Jakiego ładu społeczno-gospodarczego Polacy potrzebują? Jest to zapewne demokratyczny kapitalizm, ale...
What Kind of Socio-Economic Order Do the Poles Need? Probably Democratic Capitalism, but…

Summary/Abstract: There is a widespread agreement that democratic capitalism based on the market system is the best form of a social order. The market system has played the crucial role in the acceleration of the socio-economic development of many countries. It was due to the fact that the market had established a strong relation between the access to material and symbolic goods and productive activities. It stimulated a very intense competitive motivation both for production and acquisition of material and symbolic goods. The historical success of the competitive market contributed to the development of market ideology that asserts that it is the only scientifically proven effective mechanism of the economic development and technological progress. However, this ideology seems to ignore several important shortcomings of the system, namely: (1) the market failures, especially the weakening of the connections between the market success and productive activities, (2) the fact that the market instigates the “destructive competition” (M. D eutsch) that contributes substantially to degradation of social relations and to the massive increase of the psychological stress, (3) the fact that the market amplifies the role of the motivation of self-interest. Self-interest suppresses other forms of motivation for participation in productive activities, especially intrinsic motivation and task orientation that are important in maintaining the high quality of functioning in all situations where market control is ineffective. The acknowledgment of these shortcomings is the necessary precondition for the critical reflection on the social reforms.

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