The concept of "economic imperialism" was introduced Gary Becker(born 1930). His books are devoted to research in this direction of economics: "Economic theory discrimination" (1957), "Human capital" (1964), "The Theory of Time Distribution"(1965), "Economic theory" (1971), "Economic approach to human behavior" (1976), "Treatise on the Family" (1981).
Method. This direction of economic thought is characterized by the use of the method of economic analysis for non-economic spheres of human activity. The legitimacy of this approach is based on the fact that the model of human behavior accepted in economic science is considered as universal, i.e. capable of describing human behavior in any circumstances, and not just in solving economic problems. Proponents of this trend believe that economic analysis is also suitable for interpreting the behavior of institutions, not only economic ones, but also social ones.
Direction of research. In his works, G. Becker writes about the existence of "implicit markets" that regulate human behavior. The analysis of benefits and losses from any kind of activity is the key to the balance of these markets. In his analysis, he proceeds from the concept of human behavior as rational and expedient and uses such concepts as rarity, price, opportunity cost etc., to the most diverse aspects human life, including TC, which traditionally were the responsibility of other social disciplines.
Theory of economic approach. G. Becker, starting from the methodology of neoclassicism, gave the most complete formulation of the essence of the so-called economic approach.
This approach assumes the existence of markets that, with the help of prices and other market mechanisms, coordinate, albeit with unequal degrees of efficiency, the actions of market participants, whether they be individuals, firms, or even entire nations, as a result of which their behavior becomes consistent.
The economic approach does not assume that all market participants have complete information or make transactions that do not require transaction costs. The scientist developed the theory of optimal or rational accumulation of expensive information, which implies a greater investment in obtaining information when making important decisions (for example, buying a house) compared to unimportant decisions (everyday purchase of bread). He suggests not to confuse incomplete information with irrationality or inconsistency in behavior, arguing that people's behavior is generally rational. It is assumed that consumer preferences are fairly stable, while considering not specific preferences for certain goods, but some deep and fundamental ones, which are determined by people's attitudes to such fundamental aspects of their lives as health, prestige, sensual pleasures.
In a market economy, a person identifies his preferences with a product, he always wants to improve his position, optimize it, get the maximum benefit: maximize his behavior, make decisions that will lead to the maximization of the values of the utility function. In all circumstances, people use the economic approach: they compare marginal benefits and marginal cost and, above all, the benefits and costs associated with decision-making. At the same time, a person is not always aware of his inner desire for maximization in his actions.
The economic approach is comprehensive, it applies to everyone (bosses and subordinates, rich and poor) and always (in any situation). G. Becker gives convincing and striking examples of the application of the economic approach to the analysis of human behavior. Good health and long life, he reasons, are important goals for most people, but not the only ones. Sometimes, if they conflict with other goals, they can be sacrificed. The economic approach assumes that there is a certain “optimal” life span for a given person, at which the utility of an extra year of life will be less than other utility, for example, professional, which will be lost if all resources are devoted to prolonging life. Thus, from the standpoint of the economic approach, the cause of most deaths is in some way suicide, i.e. a person would die later if he invested his resources exclusively in prolonging life. Modern psychology, by the way, comes to similar conclusions: it claims that the "wish for death" underlies many accidental deaths, as well as deaths caused by natural causes. The most important social institution - marriage can also be interpreted from the standpoint of the economic approach. According to it, a person decides to marry when the expected utility of family life exceeds the utility of single life, and also exceeds the costs associated with finding a mate. Similarly, a person decides to end a marriage if the expected utility of the free estate is greater than the cost of divorce. The logic of the economic approach made it possible to study the problems of equilibrium in the marriage market, as a result, the following patterns were revealed: there is a tendency for marriages between people who are close in intelligence, level of education, social origin, social growth, but with different levels of remuneration. Men with relatively high incomes marry women with relatively low incomes, people with relatively high incomes marry at a younger age and get divorced less frequently, and rising wives' earnings increase the likelihood of divorce.
