Transport as a social and cultural phenomenon

The paper proposed a sociocultural analysis of the phenomenon of transport. The phenomenon of transport is considered not only as an integral part of material culture in human society, but also as a part of spiritual culture; namely, we have analyzed how transport is linked to the spiritual culture of society that is included in the active field of numerous cultural meanings and symbols, becomes the object of artistic representation and a direct participant in the cultural process, significantly affecting it. The article substantiates the need for such analysis due to the fact that transportation is a versatile tool through which humanity manages to bring together, to balance and optimize two opposite trends of social development, i.e., the civilization’s continuous desire for external distribution and for a denser internal concretion of individual areas and the spatial segments of the global civilization. In conclusion, we have established that the prospects for human development largely depend on the method of overcoming space and on reducing the distance between the interacting entities, which is ensured by transport, understood not only as a part of material culture but also as an important spiritual component.