The economic approach assumes that. G.becker. economic analysis and human behavior (abbreviated). Graphical analysis methods

- Do you work often, father? - the doctor asked the priest at the funeral.
“By your grace,” answered the priest with a bow.

A. E. Izmailov. Notes

Personnel management activities - targeted impact on the human component of the organization, focused on aligning the capabilities of personnel with the goals, strategies, and conditions for the development of the organization.

One of the most important components management activities- personnel management, as a rule, is based on the concept of management - a generalized idea (not necessarily declared) of a person’s place in the organization. In the theory and practice of managing the human side of an organization, four concepts can be distinguished that developed within the framework of three main approaches to management - economic, organic and humanistic.

3.1. Economic approach

We are all miserable slaves of the stomach. Don't try to be moral and
fair, friends! Watch your stomach carefully
feed it wisely and carefully. Then satisfaction and
virtue will reign in your heart without any effort on your part;
you will become a good citizen, a loving husband, a gentle
father - a noble, pious man.

Jerome K. Jerome. Three in a boat

The economic approach to management gave rise to the concept use labor resources . Within the framework of this approach, the leading place is occupied by technical (in the general case, instrumental, i.e., aimed at mastering work techniques), rather than managerial training of people at the enterprise. Organization here means the orderliness of relationships between clearly defined parts of a whole that have a certain order. In essence, an organization is a set of mechanical relationships, and it must act like a mechanism: algorithmically, efficiently, reliably and predictably.

Among the basic principles of the concept of using labor resources are the following:

ensuring unity of leadership - subordinates receive orders from only one superior;
adherence to a strict management vertical - the chain of command from boss to subordinate descends from top to bottom throughout the organization and is used as a channel for communication and decision-making;
fixing the necessary and sufficient amount of control - the number of people subordinate to one boss should be such that this does not create problems for communication and coordination;
maintaining a clear separation between headquarters and linear structures organization - staff personnel, being responsible for the content of activities, under no circumstances can exercise the powers vested in line managers;
achieving a balance between power and responsibility - there is no point in making someone responsible for any work if he is not given the appropriate authority;
ensuring discipline - submission, diligence, energy and the manifestation of external signs of respect must be carried out in accordance with accepted rules and customs;
achieving the subordination of individual interests to the common cause through firmness, personal example, honest agreements and constant control;
ensuring equality at every level of the organization, based on goodwill and fairness, to inspire staff to perform their duties effectively; a well-deserved reward that improves morale, but does not lead to overpayment or overmotivation.

In table 3.1 presented short description economic approach to management.

Table 3.1. Characteristics of efficiency conditions and special difficulties within the framework of the economic approach

Effectiveness conditions	Special difficulties
A clear task to complete	Difficulty adapting to changing conditions
The environment is quite stable	Clumsy bureaucratic superstructure (strictly defined and hierarchical management structure, making it difficult for performers to make creative and independent decisions when the situation changes)
*Production of the same product*	If the interests of employees take precedence over the goals of the organization, undesirable consequences are possible (since staff motivation comes down solely to external incentives, even minor changes in the incentive scheme are enough to cause unpredictable consequences)
The person agrees to be a part of the machine and behaves as planned	Dehumanizing impact on workers (use of limited capabilities of personnel can be effective for low-skilled labor)

Economic approach of G. Becker
Gary S. Becker, instead of defining the subject matter of economics, defines the specific approach of economics. He argues that economics as a scientific discipline differs most from other branches of the social sciences not in its subject matter, but in its approach.
Many forms of human behavior are the subject of research in several disciplines. Thus, the problem of fertility forms a special section of sociology, anthropology, economic theory, history, human biology and, perhaps, even political science. G. Becker argues that the economic approach is unique in its power because it is able to integrate many different forms of human behavior.

