Grasping the Dialectical Relationship between Economic Development and Cultural Construction from the Perspective of Humanistic Economics

Chinese-path modernization is a modernization in which material civilization and cultural-ethical progress are coordinated, which requires that economic development and cultural construction be coordinated. The category of humanistic economics focuses on human liberation and the free and comprehensive development of the individual, outlining the dialectical relationship between economy and culture. Examining the logical connections among human needs, economy, and culture from the perspective of humanistic economics allows for a deeper understanding and grasp of the law of people-centered development, enabling the socialist state to play an active role and promoting a positive interaction between high-quality economic development and cultural prosperity.

中国式现代化是物质文明和精神文明相协调的现代化，这要求经济发展与文化建设相协调。人文经济学范畴聚焦人的解放和自由全面发展，勾勒了经济与文化的辩证关系。在人文经济学视域中审视人的需要、经济、文化三者之间的逻辑联系，能够更深刻地认识和把握以人民为中心的发展规律，发挥好社会主义国家的能动作用，推动经济高质量发展与文化繁荣兴盛的良性互动。

I. Cultural Factors in China’s Miracle of Rapid Economic Development

一、中国经济快速发展奇迹中的文化因素

Since the founding of New China, and especially since reform and opening up, China has experienced a great leap from standing up and growing rich to becoming strong. Its economic aggregate has long ranked second in the world, its economic structure has been steadily optimized through continuous adjustment, scientific and technological innovation and industrial upgrading have achieved notable results, and the people’s lives have achieved an all-round moderate prosperity, creating “two miracles” of rapid economic development and long-term social stability. [1]1 The “two miracles” refer to rapid economic development and long-term social stability, a phrase commonly used in official Chinese discourse to summarize the achievements since reform and opening up. How to analyze the internal logic of China’s miracle of rapid economic development has become a hot topic of ongoing concern in economics circles. However, constrained by the boundaries of their respective theoretical research paradigms, neither mainstream Western economics nor traditional political economy research has paid sufficient attention to cultural factors in economic development, let alone systematically studied the two-way interactive relationship between rapid economic development and socialist cultural construction.

新中国成立以来，特别是改革开放以来，中国经历了从站起来、富起来到强起来的伟大飞跃，经济总量长期位居世界第二，经济结构在不断调整中稳步优化，科技创新和产业升级成效显著，人民生活实现全面小康，创造了经济快速发展和社会长期稳定的“两大奇迹”。如何解析中国经济快速发展奇迹的内在逻辑，成为经济学界持续关注的热点议题。然而，囿于各自理论研究范式的边界局限，无论是西方主流经济学还是传统政治经济学研究，对经济发展中的文化因素都未能给予足够重视，更未能系统研究经济快速发展与社会主义文化建设的双向互动关系。

Within the research framework of mainstream Western economics, cultural factors are essentially absent. Scholars who adhere to the research paradigm of mainstream Western economics believe that the miracle of China’s rapid economic development stems from the development of private enterprises, a free-competition market structure, and open foreign economic relations, which can significantly improve production efficiency and promote technological innovation, thereby improving the efficiency of resource allocation. This is the core driving force behind China’s rapid economic development since reform and opening up. For example, the new institutional economist Coase argued that property rights system reform and market mechanism construction played an important role in China’s economic development, and that the development of private enterprises and the clarification of private property rights were key drivers of China’s economic transition. [2]2 Ronald Coase (1910–2013), a British-born economist and Nobel laureate, is a key figure in new institutional economics. His work on property rights and transaction costs has been influential in analyses of China’s economic reforms. The focus of these scholars’ explanations is the rational behavior of the “economic man”; the entire argument about economic development revolves around how to fully stimulate the rational behavior of individuals pursuing profit. The property rights reform theory emphasizes its internal driving force, while the competition structure theory emphasizes its external pressure. However, the various historical and real conditions on which the rational behavior of the actual “economic man” depends are rarely considered; those holistic factors classified as levels such as productive forces, relations of production, and superstructure are things “outside pure economic analysis.” Cultural factors belong to the holistic factors of the ideological superstructure. Except for a very few scholars like North, who briefly mentioned the importance of ideology when analyzing long-term institutional change in the economy, the vast majority of mainstream Western economists turn a blind eye to this. When analyzing the miracle of China’s rapid economic development, most of them largely ignore the important role played by cultural factors. [3]3 Douglass North (1920–2015), an American economist and Nobel laureate, is known for his work on institutions and economic history, including the role of ideology in institutional change.

