The economic sphere of society is an integral system of all types of production, distribution, exchange and consumption of material goods and services necessary for the life of people, including various types of enterprises of different forms of ownership, various types of economic activity - production, financial, trade, etc.). The basis of economic relations and the main factor determining their specificity is the method of production and distribution of material wealth in society.

The concept of "economics" (from the Greek. Oikonomike - the art of housekeeping) appeared in Ancient Greece. Aristotle contrasted economics with chrematistics - a branch of human activity related to the extraction of benefits. At the present stage of social development, the economy is interpreted as a system of social relations, considered from the standpoint of the concept of value. The main function of the economy is to constantly create such benefits that are necessary for the life of people and without which society cannot develop.

Economy, understood as a national economy, it is a system created by people for the use and transformation of resources, means available in the environment, with the aim of producing goods that satisfy the needs of a person, society, and the state.

Economic science is designed to answer fundamental questions: what to produce? How to produce? For whom to produce? How to use the manufactured product? How to reconcile production and consumption?

Economic systems are forms of organizing economic activity, characterized by the type of ownership of the means of production, methods of coordinating the economic activities of people, the level of technical development, and the nature of economic relations.

Property - the belonging of objects to certain people and the resulting relationships between people. The subject of ownership (owner) represents the active side of property relations. Property object - the passive side of property relations in the form of objects of nature, substance, energy, information, property that belong to the owner. The economic side of property is determined by the forms and relations of property, on which the methods, methods of management, and the efficiency of using property objects depend. The legal side of ownership is manifested in the presence of the subject of ownership of rights to a specific object, guaranteeing him the opportunity to own, dispose of or use it at his own discretion.

The decisive role in property relations is played by ownership of the main factors of production - land, labor, capital and methods of coordination of economic activity. In accordance with these features, the following types of economic systems are distinguished:

• ? administrative-command centralized, based on state ownership of the factors of production; at the same time, economic ties are established centrally by planning bodies subordinate to the government of the country;
• ? market, based on private ownership of factors of production, competition, entrepreneurial activity. Enterprises and households act as economic agents of a market economy;
• ? mixed, combining the features of a centrally controlled economy and a market economy. In fact, any economy of the market type is mixed - a free market is combined in it with government influence on market relations;
• ? traditional, in which the way of using limited resources is determined by customs and traditions inherent in a particular society, people.

The structure of property relations links the form, objects and subjects of ownership.

By form property can be:

• ? private - characterized by the certainty of the owner - this is a specific person. A kind of private property is the personal, individual property of a particular person;
• ? common, joint, several subjects, which belongs to all owners together and is not divided between them, and share, divided into shares, part. If the owner separates his share from the common property, it becomes private property;
• ? nationwide, which belongs to everyone individually and to the entire society, to the entire population;
• ? state;
• ? mixed.

Assignment object(what is appropriated) can be items of personal or collective consumption, natural resources, labor, means of production, results of intellectual activity, as well as cash, securities, jewelry.

The subject of appropriation(who appropriates), the owner is an individual or family, social group, labor collective, the population of the territory, the people of the country, government bodies.

Main functions subject of assignment are:

• ? ownership - the primary form of ownership, characterizing both the real belonging of the object to a certain subject, and the legal right to own the object of ownership;
• ? disposal - a specific way of implementing the relationship between the subject and the object of property. The owner-manager has the right to act in relation to the object and use it in any desired way, transfer it to another entity, even liquidate it, if this does not contradict the law;
• ? use - the use of a property object in accordance with its purpose and at the discretion and desire of the user. If the user is not the owner or manager of the property, he should only use it in accordance with the conditions specified by the primary owners.

Property relations also include responsibility for the safety and rational use of the property.

So, the economy is the economic activity of society, as well as the totality of relations that develop in the system of production, distribution, exchange and consumption.

Economic sphere public life is basic, defining in the life of society.

· production;

· Distribution;

· Consumption of material goods.

The economic sphere exists in the following forms:

· Economic space - the one in which economic life takes place;

· The method of production of material goods, which has two components;

· Activities of economic management institutions.

Productive forces- people with their knowledge, skills, labor skills and means of production. Means of production include everything with the help of which the production is carried out: the subject of labor; means, tools of labor - machines, mechanisms, tools, equipment; raw materials and supplies; buildings and structures, transport, etc. Man is a creative principle and an active subject of labor. The role of man in production is connected not so much with his physical properties as with thinking and the division of labor.