Economic approach

The economic approach assumes maximizing behavior more explicitly and over a wider range than other approaches, so that it can be about maximizing the utility or wealth function by anyone - a family, a firm, a union or government agencies. In addition, the economic approach assumes the existence of markets that, with varying degrees of efficiency, coordinate the actions of different participants - individuals, firms and even entire nations, in such a way that their behavior becomes mutually consistent.
It is also assumed that preferences do not change significantly over time and do not differ greatly between rich and poor, or even among people belonging to different societies and cultures.
Prices and other market instruments regulate the distribution of scarce resources in society, thereby limiting the desires of participants and coordinating their actions. In the economic approach, these market instruments perform most, if not all, of the functions assigned to “structure” in sociological theories.
Stability of preferences is assumed not with respect to market goods and services such as oranges, cars or medical care, but with respect to the fundamental objects of choice that each household makes, using market goods and services, its own time and other resources. These deep preferences are determined through people's attitudes towards fundamental aspects of their lives, such as health, prestige, sensual pleasures, benevolence or envy. However, preferences do not always remain stable in relation to specific goods and services, the choice of which is determined by the cultural structure, and not by the natural needs of a person.
The premise of stability of human preferences provides, according to G. Becker, a reliable basis for predicting reactions to changes. Stability of preferences prevents the researcher from being tempted to simply postulate a necessary shift in preferences, thereby “explaining” any apparent discrepancies with his predictions.
Maximizing behavior and preference stability are prerequisites but can be derived from the concept natural selection suitable modes of behavior during human evolution. In fact, the economic approach and the theory of natural selection developed by modern biology are closely interrelated. They, according to some scientists, may represent different aspects of a single, more fundamental theory.
The connected assumptions of maximizing behavior, market equilibrium and stability of preferences, held firmly and adamantly, form the core of the economic approach in the understanding of G. Becker. They are the basis of many theories that grow from this approach, for example the following:
1. An increase in price leads to a decrease in the quantity demanded.
2. An increase in price leads to an increase in supply.
3. Competitive markets are able to satisfy consumer preferences more effectively than monopolized ones.
4. Establishing a tax on any product leads to a decrease in its production.

Scope of applicability of the economic approach

The scope of applicability of the economic approach according to G. Becker is not limited to goods and needs, or the market sector. Prices—whether monetary prices in the market sector or implied prices in the nonmarket sector—reflect the opportunity costs of using scarce resources.
The economic approach predicts similar reactions to changes in both implied and market prices. For example, a person may have the only rare resource - time. Man divides his time between producing a variety of products and resting in order to maximize total utility.
Even outside the market sector, every good—directly or indirectly—has a marginal opportunity price. This refers to the time required to produce one additional unit of such a good. Under equilibrium conditions, the ratio of these prices must be equal to the ratio of the marginal utilities of the corresponding goods. Most importantly, an increase in the relative price of the time required to create a unit of this good will lead to a reduction in its consumption.
The economic approach does not assume that all participants in each market necessarily have complete information or make transactions that do not require any costs to enter into them. However, incomplete information or transaction costs should not be confused with irrationality or inconsistent behavior.
The economic approach led to the development of the theory of optimal or rational accumulation of expensive information, which implies, for example, more significant investments in obtaining information when making important decisions compared to unimportant transactions. For example, buying a house or getting married requires more information than buying bread or a sofa.
The information collected is often far from complete because obtaining it is associated with costs. This fact is used in the economic approach to explain those forms of behavior that in other approaches are understood as either irrational or inconsistent behavior, or as traditional, or as “irrational.”
When clearly profitable opportunities are missed by a firm, worker, or household, there is no need to assume irrationality, complacency with existing wealth, or convenient shifts in preferences. The economic approach posits that there are costs, monetary or psychological, that arise in attempting to take advantage of these opportunities—costs that reduce the expected benefits and that are not easily “seen” by outside observers.
The postulation of such costs "closes" or "completes" the economic approach in the same way that the postulation of energy costs closes the energy system and saves the law of conservation of energy in physics. Systems of analysis in chemistry, genetics and other fields are closed in a similar way.
The main question is how fruitful this or that method of “completion” of the system is. The most important theorems arising from the economic approach show that it closes in a way that is much more productive than simple theorizing, largely because the premise of stability of preferences provides a basis for predicting reactions to a wide variety of changes.
The economic approach does not require that individual agents necessarily be aware of their desire to maximize. Thus, he coincides in this with modern psychology, which attaches special importance to the subconscious, and sociology, which distinguishes overt and latent functions. The economic approach does not make a conceptual distinction between important and unimportant decisions, between decisions of people with unequal wealth, education or social background.
G. Becker came to the conclusion that the economic approach is comprehensive. Becker believes that it applies to all human behavior under conditions of market or imputed prices, repeated or one-time, important or unimportant decisions, emotionally charged or neutral goals; it applies to the behavior of rich and poor, patients and doctors, businessmen and politicians, teachers and students.
The scope of the economic approach understood in this way is so wide that it covers the subject of economics, if we follow the earlier definition of limited means and competing ends. It is precisely this understanding that is consistent with this broad, unqualified definition.
The economic approach to human behavior is not new, even if we have in mind the non-market sector. Adam Smith often followed this approach when explaining political behavior.
The economic approach is not always equally successful in penetrating the essence of various forms of human behavior and explaining them. But difficult-to-interpret behaviors such as childbearing, child-rearing, labor force participation, and other family decisions have been enriched by the systematic application of economics.
The economic approach is used to analyze an endlessly diverse set of problems. These include language development, church attendance, political activity, legal system. This is both altruism and social interactions, marriage, fertility, divorce, crime.
According to G. Becker, human behavior should not be divided into any separate compartments, in one of which it is of a maximizing nature, in the other - not, in one it is motivated by stable preferences, in the other - unstable, in one it leads to the accumulation of an optimal amount of information, in the other it does not.
All human behavior is characterized by participants maximizing utility over a stable set of preferences and accumulating optimal amounts of information and other resources in a variety of different markets. If we accept the concept of G. Becker, then the economic approach provides a holistic scheme for understanding human behavior, which many economists have long, but unsuccessfully, sought to create.

