The division of labor is the separation of certain types labor activity according to general characteristics. The process of division of labor has developed historically. Depending on some features, certain types labor activity "united".

There are several types of division of labor:

• Public. It has gone through a number of stages, as a result of which whole branches of one or another type of activity have emerged with the allocation of classes of society.
  Stages of social division of labor:
  1. As a result of the separation of agriculture from gathering, a Agriculture, and with it the class of society - the peasantry.
  2. As a result of the separation of craft from agriculture, industry was formed. As a consequence, a class of artisans who then became industrialists;
  3. From crafts and agriculture, trade emerged, and a class - merchants.
  4. From trade "follows" banking and finance. A class of usurers is formed.
  5. As a result, management is formed as a process for managing enterprises. A class of technocrats appears - the technical intelligentsia.
• Private division of labor within industries. Entire sectors are being formed “within” industry, agriculture and other large areas of activity.
  For example, in industry there was a separation of light and heavy industry.
• Single - directly at the enterprise. For example, allocation at the enterprise of departments.

All forms of division of labor are interconnected. "Under the pressure" of the social division of labor, in each major field of activity there was a separation of industries, which led to the separation of departments and departments at enterprises.

Many factors influence the division of labor. It:

• Technical progress. Under its influence, new tools of labor appear, the use of which leads to the release of new types of materials and energy;
• Automation and mechanization of production. This leads to a change in the structure of entire industries. Within the enterprise, changes occur in technological processes and in vocational training frames.
  Improvement of technologies in individual industries. This leads to a change in the tools of labor in production.

The social division of labor includes specialization and cooperation.
Specialization is the division of labor within an entire industry. At the same time, each participant in the labor process performs a separate labor function. This is one of the basic conditions for the existence of a modern market economy.
Cooperation is an association of specialized performers in the course of labor activity.

There are several forms of cooperation:

• within the enterprise;
• within the industry;
• within society.

Specialization and cooperation lead to the fact that people tend to get narrow knowledge in any particular field of science, focus on one occupation.
Consequences of this:

• increase in production efficiency;
• most effective use available resources;
• effective use of their knowledge, skills and abilities;
• merging several industries into one production process for the efficiency of labor activity. This leads to the "branching" of completely new industries and technologically new production processes.

The development of technological progress strongly influences the division of labor, the allocation of new specialties and the cooperation of existing ones. With the improvement of technology to replace manual labor machine labor came, and the worker turned into a highly qualified specialist.

Ask a lawyer

and get a free consultation within 5 minutes.

Example: Recently performed an intermediary service as individual. But everything went wrong. I tried to get my money back, but I was accused of fraud, and now they are threatening to sue me in court or the prosecutor's office. How can I be in this situation?

Division of labor

https://website/wp-content/plugins/svensoft-social-share-buttons/images/placeholder.png

DIVISION OF LABOR - a form of cooperation in which individual groups or individual participants production process perform various labor operations that complement each other. The social division of labor arises at the early stages of the development of human society and develops along with the growth of production, with the development and improvement of the tools of labor, the growth of the population, the development and complication public life. The beginning of the social division of labor was...

DIVISION OF LABOR- a form of cooperation in which individual groups or individual participants in the production process perform various labor operations that complement each other.

The social division of labor arises at the early stages of the development of human society and develops along with the growth of production, with the development and improvement of the tools of labor, the growth of the population, the development and complication of social life.

The germ of the social division of labor was already the natural division of labor. "Within the family - and with further development within the clan - a natural division of labor arises as a result of sex and age differences" (Marx, Capital, vol. I, 8th ed., 1936, p. 284). It is the division of labor between men and women, between adults and adolescents; some are engaged in hunting, fishing (men), others - picking plants (women), etc.

Growth productive forces, various geographical conditions that have an impact on the development of production among various tribes, clans, as well as different level their development, the emergence of conflicts between them and the subordination of one kind to another accelerated the growth of the division of labor. In turn, the development of the division of labor gives a powerful impetus to raising the productive forces to a higher level.

The first major social division of labor that arose historically was the separation of pastoral tribes from the rest of the mass of barbarians, the separation of cattle breeding from agriculture. Pastoral tribes, specializing in one thing - cattle breeding, increased labor productivity, and they produced not only more means of subsistence, but also other means of subsistence compared to non-pastoral tribes. This created the basis for regular exchange, which was originally carried out between the tribes, whose representatives were the elders of the clans, and later, when the herds began to become the private property of individual families, the exchange penetrated widely into the community and became a permanent phenomenon. Along with the growth of labor productivity in the field of animal husbandry, land cultivation improved, home crafts improved, and a need arose for additional labor. The growth of labor productivity on the basis of the first major social division of labor led to the fact that the worker produced already more products than he himself consumed, that is, he created a surplus product, which is the economic basis for the emergence of private property, a class of exploiters and a class of exploited. If at previous stages of social development prisoners of war were killed, because with the extremely low productivity of social labor they could not create a surplus product, now it has become profitable to turn prisoners of war into slaves.

Thus, from the first major social division of labor, which played a huge role in the decomposition of the primitive communal system, the first antagonistic class slave-owning society arose: given historical conditions, necessarily entailed slavery. From the first major social division of labor arose the first major division of society into two classes - masters and slaves, exploiters and exploited ”(Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, in the book: Marx and Engels, Soch., vol. XVI, part 1, page 137).

Metal played a great revolutionary role in the further growth of the division of labor. Iron enabled the craftsman to produce sharper and stronger tools, it made possible agriculture on a large scale. With the use of iron, handicrafts became much more diverse. But this diversity dictated the need for a new division of labor. Handicraft separated from agriculture. This was the second major social division of labor, which marked the beginning of the separation of the city from the countryside. “The basis of any developed division of labor carried out through the exchange of commodities is the separation of the city from the countryside. It can be said that the entire economic history of society is summed up in the movement of this opposition” (Marx, Capital, vol. I, 8th ed., 1936, p. 285). The separation of handicrafts from agriculture gave a new impetus to the development of exchange.

In the early stages of the development of human society, all production was based on the common ownership of land, on the direct combination of agriculture and handicrafts. The main mass of products was produced for direct consumption, and only the excess was exchanged, turned into a commodity. The work schedule was based on the traditions and authority of the best people of the family. With the division of production into agriculture and handicrafts, production for the purpose of exchange arose, trade developed, not only internal and border, but also maritime. The new division of labor led to a new division of society into classes. In addition to the free and the slaves, there were the poor and the rich.

At the next stage of social development, the third major social division of labor took place, which consisted in the separation of trade from production, in the allocation of a special class that specialized only in the exchange of goods, the class of merchants. Under feudalism, serfs and dependent peasants, representing the main productive force of this mode of production, were engaged in the cultivation of land in small parcel farms and feudal estates; they also produced industrial products. The division of labor in the cities between workshops was extremely insignificant, and within the workshops between individual workers it was completely absent. Feudal fragmentation, the weak connection between both cities and feudal estates, the limited needs, the dominance of guild organizations, which artificially inhibited competition, were an obstacle to the growth of the division of labor.

