The productive forces of society include: Productive forces and relations of production

During the production process, people interact with nature and with each other. These two types of relations constitute inextricably linked aspects of any specific mode of production, which is expressed in the existence of productive forces and production relations. The mode of production is defined as a contradictory unity of productive forces and production relations. Productive forces constitute the content of the method of production, and the relations of production constitute its form.

Productive forces these are the forces through which society influences and changes nature. In addition, productive forces can be characterized as one of the aspects of the development of the social individual.

Productive forces express man's relationship with nature, his ability to creatively use its wealth for personal and social interests. Productive forces exist and function only within social production. The level of development of production forces is manifested in the degree of human knowledge of the laws of nature and their use in production to achieve set goals.

Each method of production is based on a certain material and technical basis and the type of labor corresponding to this basis. History knows three types of labor: manual, machine, automated. These types of labor historically correspond to very specific types of society: pre-industrial, industrial, post-industrial (information).

The productive forces include all factors that determine the level of labor productivity: these are all subjective (personal) and material (material) elements of the labor process, as well as their interaction in the production of material goods. These include, first of all, man, as the main productive force with his labor experience, level of education and qualifications, as well as means of labor and objects of labor. The productive forces also include science in its technological application, the socialization of production through the division of labor, cooperation, specialization, as well as the organization and management of production arising from them. Natural resources and natural forces only become productive forces when, thanks to human labor, they become elements of social production.

Thus, the productive forces cover the entire complex of different, interdependent and constantly developing elements that perform a specific function in the production process.

The basis of any system of productive forces are human labor power, the subject of labor and the means of labor.

Work force , is the totality of physical and spiritual abilities that the organism, the living personality of a person, possesses, and which are put into action by it whenever it produces any use values ​​(objects that can satisfy certain needs). The use of labor power as a conscious and purposeful activity is called labor. It can only act in interaction with the means of labor and objects of labor. The latter, therefore, become productive forces only when they are covered by human labor.

Objects of labor are things that are processed by a person in the process of work. Subjects of labor can be: nature itself, as far as it is covered by human labor; raw materials that are already separated from nature; processed material and semi-finished products. The subject of labor thus turns out to be involved in production and a transformed part of nature.

The subject of labor is not a passive object; it plays a certain active role in the system of productive forces. It constantly places demands on manpower, tools and production technology. In the conditions of scientific and technological revolution, this active role of the object of labor increases due to the development of science (chemistry), completely new objects of labor appear.

Means of labor there is a thing or a complex of things that a person places between himself and the object of labor and which serves for him as a conductor of his influence on this object. The last source of labor is nature. Man uses the mechanical, physical, and chemical properties of things in order to use them, in accordance with his purpose, as instruments of influence on other things.

In the form of the means of labor, man creates forces that far exceed his own. Without this, society could not achieve modern advances in production.

The composition of the means of labor is very diverse and changes from era to era. Their main elements are tools, equipment and infrastructure, which is constantly developing as production becomes more complex, that is, a complex of economic sectors serving production (roads, bridges, canals, warehouses, energy management, transport, an increasingly developed computer network, etc.

Technology is, first of all, a set of various devices created by man (machines, tools, computers, vehicles, etc.) designed to create various substances, energy and information, their transformation, storage and use for the development of production, satisfying various non-productive needs . Technology in this sense can act both as a means of production and as its final product, the result of people’s production activities. It therefore amounts to essential element productive forces that ultimately determine the nature and content of the method of production.

But technology must also be understood as a set of various skills, stable patterns of activity, a special kind of skills. Certain devices created by man can be practically used for appropriate purposes only if there is a certain level of professional skills. And, conversely, skills professional training and skills are determined and limited by the corresponding type and level of human-made devices and, in turn, promote or hinder their improvement.

Technical activity in the conditions of scientific and technological revolution is complex and contradictory. But modern technology is not just an “extension of the human hand”, a repeated “effort” of his muscular energy, but also a means of performing a whole range of intellectual tasks using computers. By transferring a number of routine intellectual operations to computers, a person is freed up for specific human, constructive and projective activities. Indirectly through the system public relations technology influences a person’s entire lifestyle and worldview.

Thus, productive forces always form a system of interaction between human-subjective and material-object elements in a really existing social process of production. Human labor creates all productive forces and organizes their interaction. It carries out the function of goal-setting for activity and further development of productive forces, growth of labor productivity. At the same time, the technical basis of production places its own special, increasing demands on people.

