What are moral values?
Moral values are a set of ethical ideals, a set of historically and socially determined highest principles of human life. Moral values reflect people’s ideas about good and evil; they cover the entire set of moral norms and concepts , including concepts of happiness and unhappiness, love and hate, work, honesty, etc. It is with the help of these concepts that a person evaluates everything that happens around him, his own and other people’s actions, the correctness or incorrectness of one’s behavior.
Moral values guide the development of an individual and his activities, determine his position on any important issue, and form his idea of the world around him, society and his own place within society. In addition, they influence the formation of a person’s behavioral model, his goals in life and methods of achieving them, his civic position and the level of social activity. When his own value system collapses, a person finds himself in a personal crisis , he is confused, and can hardly make decisions on his own.
The baggage of human values is objective in its essence, and each value is objective separately. Values exist in our world regardless of our desires - we can only accept or reject them. However, the value system of an individual and its hierarchy is strictly subjective, it is based on the experience, knowledge and needs of a particular individual, on the personal choice of a particular person.
Basic values and moral standards. "The Golden Rule of Morality"
Morality is certain principles, ideals, norms that regulate and strictly guide people's behavior. All our actions have certain social consequences. To be a moral (responsible) person means to foresee the social result of one’s actions and be able to answer for them to one’s own conscience. This is where the individual, the citizen, the truly free person begins. Moral questions accompany a person throughout his life, how he should act, what is good and what is evil, what is the purpose and meaning of human life, etc. The answers to these questions develop a moral path, a line of human behavior.
Moral norms are patterns of behavior that correspond to the characteristics of morality, the moral consciousness of each individual.
Core values: humanism (philanthropy), respect, equality, freedom, truthfulness, kindness and wisdom.
The opposite is immoral actions: rudeness, theft, lies, cruelty.
Moral values are special, universal spiritual values and ideals - humanism, love for man, mercy. These values and ideals are eternal, because... in the long history of mankind, each era brought its own ideals and values. Fundamental moral rules live forever: do not do to others what you do not wish for yourself (the golden rule of morality); honor your elders, do not kill, do not debauch, do not lie, do not envy and do not encroach on the property of others. People have always condemned malice, meanness, betrayal, cruelty, lies, slander, but valued kindness, courage, honesty, self-control, and modesty. Thousands of years ago, people discovered that the highest moral value is love for one’s neighbor, for man. This means that we must strive for peace and brotherhood. You need to be merciful and generous. You need to be able to tolerate the shortcomings of other people, be able to forgive, sometimes sacrificing your own interests. This is where love for one's neighbor is manifested.
The basis of morality is conscience (a moral feeling that allows a person to determine his actions and actions from the point of view of good and evil) and duty (moral command, readiness to act in accordance with his own idea of correct behavior).
Most peoples of the world now have some common traits of moral behavior: unselfishness, courage, truthfulness, modesty, humanism, wisdom, etc. Qualities that cause censure among many peoples (flaws) are stupidity, greed, vanity, flattery, etc.
The main categories of morality are ideas about good and evil. These are the most general concepts that allow us to evaluate the actions and actions of people. Good is the main value of a person, his moral shrine. Good is opposed to evil.
To make it clearer what morality is, let us turn to a rule that, as we reliably know from historical, religious and literary sources, has become widespread in all relatively developed cultures and among all peoples. We are talking about the so-called golden rule of morality. In its most famous form, it reads: “And as you would have people do to you, do so to them.”
The golden rule of morality is the basis of an individual’s moral behavior, a concentrated expression of the principle of humanism, recognized by humanity since ancient times. The history of the formation of this principle as; the foundations of moral behavior is at the same time the history of the formation of morality.
The “golden rule” of morality presupposes the possibility for each of us to take the place of another person: I can treat myself as another, and another as myself. This attitude is the basis of the connection between people, which is called love. Hence the other formulation of the “golden rule” of morality: “love your neighbor as yourself.” The “golden rule” of morality requires treating another person as oneself in the perspective of perfection, i.e. as an end, but never as a means.
This rule is understandable to everyone; it helps to limit individual egoistic claims, which forms the basis for the unity of people in the state.
Ticket No. 22
1.World economy and international trade.
