Podstata životní úrovně a činitelé ji určující

The questions concerning the standard of living belong to questions of political economy which were the most neglected during the period of the personality cult. They became the object of a more profound theoretical research – work only during the last years. The purpose of this article is to contribute to the clarification of the essence of the standard of living and of its determining factors. The essence of the standard of living. The standard of living is an economic category. Therefore it cannot include all the sides of the living conditions. It comprises only those sides which represent pre – conditions of the physical and spiritual existence of men and which are secured by material production and by services. It includes further conditions under which men are working. Under the notion of „standard of living“ one must understand on one side the consumption of material goods and services and on the other hand the labour conditions under which the consumption in question is attained. The position of those two sides within the standard of living is not an equal one. The key – position is that of the consumption. Changes in consumption have a greater influence on the standard of living than relatively the same changes in the quantity of expended labour, which is the principal index of labour conditions. The standard of living must not be confounded with the factors which determine it. Equally as it is in the case of other categories, it is necessary also, as far as the living standard is concerned, to distinguish between the cause and the effect. It is impossible therefore to include into the standard of life the relations of production or their parts. The relations of production themselves don’t represent the standard of living; the standard of living consists in the effects caused not only by the productive forces, but also by the relations of production. The effectiveness of the relations of production on the living standard must make itself felt on the standard of life itself, on the level of consumption and on the labour conditions. It is necessary to distinguish the standard of living from the position of the working class, event, of the working people. The position of the working class is a wider notion and it Includes besides the standard of living also phenomena which result from the character of the relations of production and of the superstructure. When undertaking an investigation on the standard of living, it is necessary to proceed from the absolute level (concrete size and quality) of the consumption of material goods and services and also from the real state of labour conditions. It is impossible to agree with the conception of the living standard as of a certain degree of satisfaction of human needs. Such conception hides in itself the danger of subjectivism. An investigation on the living standard cannot be limited only to the investigation concerning the average standard of life, at the same time it is necessary to examine the differentiation of the living standard according to the income groups, the social groups and the regions. The point of departure for the determinative and for the rating of the components of the standard of living, event, of the components of the consumption of the population, are the needs of men, their classification and their rating. The needs find their realization in the living standard, event, in the components of the living standard. At the same time it is very necessary to distinguish clearly the needs from the components of the living standard. The consumption represents the potential consumption, on the contrary the components of the living standard represent the realized needs. The consumption of material goods and services may be divided into the following components: 1) The level of nourishment; 2) the level of clothing; 3) the level of the consumption of other industrial goods; 4) the level of the equipment of the housing fund; 5) the level of the consumption of services secured by communal enterprises; 6) the level of the consumption of services secured by the health service and by institutions for recreation and sport; 7) the level of services secured by the educational system, the cultural and enlightenment institutions; 8) the level of consumption of services secured by passenger transports and communications. It is necessary to include in the labour conditions: 1) The quantity of expended labour, 2) the labour environment, 3) the conditions and the length of the travelling to the labour place. Along with the increase of the standard of living rises the amount of the consumption and its structure changes. The changes in the structure of the consumption are subject to certain laws which result from the fact, that men give satisfaction to their needs in a certain order of urgency. The main tendencies of development of the structure of consumption are essentially the same in capitalism and in socialism. The factors determining the standard of life. The basic factors determining the average living standard are the level of the productive forces and the effectiveness of their utilization (productivity of social labour). Upon the level of the productive forces and upon the productivity of social labour depends not only the level of the consumption of the population, but also the level of the labour conditions. Along with the development of the productive forces pre – conditions are created for more favorable labour conditions. The level of the productive forces and of the productivity of social labour are the decisive basic factors determining the living standard; this is true not only for socialism but also for capitalism. This becomes evident if we make a comparison between the living standard of the advanced capitalistic countries and that of the less developed ones. Another factor of the average standard of life are the relations of production. They influence the average living standard by influencing the development of the productive forces and the effectiveness of their utilization. They influence also what part of the national income will be detached for consumption. The relations of production decide about the mode of division of the part of the national income assigned to division, that means that they decide about the differentiation in the standards of living. In the capitalistic countries the average living standard hides a very high living standard of the exploiting classes and a disproportionately lower living standard of the working people. The capitalists take hold of a great part of the national income. In socialism the average living standard of the population is essentially the living standard of the working people. Therefore, if the average living standard in a capitalistic country would be supposed to be the same as the average living standard in a socialist country, the living standard of the working people would be higher in the socialist country. The most immediate factor determining the living standard is the rate of the average income of one inhabitant compared to the part of the national income assigned to the consumption by the population. The higher will be the part of the population’s consumption in the national income, the higher will be the living standard in the current year. The increase of the part of the consumption in the national income has its limits. An exaggerated increase of the fund of consumption results in a limitation of the increase of the living standard in the following years. On the contrary, a too high rate of accumulation results in a stagnation or even in a decrease of the living standard. At the same time it comports a danger of great disproportions, a danger which is still increased by the unfavorable development of the living standard. A very important influence is exercised on the rate of the living standard by the effective state – both in volume and in quality – of the non productive funds. The standard of the services, secured by the health-service, by the educational system, by culture, by the transports a. s. o. depends in a great deal on the number of hospitals, schools, cultural and transport Installations and on the quality of their equipment. The dwelling conditions depend on the housing fund and its equipment. The size of the personal property of the population has also an Influence on the living standard of the population. The living standard is not only a passive result of the production, but at the same time it influences back the production in a very important way. The increase of consumption creates in certain branches pre conditions for an extension of the production and hereby also for the Increase of the productivity of labour. It exercises a pressure on the development of the production. The Increase of the consumption of the population has however a positive effect on the production only when the production respects the stimuli arriving from the consumption. The growth of the consumption Influences In a favorable way the growth of the productivity of labour and on the contrary, the decrease of the consumption leads generally to a decrease of the productivity of labour. If the growing human needs are not given satisfaction, people loose interest in work, they accomplish it carelessly and with lack of quality. The experiences show that a badly remunerated labour makes in its consequences the production more expensive.