Marx believed that culture is created by human beings through labor

Culture is the product of the development of productive forces. It is produced not only to meet human needs, but also to mediate the relationship between man and nature. , the relationship between people and society, the relationship between people and others, and the relationship between people and their own souls.

First of all, culture is produced to meet people's needs, especially to meet people's high-level needs. As we all know, American psychologist Maslow divided people's needs into five levels: physiological needs, safety needs, belonging and love needs, the need to gain respect, and self-actualization needs. In addition to the above five levels, knowledge seeking is added. There are seven levels based on the need for understanding and the need for beauty. Among them, low-level needs such as physiological needs and safety needs are mainly physiological and material needs, while high-level needs such as the need for belonging and love, the need to gain respect, the need for self-realization, the need for knowledge and understanding, and the need for beauty are Psychological and spiritual needs. Products that meet psychological and spiritual needs are directly cultural products, especially humanistic and cultural products such as philosophy, religion, art, ethics, etc. Although products that meet material needs are material products, material production is inseparable from technology and the organization and management of production activities. It still directly requires scientific and technological cultural products and indirectly requires humanistic and cultural products. The "Preservation Instinct and Display Instinct Theory" founded by the author improves Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory and believes that people, like other things, naturally have the tendency of self-preservation and self-display, that is, they have preservation instincts and display instincts. The needs of self-preservation and display are the primary needs, from which all other needs are constituted. Because display presupposes its own existence, if it does not exist, there will be no way to display it. Therefore, the need for self-preservation is mainly the low-level needs in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, mostly physiological and material needs, while the need for self-expression, that is, wanting to be taken seriously and respected, wants to stand out, have high power, and control. A series of needs such as others, success and fame, eternal fame, etc. are mainly high-level needs in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, mostly psychological and spiritual needs. However, Yang Yingfa believes that Maslow's statement that "the satisfaction of the lower level of needs is the condition for the generation of the upper level of needs. Only after the lower level of needs are satisfied will they develop to the higher level of needs" is not accurate. In fact, it is People will strive to satisfy both high and low level needs at the same time, but when they cannot have both, most people will sacrifice the high level for the low level. Maslow's seven levels of needs include physiological needs, safety needs, belonging and love needs. These low-level needs are mainly manifestations of preservation instincts, while the needs for respect, self-actualization, knowledge and understanding, and beauty These high-level needs are mainly manifestations of the display instinct, but in fact they are a combination of the preservation instinct and the display instinct. For example, physiological needs, the lowest level of needs, obviously mainly manifest themselves as preservation instincts, but there are also factors that show the role of instincts. For example, when several people sit together to eat, the older person always sits in the main seat, and the younger person in the lower seat always takes the main seat. When a person sits in the lower seat, he always gives way to the older person to use the chopsticks first. When drinking and raising a glass, he always gives way to the older person so that the cup position is higher. This shows the status, age and prestige of the eater. Dressing is mainly for warmth and sun protection, which mainly reflects the instinct of preservation. However, people wear clothes to show their beauty and noble status, and it also contains factors that show the role of instinct. The need for self-realization, the most typical high-level need, and the need for beauty, the highest-level need, mainly manifest themselves as display instincts, but they also reflect the role of preservation instincts. After becoming famous and in a high position, they have enough food and clothing, and a lot of money; even painting, a typical aesthetic activity, is also a means for painters to make a living. Although the preservation instinct and the display instinct reflect the differential relationship between high and low levels, what is more important is the relationship between horizontal element combinations. Therefore, although people's psychological and spiritual needs will become increasingly urgent with the development of productivity, they still existed in ancient times when productivity was backward, but they were just latent because the conditions were not met. Once the development of productive forces reaches the era of surplus products, culture will be born.

Secondly, it is also created to mediate the relationship between man and nature, the relationship between man and society, the relationship between man and others, and the relationship between man and his own soul. To mediate the relationship between a person and society and between a person and others requires institutions and ethics, and to mediate the relationship between a person and his or her own soul requires philosophy and religion. Institutions, ethics, philosophy, and religion are all products of humanistic culture.

Mediating the relationship between man and nature is carried out through material production activities, which directly require scientific and technological cultural products, but also indirectly require humanistic and cultural products. The processing of these four relationships has accompanied the entire process of mankind. However, in the ancient times when productivity was backward, there was no clear awareness of the processing of these four relationships. There was only a hazy and chaotic consciousness. Once the productivity develops, human beings will When there is a clear awareness of these four relationships, especially the relationship between man and society, the relationship between man and others, and the relationship between man and his own soul, culture will come into being.

