Introduction
In this work we will give a tour of the origins of the administration, knowing that the administration has arisen since man has existed and that he has sought a way to relate in groups since we are social beings.
Throughout history we can realize that administration is the starting point for development within a country, company, home or social groups. This being the root of an integral growth.
1. From antiquity to rebirth
Since the origins of humanity, group work has always existed and administrative practice in the organizations created was carried out empirically, until the beginning of the 20th century.
Historically, practical references to administrative thinking can be identified in some important events that occurred in ancient civilizations.
Early times
The Administration began at the same time as man, arose in primitive times. Administrative phenomena were shown in the way of organizing, collecting food, hunting, building pyramids. It was presented in the times of Antiquity, Middle Ages, Modern and Contemporary.
One of the advances of primitive society was the coordination of efforts and the natural division of labor according to sex and age between men and women.
It gave way to the formation of groups
- The members of the tribe carried out hunting, fishing and gathering activities. The heads of the family made the most important decisions. The division of labor was known in primitive form, this was caused by the difference in capacity between the two sexes and the difference in capacity according to the ages of the members of the society. When man began to work in a group, the administration emerged as an association of efforts to achieve a specific purpose that requires the participation of several people.
At this time, the members of the tribe worked in hunting, fishing and gathering activities. The heads of families exercised the authority to make the most important decisions. There was the primitive division of labor originated by the different capacities of the sexes and the ages of the individuals who were members of society. When the man worked in a group, the administration arose in an incipient way, as an association of efforts to achieve a specific purpose that requires the participation of several people.
Agricultural Period
It was characterized by the appearance of agriculture and sedentary life. The division of labor by age and sex prevailed. Patriarchal social organization was emphasized. Hunting and fishing and gathering passed a place of secondary importance in the subsistence agricultural economy
Population growth forced men to better coordinate their efforts in the social group and, consequently, to improve the application of administration.
With the emergence of the state, which marks the beginning of civilization, science, literature, religion, political organization, writing, and urban planning emerged. In Mesopotamia and Egypt, representative states of this time, the emergence of social class was manifested. The control of collective work and the payment of taxes in kind were the bases on which these civilizations relied, which obviously required greater complexity in administration.
The precursors of the modern administration were the officials in charge of applying the tax policies of the state and of managing numerous human groups in the construction of great architectural works.
The code of Hammurabi illustrates the high degree of commercial development in Babylon and, consequently, of some aspects of the administration, such as credit operations, the accounting of the temples and the archives of a great house of commerce. The great advances of these civilizations are achieved in large part through the use of administration.
Greco-Latin antiquity
At this time slavery appeared: the administration was characterized by its orientation towards strict supervision of work, corporal punishment as a disciplinary form. The slave lacked rights and was occupied in any production work. There was a low productive performance caused by the discontent and inhuman treatment that the slaves suffered due to these administrative measures. This form of organization was largely the cause of the the fall of the Roman empire.
Renaissance
Between the 15th and 16th centuries a series of changes in thought, economics, art, and politics brought the Middle Ages to an end. The Renaissance supposed the recovery of many conceptions of Greco-Latin antiquity to illuminate a new civilization in Europe, open to innovations, research and the discovery of the world.
2. Period before the industrial revolution
The different societies worked in an agricultural and artisanal field, producing their own supplies themselves. The families were of the extended type, that is, the extended family (parents, children, grandchildren, uncles, cousins, etc.) lived together in the same nucleus, sharing various daily tasks. These individuals exploited the land, living on what it produced without looking for economic surpluses from this exploitation for commercialization, but quite the opposite: the surpluses were conserved for eventual contingencies that could cause scarcity. The children were educated by their parents in daily tasks, transmitting their knowledge and trades to them, while marital unions were not conceived based on mutual love but quite the opposite:depending on their physical aptitudes (for the choice of the husband), and of the domestic skills (for the choice of the wife).
Before the revolution, the economy was basically domestic, each family producing what was necessary for its own subsistence, although those who lived under the protection of the Feudal Lords had to pay certain royalties (usually very high) for that protection, and the currency of The account they used for said payment was the goods they produced. However, there was a certain exchange of merchandise between nearby towns to obtain some product that they were not able to obtain by their own means, as well as merchants who moved rare items brought from distant lands; They had very small stocks, and their visits were infrequent due to the great distances they had to travel with their archaic means of transport. This is why,that the advertising of these products was made out loud by the merchant himself (being limited to the passers-by who passed by, and to the effect of word of mouth). In ancient times, long-distance freight transport was expensive and risky. Therefore, the trade was carried out, fundamentally, in local markets, being the traded goods mainly food and clothing. Almost everyone spent most of their resources on food, and what they did not produce themselves they obtained by trading. The same thing happened with the dresses: the clothes were made at home or bought. In addition to food, clothing, and shelter, the wealthiest groups used their income on eye-catching clothing, jewelry, and works of art, sparking a significant trade in luxury goods.
