Introduction
Modern society is characterized as the information society, as the digital economy. When writing about the digital economy, the authors mean the system of network relations between economic entities on the production, distribution, exchange and consumption of goods, based on the use of information technology and the possibilities of the Internet. In such an economy, information is a part of productive forces, which also changes other elements: the means of labor, the technologies used, the forms of organization of labor and production, the person him or herself. Informatization of modern society and the digital transformation of the economy requires rethinking many established theories, economic categories (including economic mechanism, along with a variety of flexible forms and methods of management), their compliance with the changing conditions of economic development and the nature of tasks (Thought, 1986, p. 3).
The economic mechanism does not exist outside the technological and economic activities of people within the framework of social reproduction, which has a multi-level nature of the structure. Therefore, a person acts as an active element of a complex multi-level economic mechanism of society through economic relations, in which people enter into the process of social reproduction, interacting with other elements of productive forces (technical and economic, organizational and economic, social and economic relations). As noted by L. I. Abalkin, “human activity, including in the management process, is socially determined, it is always determined by objective factors. But it does not imply unambiguity and stereotyped behavior. A person as a subject of social development (and a subject of management) is always faced with the situation of choosing one or another line of behavior, making a certain decision” (Abalkin, 1986, p. 219–220).
Any decision made by people at different levels of the socio-economic system is based on the analysis of available information. At the same time, the economic mechanism of the company itself appears like a carrier and processor of a huge amount of information. It is necessary to solve problems with uncertain conditions in which actions in accordance with a template will not promote the progressive development of the society. Therefore, human economic behavior can be used to reveal the essence of the economic development of the society.
Methodology
Before we talk about the person in the system of economic mechanism it should be explained what we mean by this mechanism. In a broad sense, we can say that it is a system of dialectical interactions, spontaneous and consciously regulated economic relations between people which act as a set of tools and projects that ensure the movement of subjects and objects. This movement occurs partly in the order of self-development, partly under the influence of external regulatory influence.
We proceed from the fact that the general goal of economic development is the person whose level and quality of life is considered as the starting point. One of the tasks of the modern economic mechanism is to activate human activity, the direction of its efforts to develop and implement innovations, the technological base of which is information technology. To implement the proposed task, it is necessary to rely on socio-economic theories and concepts that reveal various factors that affect the economic activity of people, their behavior and the adoption of certain decisions.
In the second half of the 20th century, scientists from different countries actively developed the concepts, reflecting the increasing role of the person in social reproduction, that are a theory of human capital, the concept of social resource, social capital, human factor, human resources, human potential, social capital, theories of “an economic ethical person”, “an information man”, “an innovative person”, etc. These theories and concepts interact and complement each other, express different structural and functional aspects of the person at all levels of management. The development of these theories is associated with social changes in society, the causes of which were the progress in the development of science, engineering and technology, the development of production and the growth of the productive forces of society, the complexity of the structure of the society, ever-growing needs of people, contradictions and conflicts over the distribution of various resources between social groups and layers of society, increasing the importance of the environmental component of life, etc.
These theories and concepts reflect current trends in the development of science. They are interdisciplinary knowledge, combining economics, sociology, psychology, management. This is reflected in the fact that various authors speak a lot of socio-economics as an interdisciplinary science, an academic discipline in the scientific literature (Shabanova, 2006, 2010; Shulus, 2008; Surin, 2009 etc.). We are methodologically based on the system-reproductive approach, the symbiosis of political economy and institutionalism, interdisciplinary interaction of economics, sociology, ecology, psychology, the unity of economic, social and spiritual spheres of social life. These methodological approaches have been effectively used in our other studies (Berendeeva, 2006, p. 152–182; Babaev and Nikolaeva, 2017; Babaev and Berendeeva, 2018; Nikolaeva, 2012).
Results
Theories and concepts of human understanding and research that have developed in modern Russian and foreign literature can be considered in the context of the goals and objectives of the economic mechanism of the society, management at various levels of the socio-economic system, including the municipal level. Significant investments are required in modern conditions for infrastructure development of territories, including the construction of social facilities, to improve the quality of life of the population in small settlements. But if there are not always enough material and financial resources, then there are huge social resources, which, unlike material ones, are inexhaustible. They tend to multiply with the development of the society, forms of self-government, the creation of innovative products, services, change of the person in the process of communication with other people, self-education, self-realization of the creative abilities, the formation of civic consciousness.
In this regard, attention should be paid to the concept of social resources and social potential (Makasheva and Kalinikova, 2002; Maltsev, 2006; Semchenko, 2012 etc.). Social resource refers not only to labor resources, but also to the totality of the relationship between man and business, not only within the production enterprise, but also outside it (KnoRus et al., 2006, p. 3, 30, 33); reserves of creative energy of the individual (social, cognitive, activity ones), social organization and society as a whole (community of people, organizations, institutions, social groups) (Makasheva and Kalinikova, 2002). An urgent task today is a problem of disclosure of all the possibilities of this huge potential of both an individual and social organizations, the use of powerful energy of social resources in the creative direction. Such concepts as “social activity”, “social well-being” are close to the category of “social resources” in their content and logic. The following directions can be identified in the issue of the development of social potential: preservation of human health, the functioning of educational and cultural institutions, social protection of certain groups of the population, educational and patriotic work with young people. For the implementation of the above tasks, coordinated interaction of both local self-government bodies and public authorities and public organizations is necessary. The volunteer movement, the activities of various public organizations, charitable foundations can be given as an example of the successful implementation of social resources. Such structures operate on the basis of self-development, internal motivation, besides, they are supported by government agencies at various levels.
In the early 2000s academician D. S. Lvov put forward the idea of moral economy, which suggests that economic and other decisions are made taking into account the humanistic component, “an ecological man”, “a moral personality”, a man with developed moral qualities, open to interethnic communication is formed in the society (Lvov, 2004). Thus, there is an acute problem of environmental pollution by plastic debris of the earth’s surface and the oceans in Russia. It is widely described in the literature. Various solutions to this problem are offered – collection and recycling of plastic waste, replacement of plastic materials difficult to decompose with ones, which are similar in their properties, but subject to rapid decomposition, the transition to the use of paper bags instead of plastic packaging, and so on. But one thing is clear: these problems cannot be solved by market mechanisms, since all these methods require additional costs for the construction of new production complexes, lead to a rise in the cost of consumer goods (paper packaging is more expensive than plastic), etc. There is a need for serious state support for science in the development of new materials, entrepreneurship in the field of waste collection and processing, other measures of industrial and environmental policy, but the main thing is to educate an environmentally responsible, moral person who cares about the preservation of nature. The designated problems cannot be solved without taking into account this side of the case and without the formation of the appropriate environmental behavior of people.
Many modern researchers focus on the development of spirituality, education, the socio-cultural dominant. In this regard, the models of the “psychological”, “social” and “sociological man” are offered as an alternative to the model of the econo...