在西方主流经济学研究框架中，文化因素基本上处于缺位状态。在秉持西方主流经济学研究范式的学者看来，中国经济快速发展的奇迹根源于私有企业的发展、自由竞争的市场结构及开放的对外经济关系，能显著提高生产效率、促进技术创新，从而改进资源的配置效率，这是改革开放以来中国经济快速发展的核心驱动力。如，新制度经济学家科斯认为，产权制度改革和市场机制建构在中国经济发展中扮演重要角色，私营企业的发展和私有产权的明晰是促进中国经济转轨的关键动因。这些学者解释的重心都是“经济人”的理性行为，经济发展的全部论证都围绕如何充分激发个人逐利的理性行为展开，产权改革论侧重其内在动力，竞争结构论侧重其外在压力。而现实的“经济人”理性行为所依存的各种历史和现实条件是较少被考量的，那些被归类为生产力、生产关系、上层建筑等层次的整体性因素是“纯粹经济分析”之外的东西。文化因素属于思想上层建筑的整体性因素，除诺斯等极少数学者在分析长期经济制度变迁时蜻蜓点水式地提过意识形态的重要性，绝大多数西方主流经济学者对此是视而不见的，他们在分析中国经济快速发展奇迹时大多忽略了文化因素扮演的重要角色。

Compared with mainstream Western economics, Marxist political economy research adheres to the methodology of historical materialism, affirming that superstructural factors actively act upon the economic base. Political, legal, and cultural factors are necessary links in analyzing the miracle of China’s rapid economic development. However, most scholars are accustomed to using the analytical framework of *Capital*, focusing on changes in relations of production, distribution, and exchange in China’s economic development. Even when discussing the active role of the superstructure, most only discuss the reaction of the political superstructure on economic development. Overall, the research focus of most scholars is the basic socialist economic system and the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC). The former points to the reproduction of relations of production, and the latter points to the reaction of politics on the economy; together, they constitute key explanatory variables for the miracle of China’s rapid economic development. In contrast, cultural factors, as an important component of the socialist superstructure, have rarely become the focus of scholarly research. The relationship between economic development and cultural construction has long been in a weak position in Marxist political economy research.

与西方主流经济学相比，马克思主义政治经济学研究坚持历史唯物主义方法论，肯定上层建筑因素能动作用于经济基础，政治法律文化等因素是解析中国经济快速发展奇迹的必要环节。但大多数学者习惯于沿用《资本论》的分析框架，其聚焦的重点是中国经济发展中的生产关系、分配关系和交换关系变革；即便是讨论上层建筑的能动作用，大多也仅讨论政治上层建筑对经济发展的反作用。总体而言，大多数学者的研究重点是社会主义基本经济制度和中国共产党的领导，前者指向了生产关系再生产，后者指向了政治对经济的反作用，二者构成有关中国经济快速发展奇迹的关键解释变量；相比之下，作为社会主义上层建筑重要内容的文化因素，则很少成为学者们的研究焦点，经济发展与文化建设的关系问题在马克思主义政治经济学研究中长期处于弱位状态。

Looking at the historical development process of humankind, major events with decisive influence exhibit distinct characteristics of holistic practice; they invariably express the interaction among economy, politics, and culture. As a major event affecting the development of contemporary human civilization, the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the Chinese-path modernization practice behind it are, of course, also products of the interaction among economy, politics, and culture. Without introducing the important factor of socialist cultural construction, it is difficult to scientifically understand and grasp the objective laws behind the miracle of China’s rapid economic development. Taking the practice of the Chinese revolution as a theoretical source, Comrade Mao Zedong deeply recognized the initiative and reaction of culture on economy and politics, pointing out that “the politics of New Democracy, the economy of New Democracy, and the culture of New Democracy combined—this is the New Democratic Republic.” [4]4 This quote is from Mao Zedong’s 1940 work *On New Democracy*, which outlines the political, economic, and cultural program for the New Democratic Revolution. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping has attached great importance to cultural construction, listing it as part of the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan. He emphasized: “In comprehensively advancing the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan and coordinating the Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy, culture is an important component; in promoting high-quality development, culture is an important fulcrum; in meeting the people’s growing needs for a better life, culture is an important factor; in overcoming various risks and challenges on the path forward, culture is an important source of strength.” [5]5 The Five-Sphere Integrated Plan refers to China’s overall plan for economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological civilization progress. The Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy refers to comprehensively building a moderately prosperous society, comprehensively deepening reform, comprehensively governing the country according to law, and comprehensively and strictly governing the Party.