The British economist Adam Smith said in The Wealth of Nations (1776) that "the propensity to barter and exchange one thing for another" is an intrinsic characteristic of human nature. Smith also noted that increased business activity is an essential element of the modernization process. In modern society, production is organized in such a way as to take advantage of the advantages derived from specialization and the division of labor. Without trade, production could not be organized in this way
Regarding the transports, these were of blood traction, and therefore very slow (although this did not generate major conflicts, since time did not have an economic sense; even, to manifest periods of time in a standardized way, they were used graphic expressions of similar duration such as the time span between two full moons) so the news came with much delay. The means of transport constituted strong limitations for communications, since these were the only way in which a spokesperson could move between the different towns and report on the most relevant events. In this way, the news was communicated orally, and spread in the same way in the absence of other more tangible means.
3. The industrial revolution
The change that takes place in the Modern History of Europe by which the passage from an agrarian and artisan economy to another dominated by industry and mechanization is triggered is what we call the Industrial Revolution.
In the second half of the 18th century, in England, a profound transformation was detected in the work systems and the structure of society. It is the result of growth and changes that have been taking place over the last hundred years; It is not a sudden revolution, but a slow and unstoppable one. It goes from the old rural world to that of the cities, from manual work to machine work.
The peasants leave the fields and move to the cities; a new class of professionals emerges.
Some of the features that have been considered defining of the industrial revolution are found in the assembly of factories, the use of motive power… in addition to the changes that it brought: it goes from a workshop with several workers to large factories, from the small town from several dozen residents to the metropolis of hundreds of thousands of inhabitants.
This revolution becomes a process of constant change and continuous growth where several factors intervene: technical inventions (technology) and theoretical discoveries, capital and social transformations (economy), revolution in agriculture and the rise of demography. These factors combine and enhance each other, it cannot be said that there is one that is a trigger.
The enormous economic transformations that Europe will undergo (beginning these changes in Great Britain) from the 18th century will greatly modify a set of political, social and economic institutions in force in many countries since at least the 16th century, which are often referred to as The Old Regime.
4. Capitalist advance and socialist reactions
Capitalism is, above all, an economic regime, in which the means of production belong to those who have invested capital and buy work from other people to make them produce. The "exploitation of man by man" according to Marxism. This regime has been gradually establishing itself throughout the world since the 18th century, with the fall of the feudal regime.
Its origin is closely linked to the doctrines of economic liberalism and democracy, which is why it is not possible to separate it from the capitalist regime.
With the fall of feudalism a new economic and political order of society was fostered. Feudalism was considered a dark age that did not contribute anything to humanity, but in reality, it was a time of maturation of societies so that they were suitable for their next transformation. And it was precisely thanks to this maturation process that the Renaissance and the Modern Age took place. With all the discoveries made at that time, a new vision of the world and of human beings themselves is given.
With mechanical discoveries there is an improvement in economic production, which brings with it the appearance of new forms of life and work. Industry and commerce are the new sources of wealth and therefore new social classes emerge: the bourgeoisie (driving force behind economic activity) and the proletariat (selling their labor power for a wage).
5. Utopian socialism
Utopian Socialism arose from the desperate situation of the working or proletarian class during the period of the Industrial Revolution, the thinkers of the time looked for a different economic model, a more just system where there was not so much social inequality. They - called Utopian Socialists - believed that capitalist production that began with private property and the exploitation of workers, had no way to distribute the wealth produced. With this approach to the economy they proposed profound changes.
The name of Utopian Socialism was given to the theory of the main thinkers of the socialist economic system. They developed their ideas suggesting radical changes, emphasizing a more just, fraternal and socially equal society, although theoretically they did not know how to reach their goal in an affordable way, but they left a critical analysis of the entire evolution of the capitalist economy.
The Utopian Socialists: Socialists, because their ideas, inasmuch as they criticized the injustices and the conditions of exploitation in the capitalist society of the 19th century, drew up economic and political positions that pointed to the end of the exploitation of man by man. Utopian, in the sense that they envisioned an ideal social order, not achievable in the concrete conditions in which they lived.
Main ideas of the Utopian Socialists
a) Henri de Saint-Simón (1760-1825): French intellectual of noble origin.
- Only those who work can benefit from the goods of society: "all men must work." The need to fight the workers (the wage-earning proletariat, but also the merchants, peasants and civil servants) against the "idle" (the nobility, the clergy and all those who lived on income, without acting in economic production. - The French Revolution had already started a class struggle between the Nobility, Bourgeoisie and the dispossessed. Politics as a science of production - is the germ - of the notion of the economic situation, of political institutions and the idea of the "abolition of the State."
b) Charles Fourier (1772-1837): French Utopian Socialist critical of bourgeois society.