Relations of production- relationships between people in the production process. These include:

· Property relations, especially for the means of production. This is a defining element of production relations - since the one who owns the means of production is in fact the owner of the economy and dictates the conditions;

· Relations of exchange of activities based on the division of labor;

· Relations about the distribution of the material goods produced.

The importance of the economic sphere of society is that she:

· Creates the material basis for the existence of society;

· Contributes to the solution of problems facing society;

· Affects the social structure (social groups);

· Influences political processes and the spiritual sphere.

Although social life is not limited to the production of material goods, its main spheres are interconnected by a single material basis. Therefore, a change in the mode of production and property relations entails a change in the whole of society.

What is the specificity of the social sphere of society?

Social sphere social life is a system of the internal structure of society (social groups, nations, nationalities), based on the division of labor, ownership of the means of production and the national factor. The social structure is objective in nature and cannot be established or abolished by decree of legislators. The basis of its development and change are production, form of ownership and distribution of material wealth. Each historically defined mode of production corresponds to a certain type of social structure of society.

The main elements the social structure of society are:

a) at the micro level:

1. social role - This is a behavior model focused on a specific status (the dynamic side of the status);

2. social status - a certain position in the social structure, associated with other positions through the system of rights and obligations. Statuses may be:

· sociobiological (P ol(man or woman); age(child, youth, adult, elderly person); race (Negroid, Caucasoid, Mongoloid); nationality; health(hearing impaired, disabled WWII, etc.); marital status);

· proper social (territorial(citizen, migrant, homeless person, etc.); religious(believer, atheist, Christian, Muslim, etc.); political(party members, etc.); professional; economic(lender, usurer, landowner, etc.)

b) at the macro level:

1. classes (a defining element of the social structure of society: "aristocrats by blood", "new rich", the petty bourgeoisie, highly paid professionals, the middle class, etc.);

2. strata (social strata: poor, well-to-do, rich);

3. estates (social groups with enshrined customs or law and inherited rights and obligations: nobility, clergy, merchants, handicrafts, peasantry).

The development trend of modern society is its transformation into more and more homogeneous, smoothing out contradictions, differences between strata, complication of the structure, fragmentation of strata to the micro level - the so-called "small groups".

Humanity and each individual person needs certain conditions of existence, without which life is impossible. In grade 5, you learned that everything people need to live, what they need, is called needs.

The most important of them are the needs for food, clothing, housing, i.e. in material goods.

Material good is everything that is able to satisfy the daily life needs of people, to be useful. For example, the clothes we wear or the water we drink.

The number of needs is constantly growing, they are becoming more diverse. A person in the XXI century seeks to satisfy the needs for education, medical care, communication with other people, in various forms of leisure and recreation, etc. In addition, he needs the services of sellers, hairdressers, sewing masters, repair equipment, etc. All these needs are met by the economy.

The word "economy" originated in ancient Greece. Among the ancient Greeks, it meant "the art of housekeeping."

In our time, the economy is understood as an economy in the broad sense of the word. The economy is a household, an enterprise (firm), a city economy, an entire state economy, and a world economy. So, the concept of "economics" has several meanings.

Economy is a sphere of social life in which production, distribution, exchange and consumption of material goods take place;

management system; rationally organized economic activity of people aimed at creating items, goods or services that meet the needs of people.

The main goal of economic activity is to meet human needs. No society can exist without meeting the needs of people. To do this, it is necessary to produce products and provide services to the population.

The economy demands from people rational (reasonable) behavior, the ability to make choices, answering the questions: what to produce? how to produce? for whom to produce? That is why the economy has always been called and is still called a method of rational organization of economic activity.

The economic (economic) activity of people consists of four spheres: production, distribution, exchange and consumption of goods and services.

These four areas are interconnected by economic activity. It includes many activities - the efforts of an entrepreneur, the work of a steelmaker or miner, the cultivation and collection of grain, the provision of dental services, the transport of goods and goods, financial or intermediary activities, etc.

Thus, economic (economic) activity has an important distinctive feature - it is a set of organized actions of a large number of people aimed at producing goods or providing services for the purpose of making a profit.

Economic activities

The production of goods and services is the backbone of any economy.

Manufacturing is the process of creating various goods and services for sale.