With the development of productive forces, the mechanism of their interrelation also improves. This is practically realized in the division and cooperation of labor through the organization and management of production.

The labor process has always had a cooperative basis, because people could and can produce effectively only by constantly interacting in work. However, the effectiveness of cooperation entirely depends on the degree of division of labor and the development of exchange of activities, i.e. from individualization and specialization of producers.

The division and cooperation of social productive forces contributes to the development of material production and society and thus becomes an important productive force. The organization and management of the development of PS also becomes a productive force if they comprehensively take into account the division (differentiation) and socialization (integration) of labor in accordance with the laws of development of social production. Through management and organization there is a direct connection between productive forces and production relations, and they themselves, entering the system of productive forces, simultaneously become elements of the corresponding production relations.

As already noted, the productive forces of society are a combination of personal factors of production, which are made up of people with their ability to work, and objective factors, including the means of production, and are used by people in the production process. Productive forces express the active relationship of people to nature, consisting in material and spiritual development, modification and appropriation of its wealth. In the process of functioning of the productive forces, the conditions of existence of society are reproduced, and humanity develops.

The central place in the productive forces belongs to man with his ability to work and create wealth. The knowledge and production experience of people, their efficiency, activity and hard work determine the possibilities and power of social production. The leading role of people in the productive forces, on the one hand, is manifested in the fact that only living labor is capable of creating wealth. Without it, as one of the classical economists noted, the objective factors of production are a dead pile of things. In addition, material factors of production are the product of the mind, experience and labor of people. Any element of material productive forces always acts in production as a direct continuation of the natural forces of people, their energy abilities. The role of this factor is evidenced by the following fact. Based on an analysis of the national wealth of 192 countries, experts. World Bank determined that the share production assets in their national wealth is 16%, natural resources- 20%, and human capital- 64у - 64%.

Land occupies a special place in the productive forces of society. Being an objective factor of production, in certain sectors of the economy it acts primarily as a means of labor (this applies to agricultural production), and in others - as a subject of labor (extractive industry). But in all areas economic activity it serves as a production area and a material condition for production. The forces of nature are all the common subject of labor. Their subordination to man multiplies the productive forces of society. The material and material elements of the productive forces include the level of technology, science within the productive scope of its achievements and the level of organization of production.

So, the productive forces express the attitude of people to nature. The level of their development is determined by the degree of human impact on nature, the possibilities of creating a certain volume of material and intangible goods and services. It is characterized by the means and methods of production by which people obtain goods, what their production experience is, which, in the end, determines the degree of man’s mastery of the forces of nature. The rise of productive forces predetermines man's ever more complete subordination of the elemental forces of nature and the growth of productivity of human labor, which leads to an increase in the wealth of society and forms the basis of social progress.

The development of productive forces occurs under the influence of a number of factors. This is, firstly, the level of material elements of the productive forces. The more powerful the technical means of production, the more advanced the technologies, the greater the volume of benefits created with their help. Evolutionary development human society primarily due to changes in means and methods of production. The transition from manual to machine production, scientific and technological progress - these are the main prerequisites for the development of productive forces and their rise to the current level. Precisely obsolescence technical means And technological processes in Ukraine is one of the factors hindering the development of productive forces.

An important factor in the development of productive forces is the level of human progress as the main productive force. As already noted, both the use of objective factors of production and its effectiveness depend to a large extent on the level of a person’s knowledge, his ability to work, and his production experience. Special meaning acquires human factor V modern conditions when the level of technical equipment of production sharply increases as a result of the scientific and technological revolution. Innovations in the technological basis of production are under the influence. Scientific and technological revolutions also lead to a change in the role of man in production, in particular, the role of mental labor is increasing. Confirmation of the growing intellectual saturation of work is a significant increase in the general educational and professional level of workers. So, in. In the USA, the minimum duration of education for workers after secondary education has reached 14.5 years. In modern conditions, it is believed that investing in people (the human factor) is one of the most profitable ones.

Another factor in the development of productive forces is the level of organization of production. The latter acts as an organizational and economic form through which the social productive power of man is realized. It arose as a result of manifestations of the socialization of production based on the division of labor, specialization and cooperation of production. On modern stage In the development of human society, the role of this factor increases significantly. This is manifested primarily in the increasing role of production management, which is confirmed by the widespread development and dissemination of such production management sciences as management and marketing.

