The purpose of the economy. Economics and its role in society

The great Scottish scientist Adam Smith is considered the founder of such a great science as economics. Today, this great science is one of the most relevant and necessary. Knowledge of various economic processes not only makes life easier for people, but also helps to regularly replenish the budget, teaches you how to earn and save.

In the modern world there is a huge need for economically educated people. The importance of the economy is growing every year. This science is being taught even in schools. In every developed country there are many economic universities that modernize and open progressive faculties almost every year.

What kind of science is this and what is the purpose of economics? Social science, which studies the market and the behavior of participants in the process of economic activity, studies how people dispose of property, how they try to satisfy their inorganic needs, is economics.

Economy and its goals

Many of the earth's resources are inherently limited. Fresh water, food, livestock, textiles are earthly resources that can be lost. Unlike resources, a person’s needs are not limited. The purpose of economics is to keep limited resources and unlimited human needs in balance.

The famous American scientist and psychologist Maslow Abraham Harold believed that all basic human needs can be expressed in a pyramid. The basis of the geometric figure is physiological needs, that is, the human need for food, water, clothing, shelter, as well as procreation. Current economic issues are based on this pyramid. The pinnacle of the figure is the human need for self-expression.

Economic sectors

To date, only three have been identified, which in science are called primary, secondary and tertiary. The first sector combines the goals and objectives of the economy for the study of agriculture, fishing, hunting, and forestry. The second sector is responsible for construction and manufacturing, while the tertiary sector is based on the service sector. Some economists also prefer to highlight the quaternary sector of the economy, which includes education, banking services, marketing, information technology, but in essence, this is what the tertiary sector studies.

Forms of economy

To understand the purpose of economics for sure, it is necessary to become familiar with the forms of economics. Children begin studying this important topic in middle school social studies classes, and then continue to delve into it in high school and university. There are four forms of this social science in total.

Market economy

A market economy is based on free enterprise, contractual relations, and a variety of forms of ownership. The state in this case has only an indirect influence on the economy. The characteristic features of this form are the independence and independence of the entrepreneur, the ability to choose a supplier, and customer focus. The main goal of the economy in this case is to maintain a connection between the buyer and the entrepreneur.

Traditional economics

The traditional economy has not yet outlived its usefulness, because there are still underdeveloped countries. Customs play a major role in this economic form. Agriculture, manual labor, such primitive technologies (use of a plow, hoe, plow) are characteristic features of this system. Primitive society was built on hierarchy and a traditional economy, but today some African, Asian and South American countries still retain this form. At its core, the traditional form is the very first manifestation of economic science.

Administrative command economy

The administrative-command or planned economy existed in the USSR, but is still relevant in North Korea, as well as in Cuba. All material resources are in state, public ownership, the state has complete control over the economy and its development. State bodies in an administrative-command economy individually plan the production of products and also regulate prices for them. A huge advantage of this economic form is the low social stratification.

Mixed economy

A mixed economy depends on both entrepreneurs and the state. If the administrative-command form includes only state property, then in a mixed form there is also private property. The goal of a mixed economy is to get the balance right. State property most often includes kindergartens, transport, libraries, schools, universities, hospitals, roads, legal services, law enforcement agencies, etc. People can freely engage in business activities. Businessmen independently manage their property, make decisions about production, hire and fire workers, and train employees. The state is financed by people who pay taxes.

The economic growth

The economic growth of a country largely determines the economy and its role in the life of society. Economic growth allows each state to produce more goods, services and benefits. The more goods a country produces, and the greater the demand for them, the more profit this state will receive. Economic growth must be sustainable, but in no case rush.

The result expected from economic growth is a significant increase in the quality of life of the population. But unfortunately, achieving this is incredibly difficult, since there are fewer and fewer competent economists left. There are several factors that can raise a country's standard of living.

One of the most important factors is the progress of technology and science. Thanks to new mechanisms, technology, and the Internet, labor productivity and efficiency have increased millions of times. A unique, modern, high-quality product is in demand in the sales market.