All types of economic activity are subdivided into the production of goods and the production of services.

The production of goods includes a large number of subspecies of economic activity. For example, manufacturing includes more than two dozen subspecies - from food production to furniture, machinery and equipment. And in each subspecies of production there are thousands and hundreds of thousands of enterprises, factories, plants, firms and organizations.

The service sector occupies a significant place in modern society. In developed economies, it employs more people than in manufacturing.

Additional reading

Teenagers can also participate in economic activities. Those who have turned 14 years old have the right to get a job, engage in entrepreneurial activity. But only with the written consent of the parents or those who replace them.

Explain why adolescents can only engage in business with consent from adults.

Manufacturing is just the beginning of economic relations. It is necessary that the goods reach the consumer. This is due to distribution and exchange.

Distribution, exchange and consumption

Distributional relationships are those relationships that people enter into in the process of paying taxes, receiving pensions, social benefits and subsidies, paying wages, etc.

For example, the distribution is as follows. The state collects taxes from citizens, enterprises and institutions, which go to the state budget, as well as to special organizations - funds. There is, for example, the Pension Fund, the Health Insurance Fund. Money from the Pension Fund is paid to pensioners in the form of pensions (by the way, in Russia now there are 40 million pensioners out of 142.9 million inhabitants). The money from the Health Insurance Fund goes to hospitals and clinics. From this money, doctors, nurses, and other personnel receive wages; payment for the use of electricity, water, etc .; medicines, special medical equipment are being bought.

The relationship of exchange includes domestic and international trade. The subject of trade includes inventions, information, services. During the exchange, transactions, agreements, contracts are concluded. When hiring a job, a person enters into a contract with an enterprise: he exchanges his labor for an appropriate remuneration (salary).

In the area of ​​exchange, the market dominates.

Exchange is the purchase and sale of goods and services.

The market is a social mechanism that brings together buyers and sellers of a particular product or service.

The market is driven by two mechanisms - supply and demand. Supply - the willingness and ability of sellers to supply the market with goods for sale.

Demand is the ability and desire of consumers to buy goods.

The market is a place where goods are bought and sold at freely folding (market) prices. Markets are different: a small vegetable market, a large clothing or electronics store, the stock market, etc.

Thus, the market directly connects the producer with the consumer.

Finally, in the exchange process, the product (computer, tractor, jeans, wheat, oil or gas, etc.) reaches the consumer.

Consumption is the use of material goods created in the production process to meet the needs of the population.

Thus, production is the beginning of the chain and consumption is the end of the chain. A person consumes not only food or clothing (wearing it out), but also knowledge. Today they play such an important role that the modern economy has come to be called the knowledge economy.

The engine of the economy is money - a universal medium of exchange. That is, money is a commodity for which any other commodity can be exchanged.

Selling a product is exchanging it for money, and buying is exchanging money for a product. The amount of money determines the desires, needs, interests of a person and much more.

Interesting Facts

Initially, the role of money among different peoples was played by various goods, for example: furs, grain, livestock, later - metals: silver, gold, copper, etc. Over time, they began to issue paper money. In the 20th century, not only bills or coins, but also checks and bank cards began to play the role of money.

Let's summarize

In the economic sphere of society, there is the production, distribution, exchange and consumption of material goods and services necessary for the life of people.

Basic terms and concepts

Economy, economic activity, production, distribution, exchange, consumption, material goods, market.

Test your knowledge

1. Explain the meaning of the concepts: "economy", "economic activity", "production", "distribution", "exchange", "consumption", "market".
2. What is the significance of the economy in the life of society? Show examples of how the economy serves people.
3. Why is manufacturing considered the backbone of the economy?
4. What are the main types of economic activity. What is the role of the service sector in the modern economy? 5*. Do you think people enter economic relations as individuals or as representatives of large social groups? Explain your answer.

Workshop

From ancient Greek, it is translated as "the ability to manage a household." Currently, the term "economy" is understood in two senses:

1) economics as a science;

2) the economy as an economy, the economic activity of people.

The objectivity of the influence of the economy on society gives rise to the need to study economic laws and develop economic theory. The role of economic theory is to understand economic laws in order to predict future economic processes in order to correct them.

Economic theory is the science of economics, which studies economic processes and relationships between people involved in economic activities (Fig.5.1
).

Analyzes the economic activity of such subjects as households and firms, as well as the interaction of these subjects in the process of forming larger structures - markets, industries.