The economic approach also assumes that a person chooses a profession whose expected utility (material and psychological) is higher than the expected utility of other professions. Criminal activity, according to the economic approach, is the same activity as all others, and the criminal expects maximum profit from his illegal business. Unemployment in the legal sector of the economy increases the number of crimes against property because profits from legal professions. G. Becker came to the general conclusion that the economic approach provides a holistic framework for understanding any aspect of human behavior.
- Gary Stanley Becker born December 2, 1930 American economist. Studied at Princeton. He received his doctorate from the University of Chicago. Worked at Columbia and Chicago Universities. President of the American Economic Association in 1987. President of the Labor Economics Society (1997). Winner of the Nobel Prize in 1992 "for extending the scope of microeconomic analysis to a range of aspects of human behavior and interaction, including non-market behavior."
O.S. Elkina, Omsk State University, Department of Economics and Sociology of Labor
Economic behavior is the subject of all studies and generalizations of economic theory. The central place in all treatises on economic theory, with minor digressions, is occupied by the same idea: all research in the field of economics is aimed at analyzing and predicting human behavior. Here are a few typical definitions of economic science: "Economic science is engaged in the study of the normal life of human society; it studies the sphere of individual and social actions that is most closely connected with the creation and use of the material foundations of well-being" (Marshall A.); "Economic theory is a science that studies human behavior in terms of the relationship between ends and limited means that can have various uses" (Robbins L.). Many similar statements by other authors can be cited, proving that the subject of economic science is the study of human behavior in the economic sphere.
But many forms of human behavior can be the subject of study of several disciplines at once: for example, the problem of childbearing forms a special branch of sociology, anthropology, economic theory, history, and so on. Economic theory, on the other hand, proclaims its own unique economic approach, which integrates many different forms of human behavior into its special kind - economic behavior.
As you know, economic science analyzes such basic categories as production, distribution, exchange and consumption. wealth and services that people need to live. These categories generally describe the economic sphere of society. The analysis of the main categories itself is carried out on the basis of the use of the following analytical categories: limited resources, costs, preferences and choice. These concepts are structured within separate interconnected processes of optimization at the level of individual decisions and equilibrium at the level of the whole society.
Shifting to the language of the student of human behavior, economists are interested in how people use their limited resources to produce, distribute and exchange goods and services for consumption, i.e. explore the process of choosing between alternative uses of scarce resources, methods of organizing resources, ways of distributing wealth and rewards for economic activity.
People can make optimal use of their limited resources only if there is economic freedom, when there are real opportunities for the implementation of free choice. This becomes possible only with the emergence and development of a free market system - with the emergence of a market society, when there is no centralized division of labor and when the economic sphere is clearly distinguished from all other aspects of public life.
The emergence of a society with a market economy (this is the process we are witnessing in our country) inevitably implies that each person must learn: a) to live in this world; b) obey the dictates of the market. This (inevitably leads to two major changes, the idea of which is associated with the names of M. Weber and K. Marx:
First, the social ethos is changing dramatically, which is manifested in various forms- in the development of business ethics, the spread of a "commodified" view of social relations, there is a habit to reduce consumer value to exchange value (M. Weber);
Secondly, new institutional (market) conditions of social life are emerging, in which contractual relations come to the fore, especially in the field of employment, and the role of fixed capital increases significantly (K. Marx).
Changes of the first kind lead to the triumph of the principle of maximization, which gradually turns into a conscious principle of a new way of thinking. This principle is generated by a new ethos, which puts benefits and costs first, gives rise to rationalism, i.e., market behavior based on utility optimization. The organizing force of human behavior is the calculation for one's own benefit: A. Smith called this the desire to "improve one's position" and argued that such a calculation, as a rule, accompanies us throughout life, and the simplest path that most people choose to improve their position, there is an "increase in wealth" .