Among organizational factors The social division of labor occupies an important place in the development of productive forces. This is a process of differentiation of labor activity, which leads to the isolation and coexistence of its various types. Division of labor is a form of organization social labor, in which certain groups of producers are assigned for a long period of time according to certain types production activities. According to economic Cree. Terry distinguishes general, partial and single division of labor. The general division of labor is the division of social production into such areas as industry, Agriculture, construction, transport, services. The division of labor between enterprises is a partial division; within an enterprise between its structural divisions there is a single, or technological division of labor. According to territorial significance, the following levels of division of labor are distinguished: within the enterprise, between various enterprises, between different regions countries and between different countries(international division of labor).

Forms of division of labor are specialization and cooperation of production. Specialization of production refers to the separation and creation of enterprises and industries for the production of homogeneous products. It consists in unifying manufactured products and enhancing the technical uniformity of production. Three types of specialization are considered: subject, detailed (aggregate) and technological (stage) with subject specialization, the production of certain types of products is concentrated in individual enterprises or industries. Detailed specialization involves focusing on the production of individual parts and assemblies (for example, tire production). And the implementation of individual technological processes (for example, the production of forgings) is a technological specialization.

The second form of social division of labor is production cooperation. This is the establishment of permanent connections between specialized manufacturers who jointly produce certain products, but maintain economic independence in accordance with the types of specialization, consider subject, detail and technological cooperation of production. It should be noted that on the basis of cooperation in modern conditions, the whirlpool is the source of the majority of production.

The importance of the division of labor as a factor in the development of productive forces lies in the fact that such division allows for more efficient, rational use of resources, thus significantly increasing labor productivity on the one hand, the division of labor allows a person to concentrate on some type of work and improve in it, which contributes to increasing the effectiveness of its activities, on the other hand, the division of labor makes it possible to use the advantages created by natural and climatic conditions. It should be noted that he was one of the first in economic theory to substantiate the role of the division of labor as a factor in the development of productive forces. Adam. Smith.


Productive forces- tools with the help of which material goods are produced, and people who set in motion the instruments of production and carry out the production of material goods thanks to known experience and skills for work. The state of the productive forces answers the question of what instruments of production people use to produce the material goods they need, and expresses society’s attitude towards natural forces. The productivity of social labor depends on the historical level of development of the productive forces, the perfection of the instruments of production, and on the production experience and skills of people at work. At every historical moment, the life of society is ultimately determined by the productive forces at its disposal.

The existence of primitive man is just as unthinkable without a bow and arrow, a stone ax, etc., just as the existence of modern capitalism is unthinkable without machines, as well as without workers, who constitute the main productive force of society. The development of productive forces, primarily the development of instruments of production, underlies change and development (see). A change in the method of production leads to a change in the entire social system. Productive forces do not exist outside a certain social form, that is, outside (see). Marxism-Leninism sharply criticizes concepts that consider the forces of production apart from their interaction with the relations of production with which they are inextricably linked. This is the case, for example, when Bukharin’s concept is absolutely alien to Marxism.

The development of the productive forces can only be understood in connection with the relations of production. The productive forces are the basis on which certain relations of production grow. But these latter, arising on the basis of productive forces, have a huge impact on them. If production relations do not correspond to the nature of the productive forces and are in a state of contradiction with them, they hinder the further development of the productive forces. This discrepancy and contradiction is caused by the fact that the productive forces always go ahead, being the most mobile and revolutionary element of production. The revolutionary nature and mobility of the productive forces is explained by the fact that with the help of the instruments of production people obtain the means of subsistence necessary for life. In an effort to raise the material standard of Jewish life, people are improving the tools of production and achieving an increase in the productive forces.

Hence the pattern of production relations lagging behind the development of productive forces, and the emergence of a contradiction between them at a certain stage of development. In order for the productive forces to develop further, it is necessary to destroy the old relations of production and replace them with new relations of production. Marxism teaches that new relations of production are the main and decisive force that determines the further powerful development of the productive forces. Thus, the modern productive forces of capitalism can no longer develop as before, because bourgeois production relations inhibit this development. On the contrary, the productive forces of Soviet society are developing at a rapid pace, because socialist production relations contribute to this.