Studies the functioning of the economy, the country's economy as a whole or its individual sectors - public, private, households.

This is a rationally organized activity of large groups of people who enter into relations of production, consumption, distribution and exchange of goods and services.

The process of creating economic goods and services, the starting point of economic activity.

The division of the produced product, income between the factors of production participating in its production, i.e. identification of the share of each factor in the produced product

The stage of reproduction, in the process of which the economic entity receives money or another product (barter) in return for the product produced.

The final stage of reproduction, in which the produced product is used (consumption of durable goods) or destroyed (for example, food consumption). In the process of consumption, the needs of people are met

The subjects of the economy are:

households;

• state.

Entrepreneurs and households in their daily economic activities are faced with three fundamental questions of economics.

What to produce and in what quantity?(What kind of goods and services should be offered to consumers).

For whom to produce?(Who will be able to claim to receive the goods and services produced in their ownership).

How to produce?(Which of the possible methods of manufacturing goods (services) should be applied).

The economy plays a huge role in the life of society.

First, because it provides people with the material conditions of their existence - food, clothing, housing and other consumer goods.

Secondly, because the economic sphere covers a wide area in the life of society, including the economy of enterprises, industries, the national economy as a whole, finance, money circulation.

Economic resources

Human society needs certain conditions and means of subsistence, without which life itself is impossible.

Everything that people need for life, what they need, is called in the economy needs... It is they who act as an internal stimulus for vigorous human activity. The needs are categorized into primary(food, clothing) and secondary(cinema, theater, sports). Primary needs cannot replace one another, secondary ones can.

The means that satisfy the needs are called benefits... Some of them are available in unlimited sizes (for example, water, air), others are limited. They are called economic benefits.

Economic benefits must be created, produced or purchased for money. Without the economic activity of people, it is impossible to obtain, to manufacture what is required for life. Therefore, a person cannot be only a consumer of economic goods, he is forced to produce them by participating in economic activity.

Everything that is needed to create the things people need is called economic resources (production factors).

Economic resources include:

The consumers of economic resources are mainly enterprises, since they are the direct producers of material goods.

It is an independent business entity created in accordance with the procedure established by law. The company is a legal entity and can be public and private

In terms of form, all enterprises are divided into three types.

It is the starting point and the first sign of economic activity.

The production is based on industry- This is the most important branch of the national economy, which has a decisive impact on the level of economic development of society.

The industry consists of two large sectors - mining and manufacturing.

In addition, the industry is subdivided into:

There is, first of all, a labor process. It consists of the following elements:

The means of production include:

The means of production, its technologies and people are called productive forces.

Production has two interconnected parties:

In the production process, it is usually used cooperation of labor- unity, consistency of joint actions of individual workers, their collectives or national economies in the labor process. With the deepening of the division of labor, the need for labor cooperation increases, its forms develop and enrich. Thus, the international division of labor has led to the emergence of new forms of labor cooperation. One of the modern forms of labor cooperation is the economic integration of different countries.

Production efficiency is assessed in terms of profitability.

This is the ratio of profit to cost.

These are the costs of factors of production. There are fixed and variable costs.

Fixed costs- these are those costs that do not depend on the volume of production (rental costs, interest on a loan).

Variable costs- these are costs that depend on the volume of production (cost of raw materials, fuel, energy, payment of salaries to employees).

This is a set of funds received from the sale of products.

Respectively, profit is the difference between income and costs.

Any manufacturer seeks to maximize profits by reducing costs and increasing income.

The economic growth

The economic growth- the result of the interaction of economic, political, social and other phenomena in society. The economic growth- this is such a development of the national economy, in which the volume of goods and services created over a certain period increases.

The main goals of economic growth are maintaining national security and increasing the material well-being of the population by increasing the average per capita income, improving the quality and expanding the range of manufactured goods, increasing free time, increasing the efficiency of the distribution of national income, increasing investment in human capital, ensuring the safety of working and living conditions. , social security of the unemployed and the disabled.

Factors of economic growth are those phenomena and processes that affect its efficiency and quality. According to the method of influencing economic growth, direct and indirect factors are distinguished.

Direct factors:

• increasing the number and quality of labor resources;

  introduction into production of the results of scientific and technological progress;

  increasing the quantity and quality of natural resources involved in circulation;

  growth of entrepreneurial abilities in society.