Primitive human society did not know the separation of mental and physical labor. The division of labor in the beginning was only “a division of labor that took place by itself, “naturally arising” due to natural inclinations (for example, physical strength), needs, accidents, etc., etc. The division of labor becomes a real division only from the moment when the division of material and spiritual labor appears ”(Marx and Engels, German ideology, Soch., vol. IV, p. 21). In a class society, spiritual activity becomes the privilege of the ruling classes. In a slave-owning society, spiritual activity was the privilege of slave-owners. The lot of slaves was hard physical labor. During the period of domination of the feudal mode of production, the main productive force of the countryside - serfs and dependent peasants - was deprived of the possibility of cultural growth and development. The division between mental and physical labor, between city and countryside, led to the spiritual savagery of the peasant, caused "the idiocy of village life." The most acute form is taken by the division of mental and physical labor under capitalism. Under capitalism, millions of proletarians are deprived of the opportunity to receive an education, to develop and show their strength and abilities. They are doomed to exhausting, monotonous work, the fruits of which are reaped by parasites. Capitalism turns education and science into its monopoly, into an instrument of exploitation in order to keep the vast majority of people in slavery. Only the proletarian revolution, destroying forever the foundations of the class division of society, creates the conditions for the destruction of the antithesis between mental and physical labor.

The development of the social division of labor was a necessary prerequisite for the development of a commodity economy and capitalism. Lenin characterizes the social division of labor as "the common basis of the commodity economy and capitalism." “A commodity economy,” says Lenin, “develops in proportion to the development of the social division of labor. And this division of labor consists precisely in the fact that one after another branch of industry, one after another type of processing raw product come off from agriculture and become independent, thus forming an industrial population” (Lenin, Soch., vol. II, pp. 215 and 85). And back. The development of the commodity-capitalist economy, by raising the level of the productive forces, by splitting the production process more and more into independent parts, gives a powerful impetus to the further progress of the social division of labour.

During the period of domination of the capitalist mode of production, the division of labor develops widely both within society and within each individual enterprise. A feature of the division of labor within society is the fragmentation of the means of production between individual independent commodity producers, the connection of which is carried out through the exchange of goods. Within the enterprise there is a manufacturing division of labor, a feature of which is the concentration of the means of production in the hands of capitalist owners and the organization of production based on wage labor. Marx writes: "While the division of labor in the whole society - whether it takes place through the exchange of commodities or independently of it - belongs to the most diverse socio-economic formations, the manufacturing division of labor is a completely specific creation of the capitalist mode of production" (Mark s, Capital , vol. I, 8th ed., 1930, p. 291). A necessary prerequisite for the emergence of the manufacturing division of labor was the separation of the means of production, which opposed the worker as capital. Arising at a certain stage of social development, with a certain degree of maturity of the division of labor within society, the manufacturing division of labor, in turn, influences the social division of labor, developing and dividing it further.

The social and manufacturing divisions of labor are closely linked, mutually conditioned and influence each other. But there are significant differences between them. The division of labor within society is served by the buying and selling of products various industries labor; the connection between the partial works of manufacture is established by the sale of various labor powers to the same capitalist, who uses them as a combined labour-power. The manufacturing division of labor presupposes the concentration [concentration] of the means of production in the hands of one capitalist, while the social division of labor presupposes the division of the means of production among many commodity producers independent of each other. In manufacture, the iron law of strictly defined proportions and relations distributes the working masses among various functions; on the contrary, the whimsical play of chance and arbitrariness determines the distribution of commodity producers and their means of production among various branches social labor... The manufacturing division of labor presupposes the unconditional authority of the capitalist in relation to the workers, who form the simple members of the total mechanism belonging to him; the social division of labor opposes to each other independent commodity producers who do not recognize any other authority than competition, other than that coercion that is the result of the struggle of their mutual interests ”(Marx, ibid., pp. 287-288).

In a capitalist society based on private ownership of the means of production, on the exploitation of one class by another, the division of labor, like the entire process of social reproduction, takes place spontaneously. Anarchy and despotism reign here at the same time. In capitalist manufacture, the entire process of labor necessary for the production of this or that product is split into separate operations between individual partial workers. Each worker now performs only one operation, and the entire product is performed by a collection of many sub-workers that complement each other. Accordingly, there is a differentiation and adaptation of the tools of labor in relation to partial operations. Thus, the manufacturing division of labor transforms the worker into a partial worker, and his tools into partial tools. “The specific mechanism for the manufacturing period remains the collective worker itself, composed of many partial workers” (Marx, ibid., p. 281).

The invention and use of machines deepens and develops the manufacturing division of labor. Machines are increasingly replacing the worker performing the same mechanically repetitive processes. The development of machine production has turned the worker into an appendage to the machine, while labor has been deprived of any content, has intensified the exploitation of the worker, has led to the fact that the spiritual forces of the material process of production oppose the worker as an alien force dominating him. The manufacturing division of labor thus led to an even sharper separation of mental labor from physical labor.

The invention of machines and the organization of machine production resulted in a further division of labor within society, led to the final separation of industry from agriculture, and increased the division of labor not only between individual branches within a country, but also between individual countries. Before the invention of machinery, the industry of every country was directed to the processing of raw materials produced within the country. Thanks to the use of machines and steam, the division of labor has assumed such proportions that big industry became dependent on the world market, on the international division of labor. Machine production extended the division of labor to the entire world economy and turned production into social production. The division of labor between countries producing various products - industrial and agricultural countries, the connection between them, world trade etc. are now the most important condition for the development of industry in every country.

The most important consequence of the division of labor is an increase in labor productivity. Thanks to the division of labor, there is an improvement in the use of labor power: each worker, adapting to only one operation, increases dexterity, dexterity, etc., he does not have to waste time moving from one operation to another; the unification of production creates an economy in the means of production; due to the simplification of individual operations, unskilled labor power is used, etc. Under the conditions of the capitalist mode of production, all the benefits from the division of labor are used by capitalists in order to increase capital and increase exploitation. The division of labor was a powerful means capital accumulation (cm.).

In an antagonistic class society, the growth of the social division of labor, causing the distribution of productive forces in accordance with the interests of the ruling class, contributing to the expansion of the market, the expansion of the domination of capital, leads to an increase in contradictions, to a rupture between individual groups of society. Already the second major social division of labor, which led to the separation of the city from the countryside, doomed the rural population to a thousand years of stupidity, and the townspeople to the enslavement of everyone to his craft; it created a gulf between the city and the countryside. The division of labor in capitalist society inevitably leads to a deepening of the contradictions of capitalism, to a deepening of the gulf between labor and capital, and develops on an antagonistic basis. “The division of labor from the very beginning includes the division of labor conditions, tools and materials, and thereby the fragmentation of accumulated capital among different owners, and thus the split between capital and labor” (Marx and Engels, German Ideology, Soch., vol. IV, p. 56). Under capitalism, everyone has his own circle of activities, from which he cannot get out if he does not want to lose his means of subsistence.

The division of labor in the modern capitalist factory, the capitalist use of machinery, intensifies the exploitation of the worker. The introduction of the conveyor and the automation of production turn the worker into an appendage of an automatically operating mechanism. The new technical improvements introduced by the capitalists are a new bondage for the worker, because under capitalism the machine does not free the worker from labor, but deprives his labor of any content. This enslavement of man can only be abolished with the destruction of the capitalist mode of production.