In his work “On Dialectical and Historical Materialism,” J.V. Stalin gave a picture of the development of productive forces from ancient times to the present day: “The transition from crude stone tools to bows and arrows and, in connection with this, the transition from a hunting way of life to the domestication of animals and to primitive cattle breeding, the transition from stone tools to metal tools (an iron axe, a plow with an iron ploughshare, etc.) and, accordingly, the transition to the cultivation of plants and agriculture; further improvement of metal tools for processing materials, the transition to blacksmith's bellows, the transition to pottery production and, accordingly, the development of crafts, the separation of crafts from agriculture, the development of independent crafts and then manufacturing; the transition from handicraft tools of production to machines and the transformation of handicraft production into machine industry; the transition to a system of machines and the emergence of modern large-scale mechanized industry - this is the general, far from complete, picture of the development of the productive forces of society throughout the history of mankind.” Along with the change in the instruments of production and in close connection with them, people, who constitute the most important element of the productive forces, developed and their skills for work developed.

During the transition from the old formation to the new, existing relations of production are eliminated, while the productive forces are preserved and developed further.

  • 1. Types of social production: natural and commercial farming.
  • 2.Primitive communal method of production.
  • 3. Slave-owning method of production.
  • 4.Feudal mode of production.
  • 5.Initial accumulation of capital.
  • Lecture 3. Commodity production. Product and its properties. Money.
  • 1.Commodity production: causes and main features.
  • 2. Product and its properties. The dual nature of labor embodied in a product. The main contradiction of commodity production.
  • 3.Value of cost. Labor productivity and cost of goods.
  • 4. Cost form. Development of the form of value and the emergence of money.
  • 5.The essence and functions of money. The law of value is the fundamental law of commodity production.
  • Lecture 4. Capital and surplus value. The basic economic law of capitalism
  • 1. Transformation of money into capital. Labor power as a commodity.
  • 2.Production of surplus value. The essence of capital. Constant and variable capital.
  • 3.Two methods of producing surplus value.
  • 4. Three stages of development of capitalist industrial production.
  • Lecture 5. Wages under capitalism
  • 2. Basic forms and systems of wages.
  • 3. Nominal and real wages. Factors influencing the level of real wages.
  • Lecture 6. Reproduction of individual capital
  • 1.Production and reproduction, simple and expanded capitalist reproduction.
  • 2.Capital accumulation and factors influencing the amount of accumulation.
  • 3.Technical progress and capital accumulation.
  • 4. Accumulation of wealth and employment of the population.
  • Lecture 7. Individual capital turnover
  • 1.Circulation of capital and its three stages.
  • 2.Capital turnover. Fixed and working capital.
  • 4.Turnover of variable capital and its influence on the annual mass and annual rate of surplus value.
  • Lecture 8. Costs of capitalist production and profit
  • 1. Transformation of surplus value into profit.
  • 2. The rate of profit and its determining factors.
  • The rate of profit (p) is the percentage of surplus value to the total capital advanced.
  • 3. Formation of the average rate of profit and the transformation of the cost of goods into the price of production.
  • 4. The law of the tendency of the average rate of profit to decrease.
  • Lecture 9. Trading capital and trading profit
  • 1. The essence of trading capital.
  • 2. Trading profit and the mechanism of its occurrence.
  • 3. Forms of capitalist trade.
  • Lecture 10. Loan capital and loan interest. Capitalist credit. Share capital
  • 1. Loan capital and loan interest.
  • 2. Capitalist credit.
  • 3.Share capital, joint stock companies and founder's profit.
  • Lecture 11. Entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector
  • 1. The essence of capitalist land rent.
  • 2. Differential land rent.
  • 3.Absolute land rent. Price of land.
  • Pd
  • Lecture 12. Reproduction and circulation of social capital. National income
  • 1. Aggregate social product and its components.
  • 2.Simple and expanded reproduction of the social product.
  • 3.National income: the essence of national income under capitalism.
  • 4.Production, distribution and final use of national income.
  • Lecture 13. The cyclical nature of capitalist reproduction.
  • 1. Economic (industrial) cycle and its phases.
  • I – crisis phase, II – depression phase, III – recovery phase, IV – recovery phase.
  • 2. Material basis of the economic (industrial) cycle.
  • 3.Agrarian crises.
  • 4.Non-Marxist theories of economic cycles.
  • Lecture 14. Patterns and stages of development of the economic system of capitalism
  • 1.Imperialism is the highest stage of capitalism.
  • 2.Financial capital and financial oligarchy.
  • 3. Export of capital.
  • 4. State-monopoly capitalism.
  • 2. Productive forces and relations of production. Economic laws, their objective nature.

