Definition of classical political economy
Classical political economy arose when entrepreneurial activity following the sphere of trade, money circulation and loan operations, it also spread to many branches of industry and the sphere of production as a whole. Therefore, already in the manufacturing period, which brought capital employed in the sphere of production to the forefront in the economy, the protectionism of the mercantilists gave way to its dominant position new concept- the concept of economic liberalism, based on the principles of state non-interference in economic processes, unlimited freedom of competition for entrepreneurs.
This period marked the beginning of a truly new school of political economy, which is called classical primarily because scientific character many of its theories and methodological provisions that underlie modern economic science.
As a result of the decomposition of mercantilism and the strengthening of the growing tendency to limit direct state control over economic activity, “pre-industrial conditions” lost their former significance and “free private enterprise” prevailed. The latter, according to P. Samuelson, led “to conditions of complete laissezfaire (i.e., absolute non-interference of the state in business life), events began to take a different turn,” and only “... from the end of the 19th century. in almost all countries there was a steady expansion economic functions states."
In fact, the principle of “complete laissezfaire” became the main motto of the new direction economic thought- classical political economy, and its representatives debunked mercantilism and the protectionist policies it promoted in the economy, putting forward an alternative concept of economic liberalism. At the same time, the classics enriched economic science with many fundamental provisions, which in many respects have not lost their relevance today.
It should be noted that for the first time the term “classical political economy” was used by one of its finalists, K. Marx, in order to show its specific place in “bourgeois political economy.” And the specificity, according to Marx, is that from W. Petty to D. Ricardo in England and from P. Boisguillebert to S. Sismondi in France, classical political economy “studied the actual relations of production of bourgeois society.”
In modern foreign economic literature, while paying tribute to the achievements of classical political economy, do not idealize them. At the same time, in the economic education system of most countries of the world, the emphasis is on “ classical school» as a relevant section of a history course economic studies is carried out primarily from the point of view of the general characteristic features and traits inherent in the works of its authors. This position allows us to classify a number of scientists of the 19th century - followers of the famous A. Smith - among the representatives of classical political economy.
For example, one of the leading economists of our time, Professor Harvard University J.K. Galbraith in his book “Economic Theories and the Goals of Society” believes that “A. Smith’s ideas were subjected to further development David Ricardo, Thomas Malthus and especially John Stuart Mill and received the name classical system" In the textbook “Economics”, widely distributed in many countries, by an American scientist, one of the first laureates Nobel Prize in economics by P. Samuelson it is also stated that D. Ricardo and J. S. Mill, being “the main representatives of the classical school... developed and improved Smith’s ideas.”
Stages of development of classical political economy
According to generally accepted estimates, classical political economy arose at the end of the 17th - early XVIII V. in the works of W. Petty (England) and P. Boisguillebert (France). The time of its completion is considered from two theoretical and methodological positions. One of them - Marxist - points to the period of the first quarter of the 19th century, and the English scientists A. Smith and D. Ricardo are considered to be the finalists of the school. According to another - the most common in scientific world- the classics exhausted themselves in the last third of the 19th century. through the works of J.S. Mill.
In the development of classical political economy, with a certain convention, four stages can be distinguished.
The first stage covers the period from late XVII V. before the start of the second half of the XVIII V. This is a stage of significant expansion of the sphere market relations, reasoned refutations of the ideas of mercantilism and its complete debunking. The main representatives of the beginning of this stage, W. Petty and P. Boisguillebert, regardless of each other, were the first in the history of economic thought to put forward labor theory value, according to which the source and measure of value is the amount of labor expended on the production of a particular commodity product or good. Condemning mercantilism and based on the causal dependence of economic phenomena, they saw the basis of the wealth and well-being of the state not in the sphere of circulation, but in the sphere of production.
The first stage of classical political economy was completed by the so-called school of physiocrats, which became widespread in France in the middle and early second half of the 18th century. The leading authors of this school are F. Quesnay and A. Turgot in search of a source pure product(national income) crucial along with labor they gave to the land. Criticizing mercantilism, the physiocrats went even deeper into the analysis of the sphere of production and market relations, although mainly in the field of agriculture, unduly moving away from the analysis of the sphere of circulation.