In the economic literature there is no common understanding of the terms “world economy” and “world economy”. Since these terms have a wide scope, researchers emphasize aspects that are important from their point of view. In the domestic literature, several approaches can be distinguished.
1. The most common understanding of the world economy is as a set of national economies interconnected by a system of international division of labor, economic and political relations.
In this definition, the main components are nationally separate countries, regardless of whether their production is for the domestic or foreign market. This approach obscures the reasons that determine the relationships, state and prospects for the development of the world economy.
According to another point of view, the world economy is interpreted as a system of international economic relations, as a common, universal connection between national economies. Many Western researchers adhere to a similar concept, in particular, believing that the international economic system includes trade and financial relations, as well as unequal distribution of capital resources and labor. In this case, production, which largely determines international economic relationships, falls out of the field of view of researchers.
A more complete interpretation of the world economy defines it as a global economic system, self-reproducing at the level of productive forces, production relations and certain aspects of legal and political relations to the extent that its economic entities have a certain compatibility at each of the three named levels. This definition reflects the main components of the economy, including the material base, the implementation of various forms of ownership and a certain order of functioning of reproductive processes.
international trade
- the main form of international economic relations, since it includes trade not only in goods in the material sense of the word, but also in a wide variety of services. Trade tensions are the most acute in the world economy, and the liberalization of trade relations is the subject of discussion in one of the most influential international organizations - the World Trade Organization (WTO). Regional integration processes—the main trend in the development of the modern world economy—also begin with the elimination of barriers to mutual trade. Many businesses engage in international trade by importing needed materials and exporting finished products, and every individual actively participates in international trade by purchasing imported goods. In this regard, the topic of the work seems very relevant.
International trade represents connections between producers of different countries, arising on the basis of the international division of labor, and expresses their mutual economic dependence. All countries of the world are in one way or another involved in the international division of labor, which expands and strengthens the raw materials and market base of economic development, reduces the cost of production of goods and services and, ultimately, helps accelerate economic growth. International trade, which determines the movement of all intercountry commodity flows, is growing faster than production. According to World Trade Organization (WTO) research, for every 10% increase in global output, there is a 16% increase in global trade. Thus, the second creates favorable conditions for the development of the first. When disruptions occur in trade, the development of production slows down. [2, p. 205]
International trade develops because it brings benefits to the countries involved. In this regard, one of the main questions answered by the theory of international trade is what underlies this gain, or, in other words, what determines the directions of foreign trade flows.
Economic theory shows that international trade, which is based on specialization, is, in fact, a means of increasing the productivity of a country's resources and, thus, increasing the volume of national production and increasing the level of well-being of the country.
The foundations of the theory of international trade were laid by Adam Smith at the end of the 18th century. Smith substantiated the thesis according to which the basis for the development of international trade is the difference in the absolute costs of producing goods (the theory of absolute advantage). He noted that one should import from a country those goods whose production costs in a given country are absolutely lower, and export to the country those goods whose production costs are lower in other countries. A. Smith thus showed that countries are interested in the free development of international trade, since they can benefit from it regardless of whether they are exporters or importers.
David Ricardo assumed that with complete free trade the principle of comparative advantage operates automatically and in itself leads to optimal specialization. Consequently, with free trade, the specialization of countries should proceed in accordance with the criterion of cost savings. [10, p. 75]
If international trade takes place, then it will be more profitable for each country to produce that good, the opportunity costs of production of which, expressed in another good, are less than in the other country.
2. Deviant behavior
Deviant behavior is an act, human activity, social phenomenon that does not correspond to the established norms (stereotypes, patterns) of behavior in a given society.
Deviation (deviation) in the consciousness of people's behavior usually matures gradually. Moreover, in sociology there is the concept of “primary deviation” (Lemert, 1951), when others turn a blind eye to certain deviations, and a person who ignores certain rules does not consider himself a violator. Such deviations border on minor offenses or immoral actions and for the time being may go unnoticed (be forgiven, ignored), such as, for example, drinking alcohol with random people, leading to a violation of public morality.
But there is a second level of deviant behavior (secondary deviation), when the surrounding social group or official organizations openly recognizes a person as a violator of moral or legal norms, which is always associated with a certain reaction to his actions.