Another factor in economic growth is labor. If an employee does not have a higher education, is lazy, is not experienced, and does not know how to make decisions, then the company will not be successful. Human capital is incredibly highly valued in modern society. Education at a higher educational institution, work experience, knowledge of foreign languages, and personal qualities of a person play a huge role when hiring. Economics and its role in the life of society are incredibly high, which is why it is so important to listen to the advice of experienced scientists. Human capital allows an employee to earn additional income. This term was coined in the 20th century in economics.

Economy is the totality of scientific research, financial structure and human activity that ensures the production, rational distribution and consumption of goods and services in human society.

The concept of economics, its role in human life

Economics consists of microeconomics and macroeconomics. Macroeconomics is the level of creation of factors and conditions that favorably affect the performance of economic activity.

Microeconomics is the process of ongoing interaction between producer and consumer. Economics undoubtedly plays an important role in the life of a modern person.

First of all, thanks to the economy, we are provided with the material goods necessary for full-fledged life - housing, clothing, food. The economic life of a society sets the general pace of its development and determines the course of processes occurring in it.

Social needs

Social needs are a type of those needs that are of a mass nature and inherent in every person due to his social nature. Social needs include two subtypes that are interconnected: the needs of the state and the needs of society.

Social needs include the needs for communications, education, labor, healthcare, and safety. The degree of realization of social needs is influenced by the level of the economy in the state. It is the factor of economic development that becomes decisive in people’s satisfaction of their social needs.

In states with unstable economies, only primary needs - the need for food and clothing - can be easily satisfied.

Limited resources

Limited resources is a term that has recently been used quite often in economics. This is a concept that expresses the finiteness and scarcity of those production resources that people are accustomed to using in economic production.

Human needs have no boundaries and tend to increase, while the level of resources to satisfy them falls continuously. In a broad sense, resource limitation is the use by a person of free material and intangible resources.

In this interpretation, intangible resources such as time and human power are added to the free material resources of production.

Factors of production

Those resources through which the process of economic production occurs are called factors of production. Types of production factors:

1. Information - in the modern world, instead of information in economics, the term “technology” is increasingly used. Information is the basis of economic activity, as it opens up new ways to improve production and increase its effectiveness.

2. Labor is the expedient activity of an individual aimed at achieving results.

3. Capital - a set of material goods: machines, machines, money, buildings, structures.

4. Land is a natural resource necessary for the production of material goods and services.

5. Entrepreneurial talent - a person’s ability to organize production, make decisions involving risk, and introduce innovations into production.

Detailed solution Paragraph § 1 on social studies for 11th grade students, authors L.N. Bogolyubov, N.I. Gorodetskaya, L.F. Ivanova 2014

Question 1. Can society develop without an economy? How are economics and living standards related? What is the portrait of the new economy at the beginning of the 21st century?

Society cannot develop without economy. Economy is the economic activity of society, as well as the set of relations that develop in the system of production, distribution, exchange and consumption.

Standard of living (level of well-being) is the degree to which the material and spiritual needs of people are satisfied by the mass of goods and services used per unit of time. The standard of living is based on the amount of real income per capita and the corresponding volume of consumption.

New economy (neo-economics) is an economic infrastructure characterized by the predominance of intangible assets (services and technologies), and a decrease in the role of tangible assets. That is, this is an economy of knowledge, new information technologies, new business processes that ensure leadership and competitiveness.

Questions and tasks for the document

By universal human historical standards, the market mechanism cannot be considered as a completely ideal form. Increasingly, researchers note in this context the so-called “market imperfection”, associated with the very problematic capabilities of the market in achieving equitable distribution and use of resources on Earth, ensuring environmental sustainability, and eliminating unjustified social inequality.

Question 2. What data confirms the deepening social inequality in the world?

According to the UN, the absolute size of poverty in the world is increasing... Apparently, the future of the world economy must be linked to a more complex economic (socio-economic) mechanism than the market mechanism itself. In this mechanism, an increasing role will belong, along with market exchange relations, to various more subtle mechanisms that involve the achievement of social agreement between sets of subjects of socio-economic relations.

Question 3. Using the content of the paragraph and your knowledge from the social studies course, suggest possible (except for market exchange) mechanisms for achieving social harmony between participants in socio-economic relations.