The second stage of development of classical political economy covers the period of the last third of the 18th century. and is undoubtedly associated with the name and works of A. Smith - central figure among all its representatives. His “economic man” and the “invisible hand” of providence convinced more than one generation of economists about the natural order and inevitability, regardless of the will and consciousness of people, of the spontaneous action of objective economic laws. Largely thanks to him until the 30s. In the 20th century, the position of complete non-interference of government regulations in free competition was considered irrefutable. And it is about him, as a rule, that they say that “...not a single Western student or scientist can consider himself an economist without knowledge of his (A. Smith - Ya.Ya.) works.”
According to N. Kondratiev, under the influence of the views of A. Smith, among the classics, all their teaching is a sermon economic system based on the principle of individual freedom economic activity as an ideal." The authors of one of the popular books of the early 20th century. “History of Economic Doctrines” by S. Gide and S. Rist noted that it was mainly the authority of A. Smith that turned money into “a commodity even less necessary than any other commodity, a burdensome commodity that should be avoided whenever possible. This tendency to discredit money, shown by Smith in the fight against mercantilism, they write, will later be picked up by his followers, and having exaggerated it, they will lose sight of some features of money circulation.” Schumpeter claims something similar, saying that A. Smith and his followers "try to prove that money is not important, but at the same time they themselves are not able to consistently adhere to this thesis." And only some condescension to this omission of the classics (primarily A. Smith and D. Ricardo) is made by M. Blaug, believing that “...their skepticism in relation to monetary panaceas was quite appropriate in an economy suffering from a lack of capital and chronic structural unemployment."
It should be noted that the laws of the division of labor and the growth of its productivity discovered by A. Smith (based on the analysis of the pin manufactory) are also considered classical. His theoretical research is also largely based on modern concepts about the product and its properties, income (wages, profits), capital, productive and unproductive labor and others.
The third stage in the evolution of the classical school of political economy occurs in the first half of XIX century, when the industrial revolution ended in a number of developed countries. During this period, followers, including students of A. Smith (as many of them called themselves), subjected to in-depth study and rethinking the main ideas and concepts of their idol, enriched the school with fundamentally new and significant theoretical principles. Among the representatives of this stage, we should especially highlight the French J.B. Say and F. Bastiat, the English D. Ricardo, T. Malthus and N. Senior, the American G. Carey and others. Although these authors, following, as they argued, A Smith, the origin of the value of goods and services was seen either in the amount of labor expended or in production costs (but this kind of cost approach in reality remained unproven), yet each of them left a rather noticeable mark in the history of economic thought and the formation of market relations.
Thus, J.B. Say, in his dogmatic, from the standpoint of modern economic theory“the law of markets” was first introduced into the framework economic research problems of balance between supply and demand, the implementation of the total social product depending on market conditions. The basis of this “law,” as is obvious, both J.B. Say and other classics included the proposition that with flexible wages and moving prices, the interest rate will balance supply and demand, savings and investments at full employment.
D. Ricardo, more than any of his contemporaries, polemicized with A. Smith. But, fully sharing the latter’s views on the income of the “main classes of society,” he was the first to identify the pattern of the ongoing tendency of the rate of profit to decrease, and developed a complete theory about the forms of land rent. His merits also include one of the best justifications for the pattern of changes in the value of money as goods depending on their quantity in circulation.
The fourth stage of development of classical political economy covers the period of the second half of the 19th century, during which the above-mentioned J.S. Mill and K. Marx generalized best achievements schools. On the other hand, by this time new, more progressive directions of economic thought, which later received the name “marginalism” (late 19th century), were already acquiring independent significance. As for the innovation of the ideas of the Englishman J.S. Mill and K. Marx, who wrote their works in exile from his native Germany, these authors of the classical school, being strictly committed to the position of the efficiency of pricing in competitive conditions and condemning class bias and vulgar apologetics in economic thought , still sympathized with the working class, were turned “toward socialism and reforms.” K. Marx, in addition, especially emphasized the increasing exploitation of labor by capital, which, exacerbating class struggle, should, in his opinion, inevitably lead to the dictatorship of the proletariat, the “withering away of the state” and the equilibrium economy of a classless society.