When considering deviant behavior, it is important to distinguish between individual and collective forms of deviation. If the first is understood as violations of the requirements of morality and law by one person, then in the second case, deviant behavior is a reflection of the activities of some social group - a criminal gang or savage sect, which create some semblance of their “culture” (subculture) and openly confront accepted norms.
At the same time, it is impossible, as follows from a number of studies, to consider any deviation as deviant behavior. In this case, all social groups and all people will fall under this definition, because there is not a single person or social group in society who would absolutely comply with the norms and rules in all situations, in all cases of life.
Let's take a closer look at the types of deviant behavior:
Negative deviant behavior is divided into immoral (actions contradict the moral norms accepted in society), delinquent (Latin - to commit misdeeds, delinquent), when actions contradict the norms of law, except criminal, and criminal, when the norms of criminal legislation are violated. There are certain approaches to the classification of deviant behavior. He was one of the first to propose such a classification in the 60s of the twentieth century. American sociologist G. Becker. He divided deviations into primary and secondary. Primary deviations are deviant behavior of the individual, which generally corresponds to cultural norms. In this case, the deviations are insignificant and do not cause significant damage to society and the individual, although they may be widespread. In this case, the deviation remains within the framework of the social role (for example, crossing the street in the wrong place). Secondary deviations cause significant damage to social relations and society as a system and therefore are clearly classified as deviations. Such behavior requires sanctions.
Secondary deviations, in turn, can be classified according to the type of norm violated:
a) deviations associated with violation of legal norms, i.e. offenses. An offense is the guilty behavior of a competent person, which is contrary to the rules of law and entails legal liability. Offenses are divided into misdemeanors (civil, disciplinary, administrative) and crimes. A crime is a socially dangerous act committed guilty of guilt (action or inaction), prohibited by the Criminal Code under threat of punishment. Delinquent behavior of individuals and groups is sometimes referred to as “delinquent behavior.”
b) deviation in the sphere of public morality:
1. Drunkenness and alcoholism. Statistics show that 90% of cases of hooliganism, 90% of aggravated rape, and almost 40% of other crimes are related to intoxication.
Murders, robberies, assaults, and infliction of grievous bodily harm in 70% of cases are committed by persons under the influence of alcohol; about 50% of all divorces are also related to drunkenness. Also, sample surveys showed that at large industrial enterprises, 99% of men and 97% of women drink alcohol. Most often, the motive for drunkenness is: entertainment, influence of the immediate environment, adherence to drinking traditions, celebration of memorable dates, marital and family troubles, troubles at work.
Drunkenness is alcohol abuse. Alcoholism (alcohol dependence syndrome) is a disease that develops as a result of drunkenness, manifests itself in the form of mental and physical dependence on alcohol and leads to personality degradation. The development of alcoholism in adolescents is facilitated by early initiation into alcohol and the formation of “alcoholic thinking.” In Tyumen, during a survey of kindergartens, it was found that 30% of girls and 40% of boys had already tried beer, and every fifth girl and every fourth boy had tried wine.
If a person suffers from some form of olegophrenia, a congenital physical or mental illness, then in this case alcohol acts as a compensating factor that supposedly allows one to smooth out personality defects.
For young people, alcohol is a means of liberation and overcoming the shyness that many teenagers suffer from.
2. Drug addiction (Greek nark - deviation; mania - madness). Drug addiction is an extremely serious problem that has become widespread in the modern world. Drug abuse is typical for those groups of society that are in a state of anomie, i.e. individuals in these groups are deprived of socially significant ideals and aspirations, which is especially typical for adolescents. The phenomenon of anomie develops against the background of destructive phenomena in society, when young people do not see for themselves a clearly enough life scenario for the formation and development of personality. Drug addiction was for many years considered a phenomenon that belonged exclusively to the Western way of life, but nowadays the population is much better informed about the dangerous consequences of drug use. According to sociological research, the main motives for drug use are the thirst for pleasure, the desire to experience thrills, euphoria. Drug use among young people is very often of a group nature. Due to inexperience and ignorance, the excitement and high spirits that come after taking drugs are mistaken by many for the beneficial effect of this substance on health. Drug addiction is considered as drug abuse, as well as a disease expressed in mental and physical dependence on drugs. Substance abuse is the use of medications and other drugs that are not narcotic, but lead to intoxication.