In modern international relations, issues of international cultural cooperation are of particular importance. Today there is not a single country that does not pay close attention to the issues of building strong cultural contacts with the peoples of other states.

Culture, being a process of spiritual, creative, intellectual communication, implies the mutual enrichment of new ideas in the context of cultural exchange and thus performs an important communicative function, uniting groups of people different in their social, ethnic, and religious affiliation. It is culture that today becomes the “language” on which the entire system of modern international relations can be built.

The theoretical and practical significance of cultural connections in the modern political space, active processes of integration and globalization in the modern world, problems of cultural expansion dictate the need to address issues of international cultural exchange in the system of international relations.

International cultural exchange includes all the features of culture and reflects the main stages of its formation, which are directly related to contacts between peoples, states, civilizations and are part of international relations. Cultural ties have a significant difference from international relations in that cultural dialogue between countries continues even when political contacts are complicated by interstate conflicts.

Cultural exchange in the system of international relations is a complex, complex phenomenon that reflects the general patterns of international relations and the world cultural process. This is a complex of diverse cultural ties along state and non-state lines, including the entire spectrum of different forms and areas of interaction, reflecting both modern international relations and historically established forms, with significant stability and breadth of influence on political, economic, social, and cultural life.

SELF-TEST QUESTIONS

Question 1. What is the place and role of economics in the life of society?

The economic life of society is primarily the production, distribution, exchange and consumption of goods and services. These can be material goods, production and financial services, as well as spiritual values.

During the production process, natural materials are transformed, giving them properties due to which they can satisfy people's needs. Distribution relations and the very consumption of goods and services by people significantly influence production. They can either stimulate or inhibit its development. For example, the principle of distribution according to the quantity and quality of labor, used in all developed countries, significantly stimulates the work of hired workers, generates a material interest in increasing labor productivity, and in creative influence on the production process. On the contrary, the egalitarian principle of distribution does not give rise to such motives.

The fundamental incentive for the development of production is consumption as the process of using the results of production to satisfy certain needs of people and society.

An important manifestation of the economic life of society is exchange relations between people, acting as an exchange of activities, goods and services.

The development of society and its economic life are closely interconnected. They relate to each other as a whole and its part. Economic life, being influenced by all aspects of social life (social, political, spiritual), in turn, also significantly influences various phenomena of social life and society as a whole. This conclusion is confirmed by the following provisions:

The existence of society is impossible without the constant production of material goods and services;

Social production and, above all, the established division of labor and property relations determine the emergence and development of its social structure;

Economic relations actively influence the political life of society (economically dominant social groups, as a rule, strive to influence the work of the state apparatus, the directions of activity of political parties, etc.);

In the production process, the necessary material conditions are created for the development of the spiritual life of society (buildings of libraries, theaters, equipment for publishing books, newspapers, etc.).

Question 2. What determines the wealth and prosperity of a country?

The level of well-being of the state to a large extent depends on the perfection of economic mechanisms, i.e., ways and forms of combining the efforts of people in solving life support problems. Such economic mechanisms include the division of labor, specialization and trade, already familiar to you from history and social studies courses. They create conditions for employees to achieve high labor productivity and allow producers to exchange labor results on a mutually beneficial basis. The importance of the operation of economic mechanisms for ensuring the level of well-being of people can be understood if we compare the standard of living of a society based on a subsistence economy (tribes of Africa, Latin America) and a commodity economy (developed Western countries). (Remember the advantages of the latter form of organization of economic life.)

The reason for the low efficiency of the economy may be the use of outdated technologies, a low level of personnel qualifications, wasteful use of natural resources, etc. A low level of economic development leads to a decrease in consumption: in order to consume more, you need to produce more. Thus, the level of economic development directly affects the standard of living in the country.

The minimum level of consumption is determined by such an indicator as the poverty line (level, poverty threshold). The poverty level is the normatively established level of a person’s monetary income for a certain period, which allows him to ensure his physical (physiological) subsistence level.

The World Bank defines the global poverty rate as incomes of less than $1.25 per day per person. According to its data, as a result of various crises, 50 million people fell below the poverty line in 2009, and by the end of 2010, approximately 64 million people lived in extreme poverty.

