Human Dimension In Economic Development

Of all ages, development and progress are the themes that human beings eulogize and pursue to the largest extent. Moreover, stagnation and back-off are the things that worry human beings mostly. Dialectic logics on development tell us that there are no extreme existences of truth in the world. We shall make a thorough study on those questions like what, why & how of development and stagnation. Over the past two decades, China has scored remarkable achievements based on the implementation of reforms & opening up policies, which astonish the whole world. However, we have to be faced with the fact that our rapid economic and social developments are achieved at substantial cultural and social expenses, in particular, the cultural elements.In retrospect, we could interpret the development and changes in China and the world within several hundred even thousand years of historical framework. History provides us with a wealth of documents and materials that support the rationale of historical dialectics.Historical development strongly indicates that history is a process of cultural sediments, which requires the cultural perspectives being employed in analyzing social & economic behaviors of human beings. In this sense, culture is, in the first instance, a sort of perspective and way of thinking. The thesis aims at analyzing the cultural factors embodied in China's market economy, and such analysis is based on the dialectic relationship between economy and culture. Economic development calls for cultural progress. Yet, cultural degrading leads to the dinginess and meaninglessness of economic development.The thesis discusses the role culture plays in the social and economic transitions of modern China, supported by normal relations and regulations among economic, social and cultural transitions. In my view, economic transitions in China signify the economic system evolution from planned economy to market economy, from backward status to developed and prosperous status, thus the great rejuvenation of the Chinese people. On the transition of economic systems, there are two distinct theories, namely, Radical Transition Theory represented by Sachs and Gradual Transition Theory represented by Muriel. I personally advocate the mode of gradual transition in China's economic development, which contributes to its modernization drive.On the causes of China's social and economic transitions, some researchers hold that such transitions are in fact the transitions in economic structure and form, and such viewpoints are made from the perspectives of Marxism's Economic Decision Theorem. However, I understand that China's ongoing economic and social transitions are virtually sort of cultural transition. Transitions on economic structure and form are substantially a kind of transition on social cultural development, which is mainly manifested by the transition and evolution from traditional culture to modern culture. Cultural transitions greatly promote the transition on economic structure and modern thinking mode, and thus the creation of strong impetus that propels social structure changes. In this sense, Marxism's Independent Ideology Theorem could be employed to explain the relations between China's economic, social and cultural transitions.However, historical facts show that people generally pursue the economic growth in a unilateral manner whilst neglecting cultural factors, which forge substantial negative effects on social & economic development. As a result, economic growth leads to the dissimilation of human beings and the phenomenon of machine oppressing human, together with the existence of leisure class and one-dimension man. Consequently, successful models in social and economic development shall be summarized to promote the coordinated development of economic, social and cultural affairs.In general, social economists have begun their critical research on the unilateral economic growth pattern in Western countries since 1960s, and been in pursuit of the interaction betwee...