The Great October Socialist Revolution, which won by 1/6 of the the globe, established the dictatorship of the proletariat, destroyed the capitalist mode of production. Basically, a socialist society has been built in the USSR. The means of production no longer stand in opposition to the worker as capital, they constitute public socialist property. The exploitation of man by man has been destroyed forever. In the socialist economic system, all production, both in town and in the countryside, the distribution of labor between individual branches and within production, is regulated and directed by a single state national economic plan, in the interests of the whole people, of the whole society. Work and the attitude towards work of the worker himself have changed radically. Instead of forced labor for the capitalist, labor has become a social matter, a matter of honor, glory, valor and heroism. The dictatorship of the proletariat marked the beginning of the destruction of the antithesis between mental and physical labor and created all the prerequisites for its final destruction. During the years of socialist construction, the USSR has been transformed into a country of highly productive labor, a country with an abundance of products. The USSR has the shortest working day in the world; the working people are provided with all conditions for all-round cultural and intellectual development.

One of the most important prerequisites for eliminating the opposition between mental and physical labor is raising the cultural and technical level of workers to the level of engineering and technical workers. In this regard, the growth and development of the Stakhanov movement, which is one of the most important conditions for the elimination of the opposition between mental and physical labor, is of great importance. Tov. Stalin pointed out that the Stakhanov movement was preparing the conditions for the transition from socialism to communism. The most important factor cultural and technical upsurge of the working class is the combination of education with industrial labor. The Stakhanovites are the true bearers of the new, socialist labor culture, innovators in the field of science and technology; the rich practice of the Stakhanovites enriches Soviet science and moves it forward. The most important prerequisite for the destruction, the opposition between mental and physical labor, is the final destruction of the opposition between town and country.

The planned organization of socialist production is expressed primarily in unprecedented rates of development of the productive forces, in the convergence of the rates of development of town and countryside, in the rapid elimination of the distinction between town and countryside. The collectivization and mechanization of agriculture have turned agricultural labor into a variety of industrial labor. The huge new growth of the productive forces of the socialist country, the mass development of the Stakhanovite movement for mastering technology, the mass cultural and technical growth of the working people, the high, genuinely socialist productivity of labor create all the conditions for the final elimination of the opposition between mental labor and physical labor generated by a class exploiting society, for the transition from the first phase of communism (socialism) to the highest phase - communism. Only a communist society finally abolishes "the subjugation of man to the division of labor" (Marx, Critique of the Gotha Program, in the book: Marx and Engels, Soch., vol. XV, p. 275).

I. Granin.

TSB, 1st ed., v. 48, room 116-122

Consider the types of social division of labor:

General division of labor involves the process of isolation of various types of labor activity within the framework of the whole society.

Private division of labor - this is the process of separating various types of activities into industries and sub-sectors.

Single division of labor means the separation of various types of work within the organization, enterprise, within its structural divisions, as well as the distribution of work between individual employees. 19

There is a classical scheme according to which the division of labor in an organization is carried out in the following forms: technological, functional, professional, qualification.

Technological division of labor - this is the division of the production process into technically homogeneous works; division of the production process into stages, phases, operations.

Within the framework of the technological division, there are operational, subject and detailed division of labor.

Operational division of labor involves the distribution and specialization for the performance of individual operations or stages of the technological process for individual workers, the placement of workers to ensure their rational employment and optimal loading of equipment.

Substantive division of labor assigns a whole range of works to a specific contractor, allowing to fully manufacture the product.

Detailed division of labor is a specialization in the production of individual parts of the future finished product.

The technological division of labor determines the distribution of workers in accordance with the technology of production and to a large extent affects the level of content of labor. With narrow specialization, monotony appears in the work, with too broad specialization, the likelihood of poor-quality performance of work increases. The responsible task of the labor organizer is to find the optimal level of technological division of labor. twenty

Functional division of labor - the separation of various types of labor activity and the performance of specific work by the relevant groups of workers specializing in the performance of various content and economic importance production or management functions.

The functional division of labor in real conditions acts as a division of workers into separate functions.

On this basis, the staff is divided into workers and employees. Employees are divided into managers (linear and functional), specialists (employees performing certain economic, legal and other special functions) and technical performers (employees performing office functions). In turn, workers can form functional groups of the main workers, service workers and auxiliary workers.

the main ones, engaged in the direct production of products or the performance of basic work;

auxiliary, which provide their labor for the work of the main ones;

service, which are not directly involved in the technological process, but create conditions for the work of the main and auxiliary workers. 21

The classification of operations that meets the requirements of the division of labor between managers, specialists and technical performers consists of three interrelated groups of functions:

1) organizational and administrative - their content is determined by the purpose of the operation and the role in the management process. Performed mainly by managers;

2) analytical and constructive functions are predominantly creative, contain elements of novelty and are performed by specialists;

3) information technology functions are repetitive and associated with the use technical means. Performed by technical staff. 22

Professional division of labor consists in the fact that within each functional group there is a division between workers depending on their professions.

As a result of the professional division of labor, there is a process of separation of professions, and within them - the allocation of specialties. A profession is a kind of activity of a person who owns certain theoretical knowledge and practical skills obtained as a result of professional training. Specialty - a kind of profession, specialization of an employee within the profession. 23

Based on this form of division of labor, the required number of workers of various professions is established.

Qualification division of labor - division of labor of performers depending on the complexity, accuracy and responsibility of the work performed by them, in accordance with professional knowledge and work experience. 24

An expression of the qualification division of labor is the distribution of work and workers by category, employees - by position. The division of labor is carried out according to the level of qualification of workers, based on the required qualification of work. From this division, the qualification structure of the organization's personnel is formed.

In addition to those noted above, there is also a vertical and horizontal division of labor.

Vertical division of labor in an organization results in a hierarchy of management levels. The top-level manager manages the activities of middle and lower-level managers, i.e. formally has more power and a higher status. 25 With a vertical division of labor, each manager has a field of activity for which he is responsible (a sphere of control) or a certain number of employees who are subordinate to him. The so-called pyramid of control is formed. On fig. 1 shows four such levels of workers.

Rice. 1 Vertical division of labor

The diagram shows that there is a higher, middle and lower level. Top-level managers (or senior managers) are the general directors and their deputies. The work of senior managers is large and complex. They carry out administrative management, carry out general strategic planning.

Solutions of tactical tasks prevail in the work of middle-level managers. This category of personnel includes managers who head structural divisions, departments of the organization.

Middle-level managers are the conductors of the organization's policy and at the same time provide direct control over the execution of processes and operations. Some of the most important jobs they perform include:

management and control over the progress of work;

transfer of information from top to bottom and from bottom to top;

work planning;

organization of work;

motivation of employees;

maintaining internal and external contacts;

making report. 26

In connection with the trend towards delegation of authority, middle-level managers often have to solve the problems of developing a policy for the development of departments; in addition, they bear a great responsibility for organizing the work of executors to implement plans for organizational change, descended from above. 27

Managers at the grass-roots level communicate directly with the performers (workers). Their responsibilities include solving primarily operational tasks. Most often, the work of grass-roots managers is of a routine nature: decisions related to the implementation of tasks and the optimization of the use of resources allocated for this. 28 Therefore, it is they who are directly responsible for the work of the executors. Also, the duties of lower-level managers include not only resolving the entire set of questions and tasks that arise here, but also analyzing operational situations and timely transfer of the most important information to the next, middle level for making decisions that are important for other subsystems or the organization as a whole.

