XIII. Read Text A

Text A. To Manage is to Foresee

One short clarification before we take up the subject. Economics is a very broad concept often used to denote a range of different things. Amidst all these differences the two distinct aspects are shown quite clearly: technical and social. Both are reflected in management. In the technical sense, management has to do with machines, instruments, etc. Men control machines and mechanical systems, and this calls for professional knowledge and special skills. In principle, however, management of this kind pertains to the technical aspect of production and, strictly speaking, reminds outside the sphere of economics. It is devoid of any social elements. The rules of driving a car or operating a milling machine are mainly the same in Russia, in the USA, in France and in Portugal.

What we are going to examine is the social aspect of management of the economy, i.e., a sphere where objects of management are not things but men and their social relations. Using an analogy we may say that what interests us is not how the musician controls his instrument, but how the conductor controls the orchestra.

Economics as a totality of the relations between men in the realm of the production, distribution, exchange and consumption of goods includes, of course, the movement of material values, that is, of things. But the point is that relations between men do not form on their own, but in regard to the production of the appropriation of goods. This is the basis of economic science. Behind the relation of things stand real relationships between people, the motives and aims of their activity. That to manage the economy means to foresee their future is clear. But it also means to orientate them in a definite direction, towards working for a set goal.

This constitutes the socio-economic aspect of the management of the national economy.

XIII. Find the passages in the text where the following ideas are expressed:

1. Technical and social aspects are two distinct aspects reflected in management.

2. Economics includes the movement of material values.

3. What constitutes the socio-economic aspect of the management of the national economy?