Method of psychotherapy.

The theoretical premise of the economic approach is based on the assertion that any psychological activity can be expressed in terms of mental energy available (and required) for these processes; The economic approach describes the distribution of energy and the amount of excitation within the mental apparatus, and also serves to describe cathexis. The economic view of the psyche understands it as a system governed by the energy of instincts, and the differences between the conscious (ego) and unconscious (id) areas are understood through the prism of differences in the level and form of energy distribution between these areas.

According to the economic approach, energy distribution is considered in the context of its final object, source and voltage level. According to the definition of Borness Moore and Bernard Fine, this approach postulates: “laws other than intentionality operate within the psyche.” An example of the economic point of view is the concept of the defense mechanism of sublimation.

Notes

Literature

Leibin, Valery. Dictionary-reference book on psychoanalysis. - M.: AST, 2010. - 956 p. - (Psychology). - 3000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-17-063584-9
Psychoanalytic terms and concepts: Dictionary / Ed. B. Moore, B. Faina. - M.: Class, 2000. - 304 p. - (Library of psychology and psychotherapy). - ISBN 5-86375-023-5
Rycroft, Charles. Critical Dictionary of Psychoanalysis. - St. Petersburg. : East European Institute of Psychoanalysis, 1995. - 288 p. - 10,000 copies. - ISBN 5-88787-001-X
Etchegoyen, Horacio. The Fundamentals of Psychoanalytic Technique. - Karnac Books, 2006. - 876 p. - ISBN 9781855754553
Gibbs, William. Demystifying meaningful coincidences (synchronicities). - Jason Aronson, 2010. - 319 p. - ISBN 9780765707024
Samuels, Andrew. Jung and the Post-Jungians. - Routledge, 1986. - 304 p. - ISBN 9780415059046
Stein, Juliet. Other than identity: the subject, politics and art. - Manchester University Press ND, 1997. - 242 p. - ISBN 9780719044632
Ferrell, Robyn. Passion in theory: conceptions of Freud and Lacan. - Routledge, 1996. - 118 p. - ISBN 9780415090209

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Types economic systems. Approaches in economic theory

Introduction

Economic system(eng. Economicsystem) - the totality of all economic processes occurring in society on the basis of the property relations and economic mechanism that have developed in it. In any economic system, production plays a primary role in conjunction with distribution, exchange, and consumption. In all economic systems, production requires economic resources, and the results economic activity distributed, exchanged and consumed. At the same time, economic systems also have elements that distinguish them from each other:

· socio-economic relations;

· organizational and legal forms of economic activity;

· economic mechanism;

· system of incentives and motivations for participants;

· economic relations between enterprises and organizations.