Indirect factors:

• reducing the degree of market monopolization;

  lower prices and tax rates;

  growth in government spending and expansion of exports.

Economic growth can be carried out in extensive and intensive ways. Extensive path involves the expansion of the scale of production (an increase in the area of ​​cultivated areas, the construction of new factories, etc.). Economic growth in this case is achieved due to an increase in the number of factors of production involved in production on the same technical basis. Intense path presupposes the use of more efficient means of production, technologies and processes (improving the quality of the workforce, using the results of scientific and technological research in production, etc.). This means that economic growth is achieved as a result of improved utilization of factors of production.

Economic growth is never constant and sustainable. Economic development is carried out in the form of cycles - periods of ups and downs, which alternate over several years. Economic Cycles differ significantly from each other in duration and intensity, but all have the same phases.

The peak is the upper phase of the cycle. There is full employment in the economy, and production is working at full capacity, incomes in society are growing. During this phase of the cycle, demand exceeds supply, causing prices to rise. The economy is in a state of full employment of resources.

Recession (crisis) is a period of decline in production and sales growth rates. This leads to a decrease in employment and a decrease in total income in society. Along with income, demand falls, and hence the price. Large enterprises are adapting to new conditions. By lowering production costs, they continue to make a profit. Small and medium-sized businesses often go bankrupt.

Revitalization. In this phase, the level of production rises, manufacturers receive new orders, equipment is updated, and additional jobs appear. This leads to a decrease in unemployment, a slight increase in prices, and credit expansion.

Rise - investment and consumer spending increases, which contributes to an increase in demand and additional production growth.

Business cycles vary in depth and duration. Along with periodic cycles, called short waves, caused by deviations of demand from supply, there are so-called long waves with a frequency of 40-60 years, which are associated with a change in generations of technology and technology, the introduction of the achievements of scientific and technological progress (STP).

Distinguish the following reasons for the cyclical development of the economy:

External reasons:

• transition to an innovative way of development - scientific and technological revolution (causes economic growth);

  political events - wars, revolutions, change of government (causes economic downturn).

Internal reasons:

• changes in the pace of scientific and technological progress;

  is a generalized indicator of the country's economic development. It is equal to GNP minus depreciation charges (equipment depreciation, indirect taxes). On the other hand, national income can be defined as the sum of all income for the year in the form of wages, industrial and commercial profits, interest on capital invested and land rent.

  Control questions

  1. What does economics study as a science?

     What is the relationship between economic needs and economic resources?

     What are the essence and goals of production?

     What are the factors of the manufacturing process?

     How is production efficiency assessed?

     What are the reasons for the emergence of economic cycles?

     What phases does the economic cycle consist of?

     What is economic growth?

     What are the drivers of economic growth?

The economy plays a huge role in the life of society. First, it provides people with material living conditions - food, clothing, housing and other consumer goods. Secondly, the economic sphere of society's life is a system-forming component of society, a decisive sphere of its life, determining the course of all processes taking place in society. It is studied by many sciences, among which the most important are economic theory and social philosophy. It should also be noted such a relatively new science as ergonomics (it studies a person and his production activity, 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, that is, the process of creating material goods necessary for human society for its normal existence and development.

Economy - this is a sphere of human activity in which wealth is created to meet their various needs.

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 labor force is needed, that is, people with abilities and work skills. These people in the course of their labor activity use the means of production.

Means of production are a set of objects of labor, that is, that from which material goods are produced, and means of labor, that is, 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 (the human factor) who have production skills and carry out the production of material goods, the means of production created by society (material factor), as well as the technology and organization of the production process.

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

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

Services are understood as meaningful 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 commercial . Natural is called a production in which the manufactured products are not intended for sale, but to meet the manufacturer's own needs. The main features of such an economy are isolation, conservatism, manual labor, slow rates of development, direct links between production and consumption. Commodity production initially focused on the market, products are not produced for own consumption, but for sale. Commodity production is more dynamic, since the manufacturer constantly monitors the processes occurring in the market, fluctuations in demand for a particular type of product and makes appropriate changes to the production process.

Information note :

1. This must be remembered: economy, means of production, productive forces, natural and commodity production.

Klimenko A.V., Romanina V.V. Social Studies: For high school students and those entering universities: a textbook. M .: Bustard, 2002. (Other editions are possible). Section V, paragraph 1.