Ideas about poverty vary from country to country. Typically, the wealthier a country as a whole, the higher its national poverty line. The conditions and methods of Russia's transition to a market economy have turned poverty into a serious problem for our country. Since the beginning of the 21st century. indicators in this area have been significantly improved. The share of the population living below the poverty line in Russia decreased from 1998 to 2011 from 29 to 12.6%, i.e. 2.3 times.

The main condition for solving this problem is economic growth.

Question 3. What economic mechanisms contribute to the movement of society towards a higher level of well-being?

An important indicator and result of the economic life of a society is the standard of living of its members. This indicator characterizes a person’s ability to satisfy the needs for goods, services and living conditions necessary for a comfortable and safe existence. Increasing the living standards of the population is considered the most important goal of the country's socio-economic development.

For many centuries, rulers were convinced that the wealth of the country and, accordingly, the well-being of its people was associated with the seizure of territories and the wealth of other peoples during wars, with the presence of significant natural resources (timber, oil, gas). However, the modern history of economic development of countries proves that these factors are not decisive. For example, Japan is considered a rich country today, although it has limited resources and has long ago lost all previously captured foreign lands. The level of economic development allows the country to use these minor resources much more productively. It is the efficient use of production resources that is considered today to be a valid criterion for the level of economic development of countries.

The standard of living in a broad sense includes many indicators: the level of people's health, the state of the environment, the degree of uneven distribution of income in society, the availability of culture, the cost of living, etc. (Suggest what the most important indicators of the level of socio-economic development for Russia could be used to compare it with other countries.)

Question 4. How can social peace be ensured in conditions of increasing social differentiation of society?

The pace of social development, crisis or prosperity largely depends on such indicators as the total population, its growth rate, and health status. In turn, all these indicators are very closely related to the economic life of society. Thus, the birth rate is influenced by the level of material well-being, living conditions, housing provision, and the degree of women’s involvement in social production.

At the same time, the birth rate is also influenced by other social factors, in particular the value preferences of the majority of the population. It is the latter that can explain the high birth rate in many countries, including Russia, at the stage of traditional society, when a significant part of the population lived in poverty, and the decline in fertility in developed countries.

There is also an inverse relationship. The acceleration or deceleration of the pace of economic development depends on the total population, its density (in a region with a small population, the division of labor is difficult, subsistence farming lasts longer), growth rates (low rates complicate the reproduction of the labor force and accordingly reduce production volumes, too high growth rates the population is forced to devote significant resources to its simple physical survival).

The health status of the population is also a factor in economic development. Its deterioration leads to a decrease in labor productivity on the farm and a reduction in life expectancy. An increase in the standard of living contributes to an increase in its duration. Thus, in recent years, the average life expectancy of men in Russia has increased and amounted to 62 years in 2012.

The economic life of society has a noticeable influence on the formation of professional social communities. In traditional societies, where the social structure is most stable, social and professional groups associated with subsistence farming and small-scale production are preserved. In developed Western countries, under the influence of the scientific and technological revolution, a new middle class (intelligentsia, managers, highly skilled workers) is growing. At the same time, structural changes in the economy lead to a reduction in the industrial working class and the disappearance of clear boundaries between it and other social groups.

Question 5. Does a market economy need democracy?

A market economy, left to its own devices, gives advantages to some social strata and, conversely, “punishes” others. If it is not corrected with the help of social policy, then it can degenerate into a system that acts in the interests of the minority of society (the elite) and against the majority.

The social policy of the Russian government is aimed at supporting low-income citizens, regulating labor relations and promoting employment for the unemployed population, ensuring access to education and assistance in retraining, and ensuring freedom of entrepreneurship.

The problem of coordinating the interests of various participants in the economic life of society remains relevant, therefore the economic and social spheres must complement and mutually support each other.

Democracy and the rule of law create the most acceptable conditions for the functioning of a market economy. Thus, it is important for an entrepreneur to start his own business knowing the “rules of the game” in the market space (under what laws he can act, what taxes he can pay, etc.). And issues important to the economy, such as the establishment of taxes, environmental laws, and regulations governing the relationship between employers and employees, should be openly discussed, taking into account the opinions of various parties.