Market- a complex economic system of social relationships in the sphere of economic reproduction. It is determined by several principles that determine its essence and distinguish it from other economic systems. These principles are based on human freedom, his entrepreneurial talents and the fair treatment of them by the state. Indeed, these principles are few in number - they can be counted on the fingers of one hand, but their importance for the very concept of a market economy cannot be overestimated. Moreover, these foundations, namely: individual freedom and fair competition, are very closely related to the concept of the rule of law. Guarantees of freedom and fair competition can only be given in the conditions of civil society and the rule of law. But the very essence of the rights acquired by a person under the rule of law is the right to freedom of consumption: every citizen has the right to arrange his life as he sees it, within the framework of his financial capabilities. A person needs his property rights to be inviolable, and in this protection of his rights he himself plays the main role, and the state takes on the role of protecting other citizens from illegal attacks on the property of other citizens. This balance of power keeps a person within the law, since ideally the state is on his side. The law that begins to be respected, whatever it may be, becomes fair at least for those who respect it. But, while protecting the rights of citizens, the state should not cross the line of either totalitarianism or chaos. In the first case, the initiative of citizens will be restrained or manifested in a distorted form, and in the second, the state and its laws can be swept away by violence. However, the “distance” between totalitarianism and chaos is quite large, and the state in any case must play “its” role. This role is to effectively regulate the economy. Regulation should be understood as a very wide range of measures, and the more effective its use, the higher the trust in the state.

Distinctive features:

· variety of forms of ownership, among which private property in its various types still occupies the leading place;

· the deployment of a scientific and technological revolution, which accelerated the creation of a powerful industrial and social infrastructure;

· limited government intervention in the economy, but the government’s role in social sphere still great;

· changes in the structure of production and consumption (increasing role of services);

· growth in the level of education (post-school);

· new attitude to work (creative);

· increased attention to environment(restriction of reckless use natural resources);

· humanization of the economy (“human potential”);

· informatization of society (increasing the number of knowledge producers);

· renaissance of small business (rapid renewal and high differentiation of products);

Types of economic systems

Pure capitalism (market economy)

This is an economic system, the distinctive features of which are private property, free competition and pricing in markets based on the laws of supply and demand, the priority of personal selfish interest (the desire to maximize one’s income), the minimum level of economic power of individual subjects (the inability to radically influence the market situation), minimal degree of government intervention in the economy. This type of economic system is best described by A. Smith, who proclaimed the law of the “invisible hand”, i.e. self-regulation of the market mechanism, when the desire to extract one’s own benefit simultaneously leads to ensuring the interests of the entire society. In conclusion, it should be noted that the term “pure capitalism” is conditional and is used only in theory; in reality, free competition capitalism took place. Moreover, today “pure capitalism” is even more absurd than “pure socialism”.

This system is built on the most effective economic control within the company and market competition. Only the right of private property allows one to build economic control within the firm, to be able to prosper or go bankrupt as a result of market competition. Competition forces a private owner to show economic initiative, save limited resources, take risks or be careful in spending funds, look for sources of profit and avoid wasteful expenses.