Changes of the second kind lead to a completely new institutional dynamic, which makes possible a purely "economic" way of mobilizing labor based on the principles of supply and demand. In striving for material well-being, a person is faced with the economic problem of distributing limited resources: there are only twenty-four hours in a day, that is, time for action is limited, and the outside world does not provide opportunities and means to achieve all human goals. Therefore, a person needs to divide his time and money between the production of real income and recreation. Consequently, all the actions of the members of society can be divided into actions; leading to material wealth (for example, activities aimed at the production of bread), and to activities leading to non-material wealth (for example, activities aimed at organizing circus performances). This division is necessary because:
First, the individual needs both real income and rest;
Secondly, he does not have enough of both to satisfy his needs completely, because the time and means at his disposal are limited.
Thus, a person is forced to divide his time between different purposes, so human behavior economic system inevitably takes the form of choice. "Choice is an action that involves the expenditure of time and scarce resources to achieve some goal, thereby assuming that they will not be used to achieve another goal."
The selection process is always a variable dependent on the situation and personality.
Thus, the economic approach assumes that economic behavior is maximizing behavior in a more explicit form and in a wider range than other types of social behavior. In addition, the economic approach presupposes the existence of markets that, with varying degrees of efficiency, coordinate the actions of different participants - individuals, firms, and even entire nations - in such a way that their behavior becomes mutually consistent. It is also assumed; that preferences do not change in any significant way with the passage of time and do not differ too much between the poor and the rich, or even among people belonging to different societies and cultures [b, p. 261]. Chains and other market instruments regulate the distribution of rare resources in society, thereby limiting the desires of participants and coordinating their actions.
The economic approach also assumes the stability of preferences. These deep preferences are determined by people's attitudes towards fundamental aspects of their lives, such as values, norms, mentality, health, prestige, sensual pleasures, benevolence or envy, and by no means always remain stable, if we mean market goods and services. The premise of preference stability provides a reliable basis for predicting responses to changes.
Maximizing behavior and stability of preferences are not just assumptions for analysis, but can be derived from the concept of natural selection of suitable behaviors in the course of human evolution. An economic approach to human behavior does not assume that all participants in every market necessarily have complete information or make transactions that require no costs to conclude them. Incomplete information should not, however, be confused with irrationality or inconsistency in behavior. The economic approach comes from the theory of optimal or rational accumulation of expensive information, which implies; for example, a greater investment in obtaining information when making important decisions compared to minor ones, such as buying a house or getting married, compared to buying bread or a sofa. The information gathered in this way is often far from complete because it is costly to obtain, a fact that the economics approach uses to explain behaviors that other approaches understand either as irrational or inconsistent behavior or as traditional.
Cases where clearly profitable opportunities are missed, the economic approach does not explain this as irrationality. On the contrary, he postulates the existence of costs, monetary or psychological, arising from trying to take advantage of these favorable opportunities - costs that negate the supposed benefits and which are not easily "seen" by outside observers. Moreover, an economic approach to human behavior does not require that individual agents necessarily be aware of their maximization drive or that they be able to explain the causes of persistent stereotypes in their behavior. Thus, it coincides in this with modern psychology and sociology.
The economic approach proceeds from the premise that criminal activity is the same profession to which people dedicate full or incomplete working time. People decide to become criminals for the same reasons that others become carpenters or teachers, namely because they expect that the "profit" from the decision to become a criminal is the present value of the total difference between benefits and costs, both non-monetary and monetary superior to the "profit" from other professions,
The economic approach assumes that the subjects economic activity often encounter obstacles that hinder the realization of their aspirations. Obstacles can be of various kinds. They can be material (financial, informational and material), temporal (time restrictions), formal (restrictions based on written and unwritten laws) and informal (restrictions associated with traditions and customs).