In turn, the rule of law relies on civil society, which is made up of citizens who independently make decisions and realize private interests. The structural units of civil society in the economic sphere are private enterprises, cooperatives, joint-stock companies and other production units created by citizens on their own initiative.

Question 6. Does government policy influence the operating conditions of a market economy?

One of the public functions of the state is to use existing opportunities for economic development. Each country faces the problem of choosing the best option for such development, and the role of public policy is significant here. In recent decades in Russia this policy has undergone a serious reorientation.

In a market economy, the main functions of the state are to facilitate and stimulate the action of market forces through government policies. The most general, important condition for the existence of a market economy is the implementation by the state of such political goals as the free development of society, legal order, external and internal security (these goals were indicated by Adam Smith).

The free development of society is understood both as a social and as an economic category. The more individual freedom is valued in society, the more important economic freedom is perceived to be.

The state is interested in ensuring the legal reliability of economic activity. The creation of a legal order primarily involves ensuring, through laws, property rights and the right to freedom of entrepreneurial activity.

Ensuring external and internal security presupposes the creation by the state of institutions to maintain public order within the country and the presence of a professionally trained army capable of protecting the country from external attack.

An important task of the state is to protect and maintain competition in the national economy and combat the desire of firms to monopolize. For the developing market economy of Russia, this is one of the pressing problems. (Give examples of antimonopoly regulation of the economy by the Russian government.)

Question 7. What are the policy priorities of the Russian state in the economy?

The priorities of the Russian state in the economy are constantly, although certainly not dynamically, changing depending on the global political and economic situation.

At the moment, serious attempts are being made to change this vector towards focusing on high, knowledge-intensive technologies and increasing labor productivity.

Awareness of the need for such changes occurred a long time ago, but the political and economic prerequisites that force us to accelerate this process are only now being formed, before our eyes.

TASKS

Question 1: Aristotle, discussing the role of the state in economic affairs, noted that “the purpose of the state is the joint promotion of a high quality of life.” Do you share this point of view? Justify your answer.

All government activities should be aimed at improving the quality of life of citizens living in the country. And joint promotion means that both citizens and the state must work as unitedly as possible to improve the quality of life in the country.

Question 2. The world's population is growing rapidly. In 2011 it amounted to 7 billion people. The first billion was reached around 1800, and it took another 125 years to reach 2 billion. However, it took 50 years for the population to increase from 3 to 7 billion. At the same time, the center of growth from Europe and North America has moved to the countries of Southeast Asia and Africa. Explain the connection between the demographic situation in the world and the economic life of society. How does rapid population growth in poor countries and population decline in developed countries affect their economic development as a whole, such indicators as living standards, incomes, labor productivity, etc.?

The demographic situation is directly related to the economic life of society. If the population in poor countries increases, the country will become even poorer, the standard of living will fall, incomes will decrease, all this will happen thanks to the labor market, etc. The more people there are in undeveloped countries, the worse the situation in the country.

Population growth or decline does not affect economic development as a whole, as well as income, living standards, etc., until the situation becomes catastrophic. In this case, everything happens in accordance with normal development - poor countries become even poorer, and rich countries, hiring cheap labor, continue to get richer. However, it is precisely at these moments that global changes are possible on the political map of the world - wars become, first of all, wars for territories, and, accordingly, for food and other resources.

Question 3. How does the process of differentiation of incomes of the population in market conditions affect the attitude of workers towards work? Name the positive and negative results of socio-economic differentiation during the reforms in Russia.

The attitude of workers towards work will fluctuate depending on the price for their work (in other words, wages). The higher the labor efficiency, the higher the salary. The difference in income has not yet brought anything good with it. This is the germ of stratification.

The advantages are the desire to obtain an education in order to be in demand as a qualified specialist who earns a lot of money in the future. The downside is further stratification of the population. Stratification. Division into rich and poor.