Private property rights were invented in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, but private owners in these countries used slave labor, i.e. Instead of economic control within private enterprise, they used corporal punishment. At that time, they preferred to buy a slave at the market and force him to work for free for the owner through corporal punishment, rather than pay a free worker wages, bonus or fine. At that time, people did not yet know such a great invention as economic control. This invention was made much later - at the beginning of the New Age, in Western Europe. In a craft workshop in the Middle Ages, the apprentice received wages for working for the master, but the apprentice did not receive it. The main incentive for the journeyman and apprentice was administrative incentives; the apprentice dreamed of passing the exam for the title of master; for this he had to make a masterpiece and arrange a feast for the masters of his workshop with his own money. The apprentice ate from the master's table, worked for free, did house cleaning work, received the qualifications of a craftsman and dreamed of becoming first an apprentice and then a master. At the same time, in Western European countries market relations were already present, but not to the full extent, because The broad development of market relations was hampered by the guild charter, which prevented the development of widespread competition between artisans, supported egalitarian tendencies, and prevented the enrichment of the successful and the ruin of the losers. For example, the workshop regulations prohibited increasing the number of machines and the number of apprentices, working by candlelight on the second shift, allowing artisans from other cities to bring their products to the city market, etc. In modern times, guilds and their charters were abolished in order to introduce broad market relations and widespread competition between producers into the economy. Craft workshops were replaced by manufactories, where division of labor was introduced and the number of hired workers was sharply increased. The organization of labor in a manufactory cannot even be imagined without the widespread use of economic control, although in Russia in manufactories in the 17th-19th centuries. assigned (serf) peasants often worked.

In the USA at the beginning of the 19th century. there were disagreements regarding the possibility of using different types social control in a private enterprise. In the South, the United States used corporal punishment as an incentive to exploit African slaves on cotton plantations under the slogan “Slavery is a normal condition for blacks.” In the North, the United States used economic incentives for labor on farms, factories, and factories. Market competition has shown that economic incentives are more effective than corporal punishment. A. Tocqueville, in his work “Democracy in America,” noted that the state of the economy in two neighboring states differs sharply if slavery exists in one state and it is prohibited in the other. The prohibition of slavery leads to the flourishing of the economy, and the existence of slavery leads to the decline of the economy. The dispute between opponents and supporters of slavery was resolved during civil war between North and South in favor of the northerners, i.e. opponents of slavery.

Command economy (communism)

An economic system in which opposite principles are realized: strict centralization of economic power by the state - the main subject of economic life, including the use of resources at all levels; the behavior of subjects is determined by national goals, public interest dominates over private interest. All resources are owned by the state, are not available for free use and are distributed in a directive manner according to plans. As a result, production often acquires an autonomous character, does not satisfy social needs, technical progress is hampered and stagnation occurs in the economy.

This economic system arose in states belonging to the Asian formation and in societies with a totalitarian regime of power (fascism or socialism).

A command economic system is a way of organizing an economy in which land and capital are publicly owned and resource allocation is in the hands of government central authorities in accordance with government plans. Thus, economic control and the market were abolished. For the heads of socialist enterprises, state production plans were introduced, for failure to comply with which, under Stalin, they could be repressed according to the principle “from the chair to the bunk”; under Khrushchev and Brezhnev, they could be dismissed. And for exceeding the plan, they were promoted - appointed ministers, given orders and medals. Instead of efficient market allocation of resources, the communists introduced inefficient public distribution resources. The communists canceled private property, took away their resources from private owners and took them into state ownership. Instead of economic control, the communists even tried to introduce a system of ideological control in the economy as part of a campaign of socialist competition. Instead of bonuses and fines, the leading workers were given flags, a photograph was placed on the honor board, and a laudatory article was placed in the newspaper. The first leader was miner Alexey Stakhanov, who during his shift cut several coal production standards, after which all other workers had their production rates increased. For the foremost workers they created the most Better conditions for work - they were provided with new advanced equipment, etc., but the rest of the workers were not provided with these conditions, but they were obliged to keep up with the advanced workers in terms of output. Socialist competition has shown its complete ineffectiveness.

Mixed system

An economy in which there is a combination of some properties of the first and second systems. The mixed system has formed in many industrial developed countries ah, where the efficient market mechanism is complemented by a flexible contour government regulation. The role of the state comes down, first of all, to creating favorable conditions for conducting entrepreneurial activity, improving market infrastructure, ensuring certain social guarantees for the population, solving national problems and tasks. In general, this type of economic system makes it possible to combine the advantages of the market mechanism with government regulation, eliminating market “failures” and minimizing its negative effects on society.