The application of the economic approach creates a kind of framework in which economic behavior appears in full, but protected from the empirical complexity of the world. Thus, if we consider human behavior in general, then this behavior is affected by a large number of variables - economic, political, legal, religious - and if the researcher were faced with the task of presenting economic life in its entirety, many of these various types of variables would have to be introduce economic models. The usual way of limiting the empirical complexity of the world is that; although non-economic variables influence behavior, for the purposes of analysis, many variables are assumed to be constant, i.e., these variables act as "data".
One of the important "givens" of traditional analysis is economic rationality: if an individual is faced with a situation of economic choice, he will choose such a course of action in order to maximize his economic position.
One of the most important prerequisites for economic behavior is economic culture as a set of social values and norms that are regulators of economic behavior and play the role of social memory of economic development: contributing (or hindering) the transmission, selection and renewal of values, norms and needs, functioning in the economic sphere and guiding its subjects on certain forms of economic activity. The values associated with the economy are stable ideas accepted in society and among its individual groups about what economic benefits (wealth, connections, power, status, different types employment, different sources and ways of acquiring income, etc.) are most important or not at all important for them and their families, as well as people's ideas about what economic relations are preferable for them. The norms in the USSR economy are the ideas of people, as well as their actions in the sphere of the economy, which are recognized as useful, correct, necessary in certain situations related to the economy. Economic culture selects (discards, preserves; accumulates) economic values and norms necessary for the survival and further development of the economy, accumulates standards of appropriate economic behavior, transmits from the past to the present the values and norms that underlie labor, consumption, distribution and other economic actions. and relations, renews the values and norms that regulate the development of the economy, being the reservoir from which new patterns of behavior are drawn. Economic culture in interaction with the mentality of the nation forms the economic thinking of individuals, as a result, the program of individual economic behavior is determined and the actual economic action takes place.
Mentality is "a deep level of collective and individual consciousness, including the unconscious, a set of readinesses, attitudes and predispositions of an individual or a social group to act, think, feel and perceive the world in a certain way. Mentality is formed depending on traditions, culture, social structures and the entire habitat, and he, in turn, forms them, acting as a generative consciousness; as a hard-to-define source of cultural-historical dynamics". Being formed historically, over the centuries, the mentality determines the national model of economic and social behavior - the culture of consumption, production and corresponding motivations.
The formation of the Russian mentality was based on Christianity, generated by Western civilization, and superimposed on the spirit of the East. As a result, a special mentality was formed, the properties of which can be called a paradox, a perception of the world "both this and that" in sharp contrast to the Western mentality, which is characterized by an approach from the position of "either - or". This property of the Russian mentality testifies to the peculiarities of the economic behavior of the Russian personality, and seems to be an important factor in the organization of the economy in Russia. Russian people are characterized by depth inner life, partial transfer of personal freedom to the team, a greater degree of non-economic components of economic success.
Economic thinking is a process of human cognition, social group, society as a whole of economic reality, awareness of its place in economic relations and the development on this basis of the principles of its activities. On the basis of the peculiarities of the Russian mentality, a special type of Russian economic thinking is formed, which is formed as a combination of the properties of the West and the East. At the heart of Russian economic thinking lies state economic thinking, associated with Eastern civilizations and bearing such features as the strong inclusion of individual consciousness in the structure of public consciousness, hierarchy, dependence on the state, intolerance for deviations from accepted norms of economic behavior, disregard for law and legality.
Today, elements of market economic thinking that are immanent in the West are increasingly influencing people's behavior: a sense of ownership, personal economic independence, initiative, pragmatism, flexibility, adaptability, entrepreneurial spirit, readiness to act in a competitive environment. The economic behavior of a person in Russia differs from the economic behavior of a Western person. The rationalism of economic behavior and the Western European version is identical to the desire to obtain benefits not as a result of a random act, but as a result of a constant comparison of income and costs, which is the norm of behavior. In Russia, due to the socio-historical features of development, rationalism in the Western European version could not arise. Economic behavior here is often irrational, and economic benefits are sometimes missed due to the influence of the subjective perception of others and involvement in the collective spirit. This distinctive feature of the Russian person introduces moments of uncertainty in situations associated with economic choice. In other words, when modeling the economic behavior of a person in Russia, it is necessary to take into account, perhaps to a somewhat greater extent, subjective rationality, since economic behavior is based on the peculiarities of the Russian mentality and Russian economic thinking.