3. Prostitution (Latin - to exhibit publicly) - entering into casual, extramarital sexual relationships for a fee, not based on personal sympathy. The vast majority of experts believe that prostitution is inevitable, since the need to reproduce is the strongest physiological need.
Prostitution is the same social problem as crime, alcoholism and other forms of deviant behavior.
4. Vagrancy is the systematic movement of a person for a long time from one area to another within the same area without a permanent place of residence, living on unearned income. The group of homeless tramps and beggars is heterogeneous in composition; it is characterized by a lack of stable connections, mutual support, a weak degree of organization, poverty, and social isolation. Expulsion from society, deprivation of support for persons without a fixed place of residence and occupation leads them to irreversible social and psychological degradation. The conditions in which they are placed predetermine high mortality and low birth rates in their environment. A peculiarity of this process is that one of the sources of replenishment of the group of people without a fixed place of residence and occupation are homeless and neglected children who find themselves on the street due to the collapse of normativity and the loss of social connections and skills. This situation raises concerns due to the fact that in conditions of depopulation, a promising part of the population in terms of age is demoralized.
5. Begging or begging is the systematic asking of strangers for money and other material assets under any pretext or without it (pretext).
6. Suicide (suicide) - conscious and voluntary deprivation of one’s life, when death acts as an end in itself, and not a means to achieve something other than itself. Suicide is an extreme form of deviant behavior. Most people who contemplate suicide do not want to die. They are filled with a feeling of hopelessness and anger at others; they convince themselves that their problems will never be solved. While in this state, they may make vague statements that they intend to commit suicide. This is an attempt to find help and support from others. Left alone, such a person can become a victim of his own actions and, on the contrary, oriented towards treatment, he quickly understands that suicide is not a way out of the current situation.
It should be noted that this is not an ideal classification, since, for example, many offenses can also be classified as immoral acts (hooliganism). Therefore, a classification of deviations according to target orientation is also used: a) deviations of selfish orientation - selfish crime; b) deviations of aggressive orientation - violence as a means of achieving any goal: benefit, jealousy; violence as an end in itself: hooliganism; c) deviations of the socially passive type: withdrawal from public life (drunkenness, alcoholism, drug addiction, suicide).
Examples of moral values
A fundamental and generally accepted moral value is a person’s love for other people. This type of love cannot be compared with the feelings experienced by people towards members of the opposite sex, since this type of love is manifested in the feelings that people show towards others, regardless of their age, nationality, gender and social background. It is this kind of love that allows a person to understand the needs of other people, not to harm them, teaches empathy, compassion and mutual assistance, and prevents manifestations of physical or psychological violence towards one’s neighbor. It is very difficult to achieve this, since human nature has a craving for competition, the struggle for survival, envy and hatred.
Love promotes the manifestation of other moral values in a person , for example, kindness and generosity , which are closely related to a sincere desire to help others. The most valuable gift from one person to another is his time, which should be given to family, friends, loved ones, acquaintances and, if necessary, even strangers, because often giving something is even more pleasant than receiving gifts.
Honesty is recognized as another important moral quality. The ability to remain honest with people and with yourself, combined with the ability not to flaunt the good deeds you have done, always inspires respect. A person with the qualities and values listed above is an example of a truly noble personality. Other important moral values include positive intentions, a benevolent attitude towards others, altruism, and a sense of respect for people.
Types and levels of values
Some psychologists divide values into 2 categories:
- Socially constructive.
- Socially destructive.
The first category includes: family, love, faith, homeland.
The second category includes: finances, status, comfort, bodily pleasure.
The first category teaches people mutual understanding, mutual support and unites people.
From the second category, people self-destruct and perceive others from the position of means to achieve the desired result or view them as an obstacle.
Let me mention that the individual values of people are considered relative. Not every person is able to go over the heads of others for the sake of their own success. Another category of people is ready to commit robbery, or even murder, for the sake of their family and friends. Each value must be assessed solely on the individual's value system.
This classification is not the only one. If we look at values in general, they can be categorized into the following types:
- Object: material, spiritual.
- Content and subject: socio-political, economic, moral.
- Subject: social, class, group.
- Goal: selfish, altruistic.
- Level of generality: concrete, abstract.
- Manifestation method: persistent, situational.
- Role in human activity: terminal, instrumental.
- Content of the activity: cognitive, subject-transforming.