    The labor process is always carried out by individuals producing in society and thanks to society. Only in a team can a person’s creative abilities and individuality develop. In progress historical development within the framework of the collective, tools of labor were created, improved, and increasingly differentiated, and new objects of labor were discovered. With the development of social production, the interdependence of people in society increases. Modern man is no longer able to independently produce all the goods he needs (a house, a car, a computer and software for it, etc.). Therefore, the individual is forced to enter into relationships with other people in order to exchange the results of his work with them. In addition, even work in the household is influenced by society, since a person uses the knowledge accumulated by society, as well as the means of labor created in society (agricultural technologies, energy resources, household electrical appliances, etc.). Thus, labor and production always have public character.

    In domestic political economy, there has been a tradition of distinguishing two sides in social production: productive forces and production relations.

    Productive forces- these are the means of production and the people who set them in motion and have certain knowledge, experience and skills to work.

    Productive forces characterize the relationships that develop between society and nature. They act as the leading, most active, dynamically developing side of social production. At the same time, the main productive force of society is the person who works. Productive forces also include natural productive forces– soil fertility, energy of rivers, wind, sun, etc. The level of development of the productive forces is characterized by the degree of social division of labor and the corresponding development of the means of labor, primarily technology, as well as the degree of development of production skills and accumulated scientific knowledge. In the conditions of modern scientific and technological progress, science is the direct productive force. Thus, it is wrong to identify productive forces only with technology or only with elements of nature.

    Entering into active interaction with nature, people simultaneously enter into social relations with each other, through which only this interaction itself is possible. Certain connections and relationships into which people enter, regardless of their will and consciousness, in the process of material production are called social-production relations.

    Relations of production- these are relationships that arise between people regarding the production, distribution, exchange and consumption of material goods.

    The totality of historically determined relations of production constitutes economic basis society, which is based on relations of ownership of the means of production and the results of labor. The economic basis of each historically defined stage of social development corresponds to certain ideological ideas and political, legal, and social institutions (institutions) based on them, called superstructuresociety. The leading place in the superstructure is occupied by the state.

    The basis of production relations is the relationship of ownership of the means of production and the results of labor. The content and specific combination of general and private economic interests of members of society, its social structure, the place and position of people in social production.

    Property relations these are relations that arise between people regarding the appropriation of the means of production and the results of labor, which manifests itself in people’s attitude towards them as their own or as strangers.

    Property relations arise objectively and are always associated with things, i.e. with the means of production and the results of labor. Therefore, the relationship of property is, first of all, the relationship of one person to another person through the medium of a thing.

    Productive forces and production relations are closely related to each other, as the content and form of social production. However, if the productive forces represent the active, dynamically developing side of social production, then production relations characterize its relatively conservative and inert side. Considered together, these two aspects represent the mode of production.

    Mode of production- this is the unity (correspondence) of productive forces and production relations that characterizes a certain historical stage of development of society.

    In domestic political economy, it is customary to distinguish four historically defined modes of production: primitive communal, slaveholding, feudal and capitalist. In addition, some economic theorists also predicted the advent of the communist mode of production.

    A necessary factor in socio-economic development is the social division of labor.

    Social division of labor– is the separation of different types of work activities.

    There are two main types of division of labor: within society and within an enterprise. The division of labor within society appears as general - by type of production (industry, agriculture, transport, etc.) and private - division of types of production into types and subtypes (mining and manufacturing industries, crop production and livestock farming, etc.). In addition, there is a territorial division of labor - according to territorial economic regions. The division of labor within an enterprise is called single. An important condition for the development (deepening) of the social division of labor is the growth of the productive forces of society. In turn, the development of the social division of labor serves as a factor in the development of productive forces, since it contributes to the accumulation of production experience and skills among workers, increasing the level of their qualifications and knowledge, and the development of labor tools.