In the textbook N.I. Kabushkin "Fundamentals of Management" states that in the course of the vertical division of labor: "... relationships of subordination are formed - relationships between higher and lower levels of management (that is, between those who make decisions and those who carry them out). Relations of subordination appear after the decision is made by the top manager and transferred to a lower level for execution. Someone should take over the duties of the captain in order to determine the terms of reference of subordinates, plan, organize, coordinate and control all structures and links of the organization. There are always two moments in such work: intellectual (preparation and decision-making) and volitional (implementing them). 29

Horizontal division of labor - this is a division of labor in which the entire amount of work is divided into small groups. Such a division involves the formation of functional subsystems. Figure 2 shows a classic example. These are such functional subsystems as marketing, production, finance, personnel, R&D. With a horizontal division of labor, specialists are distributed among various functional areas and they are entrusted with the performance of tasks that are important from the point of view of this functional area. thirty

Rice. 2 Subsystems of the horizontal division of labor

All organizations implement a horizontal division of labor, breaking down all work into its component tasks. Larger organizations make this division by creating departments or divisions, which are further subdivided into smaller units. Management is necessary to coordinate all the tasks of the organization. 31

N.I. Kabushkin notes that “in the process of horizontal division of labor in the labor collective, coordination relations (coordination relations) are invested. They imply the coherence of actions of employees and managers of subdivisions that are not subordinate to each other, belonging to the same level of management and carrying out joint activities to achieve a common goal. These relationships are not administrative; the common goal of the organization forces all employees to enter into such relationships. An example would be the relationship between the heads of departments of one governing body or the heads of structural divisions of one department. 32

Based on the foregoing, it should be noted that the division of labor means the simultaneous coexistence of various types of labor activity and plays important role in the organization of labor, because:

Is necessary element production process and a condition for increasing labor productivity;

Allows you to organize sequential and simultaneous processing of the object of labor at all stages of production;

It contributes to the specialization of production processes (each production is limited to the manufacture of a certain type of homogeneous product) and the improvement of the labor skills of the workers involved in it. 33

Division of labor- an economic phenomenon in which professional specialization occurs, narrowing and sometimes deepening the functions of an individual specialist. The overall production process is divided into extremely simple operations, each of which is performed by a separate person or mechanism.

It is the reason for the increase in the overall productivity of an organized group of specialists (synergistic effect) due to:

Development of skills and automatism of performing simple repetitive operations

Reduced time spent transitioning between different operations

Allocate the social division of labor- the distribution of social functions among people in society - and the international division of labor.

The division of labor has led in the modern world to the presence of a huge variety of different professions and industries. Previously (in ancient times), people were forced to provide themselves almost completely with everything they needed, it was extremely inefficient, which led to a primitive life and comfort. Almost all the achievements of evolution, scientific and technological progress can be explained by the continuous introduction of the division of labor. Thanks to the exchange of the results of labor, that is, trade, the division of labor becomes possible in society.

The division of labor is the first link in the entire system of labor organization. . Division of labor- this is the separation of various types of labor activity and the division of the labor process into parts, each of which is performed by a certain group of workers, united according to common functional, professional or qualification characteristics.

The division of labor, the qualitative differentiation of labor activity in the process of development of society, leading to the isolation and coexistence of its various types. R. t. exists in different forms, corresponding to the level of development of the productive forces and the nature of production relations. R.'s manifestation of t. is the exchange of activity.

There is R. t. within society and within the enterprise. These two main types of R. of t. are interconnected and interdependent. Separation social production K. Marx called the division of these types of production into types and subtypes (for example, industry into separate branches) into its large genera (such as agriculture, industry, etc.) as general industrial production, and, finally, , R. t. within the enterprise - single R. t. General, private and individual R. t. are inseparable from professional R. t., specialization of workers. The term "R. t." is also used to designate the specialization of production within one country and between countries - territorial and international R. t.

As a result of the fragmentation of labor, its transformation into private labor and the emergence of private property, the opposite of the economic interests of individuals, social inequality arose, society developed in conditions of spontaneity. It has entered an antagonistic period in its history. People began to attach themselves to certain tools of labor and various types of increasingly differentiated activities against their will and consciousness, due to the blind necessity of developing production. This main feature antagonistic R. t. - not an eternal state, as if inherent in the very nature of people, but a historically transient phenomenon.

Division of labor - this is a historical process of isolation, consolidation, modification of certain types of activity, which takes place in social forms of differentiation and implementation of various types of labor activity. The division of labor in society is constantly changing, and the very system of various types of labor activity is becoming more and more complex, since the labor process itself is becoming more complex and deepening. division of labor(or specialization) is the principle of organizing production in the economy, according to which an individual is engaged in the production of a particular good. Thanks to the operation of this principle, with a limited amount of resources, people can get much more benefits than if everyone would provide himself with everything he needs.

They also distinguish between the division of labor in a broad and narrow sense (according to K. Marx). In a broad sense, the division of labor- this is a system of different in their characteristics and simultaneously interacting with each other types of labor, production functions, occupations in general or their combinations, as well as a system of social relations between them. The empirical diversity of occupations is considered by economic statistics, labor economics, sectoral economic sciences, demography, etc. The territorial, including international, division of labor is described by economic geography. To determine the correlation of various production functions from the point of view of their material result, K. Marx preferred to use the term "distribution of labor". In a narrow sense, the division of labor- this is the social division of labor as a human activity in its social essence, which, in contrast to specialization, is a historically transient social relationship. The specialization of labor is the division of the types of labor according to the object, which directly expresses the progress of the productive forces and contributes to it. The diversity of such species corresponds to the degree of development of nature by man and grows along with his development. However, in class formations, specialization does not take place as a specialization of integral activities, since it is itself influenced by the social division of labor. The latter divides human activity into such partial functions and operations, each of which in itself no longer has the nature of activity and does not act as a way for a person to reproduce it. social relations, his culture, his spiritual wealth and himself as a person. These partial functions lack their own meaning and logic; their necessity appears only as requirements imposed on them from the outside by the system of division of labor. Such is the division of material and spiritual (mental and physical), performing and managing labor, practical and ideological functions, etc.

An expression of the social division of labor is the singling out as separate spheres of material production, science, art, etc., as well as the division of them themselves. The division of labor historically inevitably grows to a class division. Due to the fact that the members of society began to specialize in the production of certain goods, professions appeared in society - certain types of activities associated with the production of any good. Degree of division of labor But the division of labor does not at all mean that in our imaginary society one person will be engaged in one kind of production. It may turn out that several people will have to engage in a particular type of production, or so that one person will be engaged in the production of several goods. Why? It's all about the ratio of the size of the population's need for a particular benefit and the productivity of a particular profession. If one fisherman can catch in a day just enough fish for all members of the society, then there will be just one fisherman on this farm. But if one hunter from the mentioned tribe cannot shoot quails for everyone and his work will not be enough to satisfy the needs of all members of the economy in quails, then several people will go hunting at once. Or, for example, if one potter can produce so many pots that society cannot consume, then he will have extra time that he can use to produce some other good, such as spoons or plates. Thus, the degree of "division" of labor depends on the size of the society. For a certain population (that is, for a certain composition and size of needs), there is an optimal structure of occupations, in which the product produced by different producers will be just enough for all members, and all products will be produced at the lowest possible cost. With an increase in the population, this optimal structure of occupations will change, the number of producers of those goods that have already been produced by an individual will increase, and those types of production that were previously entrusted to one person will be entrusted to different people. In the history of the economy, the process of division of labor has gone through several stages, differing in the degree of specialization of individual members of society in the production of a particular good.

Types of division of labor. The division of labor is usually divided into several types, depending on the characteristics by which it is carried out. vNatural division of labor : the process of separating the types of labor activity according to gender and age. vTechnical division of labor: determined by the nature of the means of production used, primarily machinery and technology. v Social division of labor: the natural and technical division of labor, taken in their interaction and in unity with economic factors, under the influence of which there is an isolation, differentiation of various types of labor activity.