纵观人类历史发展进程，具有决定性影响的大事件呈现出鲜明的整体性实践特征，它们无一例外地表达了经济政治文化之间的相互作用。作为影响当代人类文明发展的大事件，中华民族伟大复兴及其背后的中国式现代化实践，当然同样是经济政治文化相互作用的产物，不引入社会主义文化建设这一重要因素，就难以科学认识和把握中国经济快速发展奇迹背后的客观规律。以中国革命实践为理论源泉，毛泽东同志深刻认识到文化对经济政治的能动性和反作用，指出，“新民主主义的政治、新民主主义的经济和新民主主义的文化相结合，这就是新民主主义共和国”。党的十八大以来，习近平总书记高度重视文化建设，将之列入“五位一体”总体布局，他强调：“统筹推进‘五位一体’总体布局、协调推进‘四个全面’战略布局，文化是重要内容；推动高质量发展，文化是重要支点；满足人民日益增长的美好生活需要，文化是重要因素；战胜前进道路上各种风险挑战，文化是重要力量源泉。”

During the 2023 National Two Sessions, when participating in the deliberation of the Jiangsu delegation, General Secretary Xi Jinping specifically proposed a topic: “In places where culture is highly developed, the economy still leads the way. We can study the humanistic economics within this.” [6]6 The “National Two Sessions” refers to the annual meetings of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), held in March. Around the new proposition of humanistic economics, domestic scholars have engaged in heated discussions from different angles. Some scholars believe that humanistic economics is a new economic paradigm that takes historical materialism and materialist dialectics as its basic methodology, embodies humanistic values, studies the dialectical relationship between culture and economy, and thus accommodates institutions, humanities, and the market. Other scholars argue that humanistic economics places greater emphasis on the high-quality supply of material and cultural goods, thereby promoting innovation in production models and reserving modern talents for the development of new quality productive forces. Still other scholars believe that it is necessary to clarify the basic categories of humanistic economics, such as its core concepts, research objects, and research content, to provide a general description of the constituent elements of the humanistic economics system, and to offer a true, systematic, complete, and scientific basic picture for understanding contemporary socioeconomic phenomena at both the theoretical and practical levels. The research of scholars from these different fields fully affirms the theoretical and practical value of the humanistic economics topic. We believe that analyzing the logical relationship between economy and culture around the topic of humanistic economics is an important research approach for constructing an independent knowledge system of socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics. It is necessary to focus on the contradictions and problems in the process of Chinese-path modernization, to innovate and develop the Marxist principle of the relationship between the economic base and the superstructure, to ideologically reconstruct the dialectical relationship between socialist economic development and cultural prosperity, and to provide theoretical support and strategic recommendations for the Party Central Committee’s governance.

2023年全国两会期间，习近平总书记在参加江苏代表团审议时专门提出一个课题：“文化很发达的地方，经济照样走在前面。可以研究一下这里面的人文经济学。”围绕人文经济学的新命题，国内学者从不同角度展开热烈讨论。有学者认为，人文经济学是以唯物史观和唯物辩证法为基本方法论，体现人文价值、研究文化与经济的辩证关系，从而兼容制度、人文与市场的新经济学范式。另有学者认为，人文经济学更加强调物质与文化的高质量供给，由此推动生产模式的创新，并为新质生产力的发展储备现代化人才。还有学者认为，要厘清人文经济学的核心概念、研究对象、研究内容等基本范畴，对人文经济学体系的构成要素进行概括性描述，在理论和实践层面提供认识新时代社会经济现象的真实、系统、完整、科学的基本图景。这些不同领域学者的研究，充分肯定了人文经济学议题的理论和实践价值。我们认为，围绕人文经济学议题解析经济与文化的逻辑关系，是构建中国特色社会主义政治经济学自主知识体系的重要研究进路。必须聚焦中国式现代化进程中的矛盾和问题，创新发展马克思主义的经济基础和上层建筑关系原理，在思想上重建社会主义经济发展与文化繁荣的辩证关系，为党中央治国理政提供理论支持和战略建议。