Features of the subject and method of studying classical political economy
When studying the general characteristics of the history of classical political economy, it is necessary to highlight its common features, approaches and trends in terms of the subject and method of study and evaluate them.
Firstly, the primary analysis of problems in the sphere of production in isolation from the sphere of circulation, the development and application of progressive methodological research techniques, including cause-and-effect, deductive and inductive, logical abstraction. At the same time, an approach from a class perspective to the observable “laws of production” and “productive labor” removed any doubt that the predictions obtained through logical abstraction and deduction should be subjected to experimental verification. As a result, the opposition between the spheres of production and circulation, productive and unproductive labor, characteristic of the classics, became the reason for underestimating the natural relationship of economic entities in these spheres (“human factor”), the reverse influence on the sphere of production of monetary, credit and financial factors and other elements of the sphere of circulation.
When solving practical problems, the classics gave answers to basic questions by posing these questions, as N. Kondratiev put it, “evaluatively.” This circumstance also did not contribute to objectivity and consistency economic analysis and theoretical generalization of the classical school of political economy.
Secondly, relying on cause-and-effect analysis, calculations of average and total values economic indicators, the classics tried to identify the mechanism of origin of the cost of goods and fluctuations in the price level on the market not in connection with “ natural nature» money and its quantity in the country, but in connection with production costs.
However, the cost principle of determining the price level by the classical school was not linked to another important aspect market economic relations- consumption of a product (service) with a changing need for a particular good with the addition of a unit of this good.
Thirdly, the category “cost” was recognized by the authors of the classical school as the only initial category of economic analysis, from which, as in the diagram family tree other inherently derivative categories bud off (grow). In addition, this kind of simplification of analysis and systematization led the classical school to the fact that economic research itself seemed to imitate mechanical adherence to the laws of physics, i.e. search purely internal reasons economic well-being in society without taking into account psychological, moral, legal and other factors of the social environment.
Fourthly, exploring the issues economic growth and improving the well-being of the people, the classics did not simply proceed from the principle of achieving an active trade balance (positive balance), but tried to substantiate the dynamism and equilibrium of the state of the country’s economy. However, they did this without serious mathematical analysis, application of methods of mathematical modeling of economic problems, allowing you to select the best (alternative) option from a certain number of states of the economic situation.
Fifthly, money, which has long been traditionally considered an artificial invention of people, during the period of classical political economy was recognized as a product spontaneously released in the commodity world, which cannot be “cancelled” by any agreements between people. Among the classics, the only one who demanded the abolition of money was P. Boisguillebert. At the same time, many authors of the classical school until the middle of the 19th century. did not attach due importance to the various functions of money, highlighting mainly one - the function of a medium of exchange, i.e. treating the money commodity as a thing, as technical means, convenient for exchange. The underestimation of other functions of money was due to a misunderstanding of the reverse influence of monetary factors on the sphere of production.
The classical school replaced mercantilism, giving rise to the development of a truly scientific discipline and really unfolding basic research problems of a free competition economy. In contrast to the mercantilist policy of protectionism, the concept of economic liberalism was put in place, which corresponded to the new economic conditions, requiring a reduction in the unjustifiably high role of the state in the economy.
With the development of manufacturing production, new sources of profit arose, industrial capital came to the fore, and, in fact, pushed aside capital employed in the sphere of circulation. The theorists of the “classical school” declared the sphere of production to be the main subject of their research, highlighting it as the basis for increasing national wealth.
Until now, economic science uses the term “classical political economy”, and in any serious study of the history of economic thought this school is given great attention. For the first time the concept of “classical political economy” was scientific circulation introduced by K. Marx, connecting the beginning classical period with the names of W. Petty and P. Boisguillebert, and its completion with the name of D. Ricardo. However, in modern economic literature, an expansive interpretation prevails, according to which chronological framework this period is much wider. The “classics” include the names of such economists as J.-B. Say, T. Malthus, N. Senior, F. Bastiat, J. Mill, K. Marx. According to J. Keynes, the works of scientists of the first half of the 20th century should also be classified as classical political economy. A. Marshall and A. Pigou - those who are called “neoclassicists”.
