Author:
E. A. Orlyansky,
Сandidate of Economic Sciences, Associate Professor,
Omsk Humanitarian Academy,
2а 4th Cheluskintsev st., 644105, Omsk, Russian Federation
e-mail: orlyanskyea@mail.ru
Abstract:
Introduction. The article is devoted to the problem of the relationship of religion and the social part of the market economy. The purpose of the article is to identify the religious foundations of social policy and the participation of church structures in economic activity.
Methodology. The main method is the method of comparative analysis.
Results. The social elements of a market economy are a way to find a compromise between efficien-cy and equity. However, on a purely economic basis, such a compromise is very difficult to find, since the goals of social policy often contradict a purely economic understanding of efficiency. To achieve such a compromise requires more authoritative grounds from the spiritual realm. Such a basis can be religion, spe-cifically, religious economic ethics. This is based on the ideas of economists of the German Historical School, first of all, Werner Sombart. In addition, the economic views of prominent Catholic and Protestant theologians are analyzed. It is in Protestantism that religious economic ethics is brought to the highest level. The conclusions of the article are also confirmed by examples of the direct participation of church struc-tures in social policy and experiences of social-economic reforms in West Germany and Sweden.
Conclusions. A social market economy can successfully perform this function, reaching a compro-mise between efficiency and justice, if it is based on a religious basis. Religion, as an element of the spiritu-al sphere, is the natural basis of the social component of a market economy.
Keywords:
Market economy, social policy, efficiency, justice, religion, church, Catholicism, Protes-tantism, theology.
