are carried out to meet some of the basic needs of human beings. The cultural structure is based on the different gradations of the basic needs of human beings. According to the different aims of culture, the forms of culture are divided into mass culture, elegant culture and dominant culture, This is a subdivision in aesthetic culture. Because of the differentiation of needs in the cultural region, massculture has sprung up, elegant and dominant cultures have declined during thetransforming period of modem society in China. Market economy is sure to form a society of townspeople. Industrialization and urbanization have produced a large quantities of masses with limited education. The actual needs of the masses have promoted the emergence of mass culture of commerce, industry, entertainment, popularity and reproduction. The cultural needs of the masses are closely related to the more and more plentiful free time people have. The cultural needs of the mass guide the production of mass culture. On the other hand, the production of mass culture moulds the cultural needs of the mass. There are some profound social causes for the decline of elegant culture. The characteristics of elegant culture itself make it impossible to satisfy the actual cultural needs of the mass. However, it is necessary for people's full development and the improvement of their qualities. The values of elegant culture will be fully emerged during the course of the achievement of all-round modernization. Dominant culture is absolutely necessary for the nation's rejuvenation, prosperity and socialist development. In the time of individual values, however, it is doomed to be weakened. Literature belongs to culture. There also appears thedifferentiation in literature--mass literature for entertainment, elegant literature forself-cultivation and dominant literature for civilization. The differentiation of literature is caused by the various needs of people and society.III. The function literary valuesEither in China or in the west, literary values has always been a various complicated system in history. Nowadays, it is characterized by the freedom of the subjects. Just as Habermas said, "The rationalization of life causes the differentiation of the society. Modernization is differentiation." modernization is characterized by freedom, democracy, equality and independence. Thus, the variety and interaction of different l...
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