Restrictive (Marxist) and expansive interpretations in determining the chronological boundaries of the evolution of classical political economy reflect the degree of significance of ideological and scientific elements theories for followers. With a certain degree of relativity, we can distinguish the main stages in development classical direction.
The first (initial) stage of the formation of classical political economy (the end of the 17th century) is associated with the emergence of the economic views of W. Petty and P. Boisguillebert, who laid the foundations for criticism of the mercantilist system of protectionism, gave a new explanation of the nature of wealth, transferring their research from the sphere of circulation to the sphere material production. Sufficient popularity in the second half of the 18th century. acquires the French teaching of the physiocrats, whose ideas received the most total reflection in the works of F. Quesnay and A. Turgot. The name of the great English economist A. Smith is associated with the second stage in the development of classical political economy. His Wealth of Nations marked a fundamental shift in the evolution of economic thought. Designed by him slim conceptual apparatus and the created complex of interrelated theories formed the basis for the works of thinkers of subsequent generations. The third stage covers almost the entire first half of the 19th century, when capitalist forms of economy were finally established in leading European countries (England and France), which led to certain social change. New forms of social stratification became the reason for the emergence of bourgeois, petty-bourgeois and socialist movements within the framework of the classical school. During this period, the greatest contribution to the development economic ideas contributed by theorists who called themselves students and followers of A. Smith. Among them are D. Ricardo, T. Malthus, N. Senior, J.-B. Sey, F. Bastiat, S. Sismondi, R. Owen and others. The fourth (final) stage occurs in the second half of the 19th century. This is the stage of generalization of achievements and systematization of the main categories of the “classical school” by two major economists J. Mill and K. Marx.
Psychoanalysis specialist in the early 90s of the 19th century from medical practice treatment of patients with functional mental disorders. Freud dealt with neuroses. On Freud's activities big influence Bernheim provided.
Cathartic method - with the help of hypnosis, you can revive traumatic experiences and emotions in your memory, this will allow you to experience them again, which can result in healing."
Freud called psychoanalysis (the study and interpretation of dreams, slips of the tongue, forgettings) new form therapy and research method. The core of psychoanalysis is the doctrine of the unconscious
Three periods of study (three stages of the formation of psychoanalysis);
1. 1897-1905 - psychoanalysis - a method of treating neuroses with attempts at general conclusions about character mental life. “The Interpretation of Dreams” (1900), “Psychopathology everyday life"(1904), "Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality" (1905). In 1902, a psychoanalysis circle was formed.
2. 1906-1918 - general psychic doctrine of personality and its development. “Totem and Taboo” (1912), “Leonardo da Vince” (1910). In 1910 - international interest. Adler and Jung's departure from psychoanalysis ( individual psychology And analytical psychology). During the same period, the development of the structure takes place: consciousness, preconsciousness, unconsciousness and drive (sexual, self-preservation).
3. Mid-20s - the doctrine of three instances - “I”, “IT”, “Ideal-I”. Freud's book
"I and It" (1923). Freud identified three areas of the psyche:
· the conscious has the property of experiencing;
· preconscious - hidden unconscious, has the ability of consciousness.
Bezozialnoe repressed unconscious psyche.
· Analysis of free pop-up associations;
· Interpretation of dreams. Dreams are desires that we don’t want to admit to ourselves, because... they are unacceptable.
· Analysis of erroneous actions Everyday life(misprints, sayings, loss of things) are not accidental and are expressed impulses and intentions that are removed and must be hidden from consciousness.
With their help, a person reveals his secrets.
There is a clash between two trends: desire and censorship. Under the influence of censorship, desire is displaced into the unconscious, where it exists in a modified form.
An idea of the dynamics of the unconscious sphere. The unconscious is repressed and cannot; ;, conscious.
Three formations of the psyche (ideas about the structure of the psyche):
· Superconsciousness - Superego (moral limitation, conflict between what is desired and prohibited I.
· Consciousness - I (partially conscious and unconscious, suppressor of It);
· Preconscious - It (unconscious, guided by the principle of pleasure - driving force behavior).
Concepts of drives: sexual drive, self-preservation drive, and death drive. A child is born filled with sexual desires, which are based on the energy of “libido”.