    Thus, the degree of development of the social division of labor characterizes the level of development of the productive forces. History knows three major social divisions of labor: first– identification of pastoral tribes; second- separation of crafts from agriculture; third- separation of trade. All of them contributed to increasing labor productivity and creating material conditions for the emergence of regular exchange, private property and the division of society into classes. Under capitalism, in comparison with feudalism, as a result of the development of machine production, there is a further deepening of the social division of labor and the final separation of industry from agriculture.

    The need for constant and continuous satisfaction of the needs of society and individuals necessitates a continuous process of production of material goods. In order to highlight this important property of social production, the concept of “reproduction” is widely used in political economy.

    Reproduction is a constantly repeating and renewing production process.

    In the structure of social reproduction, economists usually distinguish four main processes or spheres: 1 – direct production; 2 – distribution; 3 – exchange; 4 – consumption.

    Direct production- this is a set of relations associated with the distribution of means of production and people by type and type of activity.

    Distribution- this is a set of relations associated with determining the share of each participant in social production in the produced product.

    Exchange- this is a set of relations associated with the acquisition, created in direct production and established by distribution, of a share of the social product.

    Consumption is a set of relations associated with the final use of produced and received material goods to satisfy needs.

    At the same time, consumption is of two types: productive and personal. Productive consumption is the process of end-use of already created and acquired means of production to create new material wealth. Personal consumption is a process of end use by people material goods for consumer purposes(food, clothing, shoes, etc.).

    Continuously developing, productive forces come into conflict with existing production relations, which ultimately causes social conflict (revolution) and the replacement of one mode of production by another. A revolution in the economic system of society, as a rule, leads to a revolution in the entire social superstructure.

    The processes of formation, development and decline of historically defined modes of production are subject to the action objective, i.e. economic laws independent of the consciousness and will of people.

    Economic law– this is a necessary, stable, cause-and-effect relationship between the phenomena and processes of the economic life of society.

    The set of economic laws forms a system of laws, the structure of which usually distinguishes between general (universal), special and specific economic laws.

    General (universal) economic laws are laws that operate at all stages or stages of the historical development of society and link all these stages into a single natural historical process. These include: the law of steady growth in the productivity of social labor, the law of saving time, the law of rapid growth of needs in relation to the possibilities of satisfying them, etc.

    Special economic laws are laws that operate within several modes of production or stages of socio-economic development. These include, for example, the laws of commodity production and, in particular, the law of value.

    Specific Economic laws are laws that operate within only one mode of production or one stage of the evolution of society. These include, for example, the law surplus value, law of average profit, etc.

    Political economy studies the conditions and laws of economic life by revealing the essence of economic phenomena. In the process of their analysis and synthesis, logical concepts are formed that more or less fully reflect the real economic reality in its development and change. Logical concepts that reflect in a generalized form the conditions of the economic life of society are called economic categories. Each category reflects the essence of a phenomenon. Categories are not arbitrary, they are true, since in reality those relationships exist of which they are abstractions (abstract, general concepts). Economic categories are historical. Their content, although with some delay, changes over time due to changes in phenomena or processes, the essence of which they are intended to reflect.

    As already noted, the productive forces of society are a combination of personal factors of production, which consists of people with their ability to work, and objective factors, including the means of production that are used by people in the production process. Productive forces express the active attitude of people to nature, which consists in the material and spiritual development, modification and appropriation of its wealth. In the process of functioning of the productive forces, the conditions of existence of society are reproduced, and humanity develops.

    The central place in the productive forces belongs to man with his ability to work and create wealth. The knowledge and production experience of people, their efficiency, activity and hard work determine the possibilities and power of social production. The leading role of people in the productive forces, on the one hand, is manifested in the fact that only living labor is capable of creating wealth. Without it, as one of the classics of political economy noted, the objective factors of production are a dead pile of things. On the other hand, material factors of production are the product of the mind, experience and labor of people. Any element of material productive forces always acts in production as a direct continuation of the natural forces of people, their energy abilities. The role of this factor is evidenced by the following fact. Based on an analysis of the national wealth of 192 countries, World Bank experts determined that the share of production assets in their national wealth is 16%, natural resources - 20%, and human capital - 64%.