II. Economy and Culture Are Unified in the Dual Needs of “Real Individuals”

二、经济与文化统一于“现实的人”的双重需要

To analyze the internal logic of humanistic economics, one must first clarify the “human” within it. Unlike the abstract “economic man” analyzed by mainstream Western economics, Marxist political economy studies “real individuals,” that is, individuals who are the sum total of social relations under specific historical conditions. [7]7 The concept of “real individuals” (*wirkliche Individuen*) is drawn from Marx and Engels’ *The German Ideology*, where it is used to critique the abstract individual of classical political economy and philosophy. That is to say, this “real individual” not only engages in economic activities but also in political and cultural activities. His needs are not abstract but are concrete categories that continuously enrich and develop according to changes in social and historical conditions. He must satisfy not only his own material living needs but also his own spiritual living needs. Unlike capitalist society, the broad masses of working people have become masters of their own affairs in socialist society. Socialist relations of production, marked by public ownership of the means of production, occupy a dominant position in the economic base. The proletarian party exercises leadership in various state affairs. The liberation and free and comprehensive development of working people have correspondingly become the new standard of social progress. The purpose of socialist reproduction is to continuously meet the growing material living needs and spiritual living needs of the broad masses of the people.

解析人文经济学的内在逻辑，首先要厘清其中的“人”。与西方主流经济学分析的抽象的“经济人”不同，马克思主义政治经济学研究“现实的人”，即具体历史条件下作为社会关系总和的个人。也就是说，这个“现实的人”不仅从事经济活动，还从事政治活动和文化活动，他的需要不是抽象的，而是根据社会历史条件变化不断丰富发展的具体范畴，不仅要满足自身的物质生活需要，还要满足自身的精神生活需要。与资本主义社会不同，广大劳动者在社会主义社会翻身做主人，以生产资料公有制为标志的社会主义生产关系在经济基础中处于主体地位，无产阶级政党在国家各项事务中行使领导权，劳动者的解放和自由全面发展相应成为新的社会进步标准，社会主义再生产的目的是不断满足广大人民群众日益增长的物质生活需要和精神生活需要。

“Real individuals” are first and foremost organic living beings, whose most basic needs are primarily material living needs corresponding to their conditions of existence. Some scholars have pointed out that the satisfaction and development of material living needs constitute the prerequisite for all human life and its development; the mode of production of material means of subsistence, i.e., the mode of production of material life, which is undertaken to satisfy material living needs, conditions the mode and process of social, political, and spiritual life, and also conditions the needs of social life and political life. In a socialist society, the people’s material living needs are constantly growing and becoming enriched, and the objective basis for this is the continuous improvement of the people’s conditions of existence through the progress of social productive forces. Since the founding of New China, and especially since reform and opening up, the Communist Party of China has led the people in arduous struggle, anchoring the goal of economic modernization, building the world’s most complete and largest-scale industrial system. The leapfrog development of social productive forces has brought about an increase in the variety and scale of social products, with the total economic output stably ranking second in the world, and the people’s living standards correspondingly achieving a historic leap from mere subsistence to moderate prosperity in all respects. In this historical process, the progress of social productive forces has produced two interrelated results: first, the corresponding improvement in conditions of existence has stimulated the continuous growth of the people’s material living needs; second, the corresponding development of social reproduction has satisfied the people’s continuously growing material living needs. Here, marked by material living needs, the socialist economy manifests the people-centered development底色, and economic development supported by the real economy becomes the solid foundation for satisfying the people’s growing material living needs.