In addition, the social division of labor includes 2 more subspecies : branch and territorial. Sectoral division of labor is predetermined by the conditions of production, the nature of the raw materials used, technology, equipment and the product being manufactured. Territorial division of labor- this is the spatial distribution of various types of labor activity. Its development is predetermined both by differences in natural and climatic conditions and by economic factors. Under geographic division labor we understand the spatial form of the social division of labor. A necessary condition for the geographical division of labor is that different countries (or regions) work for each other, that the result of labor is transported from one place to another, so that there is, thus, a gap between the place of production and the place of consumption. In a commodity society, geographical the division of labor necessarily implies the transfer of products from farm to farm, i.e. exchange, trade, but under these conditions, exchange is only a sign for "recognizing" the presence of a geographical division of labor, but not its "essence".

There are 3 forms of social division of labor :

General division of labor characterized by the isolation of large genera (spheres) of activity, which differ from each other in the shaping of the product.

Private division of labor- this is the process of isolation of individual industries within the framework of large types of production.

Single division of labor characterizes the isolation of the production of individual components of finished products, as well as the allocation of individual technological operations. Forms of manifestation of the division of labor. Differentiation consists in the process of isolation of individual industries, due to the specifics of the means of production, technology and labor used. Specialization It is based on differentiation, but it develops already on the basis of focusing efforts on a narrow range of manufactured products. Universalization is the opposite of specialization. It is based on the production and sale of a wide range of goods and services. Diversification- this is an expansion of the range of products.A. Smith on the division of labor. The first and main statement put forward by A. Smith, which determines the greatest progress in the development of the productive power of labor and a significant share of the art, skill and ingenuity with which it (progress) is directed and applied, is a consequence of the division of labor. The division of labor is the most important and unacceptable condition for the progress in the development of productive forces, the development of the economy of any state, any society. A. Smith gives the simplest example of the action of the division of labor in small and large enterprises (manufactory in contemporary society) - the elementary production of pins. A worker who is not trained in this industry and who does not know how to handle the machines used in it (the impetus for the invention of machines was given precisely by the division of labor) can hardly make one pin a day. With the organization that exists in such production, it is necessary to subdivide the profession into a number of specialties, each of which is a separate occupation. One worker pulls the wire, the other straightens it, the third cuts it, the fourth sharpens the end, the fifth one grinds it to fit the head, the manufacture of which requires two or three more independent operations, in addition, its nozzle, polishing the pin itself, packing the finished product. Thus, labor in the production of pins is divided into a multi-stage series of operations, and, depending on the organization of production and the size of the enterprise, they can be performed individually (one worker - one operation), or combined into 2 - 3 (one worker - 2 - 3 operations). ). Using this simplest example, A. Smith affirms the undoubted priority of such a division of labor over the labor of a lone worker. 10 workers worked out 48,000 pins a day, while one is capable of 20 pieces at a high voltage. The division of labor in any trade, no matter how much it is introduced, causes an increase in the productivity of labor. Further development (up to the present day) of production in any sector of the economy was the clearest confirmation of the "discovery" of A. Smith.

From the history of the division of labor Strictly speaking, the division of labor in human societies could always be found. After all, people have never existed alone, and cases of the emergence of a society and an economy consisting of one person (such as the economy of Robinson Crusoe) were a rather rare exception. People have always lived at least as a family or tribe. But the development of the division of labor in the economy of any society goes through several successive stages from a primitive state to an extremely complex scheme of distribution of duties. Schematically, this evolution can be represented as follows.

First stage. This is a natural division of labor within primitive society. In such a society there has always been some distribution of duties, determined partly by the nature of each person, partly by custom, and partly by economies of scale you know. As a rule, men were engaged in hunting and war, and women watched the hearth and nursed children. In addition, in almost any tribe one could find such "professions" as a leader and a priest (shaman, sorcerer, etc.).

Second stage. As the number of members of society grows, the need for each good increases and it becomes possible for individuals to concentrate on the production of individual goods. Therefore, various professions appear in societies (artisans, farmers, cattle breeders, etc.). The process of identifying professions begins, of course, with the production of tools. Even in the Stone Age (!) there were craftsmen who were engaged in hewing and grinding stone tools. With the discovery of iron, one of the most common professions in the past, a blacksmith, appears. A characteristic feature of this stage is that the manufacturer produces all (or almost all) possible products associated with his profession (as a rule, this is the processing of some type of raw material). For example, a blacksmith does everything from nails and horseshoes to plows and swords, a carpenter does everything from stools to cabinets, etc. At this stage of the division of labor, part of the family members of the artisan or even the whole family helps him in production, performing certain operations. For example, a blacksmith or a carpenter can be helped by sons and brothers, and a weaver or a baker = a wife and daughters.

Third stage. With an increase in the population and, accordingly, the size of demand for individual products, artisans begin to concentrate on the production of any one good. Some blacksmiths make horseshoes, others only knives and scissors, others only nails. different sizes, the fourth only weapons, etc. In Ancient Russia, for example, there were the following names of woodworkers: woodworkers, ship-builders, bridgers, wood, builders, city dwellers (fortification of cities), vicious (production of wall-beating guns), archers, godfathers, barrels , sleighs, chariots, etc. Labor cooperation. An important factor affecting labor productivity is labor cooperation. The deeper the division of labor and the narrower the specialization of production becomes, the more producers become interdependent, the more necessary is coherence and coordination of actions between different industries. To operate in conditions of interdependence, labor cooperation is necessary, both in the conditions of the enterprise and in the conditions of the whole society. labor cooperation- a form of labor organization, work performance, based on the joint participation in a single labor process of a significant number of workers performing different operations of this process. A form of organization of social labor in which a large number of people jointly participate in the same labor process or in different, but interconnected, labor processes.

The basis of economic development is the creation of nature itself - the division of functions between people, based on age, sex, physical, physiological and other characteristics. But man was able to take a qualitative step forward and move from the natural division of functions to the division of labor, which became the basis of the economy and socio-economic progress. The mechanism of economic cooperation of people assumes that some group or individual focuses on the performance of a strictly defined type of work, while others are engaged in other types of activity.

The concept of "division of labor"

If you pay attention to the isolation of the types of activities that are performed by each member of society, then you can see that all people are isolated from each other in one way or another by the nature of their occupations, activities, functions performed. This isolation is the division of labor. Consequently, the division of labor is a historical process of isolation, consolidation, modification of certain types of activity, which takes place in social forms of differentiation and implementation of various types of labor activity.

Now we know that in our life we ​​are doomed to perform only certain types of activities, while in the aggregate they represent a “borderless sea” for the free choice of the method and direction of our “swimming”. But are we really so free if our activity is narrowly focused? Why does it happen that, performing only a rather narrow and specific type of activity, we have all the necessary benefits that are in no way connected or are connected very conditionally with our work activity? After some reflection, one can come to the conclusion that people have everything (or almost everything) they need only because they exchange the results of their labor activity.

The division of labor in society is constantly changing, and the very system of various types of labor activity is becoming more and more complex, since the labor process itself is becoming more complex and deepening.

Concentrating efforts on the manufacture of any one thing and exchanging the products of his labor for the products of the labor of other people, a person soon discovered: this saves him time and effort, since the productivity of labor of all participants in the exchange of goods increases. And therefore, the mechanism of expanding and deepening the division of labor, launched in ancient times, is working properly to this day, helping people to use the available resources in the most rational way and receive the greatest benefit.