A mixed economy is characterized by a combination of elements of pure capitalism and a command economy. Goods and services are produced by both the government and private companies. The state is actively involved in the redistribution of income, the implementation of social programs, the determination of legislative norms of economic life, and the regulation of the monetary system.

Market and command economic models in their pure form can be found today only in theory. In reality, the economic systems of most developed countries today are mixed. In a mixed economic system, the basis of the economy is private property, although France, Germany and the UK have a fairly large public sector. In companies such as the German airline Lufthansa, a significant part of the shares is owned by the state, but these companies do not receive state plans, are subject to the laws of the market and are forced to compete with private enterprises.

Traditional economics

This type of economic system should be considered separately, since it occurs in countries defined as underdeveloped. Its most characteristic features are: economic activity not perceived as a primary value; the individual belongs to his original community; economic power connected with political power. Almost all questions - what to produce, how, on the basis of what technologies, how to distribute the produced products - all this is determined by established customs and traditions. The same applies to needs, which do not perform a stimulating function here for the development of production. The traditional economy is immune to the achievements of technological progress and is difficult to reform.

Traditional economics is the oldest of these four types of economic systems and was built on moral control and the absence of markets. Today in Russia, a traditional economic system exists among the peoples of the North, who raise deer according to tradition and do not ask themselves the question of whether it is profitable and maybe it is worth growing something else? Ownership of resources in this system is most often collective, i.e. hunting grounds, pastures, arable lands and meadows belong to the entire tribe or community. Stolypin's reform in Russia destroyed communal ownership of land and introduced private ownership of land. After the October revolution, the communists actually restored communal land ownership, declared the land to be the property of the whole people, and then made it state property and forced the peasants to work on the collective farm almost free of charge for workdays (ticks in the magazine) with the help of the threat of repression. As a result, under Khrushchev and Brezhnev, the peasants’ incentives to work almost disappeared, and Agriculture in Russia, without economic incentives and without market competition, it actually collapsed as an industry. Russia until 1917 was one of largest exporters agricultural products, and under the communists our country was constantly teetering on the brink of famine; under Khrushchev and Brezhnev, Russia became an importer of these products. Under Brezhnev, the state spent huge amounts of money on the development of agriculture, but this money disappeared without a trace, as if in a bottomless barrel.

Economic theory

Economic theory is a discipline of economic science, representing its theoretical and philosophical foundation. Consists of many schools and directions. Economic theory develops and is replenished with new data over time, so its development from a historical perspective is dealt with in such a direction as the history of economic doctrines. The main task of economic theory is to provide an explanation of current events in economic life using models of reality, to reflect the real economy.

Economic theory consists of a number of sections: methodology of economic science, microeconomics, macroeconomics, international economy, econometrics, game theory. In modern economic theory, a number of scientific schools and directions can be distinguished: neo-Keynesianism, monetarism, new institutional economic theory, neuroeconomics, the Austrian school, new political economy, economics and law.

Methods of economic theory:

1. Method of analysis and synthesis - analysis involves dividing the object or phenomenon under consideration into separate parts and determining the properties of an individual element. With the help of synthesis, a complete picture of the phenomenon as a whole is obtained.

2. Method of induction and deduction - with the induction method, individual facts, principles are studied and general ones are formed theoretical concepts based on obtaining results (from specific to general). The deduction method involves research from general principles, laws, when the provisions of the theory are distributed into individual phenomena.

3. Method systematic approach- considers a separate phenomenon or process as a system consisting of a certain number of interconnected elements that interact and influence the effectiveness of the entire system as a whole.

4. Mathematical modeling method - involves the construction of graphic, formalized models that characterize individual economic phenomena or processes in a simplified form.

5. The method of scientific abstraction - allows you to exclude from consideration certain insignificant relationships between economic entities and concentrate attention on the consideration of several entities.

Functions of economic theory:

1. Cognitive - allows you to analyze individual economic processes, establishes relationships between these phenomena, determines the properties of economic entities (financial institutions, enterprises, state, population).

2. Methodological - allows you to define economic theory as the basis for the development of a number of other economic disciplines (marketing, statistics, management, pricing).