“现实的人”首先是一个有机生命体，最基本的需要首先是与其生存条件相适应的物质生活需要。有学者指出，物质生活需要的满足及其发展是整个人类生活及其发展的前提，为了满足物质生活需要而进行的物质生活资料生产的方式即物质生活的生产方式制约着社会生活、政治生活和精神生活的方式和过程，也制约着社会生活需要、政治生活需要。在社会主义社会，人民的物质生活需要是不断增长和丰富的，其客观依据是社会生产力的进步持续改善人民群众的生存条件。新中国成立特别是改革开放以来，中国共产党领导人民艰苦奋斗，锚定经济现代化目标，建成世界上门类最齐全、规模最大的工业体系，社会生产力的跨越式发展带来社会产品种类的丰富和规模的增长，经济总量稳居世界第二，人民生活水平相应实现从温饱不足到全面小康的历史性跨越。在这一历史进程中，社会生产力的进步造就了两个相互联系的结果：其一，生存条件的相应改善刺激了人民物质生活需要不断增长；其二，社会再生产的相应发展满足了人民不断增长的物质生活需要。在这里，以物质生活需要为标志，社会主义经济彰显了以人民为中心的发展底色，以实体经济为支撑的经济发展成为满足人民日益增长的物质生活需要的坚实基础。

Marx emphasized that “real individuals” are even more the sum total of various concrete social relations, and their needs are not limited to material living needs but also include spiritual living needs. The well-known psychology of Maslow holds that human needs include multiple levels such as physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. Wang Weiguang, proceeding from historical materialism, analyzed the essence of human needs, pointing out that they possess six major basic characteristics: sociality, infinite developmental potential, infinite richness, historicity, subjective initiative, and practicality. In capitalist society, the law of capital valorization governs the behavioral activities of all “real individuals”; culture dominated by bourgeois ideology serves the reproduction of capitalist relations of production. Whether it is the bourgeoisie or the proletariat, their spiritual living needs are “alienated” into stimulants for capital valorization, with conspicuous consumption, status consumption, and luxury consumption becoming synonyms for individual spiritual needs. This is essentially nothing more than stimulating social consumption capacity to alleviate the dual predicament of overproduction and capital surplus. In socialist China, the people-centered law of development governs the behavioral activities of “real individuals”; the institutional premise for capital valorization is the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the basic socialist economic system; cultural construction dominated by proletarian ideology serves the reproduction of socialist relations of production. The conscious and self-aware “master” consciousness constitutes the main content of the people’s spiritual living needs. That is to say, “people are essentially cultural beings, not ‘reified’ beings; they are dynamic, comprehensive beings, not rigid, ‘one-dimensional’ beings.” Since the founding of New China, and especially since reform and opening up, the goal of the Communist Party of China’s governance has included not only the satisfaction of the people’s material living needs but also the satisfaction of their spiritual living needs. Entering the New Era, the principal contradiction in Chinese society has transformed into the contradiction between the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development. The people’s spiritual living needs place greater emphasis on subjective construction, free and comprehensive development, and the realization of self-worth. It is in this sense that Chinese-path modernization is a modernization in which material and cultural-ethical progress are coordinated, and the synchronous development of economic hard power and cultural soft power is an inevitable requirement for comprehensively building a modern socialist country.

马克思强调，“现实的人”更是各种具体的社会关系的总和，其需要不仅限于物质生活需要，还包括精神生活需要。为人熟知的马斯洛心理学认为，人的需要包括生理需要、安全需要、归属需要、尊重需要和自我实现需要等诸多层次。王伟光从唯物史观出发分析了人的需要的本质，指出它具有社会性、无限发展性、无限丰富性、历史性、主体能动性、实践性等六大基本特点。在资本主义社会，资本增殖规律支配着所有“现实的人”的行为活动，以资产阶级意识形态为主导的文化服务于资本主义生产关系再生产，无论是资产阶级还是无产阶级，其精神生活需要都“异化”为资本增殖的兴奋剂，攀比性消费、炫耀性消费和奢侈性消费成为个性精神需要的代名词，这实质上不过是刺激社会消费能力以缓解生产和资本双重过剩的困境。在社会主义中国，以人民为中心的发展规律支配着“现实的人”的行为活动，资本增殖的制度前提是中国共产党的领导和社会主义基本经济制度，以无产阶级意识形态为主导的文化建设服务于社会主义生产关系再生产，自觉自为的“主人翁”意识构成了人民精神生活需要的主体内容。也就是说，“人，本质上就是文化的人，而不是‘物化’的人；是能动的、全面的人，而不是僵化的、‘单向度’的人”。新中国成立特别是改革开放以来，中国共产党治国理政的目标不仅包括人民物质生活需要的满足，同样包括精神生活需要的满足。进入新时代，我国社会主要矛盾转化为人民日益增长的美好生活需要和不平衡不充分的发展之间的矛盾，人民的精神生活需要更加突出主体性建构、自由全面发展和自我价值实现。 正是在这个意义上讲，中国式现代化是物质文明和精神文明相协调的现代化，经济硬实力和文化软实力的同步发展是全面建设社会主义现代化国家的必然要求。