Child development stages:
· Birth trauma;
· Oral stage (up to 1 year) - libido is transferred to the outside..
· Anal (up to 3 years);
· Phalic (4-5 years). The object of libido is the parent (Oedipus complex, Electra complex);
· Latent (] ] -12 years - time for mastering culture.
· Genital (12-16 years) - the final choice of libido object. The child takes his father and mother as a model and transfers his drives to another object.
Regression is one of the forms of protection. The person jumps to a more primitive stage (bites his nails, bites his pen, etc.).
Adler denied a sexual etiology. It is not sexual attraction, but the feeling of incomplete value and the need to compensate for the defect that occupy a central place in the personality and act as factors in the development of everyone. A person strives to overcome inferiority. Inferiority is the goal - the style of life.
Jung is a follower of Freud. The doctrine of the unconscious and the process of personality development. He distinguished in the psyche: conscious and unconscious (personal and collective unconscious).
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More on the topic General characteristics of classical psychoanalysis:
- GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CLASSICAL POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Classical school. Stages of development of the classical school
The classical school originated at the end of the 17th century. (England) - early 18th century. (France).
The development of the classical school can be divided into 4 stages:
Stage 1 covers the period from the end of the 17th century. until the beginning of the 2nd half of the 18th century. This is the stage of expanding the sphere of market relations, refuting ideas.
Representatives of this stage: William Petty and Pierre Boisguilbert, who put forward the theory of labor value. In accordance with it, the source and measure of value is the amount of labor spent on production. They saw the basis of the state's wealth not in the sphere of circulation, but in the sphere of production.
The school of physiocrats, which became widespread in France, completed the 1st stage. The authors of this school, François Quesnay and Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, in their search for a “pure product,” attached decisive importance, along with labor, to the land.
Stage 2 covers the period of the last third of the 18th century. and is associated with the name of Adam Smith, who formulated the concept of economic liberalism. Largely thanks to him until the 30s. XX century The provision on non-interference of the state in free competition was considered irrefutable.
Stage 3 occurs in the 1st half of the 19th century, when the industrial revolution was completed in a number of developed countries. Among the representatives of this stage: Jean Baptiste Say, David Ricardo, Thomas Malthus, F. Bastiat, G. Carrie.
Stage 4 covers the 2nd half of the 19th century. Representatives: Karl Marx and John Stuart Mill.
Are common characteristic features classical school:
1) rejection of protectionism in the economic policy of the state;
2) primary analysis of the sphere of production in isolation from the sphere of circulation, development and application of progressive methodological methods of analysis;
3) attempts to identify the mechanism of formation of the cost of goods and fluctuations in the level of prices on the market in connection with production costs or the amount of labor expended;
5) an attempt to substantiate the dynamism and equilibrium of the state of the economy;
6) money was recognized as a spontaneously released commodity in the commodity world, which cannot be abolished by any agreements.
Teachings of the Physiocrats
The word "physiocracy" has Greek origin and translated means “the power of nature.” In this sense, the physiocrats proceeded from the decisive role in the economy of land and agricultural production.
The central ideas of the theory of physiocracy are:
1) economic laws are natural in nature (that is, understandable to everyone), and deviation from them leads to disruption of the production process;
2) the source of wealth is the sphere of production material goods- agriculture. Only agricultural labor is productive, since it is nature and the earth that work, while labor in other areas (trade and industry) is unproductive or “sterile”;
3) by pure product, the physiocrats understood the difference between the sum of all goods and the costs of producing the product in agriculture. This excess (pure product) is a unique gift of nature. Industrial labor only changes its form, without increasing the size of the net product;
4) the physiocrats analyzed the material components of capital, distinguishing between “annual advances”, annual expenses and “primary advances”, which represent the fund for organizing the agricultural economy and are spent immediately for many years in advance. “Primary advances” (costs of agricultural equipment) correspond to fixed capital, and “annual advances” (annual costs of agricultural production) correspond to working capital;
5) the money was not included in any of the types of advances. For the physiocrats there was no concept of “money capital”; they argued that money itself was sterile, and recognized only one function of money - as a means of circulation. The accumulation of money was considered harmful because it removes money from circulation and deprives it of its only useful function- serve the exchange of goods.
