Reception of the Ideological Heritage of English Enlightenment in the USA, France and Russia in the 18th century

The article explores the influence of the ideological and cultural heritage of England on intellectual elite of the USA, France and Russia in the age of the Enlightenment. The author emphasizes a non-unified process of the transfer of British political culture in various countries, due to the differences in their economic and political development. In the countries where bourgeois revolution took place, the ideological and political component of British "heritage" was in high demand, and representatives of the bourgeoisie became its conductors. This ideology did not find a response in Russia where the feudal relations were still strong. At the same time, Russia was open for all things western, and to the British culture on larger scale. Elites were more interested rather in achievements of science, technology, education, culture of England, than in its political system. Unlike other countries, in Russia the political elite as conductors of the Western culture was influenced by the acts of monarchs. Civil society was not able to formulate essential tasks for any reform of a state system yet, and therefore was not capable to choose suitable ideological elements from cultural heritage of more developed countries. Thus, it is possible to speak about various forms of perception of cultures, and also about possibility of classification of typology of cross-cultural communications.