Thus, when we consider the economic behavior of a Russian person, it is necessary to proceed from the position of changing the paradigm of rationality, introducing subjectivism, which suggests that if alternative X is preferable to alternative Y, then the individual himself makes a choice between them, focusing on his own assessments of benefits and costs. Despite the importance of the category "economic behavior", there is no generally accepted definition of it. Researchers in most cases define it either as rational behavior aimed at making a profit: "By economic behavior, we mean purposeful behavior, the choice of options for which is regulated by the profit maximization criterion" , or as behavior aimed at choosing the most profitable alternatives: "Economic behavior - actions aimed at choosing the most profitable alternatives. The choice implies the presence of a number of possibilities and depends on income and prices for goods that have different utility... We are closest to the definition given by Verkhovin V.I.: "Economic behavior is a system of social actions, which, firstly, are associated with the use of economic values (resources) of different functions and purpose, and, secondly, are focused on making a profit (reward) from their circulation.
However, based on the considered economic approach, I would like to supplement the above definition with the fact that economic behavior is behavior associated with the maximization of the distribution of scarce resources between the production of real income and recreation (aimed at "improving one's position") and including specific economic thinking. based on national characteristics and features of economic traditions.
In addition, I would like to put priority in the definition not on making a profit, but on receiving remuneration (benefit) as a result of activity, and this remuneration (benefit) is always evaluated based on own assessments income and expenses. Their evaluation will be determined on the basis of the quantity and quality of economic resources that are available; from the institutional and socio-cultural framework; in which the subjects are located; the assessment of benefits will be influenced by the traditions and stereotypes of modes of behavior accepted in society; specific procedures and technologies acceptable in a given economic environment to achieve an optimal result.
Human economic behavior is behavior aimed at subjective optimization due to the comparison of available resources with the possible benefits from their use. At the same time, benefits can be economic, that is, materially tangible (money, goods, etc.) and non-economic (psychological, social, etc.). This definition allows you to combine all the types of human behavior in the economic sphere.
Thus, economic behavior is not an independent factor in the development of the economy of life, it depends on a number of deeper factors: the conditions for the formation of economic culture and economic thinking, the features of the existing systems of economic and social relations. References
List literature
Hirchleifer J. The Expanded Domain of Economics. - American Economic Review, December. 1985, V.75.
Marshall A. Principles of political economy:! Per. from English. Moscow: Progress, 1983. T.I.
Robbins L. Subject of economic science // 1 THESIS, 1993. Winter. T.I. Issue 1.
Zaslavskaya T.N., Ryvkina R.V. Sociology of economic life. Novosibirsk, 1991. P.51.
Heilbroner R. Economic theory as a universal science // THESIS, 1993. Winter. T.I. Issue 1. P.41.
Smelser N.J. Sociology of economic life. Translation of GPNTB No. 11304. Novosibirsk, 1985. P.51.
Smith A. Research on the nature and cause of the wealth of nations. Moscow: Sotsegiz, 1.962.
Schonfeld L. Grenznutzen und Wirtschaftsrechnung. V., 1982. RZ.
Baker Gary S. Economic analysis and human behavior // THESIS, Nachala-press, Winter 1993. Vol. 1. Issue. 1. S. 26.
Ryvkina R.V. Between socialism and the market: the fate of economic culture in Russia. M.: Nauka, 1994. P.30.
Dictionary of Modern Western Philosophy4:>ii. M., 1991. P. 176.