The physiocrats reduced taxation to three principles:
- firstly, taxation should be based directly on the source of income;
- secondly, it must be in a certain constant relationship with these incomes,
- thirdly, it should not be too burdened with collection costs.
The founder of the school of physiocrats, François Quesnay (1694 - 1767), was the court physician of Louis XV, and took up economic problems at the age of 60. His main works: “Population” (1756), “Farmers”, “Grain”, “Taxes” (1757), “ Economic table"(1758), which went down in the history of economic thought as the first experiment in macroeconomic analysis.
In this work, the author showed how the total annual product created in agriculture is distributed among social groups, and also presented the main ways of its implementation in the form of a directed movement with three peaks (classes), combining all acts of exchange into mass movement money and goods, but at the same time excluding the process of accumulation.
The methodological platform for Quesnay’s economic research was the concept he developed about the natural order, the legal basis of which, in his opinion, is the physical and moral laws of the state, which protect private property and private interests, ensuring the reproduction and correct distribution of benefits. As the scientist argued, the private interest of one can never be separated from the general interest of all, and this only happens with state regulation.
He considered it expedient to concentrate the highest state power in the hands of one enlightened individual who has knowledge of the laws - the natural order - necessary for the implementation of government.
In the theoretical heritage of F. Quesnay, an important place is occupied by the doctrine of the net product, which is now called national income. In his opinion, the sources of this pure product are the land and the labor of people involved in agricultural production applied to it. But in industry and other sectors of the economy there is no net increase in income, but only a change in the primary form of this product. Thinking this way, Quesnay considered industry useless. He proceeded from the position he himself put forward about the productive essence of different social groups of society.
At the same time, Quesnay argued that the nation consists of three social groups:
a) productive (persons employed in agriculture - farmers and rural wage workers);
b) barren (persons employed in industry, as well as merchants);
c) owners (persons receiving rent - landowners and the king).
And although the division of society into farmers, property owners and industrialists actually corresponded to the division of society (peasants, nobles, townspeople), it is important to note that Quesnay was one of the first to divide society into classes into economic basis, that is, based on the relationship of each class to the production and appropriation of surplus product.
Based on his doctrine of net income (the monetary value of the net product), Quesnay believed that ground rent should be the only source of taxation.
According to a common point of view, especially among Marxists, Quesnay's system has only historical interest: all its the most important provisions, allegedly fell under the blows of criticism and influence facts of life. This is justified by the fact that supposedly no one anymore believes in the existence of once and for all established laws social organization, and optimistic hopes for the action of a reasonably understood interest turned out to be an illusion. All types of labor, according to Marxism, create value; the land does not create net income, and production takes place here under the same general laws as in any processing and fabrication.
However, there were other views on Quesnay's legacy. So, starting from the 1960s. the Quesnay system was creatively developed by Nikolai Rudenko, and his achievements were highly appreciated by Andrei Sakharov in the late 1970s, which proved historical importance Quesnay's legacy as an alternative to Marxism in the modern world.
Anne Robert Jacques Turgot (1727-1781) was born in France. According to family tradition, he graduated from the theological faculty of the Sorbonne, but became interested in economics. From 1774 to 1776 he served as Comptroller General of Finance. Collaborated with educators in D. Diderot's Encyclopedia.
The main work of A. Turgot is “Reflections on the creation and distribution of wealth” (1770).
Following Quesnay and other physiocrats, he defended the principle of freedom of economic activity and shared their view of agriculture as the only source of surplus product. For the first time he identified entrepreneurs and hired workers within the “agricultural class” and the “class of artisans”.
Turgot first described the difference between capital and money and identified profit as a special type of income. In general, the teaching of A. Turgot coincides with the teaching of the physiocrats, but the following ideas should be noted:
- income from capital is divided into costs for creating products and profit on capital (wages of the owner of capital, business income and land rent);
- the exchange is mutually beneficial to both commodity owners, and therefore the values of the goods exchanged are equalized;
- the payment of loan interest is justified by the loss of income of the lender when providing the loan;
- current prices on the market, from the point of view of A. Turgot, are formed taking into account supply and demand, being a criterion by which one can judge the excess or lack of capital.