The isolation of various types of labor activity creates conditions for each participant in the production process to achieve high skill in his chosen business, which ensures a further improvement in the quality of manufactured products and an increase in their output.

Productivity and labor intensity

It can be concluded that a commodity is a product of labor intended for exchange in order to satisfy social needs, i.e. the needs of not the commodity producer himself, but of any member of society. As already noted, any commodity has an exchange value, or the ability to exchange in a certain proportion for other goods. However, all goods enter into exchange only because they can satisfy this or that need. This is the value of the acquired good by one or another economic entity.

Barter and commodity circulation

Initially, people entered into a simple commodity exchange, or such exchange relations in which the sale and purchase of goods coincided in time and took place without the participation of money. The form of such commodity exchange is as follows: T (commodity) - T (commodity). As a result of the development of commodity exchange, more and more opportunities opened up for the isolation of types of activity, because the guarantee of obtaining the missing goods or products, from the production of which the commodity producer deliberately refused, increased. In the process of development of commodity relations, commodity exchange underwent significant transformations until it was replaced by commodity circulation, which is based on money - a universal purchasing tool that has the ability to exchange for any product.

With the advent of money, exchange was divided into two opposite and complementary acts: sale and purchase. This created the conditions for the intermediary merchant to join in the exchange. As a result, a new major division of labor occurred (previously, hunting was separated from agriculture, then crafts from agriculture) - the separation of trade into a special large kind economic activity. Thus, commodity circulation is an exchange relationship that is mediated by a monetary equivalent. It has the following form: T (goods) - D (money) - T (goods).

Types of division of labor

For a general idea of ​​the system of division of labor, we will give a description of its various types.

Natural division of labor

Historically, the natural division of labor was the first to appear. The natural division of labor is the process of separating the types of labor activity according to gender and age. This division of labor played a decisive role at the dawn of the formation of human society: between men and women, between adolescents, adults and the elderly.

This division of labor is called natural because its character stems from the very nature of man, from the delimitation of the functions that each of us has to perform due to our physical, intellectual and spiritual merits. We must not forget that initially each of us is most naturally adapted to perform certain types of activities. Or, as the philosopher Grigory Skovoroda said, the "affinity" of each person to a certain type of activity. So whatever kind of division of labor we may consider, we must remember that, visibly or invisibly, the natural division of labor is always present in it. The natural moment manifests itself with the greatest force in the search for ways, forms and methods of self-realization by each person, which often leads not only to a change of place of work, but also a change in the type of work activity. However, this, in turn, depends on the availability of freedom of choice of labor activity, which is predetermined not only by the personal factor, but also by the economic, social, cultural, spiritual and political conditions of human life and society.

No socio-economic system, no matter how advanced it may be, can or should abandon the natural division of labor, especially with regard to women's work. It cannot be associated with those types of labor activity that can harm a woman's health and affect a new generation of people. Otherwise, the society will suffer in the future not only colossal economic, but also moral and moral losses, deterioration of the genetic fund of the nation.

Technical division of labor

Another kind of division of labor is its technical division. The technical division of labor is such a differentiation of the labor activity of people, which is predetermined by the very nature of the means of production used, primarily equipment and technology. Consider an elementary example illustrating the development of this type of division of labor. When a person had a simple needle and thread for sewing, this tool imposed a certain system of labor organization and required a large number employed workers. When the sewing machine replaced the needle, a different organization of labor was required, as a result of which a significant mass of people engaged in this type of activity was released. As a result, they were forced to look for other areas of application of their labor. Here, the very replacement of a hand tool (needle) by a mechanism ( sewing machine) demanded changes in the existing system of division of labor.

Consequently, the emergence of new types of equipment, technologies, raw materials, materials and their use in the production process dictates a new division of labor. Just as the natural division of labor is initially imposed by the very nature of man, so the technical division of labor is imposed by the very nature of the emerging new technical means, the means of production.

Social division of labor

Finally, it is necessary to dwell on the social division of labor, which is the natural and technical division of labor, taken in their interaction and in unity with economic factors (costs, prices, profits, demand, supply, taxes, etc.), under the influence of which isolation, differentiation of various types of labor activity. The concept of the social division of labor includes the natural and technical division of labor due to the fact that any kind of activity cannot be carried out outside of a person (natural division of labor) and outside the material and technical means (technical division of labor) that are used by people in the production process. In production activities, people use either outdated or new equipment, but in either case it will impose an appropriate system of technical division of labor.

As for the social division of labor, we can say that it is predetermined by the socio-economic conditions of production. For example, farmers, having certain land plots engaged in both crop production and animal husbandry. However, accumulated experience and economic calculations suggest that if some of them specialize mainly in the cultivation and preparation of feed, while others are engaged only in fattening animals, then production costs will be significantly reduced for both. Over time, it turns out that savings on production costs can be achieved through a separate occupation of meat and dairy farming. Thus, there is a separation of crop production from animal husbandry, and then, within animal husbandry, there is a division of labor into meat and dairy areas.

Historically, the division of labor between livestock and crop production initially proceeded under the direct influence of natural and climatic conditions. The difference in them just ensured lower costs in both cases. Both sectors benefited from sharing their results. It should be noted that under the conditions market relations the division of labor is to a decisive extent predetermined by economic expediency, obtaining additional benefits, income, cost reduction, etc.

Sectoral and territorial division of labor

Within the framework of the social division of labor, it is necessary to single out the sectoral and territorial division of labor. The sectoral division of labor is predetermined by the conditions of production, the nature of the raw materials used, technology, equipment and the product being manufactured. The territorial division of labor is characterized by the spatial distribution of various types of labor activity. Its development is predetermined both by differences in natural and climatic conditions and by economic factors. With the development of productive forces, transport, and communications, economic factors play a predominant role. However, the development of extractive industries and agriculture is dictated by natural factors. Varieties of the territorial division of labor are the regional, regional and international division of labor. But neither sectoral nor territorial division of labor can exist outside of each other.

General, private and individual division of labor

From the point of view of coverage, degree of independence, as well as technical, technological, organizational and economic relationships between different types of production in the social division of labor, it is important to distinguish three of its forms: general, private and individual. The general division of labor is characterized by the separation of large types (spheres) of activity, which differ from each other in the form of the product. It includes the allocation of pastoral tribes, i.e. separation of animal husbandry from agriculture, crafts from agriculture (later - industry and agriculture), separation of trade from industry. In the XX century. there was a separation and isolation of such large types of activity as services, scientific production, public utilities, agro-industrial complex, credit and financial sphere.

The private division of labor is the process of separating individual industries within the framework of large branches of production. It is characterized by the release of finished homogeneous or similar products, united by technical and technological unity. The private division of labor includes both individual industries and sub-sectors and individual industries. For example, within the framework of industry, such industries as mechanical engineering, metallurgy, and mining can be named, which in turn include a number of sub-sectors. Thus, in mechanical engineering, there are more than seventy sub-sectors and industries, including such as machine tool building, transport engineering, electrical engineering, and electronics. Such a separation is also characteristic of all the other major types of production listed above.

The individual division of labor characterizes the isolation of the production of individual components of finished products, as well as the allocation of individual technological operations. It includes a sub-detailed, sub-assembly (production of parts, assemblies, components) and operational (technological operations for physical, electrophysical, electrochemical processing) division of labor. A single division of labor, as a rule, takes place within individual enterprises.