Goricheva L. Economic problems and national self-consciousness // Questions of Economics. 1993. No. 8. pp.44-53.
Arkhipov A. Approval of new economic thinking and tasks of theory, education and upbringing // Russian economic journal. 1997. P.95.
Tambovtsev V.L. Experience of empirical research of economic behavior // Bulletin of Moscow University. Series 6. Economy. 1994. No. 3. P.46.
Arrow K. Information and economic behavior // Questions of Economics. 1995. No. 5. P.98.
Verkhovin V.I. Economic behavior as a subject of sociological analysis // Socis. 1994. No. 10. S. 120.
- Do you often work, father? the doctor asked the priest at the funeral.
“By your grace,” answered the priest with a bow.
A. E. Izmailov. Notes
Personnel management activities - purposeful impact on the human component of the organization, focused on bringing the capabilities of the personnel and the goals, strategies, conditions for the development of the organization into line.
One of the most important components management activities- personnel management, as a rule, is based on the concept of management - a generalized idea (not necessarily declared) about the place of a person in an organization. In the theory and practice of managing the human side of an organization, four concepts can be distinguished that developed within the framework of three main approaches to management - economic, organic and humanistic.
3.1. Economic approach
We are all miserable slaves of the stomach. Don't try to be moral and
fair, friends! Watch your stomach closely
nourish it with understanding and care. Then satisfaction and
virtue will reign in your heart without any effort on your part;
you will become a good citizen, a loving husband, a gentle
father - a noble, pious man.
Jerome K. Jerome. three in a boat
The economic approach to management gave rise to the concept use labor resources . Within the framework of this approach, the leading place is occupied by technical (in the general case, instrumental, i.e., aimed at mastering labor techniques), and not managerial training of people at the enterprise. Organization here means the ordering of relations between clearly defined parts of the whole, having a certain order. In essence, an organization is a set of mechanical relationships, and it must act like a mechanism: algorithmic, efficient, reliable and predictable.
Among the main principles of the concept of the use of labor resources are the following:
- ensuring the unity of leadership - subordinates receive orders from only one boss;
- adherence to a strict managerial vertical - the chain of command from the boss to the subordinate descends from top to bottom throughout the organization and is used as a channel for communication and decision-making;
- fixing the necessary and sufficient amount of control - the number of people subordinate to one boss should be such that this does not create problems for communication and coordination;
- maintaining a clear separation of staff and linear structures organizations - staff personnel, being responsible for the content of activities, under no circumstances can exercise the powers vested in line managers;
- achieving a balance between power and responsibility - it makes no sense to make someone responsible for any work if he is not given the appropriate authority;
- ensuring discipline - submission, diligence, energy and manifestation of external signs of respect must be carried out in accordance with accepted rules and customs;
- achieving the subordination of individual interests to a common cause with the help of firmness, personal example, honest agreements and constant monitoring;
- ensuring equity at every level of the organization, based on goodwill and fairness, to inspire staff to perform their duties effectively; well-deserved reward that boosts morale, but does not lead to overpayment or remotivation.
In table. 3.1 provides a brief description of the economic approach to management.
Table 3.1. Characteristics of the conditions of efficiency and special difficulties in the framework of the economic approach
|
Efficiency Conditions |
Special difficulties |
|
A clear task to complete |
Difficulty adapting to changing conditions |
|
The environment is quite stable |
Clumsy bureaucratic superstructure (strict assignment and hierarchy management structure, which makes it difficult for performers to make creative and independent decisions when the situation changes) |
|
Production of the same product |
If the interests of employees take precedence over the goals of the organization, undesirable consequences are possible (since the motivation of personnel is reduced solely to external stimulation, even minor changes in the incentive scheme are enough for unpredictable consequences) |
|
The person agrees to be a part of the machine and behaves as planned |
Dehumanizing impact on workers (the use of limited staff capabilities can be effective in low-skilled labor) |
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