Humanities & Social Sciences 8 (2016 9) 1719-1726 ~ ~ ~ УДК 165.612 E.S. Markarian’s Traditiology: Distinction from Foreign Tradition Theories Sociological Institute of Received 04.04.2016, received in revised form 28.05.2016, accepted 19.07.2016 E.S. Markarian’s traditiology is considered in the article against the background of foreign tradition theories by R. Redfield, A. Royce, E. Shils and S. Eisenstadt. <...> All Western authors who wrote about tradition, one way or another base on the dichotomy of “tradition-modernization” what is not typical for Russian scientists. <...> S. Eisenstadt’s tradition theory, as well as E.S. Markarian’s traditiology assumes variability of tradition, the presence of creative component in it. <...> Markarian’s traditiology describes the world volatile in its nature and a conservative component of tradition in the works by Markarian is paid much less attention. <...> Markarian closely links traditiology with his theory of adaptation and activity approach in culturology. <...> Markarian’s traditiology is convenient as a theoretical justification of ethnology tools that allows to observe what in culture is permanent and what changes, and how. <...> The history of Soviet and Russian traditiology is considered in the article as well. <...> Keywords: traditiology, the dichotomy of “tradition-modernization”, a historical style, conservative and creative components of tradition, novation, innovation, self-development, adaptation theory, the activity approach. <...> The doctrine of tradition – traditiology, as it was called by Eduard Sarkisovich Markarian, who, in fact, created this new research area, is an integral part of Russian culturology and ethnology. <...> Its main characteristic is that Markarian’s and related to him philosophers-cultural studies scholars and anthropologists’s tradition is a variable and live category that forms not only in © Siberian Federal University. <...> The variability of tradition and the presence of creative component in it are also found in some foreign conceptions of tradition. <...> E.S. Markarian’s Traditiology: Distinction from Foreign Tradition Theories Up to the 60s of the 20th century scientific view on the concept of “tradition” in the West was determined by the approach that was formulated by Max Weber and boiled down to the harsh opposition of the categories of traditional and rational, tradition and modernization. <...> Traditional institutions, customs, and the way of thinking were seen as an obstacle to the development <...>