The evolutionary history of human beings can clearly confirm the above views on the emergence of culture. In the Paleolithic Age, although humans were known to use fire, they could only make rough stone tools for use. Fishing, hunting and gathering were the main production methods. Being miserable and anxious all day long, struggling to survive, there is no meaningful cultural activity. After entering the Neolithic Age, stone tools were improved from hammered to ground and differentiated into various specialized uses. What's more important is the beginning of two new types of economic life, agriculture and animal husbandry. Natural plant seeds were artificially sown and cultivated; wild beasts were tamed, raised, and reproduced. This major transformation has changed the relationship between man and nature, transforming mankind from a parasite of nature that only knows how to grab food from nature, to a cultivator and producer of food, reducing mankind's dependence on natural food, and providing A relatively stable food source. Human survival has been relatively reliably guaranteed, and psychological and spiritual needs have gradually emerged. With the emergence of surplus products, humans began to have spare time to engage in cultural activities, leading to the emergence of culture.

Human beings live in nature, and human production and life cannot be separated from the natural environment. The relationship between humans and nature must be properly handled. Out of this need, technological culture emerged. For example, in order to record the number of agricultural seeds, the amount of water used for agricultural irrigation, and in order to record the number of livestock and poultry, mathematics was born; in order to sow, water, and harvest at the right time, it was necessary to grasp the changes in the four seasons, and astronomy was born; in order to build livable Houses, sewing suitable clothes, making delicious meals, getting sweet drinking water and convenient travel, etc., construction technology, textile technology, formulas for dyeing and finishing clothing, technology for softening leather, weaving nets for fishing Skills, boat-making technology, riding technology, driving technology, navigation technology, and a series of other technologies have also been produced.

When people live in the world, they always have to deal with society and others. They need to handle the relationship between people and society and between people and others. If we say that in ancient times when people were sparsely populated and social relationships were extremely simple, for these two kinds of If it is not urgent to deal with the relationship, then as the population becomes denser and the polarization between rich and poor becomes apparent, especially the emergence of settled life, the issue of ownership begins to emerge, and the relationship between people becomes increasingly complex. Processing cannot be left for a moment, which leads to the emergence of humanistic culture such as linguistics and institutional ethics. For example, in order to communicate with each other, language and writing came into being; when humans began to settle down, in order to determine the ownership of the land, legal and institutional awareness such as ownership emerged; in order to coordinate the relationship within the settlement and maintain unity and cooperation within the settlement, in order to deal with the To maintain relationships with other settlements, avoid war, and seek a peaceful living environment, ethics and systems emerged. In order to eliminate powerful enemies and expand living space, military science and corresponding organizational management knowledge also emerged.

With the development of productivity, people's self-awareness gradually emerges, and they have a clear awareness of the relationship between people and their own souls. They often realize their own insignificance and the elusiveness of their destiny, and feel panic and uneasiness. In order to To stabilize the mind and seek spiritual sustenance, religion and philosophy emerged.

With the development of productivity, low-level needs such as physiological needs have been satisfied, and people’s demand for beauty has become increasingly intense. On the one hand, they strive to embody beauty in clothing, living environment and food; on the other hand, Strive to enjoy the beauty through specialized artistic activities or works such as music and art. In this way, aesthetics also emerged.

After the emergence of culture, its development process is a process of continuous expansion from social elite groups to the general public, and a process of gradually deepening commercialization. In ancient societies with low productivity, the vast majority of workers neither had enough spare time for spiritual enjoyment nor sufficient cultural literacy for spiritual enjoyment, nor did they have enough information means to obtain cultural resources. Cultural activities are basically the domain of a small social elite and are closely linked to religion and politics. They are primarily an ideological rather than a commercial practice. Although the social elite possesses a large number of high-quality cultural products, they rarely enter the circulation field as commodities.

With the development of productivity, especially after entering the industrial society, the public has more free time and has a certain cultural literacy, and can carry out activities such as cultural creation, performance, dissemination and enjoyment. Especially due to the emergence of mass media such as paper and printing, the public can also obtain various cultural resources more conveniently. In this way, cultural products have gone out of the palace of social elites and become the objects of public consumption. Cultural creators and operators consider more about social acceptance and popularity, and how much economic returns they can bring to themselves, which makes cultural products have obvious commodity qualities.