Origin of «institutional structure of economy» concept in biological and dualistic sociology of the nineteenth century

Abstract

The paper outlines the importance of studying the history of the concept of «institutional structure of economy» and its importance for transforming the institutional environment of the economic system of modern Ukraine. The author dwells on G.Spencer’s study of the differentiation of society structure and its functions. The researcher emphasized the organic connection between the parts of the whole, the relative independence of the whole (structure) and parts, both in society and in the body. The understanding of P.Lilienfeld’s progress in economic, legal and political spheres, and A.Sheffle’s understanding the structure of society are studied. The paper analyzes the classification of the society behind the level of centralization of A.Foulet and the forms of interrelations between the elements of the structured society of J.McKenzie. Considerable attention is paid to clarifying the meaning of the structure of «social matter» for social and economic progress, and also the parallels between the theory of social activity and the modern theory of transaction costs in the concept of M.Oriou are drawn. The author comes to the conclusion that when studying the structure of the social system the representatives of the biological and dualistic sociology of the ХІХ-th century: 1) carried out its decomposition up to the isolation of the elementary level (G.Spencer, A.Scheffle); 2) determined the structure of subsystems and the specifics of its elements (G.Spencer, P.fon Lilienfeld, J.Mckenzie); 3) determined the functions, which elements performed in the system (M.Oriu, A.Sheffle). In their works, the attempts to create the concept of the structure and functional links of society as integrity are made. The combination of the conceptual approach to society as an integral organism with evolutionary approaches created conditions for the spread of structuralism in economic sciences and the use of the methodology of structural functionalism in the studies of modern institutionalism.

Keywords

• institutionalism
• institutional structure of economy
• methodology of institutionalism
• evolutionary approach
• structuralism
• structural functionalism