- Affiliation: personal, group, collective, public, national, universal.
- Attitude to society: positive, negative.
There are a huge number of such classifications, but if divided in a broad sense, then there are only 2 categories:
- Material.
- Moral.
The formation of values occurs through specially organized influence, both in the family and school, and under random circumstances, on the street, from the news, from friends.
Types of moral values
Moral values are divided into several categories. They can be individual, group and universal; depending on the type of relationship, they are divided into complementary and mutually exclusive.
Modern scientists consider universal human norms to be dominant in relation to group values, since universal human values are more universal , objective, impartial and universal, although they are capable of intraspecific transition, and even of losing their former significance and meaning when external conditions change, for example, in the process of modernization society.
The self-improvement of a particular individual is inextricably linked with his observance of the principles of morality, and this observance must be strict and constant. To truly become a better person, a person should try to be kinder, more attentive and caring to the people around him. In addition, it will be useful for everyone to be honest with others and with themselves, try to control their own emotions, thoughts and actions, not give up their principles and fulfill their obligations.
The meaning of moral values
Thanks to moral guidelines and values, people have the opportunity to determine their own position in front of their loved ones, friends, society and themselves, while simultaneously forming a personal attitude towards such categories as good and evil, deceit and honesty, morality and immorality, etc. The primary function of morality is to regulate human behavior in society and regulate the relationship between the individual and society. An additional function of morality includes its promotion of the formation of individual consciousness, as well as its influence on the formation processes:
- a person’s views regarding the meaning of life;
- the range of obligations of the individual to society;
- need to respect others.
Through the morality of consciousness, a person’s behavior pattern begins to be consistent with moral norms. A characteristic distinguishing feature of moral values is their control over the consciousness and activity of an individual in a number of important areas of life, including:
- sphere of life;
- interpersonal, family and work relationships;
- communication with other people.
A person encounters all of the above aspects every day, therefore, it is on moral ideas that his behavioral model is built, his relationship with the surrounding reality and people.
What are the moral values?
Moral values are concepts, judgments and thoughts that a particular person or society considers “right” or “wrong ”.
As a rule, moral values begin to be transmitted to people at an early age, through family life. Over time, this person will improve his values based on observations and experiences gained in public life.
Thus, in addition to receiving the teaching of moral values when creating one, a person can form his own set of moral values from his own experiences.
The process of formation of moral values
There are two interconnected processes for the formation of moral values: awareness of the significance of morality in ordinary, everyday reality and an emotional and creative approach to it. These processes should be combined with emotional development, since it is not enough for children to simply convey information about ethics and then simply require them to comply with moral standards. It is many times more difficult for them to form their own attitude towards moral standards, based on the desire to comply with these guidelines. Another feature of the process of formation of moral values is the understanding of the need for such a model of behavior. In this case, both direct emotions and the internal need to establish certain moral standards within society are significant.
Different scientists have different approaches to the interpretation of the development of moral values. For example, T.S. Karanchentsev and Yu.V. Larin call this process processing associated with the transformation of the external environment into sensual human nature and the cultural world. These processes are carried out by people themselves and are based on their own activities. Based on an analysis of philosophical, psychological and pedagogical literature, the point of view asserts that mastery includes the process of mastering and assimilation by people of moral norms, consisting of content, results, activity and target components.
V.A. Titov ranked mastery among the concepts used as generic ones in relation to the concept of “morality”. It is in it that two important features that characterize morality are combined: its ability to reflect reality and its ability to transform it. Consequently, modern science considers the development of moral values as a special method that determines the uniqueness of morality. Mastery is the result of a multivariate contact between the human world and the world of morality, acting as a way of educating the individual. In pedagogy, the essence of the term “mastery” is reduced to the process of a person’s mastery of moral norms and values.
conclusions
Each of us has our own, hierarchically structured system of values that connects the spiritual component of the individual with the spiritual culture of society. Value guidelines here act as the most important components of the personality structure; they are complex and multi-level integral formations.
The personality structure includes various levels of interaction between the individual and the social in a person, between his own future, present and past, as well as forms of consciousness and cognition by the individual of the surrounding world. Consequently, the basis of a person’s value guidelines is a certain value system, which consists, among other things, of moral values that were formed in the human consciousness in the process of the individual’s acquaintance with the world around him.