The concept of economic liberalism
Adam Smith was born in 1723 in Scotland into the family of a customs official. In 1751 he was appointed professor of logic at Glazkov University, and at the end of the year he moved to the department of moral philosophy. His friendship with the economist David Hume led him to study economics.
In 1764, he left the department and accepted an offer to accompany the young lord, stepson of the Duke of Buccleuch, during a trip abroad. The journey lasted more than 2 years. Smith visited Toulouse, Geneva, Paris, and met with Quesnay and Turgot. Upon returning to Scotland, he began to create a book, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, which was published in 1776.
Smith considered the subject of economics to be economic development society and improving its well-being. The source of wealth is the sphere of production.
The basic principles from which Smith proceeded were formed in close connection with the doctrine of “natural order” created by the physiocrats. However, if the latter placed the “natural order” depending on the forces of nature, then Smith believed that it was determined human nature and it corresponds to it. Man is an egoist; he pursues only personal goals. The personal interest of one individual is limited only by the interests of others. Society consists of many individuals, and the interests of society are made up of the interests of its members. Consequently, the analysis of public interests must be based on an analysis of the nature and interests of the individual.
People need each other as egoists, they provide mutual services, therefore the only form that allows the most in the best possible way to achieve mutual provision of services is an exchange.
Action " economic man", whose sole motive is the desire for wealth, Smith tried to explain all economic processes.
The central place in his teaching is occupied by the concept of economic liberalism: market laws can best influence the economy when private interest is above public interest, i.e. when the interests of society as a whole are considered as the sum of the interests of its constituent individuals.
The state must maintain a regime of natural freedom: protect law and order, free competition and private property. It must also perform such functions as organizing public education, public works, communication systems, transport and public services.
Smith wrote: “Money is the great wheel of circulation.” The income of workers, in his opinion, is directly dependent on the level of national wealth of the country. He denied the pattern of reducing wages to the subsistence level.
The scientist's views on the division of labor are widely known. Central idea Smith is that the source of wealth is labor. He makes the wealth of society dependent on two factors: the proportion of the population engaged in production labor; labor productivity.
At the same time, Smith noted that the second factor has higher value. In his opinion, specialization increases labor productivity. He revealed the universal nature of the division of labor from simple operations at the enterprise to branches of production and social classes. Since the division of labor causes a reduction in production costs, it opens up scope for the use of machines, since only simple operations could be mechanized.
By focusing on exchange value, Smith finds the measure in the labor expended in the production of goods. This is at the heart of exchange. The source of value is labor. By natural price he understood the monetary expression of exchange value and believed that in a long-term trend, actual market prices tend to it as a certain center of fluctuations. When supply and demand are balanced in conditions of free competition, market prices coincide with natural prices.
Capital is characterized by Smith as one of the two parts of the stock from which income is expected to be received, the other part being that which goes for consumption. He introduced the division of capital into fixed and circulating capital. Smith believed that a capitalist economy can be in 3 states: growth, decline and stagnation. He developed 2 interconnected schemes of simple and extended reproduction. In the scheme of simple reproduction, movement occurs from the social stock to gross product(income) and compensation fund. In the scheme of expanded reproduction, savings and accumulation funds are added. Expanded reproduction creates the dynamics of the country’s wealth, depends on the growth of capital accumulation and on more effective use. Smith discovered the phenomenon technical progress as a factor of expanded reproduction.
Source - T.A. Frolova History of economic teachings: lecture notes Taganrog: TRTU, 2004
Rental block
Psychoanalysis arose in the early 90s of the 19th century from the medical practice of treating patients with functional mental disorders. Freud dealt with neuroses. Freud's work was greatly influenced by Bernheim.
Freud called psychoanalysis a new form of therapy and method of research. The core of psychoanalysis is the doctrine of the unconscious.
Three periods of study (three stages of the formation of psychoanalysis);
1. 1897-1905 - psychoanalysis - a method of treating neuroses with attempts at general conclusions about the nature of mental life. “The Interpretation of Dreams” (1900), “The Psychopathology of Everyday Life” (1904), “Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality” (1905). In 1902, a psychoanalysis circle was formed.
