Resumo

ANATOLIEVNA ZHIZHKO, Elena. Tools for the future educational researcher: Modern Science and its functions. Innov. educ. (Méx. DF) [online]. 2012, vol.12, n.59, pp.87-102. ISSN 1665-2673.

The content of scientific knowledge, the mechanism of society's development, will be understood and discovered widely if we contemplate the fact that science is part of the general cultural context. This paper highlights the socio-cultural mechanism of how science defines its cultural importance, its value from a historical perspective. In this article science is examined as a knowledge system and the area of intellectual production as a scientific work. It is concluded that the primary function of science is not knowledge itself, or the production of material goods, but the harmonious development of human potential.

Palavras-chave : cultural context; science and culture; science's functions; sociocultural mechanism.