As the needs of “real individuals,” both material living needs and spiritual living needs have their specific content and forms deeply imprinted with the era’s brand of the mode of social reproduction. How to satisfy these needs is even more a specific product of the interaction of real economic, political, and cultural activities. In the current era, a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is driving a new historical leap in social productive forces. Along with the widespread application of digital technology in production and daily life, emerging cultural industries based on digital platforms are rapidly emerging. This not only accelerates the trend of convergence between material living needs and spiritual living needs but also continuously creates new products and services that can simultaneously satisfy both types of needs. Research indicates that contemporary Chinese people not only focus on the stability, safety, convenience, comfort, and environmental standards of products and services but also increasingly pay attention to the spiritual living needs attached to products and services, including feelings of pleasure, belonging, self-evaluation, and social evaluation. Especially against the backdrop of the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy, emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things, big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, nanotechnology, and biotechnology are widely applied across various industries, thereby giving rise to an experience economy based on digital technology. In recent years, the rapid development trend of the cultural economy indicates that the daily consumption of the broad masses of the people is increasingly integrating spiritual elements such as leisure and entertainment, expression of ideas, and value symbols. Cultural consumption forms such as museum and cultural relic consumption, cultural and creative product consumption, cultural tourism, and opera and dance performances are constantly emerging. Some scholars believe that the rise of the cultural economy is the new mainstream of economic development in the current era, manifested as the economization of culture and the culturalization of the economy. Cultural value is continuously increasing in traditional industries, and the cultural industry has become a prominent highlight in emerging industries. Relevant statistical data show that from 2018 to 2022, the added value of China’s culture and related industries was 4.12 trillion yuan, 4.44 trillion yuan, 4.49 trillion yuan, 5.24 trillion yuan, and 5.38 trillion yuan respectively, with a five-year average of 4.73 trillion yuan, 2.6 times the 1.81 trillion yuan in 2012.

作为“现实的人”的需要，无论是物质生活需要还是精神生活需要，其具体的内容和形式都深深刻上了社会再生产方式的时代烙印，如何满足这些需要更是现实的经济政治文化活动相互作用的特定产物。当今时代，新一轮科技革命和产业变革正在推动社会生产力发生新的历史跨越，伴随着数字技术在生产和生活中的广泛应用，以数字平台为依托的新兴文化产业迅速涌现，这不仅加速了物质生活需要和精神生活需要的融合趋势，而且也不断造就出各种能同步满足上述两类需要的新产品新服务。有研究表明，当下的中国人不仅关注产品和服务的稳定性、安全性、便捷性、舒适性、环保标准，而且更加注重在产品和服务上附着的精神生活需要，这包括愉悦感、归属感、自我和社会评价等。特别是在数字经济与实体经济深度融合的背景下，物联网、大数据、云计算、人工智能、虚拟现实、纳米技术和生物技术等新兴技术在各产业广泛运用，由此催生了基于数字技术的体验经济。近年来，文化经济快速发展的态势表明，广大人民群众的日常生活消费日益融入休闲娱乐、观念表达、价值象征等精神要素，文博消费、文创消费、文化旅游、歌剧舞剧等文化消费形态不断涌现。有学者认为，文化经济的崛起是当今时代经济发展的新主流，这表现为文化经济化与经济文化化，文化价值在传统产业中不断增加，文化产业在新兴产业中成为突出亮点。相关统计数据表明，2018—2022年我国文化及相关产业增加值分别为4.12万亿元、4.44万亿元、4.49万亿元、5.24万亿元、5.38万亿元，五年均值为4.73万亿元，是2012年1.81万亿元的2.6倍。