3. Educational - allows you to form citizens’ economic culture, logic, and basic concepts about the market.

4. Practical - recommendations for improving the current economic situation, reducing inflation, increasing the gross national product, etc., developing specific principles and methods of rational economic management.

5. Forecasting - based on the analysis of economic phenomena and processes, develop directions for future development.

The basic elements of economic theory on which any economic theory is based are three types of statements: statements about goals, statements about constraints on opportunities, and statements about choices.

Statements of Purpose

A goal is something that people want to achieve. The manager of a firm may have the goal of obtaining the greatest possible profit. The consumer may strive to obtain the greatest possible material satisfaction for a given income. People in any situation may confuse the fact that they are pursuing narrow “economic” goals with a commitment to family values, social responsibility and so on. Concepts such as “goal,” “intent,” and “preference” are essentially interchangeable.

Limitation Statements

Due to the phenomenon of scarce resources, people's capabilities are not unlimited. People always face constraints: the things they want have an opportunity cost, and many of them may simply not be possible. The statement about the limitations placed on the set of available options is a key part of any economic theory. Some constraints relate to what is physically possible given the resources and level of knowledge. Other constraints take the form not of physical limits but of opportunity costs, often defined in terms of prices.

Choice Statement

The final component of economic theory is a statement of the most likely choices that will be made given certain goals and constraints on opportunity. For example, the choices that underlie the law of demand view consumers as people who have the goal of obtaining the greatest possible satisfaction, subject to restrictions placed on their options by the size of their budget, the range of goods offered, and the prices of these goods. Based on these goals and constraints, the law of demand states that, in all likelihood, people will choose to increase their purchases of a given good when its price decreases, given that all other conditions remain the same (other things being equal).

Formational and civilizational approaches to the periodization of social development

The study of patterns and stages of development of society is an extremely important problem for science and social practice. Without this, it is impossible to understand the complex socio-economic processes of humanity’s movement to the heights of modern civilization.

Economists of the past and present have different interpretations of the essence and features of the historical development of society. The most widespread are formational and civilizational approaches to understanding the process economic development human society.

The formational approach was developed by K. Marx and his followers. Its essence lies in the fact that the productive forces of society, together with production relations, represent a certain method of production of material goods, and the method of production, in combination with the political superstructure of society, represents a socio-economic formation. The fundamental economic core of each mode of production, and, accordingly, formation, is the dominant form of ownership, since it is this that determines the way the worker is connected to the means of production.

The formational approach assumes that the development of human society occurs as a sequential change from one mode of production to another:

Primitive communal;

Slaveholding;

Feudal;

Capitalist;

Communist.

The formational approach proceeds from the fact that the decisive role in social development belongs to the production process, property relations, and its main driving forces are the contradictions between the productive forces and production relations and the intensification of the class struggle in society.

However, in modern conditions the formational approach, while recognizing certain of its provisions, is subject to critical analysis.

Firstly, the five-stage periodization of the development of society does not have an all-encompassing meaning. It is more or less acceptable mainly for countries Western Europe, but does not fully reflect the uniqueness of the development of the Asian mode of production, the evolution of the civilizations of China and India, and also does not illuminate the features of the historical development of Russia and Ukraine.

Secondly, the formational approach does not reveal the diversity of life, impoverishes the history of human society, reducing it mainly to one factor - the development of material production, practically does not take into account the role of socio-cultural and other non-economic factors in the development of society (national, religious, ethnic, mental, etc.) .P.).

Thirdly, reflecting the history of human development as a process of “revolutionary” destruction of the old mode of production and its replacement with a new one, the formational approach thus allows for a certain discontinuity (discreteness) of the natural historical process.

Fourthly, the formational approach overly absolutizes class confrontation between owners and non-owners of property, between employers and employees.

Therefore, with the aim of deeper scientific knowledge of the laws of development of society, the world social science has developed and widely uses a civilizational approach to understanding the history of human development.

Civilization is a historically specific state of society, which is characterized by the achieved level of productive forces, a special form of production and the corresponding spiritual culture of people.

The civilizational approach defines the natural stages of development of economic systems in a different way.