2. 1906-1918 - general psychological doctrine of personality and its development. “Totem and Taboo” (1912), “Leonardo da Vinci” (1910). In 1910 - international interest. Leaving Adler and Jung's psychoanalysis (individual psychology and analytical psychology). During the same period, the development of the structure takes place: consciousness, preconsciousness, unconsciousness and drive (sexual, self-preservation).
3. Mid 20s- the doctrine of three instances - “I”, “IT”, “Ideal-I”. Freud's book
S. Freud expresses psychological structure personality through the complex interaction of three components: id (“It”), ego (“I”), superego (“Super-I”).
Id ("It")- the most voluminous and influential part of the psyche of the unconscious, including biological instincts. Instincts encourage a person to act contrary to reality on the principle of pleasure for the immediate satisfaction of needs (primarily sexual and aggressive). This is a source of mental energy (libido), which causes tension in the individual.
Superego ("Super-I")- a component containing the moral principles of society, social norms behavior of people in a given society, which play the role of restrictions imposed on the instinctive impulses of the individual. The “super-ego” strives to completely suppress the drives emanating from the “It.”
Ego ("I")- part of the psyche controlled mainly by consciousness. It contains information about the real world around us and its regulatory requirements, but at the same time is under the constant influence of unconscious instincts.
Thus, the “I” represents a zone of conflict, a field of irreconcilable confrontation between the “It” and the “Super-Ego”.
Methods of psychoanalysis:
Analysis of free pop-up associations;
Interpretation of dreams. Dreams are desires that we don’t want to admit to ourselves, because... they are unacceptable.
Analysis of erroneous actions of everyday life (slips of the tongue, sayings, loss of things) are not accidental and are expressed impulses and intentions that are removed and must be hidden from consciousness. With their help, a person reveals his secrets.
Basic principles of psychoanalysis:
human behavior, experience and cognition are largely determined by internal and irrational drives;
these drives are predominantly unconscious;
attempts to understand these drives lead to psychological resistance in the form defense mechanisms;
in addition to personality structure, individual development determined by events early childhood;
conflicts between the conscious perception of reality and unconscious (repressed) material can lead to mental disorders such as neurosis, neurotic character traits, fear, depression, and so on;
liberation from the influence of unconscious material can be achieved through its awareness (for example, with appropriate professional support).
Psychoanalysis has been expanded, criticized and developed in various directions, mainly former colleagues Freud, such as Alfred Adler and C. G. Jung, and later by neo-Freudians, such as Erich Fromm, Karen Horney, Harry Stack Sullivan and Jacques Lacan.
Adler– individual psychology.
Jung– person, self, body – anima, animus, archetype. People perceive the world based on 4 mental processes- sensations, intuition, feeling, thinking The Self is made up of the relationship between the dominant archetype and ways of perceiving the world. The norm is individual.
Neo-Freudianism- a broad area in foreign psychology. The source is Freud's ideas. Representatives: Horney, Fromm, Sullivan. Its appearance was facilitated by a new, not neurotic type patients, but the type of patients who complained of failure, anxiety, and a feeling of loneliness. Neobehaviorism arose as a social oriented form psychoanalysis.
Horney in 1937 in the book “ Neurotic personality of our time" criticized the main aspects Freudian theory: pansexualism, Oedipus complex, death instinct, etc. Competition is the driving force. All human relations have a competitive nature. The need to compare yourself with others, your failure and the success of others causes difficult feelings.
Highlights two conflicts:
Neurotic- misunderstanding of existence;
Healthy- can be realized. Basal evil - forms of attitude towards children that frustrate the need for security.
E. Fromm– the concept of “radical humanistic psychoanalysis”. How Sullivan and Horney reject Freud's biologism. He spoke about the mechanism of escape - ways to solve problems that result in certain behavioral tendencies. There are only three of them: authoritarianism, destructivism, conformism. They are irrational and unconscious - the result of the need to avoid one’s own weakness.
Thus, Neo-Freudianism continues the psychoanalytic theory of the unconscious, which plays a major role in the human psyche.
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This topic belongs to the section:
Developmental psychology
Temperament, human personality. Psychoanalysis. Concept and types of temperament. Domestic and foreign theories temperament. Psychologist's principle