Historically, the trend in the development of the social division of labor was determined by the transition from the general division to the particular and from the particular to the individual division of labor. In this regard, we can say that in its development the social division of labor went through three stages, each of which was determined by the general division of labor, then the private, then the individual. However, apparently, it is not necessary to absolutize this scheme of development of the social division of labor. It will be shown below that each subsequent type of division of labor can become the initial basis for the development of the historically preceding types of its division.

Forms of manifestation of the division of labor

The forms of manifestation of the social division of labor include differentiation, specialization, universalization and diversification.

Differentiation

Differentiation consists in the process of isolation, "spinning off" of individual industries, due to the specifics of the means of production, technology and labor used. In other words, it is a process of dividing social production into more and more new types of activity. For example, before the commodity producer was engaged not only in the production of any goods, but also in their sale. Now he has focused all his attention on the production of goods, while their implementation is carried out by another, completely independent economic entity. Thus, a single economic activity was differentiated into two of its varieties, each of which functionally already existed within this unity.

Specialization

Specialization should be distinguished from differentiation. Specialization is based on differentiation, but it develops on the basis of focusing efforts on a narrow range of manufactured products. Specialization, as it were, consolidates and deepens the process of differentiation. In the above example, there was a separation of production from sales (trade). Suppose a commodity producer produced various types of furniture, but later decided to concentrate his efforts on the production of only bedroom sets. The commodity producer has not abandoned the production of furniture, but is reorganizing production on the basis of replacing universal labor tools with specialized ones; the workforce is also selected on the basis of the benefits of experience and knowledge in the specific area of ​​activity. Of course, there are many conventions and transitional states, but it is still necessary to distinguish between these two concepts - differentiation and specialization.

Universalization

Universalization is the opposite of specialization. It is based on the production or sale of a wide range of goods and services. An example is the production of all types and types of furniture and even the production kitchen utensils, cutlery in one enterprise . An analogue of such production in trade can serve as a department store.

As for the concentration of production, it finds its technical manifestation in the ever-increasing concentration of the means of production (machinery, equipment, people, raw materials) and labor within one enterprise. However, the direction of development of production depends on the nature of their concentration: whether it will follow the path of universalization, or - specialization. This is due to the degree of homogeneity of technology and applied technologies and raw materials, and hence the workforce.

Diversification

Diversification of production deserves special attention. Diversification should be understood as the expansion of the range of products. This is achieved in two ways. The first is market diversification. It is characterized by the expansion of the range of manufactured goods, which are already produced by other enterprises. At the same time, quite often the process of such diversification is accompanied by absorption or mergers with enterprises that produce the same products. The main thing is that in this case, as a rule, there is no enrichment of the range of goods offered to the buyer.

The second way is production diversification, which is directly related to scientific and technological progress (STP), with the emergence of qualitatively new goods and technologies. This type of diversification, in contrast to market diversification, forms and satisfies previously non-existing needs or satisfies existing needs with a new product or service. As a rule, production diversification is closely interconnected with the existing production at a given enterprise and grows organically from it.

Within the framework of industrial diversification, one should distinguish between technological, detailed and product diversification. Product diversification is developing on a large scale. So, with the help of the same technological operations, parts, assemblies, components, it is possible to assemble finished products and products that are very diverse in their functional purpose. But this becomes possible only if the process of diversifying the production of constituent components is deployed. finished products. It was production diversification, as a consequence of scientific and technical progress, that led to a change in the development trends of the general, private and individual division of labor.

Modern trends in the development of the division of labor

Structural and technological commonality of products

So let's consider modern tendencies development of the social division of labor. First of all, we note that under the influence of scientific and technical progress, the constructive and technological commonality of the types of products produced, primarily assemblies, parts, and components, is increasingly manifested. Thus, modern equipment and vehicles approximately 60-75% consist of similar or identical units and parts. This is a consequence of detailed and technological diversification.

The diversification of social production could not but affect sectoral differentiation. In conditions of unprecedented pace of product diversification, the principle of sectoral differentiation came into conflict with the tendencies of the social division of labor and the requirements of scientific and technological progress.

The growing constructive and technological commonality of the ever-increasing mass of various types of products gives rise to a complex and contradictory process of real isolation of the production of finished products and their constituent components. The fact is that many types of products of the same economic branch are structurally incompatible with each other in terms of units, assemblies, parts and components, while products from other industries have a lot of structurally common elements with them. For example, there is nothing in common between cars and trucks, except for the principles of their operation and the names of components and parts, while the latter have a lot of identical components with products of the corresponding class of equipment for road construction, tractor, agricultural engineering.

The development of a single division into a private one

The modern production of component products, apparently, is at that stage of its development, at which their production has gone beyond the scope of individual enterprises and has already reached isolation into separate industries. The exit of a single division of labor beyond the boundaries of the enterprise is necessarily and objectively associated with the development of another trend - the development of a single division of labor into a private one. As long as the dedicated specialized production of component products remains closely connected with one final product, one can speak, albeit with certain, and sometimes significant deviations, of a single division of labor. When such production closes on itself a complex of technical, technological, organizational, economic ties for the production of a number of final products, then it acquires an independent, equal, and sometimes predetermining significance in relation to the choice of directions for the development of industries that produce finished products.

The development of detailed and technological specialization of production within society creates the basis for the transition from simple cooperation (based on the division of labor by kind, type, type of product) to complex, based on the unification of detailed and technologically highly specialized industries within industrial complexes, rather than individual enterprises, associations . With the growth of separate industries for the production of units, parts, components and the identification of their constructive and technological commonality, the integration of identical industries occurs. This causes the formation independent productions and industries for the production of intersectoral products.

The economic content of these processes lies in the fact that the rigid attachment of the constituent component to a certain type of finished product indicates the prevailing role of the use value of the partial product and, on the contrary, the use of the partial product in a wide range of products indicates the leading role of value. It can be said that the more use value dominates exchange, the wider the scale of the individual division of labor, the more often and more urgently exchange value manifests itself, the more obvious is the development of the particular division of labor. Therefore, with the development of a single division of labor into a private one, an increasing part of partial products acquires an independent value as a commodity, which indicates a new stage in the development of commodity production, market relations.

The growing role of the private division of labor in the process of further development of industrial production is manifested, on the one hand, in the formation of intersectoral industries for the production of structurally and technologically related semi-products, and on the other hand, in the integration of related, but separate industries and industries into industrial complexes.

Private division of labor as the basis of its general division

The considered trend of a private division of labor, of course, does not exclude its development in the traditional way - within the framework of the division of labor. At the same time, various types of labor activity, arising, transforming and separating, thereby create the basis for the formation of new large types of economic activity. Such new formations include public utilities, the agro-industrial complex (AIC), infrastructure, and scientific production. These new large spheres of social production were formed on a qualitative basis. new basis- by integrating individual industries, i.e. on the basis of a private division of labor. Thus, the agro-industrial complex was formed on the basis of industries serving agriculture and agricultural production. The communal economy has integrated heat supply, energy supply, gas economy. Consequently, what is currently happening is not the “growth” of a particular division of labor from the general one, but, on the contrary, the formation of a general division of labor on the basis of the particular one.

Having considered various aspects of the division of labor, I would like to draw attention to the fact that the more extensive and deeper the division of labor, the more developed the productive forces of society. A. Smith called the division of labor the leading force in economic development. It personifies the social productive force that arises from the form of labor organization and production management. Sometimes this productive force costs society little, but gives a huge return, expressed in the growth of social labor productivity.