In the course of his life, a person has to constantly solve pressing problems related to meeting needs - food, housing, gaining knowledge, self-realization and many others. For this purpose, an economic system has been created within which people interact and realize their needs. Let's learn briefly about the role of economics in the life of society.

Needs

Man and society are constantly evolving. They constantly need different things to satisfy their needs. All needs are usually divided into several groups:

• natural (in food, sleep, housing and others);
• social (in communication, friendship, love);
• spiritual (in acquiring new knowledge, mastering cultural values).

The peculiarity of human needs is that they have no limit. When some are satisfied, new ones will certainly arise.

An example of the unlimited nature of needs is the plot of A. S. Pushkin’s fairy tale “The Golden Fish,” in which the old woman, having received a new trough to replace the broken one, wanted a new hut, tower, and so on.

We must not forget that the Earth's resources, unlike its needs, are limited. These include minerals, forests, and fresh water. Therefore, it is important to organize people’s activities so that the use of resources simultaneously satisfies people’s needs and is carried out within reasonable limits. Economics serves to regulate this process.

Participants in economic relations:

• consumers (individuals, family and other groups);
• manufacturers (enterprises, government)

All participants have to choose which needs are more important and which can be reduced or abandoned.

That is, when entering into economic relations, the consumer evaluates what benefits he will receive and what funds he will have to spend. It is important for a manufacturer to create what society needs - economic benefits.

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The concept of good

Benefits are understood as those means that help a person satisfy his needs. They can be free and economic.

Free goods, as a rule, are available in nature in ready-made form. This is air, water, light and so on. And economic ones are created in the process of transformation of resources. For example, food, equipment, buildings, clothing.

The role of economics

Let's figure out what the role of economics is in the life of society.

Awareness of limited resources and the importance of unification into a single economic system led to the fact that society, having begun its journey with stone processing, has now achieved a high development of science and technology, creating a well-coordinated, extensive trading network.

But with the rapid development of the production of consumer goods, the problem of rational use of resources is becoming increasingly acute. Fresh water, gas, oil, clean air - the destruction of all these benefits is irreversible, since man cannot restore them.

What have we learned?

Having studied the topic for grade 10 about economics and its role in the life of society, we discovered that in his life a person is forced to constantly take care of satisfying various needs. The relations that arise in this case are called economic. In conditions of limited natural and other resources, participants in economic relations have to choose for themselves the most important needs and the most significant benefits for production. In general, the role of the economy is great, since the existence of such a system is designed to achieve a fair distribution of resources between people.

Economics plays a huge role in the life of society. Firstly, it provides people with the material conditions of existence - food, clothing, housing and other consumer goods. Secondly, the economic sphere of society is a system-forming component of society, a decisive sphere of its life, determining the course of all processes occurring in society. It is studied by many sciences, among which the most important are economic theory and social philosophy. It should also be noted that such a relatively new science as ergonomics (it studies a person and his production activities, with the goal of optimizing tools, conditions and the labor process).

Economics in a broad sense is usually understood as a system of social production, i.e., the process of creating material goods necessary for human society for its normal existence and development.

Economy - it is an area of ​​human activity in which wealth is created to satisfy their various needs. A need is a person’s objective need for something. Human needs are very diverse. Based on the subjects (carriers of needs), needs are distinguished between individual, group, collective and public. By object (subject to which they are directed) - material, spiritual, ethical (relating to morality) and aesthetic (relating to art).

By area of ​​activity, the needs of labor, communication, and recreation (rest, recovery) are distinguished.

When organizing their economic activities, people pursue certain goals related to obtaining the goods and services they need. To achieve these goals, first of all, a workforce is needed, that is, people with abilities and work skills. These people use the means of production in the course of their work.

The means of production are a combination of objects of labor, i.e., that from which material goods are produced, and means of labor, i.e., that with which or with the help of which they are produced.

The totality of the means of production and labor power is usually called the productive forces of society.

Productive forces - these are people (human factor) who have production skills and produce material goods, means of production created by society (material factor), as well as technology and organization of the production process.

The entire set of goods and services necessary for a person is created in two complementary spheres of the economy.

In the non-productive sphere, spiritual, cultural and other values ​​are created and similar services are provided (educational, medical, etc.).

