This publication is the result of the application of the latest methodology developed by representatives of the St. Petersburg school of philosophy of culture. The monograph analyzes the most significant consequences of the Enlightenment. The authors reveal the mechanisms for including pragmatic attitudes that are detrimental to the development of culture into the globalization code. Special attention is paid to the role of the United States and the West in general in modernization processes. A critical look at the current state of the main social institutions of the modern world indicates the inevitability of cardinal transformations of the unstable world order. At the same time, the possibilities of Russian culture remain underestimated. The book is addressed to philosophers, sociologists, psychologists and a wide range of readers interested in the problems of modern humanities.