Trends in the development of the division of labor as a universal form of the existence of social production make it possible to determine the most important directions for improving economic relations. Consequently, economic relations represent a social shell for the existence and development of the division of labor. Any changes in the system of division of labor immediately affect the system of relations between economic entities: between some of them, economic ties cease, while between others, on the contrary, they arise. Thus, the social division of labor and its socialization reflect both the material and technical (productive forces) and socio-economic (production relations) aspects of social production.

Socialization of labor and production

The expansion and deepening of the division of labor presuppose the mutual conditioning and predetermination of separate types of activity and make it impossible for them to exist without each other. In this regard, we can conclude that with the process of deepening and expanding the division of labor, the process of its socialization is simultaneously unfolding. The socialization of labor is the process of drawing various types of labor activity, connected either by the exchange of directly labor activity, or by its results or products, into a single social labor process.

The considered types, types of division of labor and forms of their implementation, as well as the trends of its development, mark the process of unification of disparate spheres and subjects of economic activity into a single socialized production process. In the course of technical and socio-economic progress, various types of activities are combined, because most modern goods are the result of the activities of a mass of people, some of whom are engaged in the production individual parts, others - assemblies, third - assemblies, fourth - component parts, fifth - by performing individual technical operations, sixth - by assembling and bundling finished products. The merging of fragmented production processes of various industries and areas National economy into a single social process of production is called the socialization of production.

The socialization of production is a contradictory unity of the socialization of labor and the means of production, which lies in the very process of labor, which implies both one form or another of the interaction of the total labor force, and one or another socialized form of the functioning of the means of production. Therefore, they can complement each other or develop in opposite directions, entering into conflict.

At the same time, in the relations of the socialization of the means of production, it is necessary to distinguish between two aspects: the socialization of the means of production as a factor of production, i.e. as the material and material content of the process of socialization, and as an object of property relations. Therefore, in the socialization of the means of production, it is necessary to see both a material factor and socio-economic relations.

The division of labor, its socialization and the socialization of the means of production are closely interconnected and complement each other. The relationship between them is mobile to the extent that the very material and technical base of social production is changeable, i.e. productive forces, the division and socialization of labor, and to what extent the forms of property are able to evolve in the direction of the socialization of the means of production in accordance with the requirements of the development of the productive forces.

As in the case of the technical division of labor, the very nature of the means of production used changes both the principle and the extent of their interaction, as well as interaction with the labor force. Therefore, the socialization of the means of production as productive forces does not depend on the social form of management.

However, it must be recognized that the means of production can function outside economic relations, the dominant property relations, and therefore the socialization of the means of production as productive forces is influenced public form their functioning.

So, before the advent of machine production, individual property, individual capital, was dominant, which then, thanks to its own accumulation, moved to manufacturing production (manufactory division of labor). However, the appearance of machines and their use in production opened the way to a qualitatively new division of labor and the socialization of production on the basis of the unification of isolated capitals into social capital in the form of joint-stock companies. Despite the private nature of this corporate form of ownership, in its way of functioning it acts as an integrated social force, as social capital. Thus, private capital, unable to ensure the appropriate division of labor and the socialization of production, was forced to transform into a social form.

Understanding the process of socialization of the means of production in its material, technical and social aspects, in unity with the socialization of labor, allows us to consider the dynamics of social production as a first approximation. The first impulse in its development comes from the productive forces, but its transformation is real (as well as economic use, the functioning of new productive forces) begins to be carried out only with the onset of changes in the system of economic relations.

Production loses its private character and becomes a social process as a result of the absolute dependence of producers on each other, when the means of production, even if they are the property of individuals, appear as public ones by virtue of their relation to production. In the same way, labor in individual enterprises turns out to be really socialized within the framework of a single production process. In this regard, I would like to draw attention to the following aspects of the socialization of the means of production and labor as components of a single process of socialization of production.

The socialization of the means of production can proceed in the following forms. First, by concentrating capital, i.e. increasing its size through the accumulation of investment in the production of part of the profits.

Secondly, on the basis of the centralization of capital, i.e. its growth through the absorption of weak competitors or the merger of relatively equivalent capital into a single entity. The processes of absorption and merger lead to the formation of oligopolistic and monopoly capital, which cannot function outside state supervision, and under certain conditions it can expect nationalization.

However, a much larger scale of the real socialization of the means of production is represented by corporate capital with its system of participation in the financial control of branches, branches, subsidiaries and grandchildren, associated enterprises, as well as tens of thousands of "independent" enterprises, which turn out to be rigidly tied technologically, technically, organizationally, economically to corporate capital by a system of agreements on scientific, technical and industrial cooperation. This whole set of seemingly legally independent enterprises functions as a single whole, as social capital in a single corporate reproduction process.

At the same time, far from any socialization of the means of production, the growth of capital embodies the socialization of labor and production. Formally, there may be an appearance of socialization of the means of production and labor, while they function in completely unrelated industries. This can also be observed within the framework of corporate capital, when it acts as a conglomerate, i.e. associations of diverse industries and services, which are disparate types of economic activity. Here there is no cooperation of labor between the individual links of production, and the exchange of results of economic activity.

It is necessary to distinguish between direct (direct) and indirect (indirect) socialization of labor. Wherein importance It has cooperation, which can be realized in the form of a direct exchange of labor activity within a separate economic unit (enterprise) and in the form of an exchange of the results of labor activity based on the implementation of production cooperation in the manufacture of certain types of products or by-products. In the latter case, the labor of employees of individual enterprises acts as a part of the labor of the total workers participating in cooperation in the manufacture of certain products. As a result, the labor of all participants in production acquires the social character of the total worker in a given area of ​​production. Under the conditions of scientific and technical progress, a huge number of enterprises are drawn into a single intersectoral production process on the basis of truly cooperative labor, even if the latter is mediated by commodity-money relations.

Thus, the need for a constant exchange of the fruits of specialized labor predetermines the cooperative nature of relations in the sphere of production of goods and services. Production cooperation is the combination of separated production operations or separate releases of units and parts necessary for the manufacture of final products into a single production process.

conclusions

1. The division of labor is the historical process of separating various types of labor activity into independent or interrelated productions, while the socialization of labor is aimed at drawing various types of labor activity directly or indirectly by exchange into a single social production process.

2. There are three types of division of labor: natural, technical and social. The natural division of labor is predetermined by the separation of labor activity according to gender and age, the technical division of labor is determined by the nature of the equipment and technology used, the social division of labor is determined by the nature of economic relations expressed in prices and costs, supply and demand, etc.

3. Within the framework of the social division of labor, it is necessary to distinguish between individual, private and general division of labor. The first characterizes the division of labor within the enterprise, the second - within individual industries, the third - within the boundaries of large areas of social production.

4. Forms of manifestation of the division of labor are differentiation, specialization, universalization and diversification. Differentiation expresses any process of isolation of certain types of production activity. Specialization expresses a type of differentiation characterized by the concentration of means of production and labor on the production of a narrow range of products, while universalization, on the contrary, is accompanied by a concentration of means of production and labor in order to produce a wide range of products. Diversification refers to the expansion of the range of products produced by an enterprise.

5. The division of labor, speaking in various types and forms of its manifestation, is a determining prerequisite for the development of commodity production and market relations, since the concentration of labor efforts on the production of a narrow range of products or on its individual types forces commodity producers to enter into exchange relations in order to obtain what they lack. good.