Services are understood as expedient types of labor with the help of which certain needs of people are satisfied.

In material production, material goods are produced (industry, agriculture, etc.) and material services are provided (trade, utilities, transport, etc.).

History knows two main forms of material social production: natural and commodity. Natural production is a production in which the products produced are not intended for sale, but to satisfy the manufacturer’s own needs. The main features of such an economy are isolation, conservatism, manual labor, slow pace of development, direct connections between production and consumption. Unlike natural commodity production, commodity production is initially market-oriented; products are produced not for one’s own consumption, but for sale. Commodity production more dynamically, since the manufacturer constantly monitors processes occurring in the market, fluctuations in demand for a particular type of product and makes appropriate changes to the production process.

The most important role in material production belongs to the equipment and technology used by the manufacturer.

The original ancient Greek word techne meant art, skill, craft. Over time, the meaning of this concept has narrowed, and today technology refers to the means created by people with the help of which the process of material production is carried out, as well as serving the spiritual, everyday and other unproductive needs of society. Like other subsystems of the economy, technology went through a number of different stages in its development: periods of its evolutionary development were replaced by “leaps”, due to which its level and character changed. Such leaps are called technical revolutions.

Throughout economic history, three technical revolutions in production have occurred.

During the first - Neolithic - revolution, the emergence of a productive economy and the transition to a sedentary lifestyle became possible. This contributed to a sharp increase in population: the so-called first demographic explosion occurred - the growth rate of the Earth's population almost doubled. Production at this pre-industrial stage was characterized by the predominance of agriculture, the dominance of manual labor and primitive forms of organization of the latter. Such production still remains typical for some African countries (Guiana, Guinea, Senegal, etc.).

The second - industrial - revolution occurred in the second half of the 18th - 50-60s. XIX century It is called industrial because the main content of this revolution was the industrial revolution - the transition from manual labor to machine labor. From now on, mechanical engineering becomes the main sphere of production, and the bulk of the population now works in industry and lives in cities. Associated with this stage of economic development, called industrial, is the second demographic explosion, during which the planet's population increases almost sevenfold. However, the achievements of the industrial economy are not enough to meet the needs of all residents of industrialized countries. From a certain point on, the contradiction between relatively limited production capabilities and a completely new - both quantitative and qualitative - level of people's needs is increasingly felt. This contradiction is resolved during the course that began in the 40s and 50s. XX century scientific and technological revolution.

The scientific and technological revolution represented a qualitative leap in the development of the productive forces of society, its transition to a new state based on fundamental changes in the system of scientific knowledge.

The main directions of the scientific and technological revolution:

1) automation and computerization of production;

2) introduction of the latest information technologies;

3) development of biotechnologies;

4) creation of new structural materials;

5) development of new energy sources;

6) revolutionary changes in the means of communication and communications.

The result of this revolution was the transition to the post-industrial stage of production and the information society. The service sector is now experiencing the greatest development, in which 50 to 70% of the working-age population works. The social structure of society is changing, the number of people with higher education is growing significantly.

Each of the technical revolutions listed above entailed the replacement of the dominant technological method of production with a new one that better met the increased needs of society. History knows four successive technological methods of production:

1) appropriating;

2) agricultural-craft;

3) industrial;

4) information and computer.

Each technological method of production was characterized by specific, unique tools and a system of labor organization.

In the course of practical activities, people producing material goods are faced not only with a certain level of development of technology and technology, but also with the relationships that have developed in this regard, which are usually called technological.

Technological relations - These are the relations of the producer of material goods that develop on a certain technical basis to the object and means of his labor, as well as to the people with whom he interacts in the technological process.

Another system of relations is economic or production. The main one is the relationship of ownership of the means of production.

Today, the economic sphere occupies a leading place in the system of social relations and determines the content of the political, legal, spiritual and other spheres of society. Modern economy is a product of long-term historical development and improvement of various forms of organization of economic life. In most countries, it is market-based, but at the same time it is regulated by the state, which seeks to give it the necessary social orientation. The economy of modern countries is characterized by the process of internationalization of economic life, the result of which is the international division of labor and the formation of a single world economy.

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