The civilizational approach is based on the following principles:

1) the versatility of the analysis of economic systems;

2) natural evolutionary gradualism of the historical process;

3) rejection of class, confrontational assessments of the content and goals of the system;

4) knowledge of the system in the unity of its economic and sociocultural elements;

5) strengthening the role of the human factor in social development;

6) recognition of world history as a single planetary whole.

As we see, the civilizational approach does not suffer from economic determinism, since it provides for the legitimacy of the influence of other factors on the development of human society. It is focused not on the specifics of the production method, but primarily on the integrity of human civilization, the dominant significance of universal human values, and the integration of each society into the world community (Fig. 3.1).

The most important feature of civilization is its humanistic orientation. Man is not only the main subject of production and civilization as a whole, but also their immediate goal, target function.

The American economist W. Rostow put forward the theory of “stages of growth”, in which he identified five stages of economic development:

Traditional society;

Transition Society;

Shift stage;

Maturity stage;

Stage of high level of mass consumption.

Another American scientist L.G. Morgan identified three stages in the development of human history:

Age of Savagery (hunting economy);

The era of barbarism (cattle breeding);

The era of civilization.

Modern foreign economic science (J. Galbraith, R. Aron, etc.), using the criterion “degree of industrial development of society,” distinguishes three stages of industrial civilization:

Pre-industrial (agrarian) society;

Industrial society;

Post-industrial society.

Pre-industrial society is dominated by agriculture and manual labor. It existed until the end of the 18th century, i.e. before the development of the Industrial Revolution.

In industrial society, large-scale mechanized industrial production played a leading role.

Post-industrial society is a new, most developed stage of human civilization, which began with scientific and technological revolution, which unfolded in the second half of the 20th century. and gradually developed into a modern information and intellectual revolution. Post-industrial society is dominated by science, fundamentally new types of equipment and technologies, computer science, computerization, automation and robotization of all spheres of economics and management. IN social production intellectual capital, knowledge, and the service sector (education, healthcare, culture, production of spiritual goods, etc.) come to the fore. As a result of these scientific and technical transformations, a new type of worker is being formed, the creative nature of his work is intensifying, and the needs of creative self-regulation of the individual are gaining more and more weight.

The rapid development of information and intellectual technologies, computerization, and astronautics have strengthened the connections between man and space, which, according to the concept of V.I. Vernadsky about the noosphere allows us to conclude that modern society is on the threshold of the emergence of a new noospheric-cosmic civilization, which will determine the economic, scientific, technical and cultural face of man in the 21st century.

Post-industrial society is characterized by a deepening of the international division of labor, strengthening of interconnections and interactions of national economies. The world market for goods, capital, qualified work force, the role of universal human interests and values is increasing. All these objective processes predetermine the development of local forms of civilization into global ones; they cover more and more countries and increasingly influence the lives of peoples around the world.

The civilizational concept of the development of society makes it possible to determine the historical place of our country, its location at the top of the industrial stage and the prospects for the transition to the post-industrial stage. This requires the creation of a social market economy in conjunction with the development and use of highly efficient technologies, structural restructuring of the economy, the introduction of new forms of organization and production management, and the comprehensive development of science, education, culture and man himself.

While noting the advantages of the civilizational approach, it should be noted that its excessive emphasis on the formation of a “single world civilization” contains a potential danger in terms of the possibility of eroding and ignoring the specificity of economic, national and socio-cultural development different countries and peoples, their loss of their identity and uniqueness.

Therefore, the process of forming a single world civilizational space often occurs in a contradictory form - from multifaceted cooperation and partnership of peoples to confrontation and local intercivilizational conflicts.

Bibliography

economic capitalism formational civilizational

1. Economic theory: Textbook / Borisov E.F.

2. A.G. Voitov. History of Economic Thought

3. http://www.abc-people.com/typework/economy/econo-6.htm

4. http://phi.msk.ru/

5. Political economy: Textbook for universities /Medvedev V.A., Abalkin L.I., Ozherelev O.I. and others - M.: Politizdat, 1990. - P. 48-50.

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