- I criticize the existing social conditions - exposing the fallacy of bourgeois discourse. I criticize the relations between the sexes and the position of women in society - «the degree of emancipation of women in a society is the natural barometer by which the general emancipation ". I analyze the contradictions of civilization -" poverty springs from abundance itself. "Dialectical vision -" every historical phase has its ascending slope, but also its descending slope.
c) Robert Owen (1771-1858): English Utopian Socialist, considered the father of cooperativism, was a partner and manager of a textile industry in England.
- Defense of the humane conditions of life and education of the "Proletariat" workers and their families. Robert Owen put into practice his socialist measures, he created a kind of model colony: kindergartens, reduced working hours, maintenance of employment and wages, even in crisis situations, I confirm that philanthropy did not reduce the distance between rich and poor; hence his communist perspective. Owen had the idea to reform society by removing private property.
Participation in social movements and struggle for the progress of the proletarian class: Limitation of the work of women and children in factories; creation of production and consumption cooperatives ("the merchant and the manufacturer are not indispensable").
6. Scientific socialism
Scientific Socialism is the name that sought to distinguish Marxism from the German revolutionary Karl Marx (called Carlos Marx in Spanish) and Friedrich Engels (Federico Engels in Spanish) from the rest of the socialist currents existing in the mid-nineteenth century, which by not including scientific theoretical premises are classified as Utopian Socialism.
Background of Scientific Socialism
The social theorists of Robert Owen, Saint-Simón, Charles Fourier, Louis Blanc and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon are considered within Utopian Socialism since they, although they did not share the same ideologies, had arisen as a response to the same socio-economic context: The Industrial Revolution, the domination of the bourgeoisie and the emergence of the labor movement, events that initially manifested themselves in England at the end of the 18th century and that spread across the European continent during the 19th century.
Scientific Socialism (Marxism)
Scientific Socialism began in the 19th century, by the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, which was called Marxist socialism. This ideology broke with the Utopian socialists, because they did not represent in practice how to combat capitalism, but they recognized the importance of critical analysis of the political and economic reality of capitalism during the Industrial Revolution.
Karl Marx, social scientist, historian and revolutionary, was a socialist German thinker with the greatest influence on the philosophical and social thought of humanity, however he was ignored by academic scholars, who did not believe in his postulates or thesis. Marx believed that only an international revolution could put an end to capitalism and the bourgeoisie, and thus implant the communist economic system.
Karl Marx would be expelled from Paris for his revolutionary acts and ideas, it is then that he would travel to London to study history and economics. He would write for the press, and help found the First International pro-socialist movement, the National Workers' Association in 1867, and the German Social Democratic Party. His greatest work was published in 1864 "Capital", where he expressed the main concepts of Marxism: the theory of value, capital gains and accumulation of capital.
7. Christian social structure
Christian Socialism arises when the Catholic Church, realizing all the social changes that occurred during the Industrial Revolutions and the heyday of Marxist Socialist ideas, decides to bring together its main leaders to discuss those issues related to the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, and propose a more Christian society and economy "Social Christianity". At the same time we must emphasize that the same concern, of the Catholic Church, was related to the ideological content of many labor movements that explicitly proclaimed the end of religious demonstrations. The idea of religious belief as harmful was beginning to preoccupy several clergymen.
Christian Socialism against "Marxist" Scientific Socialism
In the 19th century, during the development of socialist ideology, Scientific or Marxist Socialism had criticized Utopian Socialism and had established itself as a support for political thought among various "Proletarian" labor movements. The revolutions and protests of the workers, who have a political vision contrary to various precepts of capitalism, have the objective of improving the conditions of the worker through class struggle and access to power "Dictatorship of the Proletariat" as understood by the German philosopher Karl Marx.
The Catholic Church and social justice
Christian Socialism (also called Social Christianity) would base its theories during the year 1891, when Pope Leo XIII published the encyclical Rerum Novarum, according to this document, the Pope established his express opposition to the struggle between social classes defended by Marxist doctrine. In his place, the Roman pontiff placed religion as an instrument capable of eliminating inequalities in the world. In this way, morality and Christian love between workers and employers could be the fundamental point for social justice to be gradually achieved.
Over time, various clergymen strengthened their concern for political and social problems. During the twentieth century, the church developed and deepened these issues in the Second Vatican Council (1962 - 1965) reaffirming the social and political role that the Christian should play. At the same time, the theological trend called Liberation Theology led many clergy and faithful to carry out social projects and organize political discussions within the parishes.