    Land occupies a special place in the productive forces of society. Being an objective factor of production, in certain sectors of the economy it acts primarily as a means of labor (this applies to agricultural production), and in others - as a subject of labor (mining industry). But in all spheres of economic activity it serves as a production area and a material condition for production. The forces of nature are a universal subject of labor. Their subordination to man increases the productive forces of society. The material and material elements of the productive forces include the level of technology, science within the limits of the productive use of its achievements and the level of organization of production.

    So, the productive forces express the attitude of people to nature. The level of their development is determined by the degree of human impact on nature, the possibilities of creating a certain volume of material and intangible goods and services. It is characterized by the means and methods of production by which people obtain goods, what their production experience is, which, in the end, determines the degree of man’s mastery of the forces of nature. The development of productive forces determines the ever more complete subordination of man to the spontaneous forces of nature and the growth of productivity of human labor, which leads to an increase in the wealth of society and forms the basis of social progress.

    The development of productive forces occurs under the influence of a number of factors. This is, firstly, the level of material elements of the productive forces. The more powerful the technical means of production, the more advanced the technology, the greater the volume of goods created with their help. The evolutionary development of human society is determined primarily by changes in the means and methods of production. The transition from manual to machine production, scientific and technological progress - these are the main prerequisites for the development of productive forces and their rise to the current level. It is the obsolescence of technical means and technological processes in Ukraine that is one of the factors hindering the development of productive forces.

    An important factor in the development of productive forces is the level of progression of man as the main productive force. As already noted, both the use of objective factors of production and its effectiveness largely depend on the level of a person’s knowledge, his ability to work, and production experience. The human factor is of particular importance in modern conditions, when the level of technical equipment in production is sharply increasing as a result of the scientific and technological revolution. Innovations in the technological basis of production under the influence of scientific and technological revolution lead to a change in the role of man in production, in particular, the role of mental labor is increasing. Confirmation of the increasing intellectual saturation of work is a significant increase in the general educational and professional level of workers. Thus, in the USA, the minimum duration of education for workers after receiving secondary education has reached 14.5 years. In modern conditions, it is believed that investing in people (the human factor) is one of the most profitable.

    Another factor in the development of productive forces is the level of organization of production. The latter acts as an organizational and economic form through which the social productive power of man is realized. It arose as a result of manifestations of the socialization of production based on the division of labor, specialization and cooperation of production. At the present stage of development of human society, the role of this factor is significantly increasing. This is manifested primarily in the greater role of production management, which is confirmed by the widespread development and dissemination of such production management sciences as management and marketing.

    Among the organizational factors in the development of productive forces, the social division of labor occupies an important place. This is a process of differentiation of labor activity, leading to the isolation and coexistence of its various types. The division of labor is a form of organization of social labor in which certain groups of producers are assigned for a long period of time to certain types of production activities. According to the economic criterion, general, partial and single division of labor are distinguished. The general division of labor is the division of social production into such areas as industry, agriculture, construction, transport, and services. The division of labor between enterprises is a shared division, within an enterprise between its structural divisions there is a single, or technological division of labor. Based on territoriality, the following levels of division of labor are distinguished: within an enterprise, between different enterprises, between different regions of the country and between different countries (international division of labor).

    Forms of division of labor are specialization and cooperation of production. Specialization of production refers to the separation and creation of enterprises and industries for the production of homogeneous products. It consists in unifying the products being created and enhancing the technical uniformity of production. Three types of specialization are considered: subject, detail (aggregate) and technological (stage). With subject specialization, the production of certain types of products is concentrated in individual enterprises or industries. Partial specialization involves focusing on the production of individual parts and assemblies (for example, the production of tires). And the implementation of individual technological processes (for example, the manufacture of forgings) is a technological specialization.

    The second form of social division of labor and cooperation of production. This is the establishment of permanent economic ties between specialized producers who jointly produce certain products, but retain economic independence. According to the types of specialization, subject, detail and technological cooperation of production are considered. It should be noted that most products are produced on the basis of cooperation in modern conditions.

    The importance of the division of labor as a factor in the development of productive forces lies in the fact that such division makes it possible to use resources more efficiently and rationally, since it significantly increases labor productivity. On the one hand, the division of labor allows a person to concentrate on some type of work and improve in it, which helps to increase the effectiveness of its activities. On the other hand, the division of labor makes it possible to use the advantages created by natural and climatic conditions. It should be noted that Adam Smith was one of the first in economic theory to substantiate the role of the division of labor as a factor in the development of productive forces.

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