Only by starting from the material living needs and spiritual living needs of “real individuals” can we accurately understand the people’s needs for a better life. This is the basic premise for grasping the internal logic of humanistic economics in the New Era. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, “The people are not abstract symbols, but concrete individuals, with flesh and blood, with emotions, with love and hate, with dreams, and also with inner conflicts and struggles.” [8]8 Xi Jinping, “Speech at the Symposium on Literature and Art Work” (October 15, 2014), in *Xi Jinping: Selected Works*, vol. 2, Foreign Languages Press, 2017, p. 317. As individuals, the people can only become conscious and self-aware dynamic practitioners, and can only realize their own value in the historical tide of promoting social progress, through the nurturing and shaping of scientific and advanced culture. Humanistic economics organically integrates cultural elements into political economy analysis, highlighting the theme of “human development,” indicating that the socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics is a genuine development economics. Following the basic logic of humanistic economics to expand the research horizon of socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics, and clarifying that the mutual coordination of economic development and cultural construction is a constituent element for satisfying the people’s needs for a better life, only then can we theoretically elucidate why Chinese-path modernization is a modernization in which material and cultural-ethical progress are coordinated. In short, humanistic economics highlights the people-centered development thought, takes satisfying the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life as its logical starting point, outlines the logical connection between high-quality economic development and socialist cultural construction, expands the research boundaries of traditional Marxist political economy, and enriches and develops the system content and practical explanatory power of socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics.

只有从“现实的人”的物质生活需要与精神生活需要出发，才能准确认识人民对美好生活的需要，这是把握新时代人文经济学内在逻辑的基本前提。习近平总书记指出，“人民不是抽象的符号，而是一个一个具体的人，有血有肉，有情感，有爱恨，有梦想，也有内心的冲突和挣扎”。作为个体的人民，只有在科学的、先进的文化熏陶和塑造下，才能成为自觉自为的能动实践者，才能在推动社会进步的历史潮流中实现自身价值。人文经济学将文化要素有机融入政治经济学分析，突出了“人的发展”这一主题，表明中国特色社会主义政治经济学是真正的发展经济学。沿着人文经济学的基本逻辑拓展中国特色社会主义政治经济学研究视域，阐明经济发展和文化建设相互协调是满足人民美好生活需要的构成要件，这样才能在理论上阐明中国式现代化何以是物质文明和精神文明相协调的现代化。简而言之，人文经济学彰显了以人民为中心的发展思想，以满足人民群众日益增长的美好生活需要为逻辑起点，勾勒了经济高质量发展与社会主义文化建设的逻辑关联，拓展了传统马克思主义政治经济学的研究边界，丰富发展了中国特色社会主义政治经济学的体系内容和现实解释力。

III. The Level of Economic Development Determines the Concrete Content and Forms of Expression of Culture

三、经济发展水平决定文化的现实内容和表现形式

Marxist historical materialism emphasizes that social being determines social consciousness, and that cultural development is fundamentally determined by the contradictory movement of productive forces and relations of production, and of the economic base and the superstructure. The economic development of a society is a dialectical unity of productive forces and relations of production, which directly or indirectly determines the actual content and forms of expression of culture as the ideological superstructure. First, the progress of productive forces, marked by scientific and technological innovation, brings sustained growth in material wealth, continuously liberating laborers from production activities that merely satisfy survival needs, thereby laying a solid foundation for cultural development. Second, the dominant relations of production act upon the ideology of "real individuals"; the nature of ownership of the means of production determines the class affiliation of cultural leadership, fundamentally defining the direction of development and the overall pattern of the cultural superstructure. Third, the economic base determines the structure and function of the political superstructure, and the corresponding governmental governance activities profoundly shape the cognitive landscape of the general public, thereby continuously reshaping the actual paths and specific forms of cultural development.

马克思主义唯物史观强调，社会存在决定社会意识，文化发展从根本上取决于生产力与生产关系、经济基础与上层建筑的矛盾运动。一个社会的经济发展是生产力与生产关系的辩证统一过程，它以直接或间接的方式决定了文化这一思想的上层建筑的现实内容和表现形式。其一，以科技创新为标志的生产力进步带来物质财富的持续增长，劳动者不断从满足生存需要的生产活动中解放出来，为文化发展奠定了坚实基础；其二，占统治地位的生产关系作用于“现实的人”的思想意识，生产资料所有制的性质决定文化领导权的阶级归属，从根本上规定了文化上层建筑的发展方向和总体格局；其三，经济基础决定政治上层建筑的结构和功能，相应的政府治理活动深刻影响着社会大众的认知图景，由此不断重塑文化发展的现实路径和具体形态。

Engels pointed out, "People must first of all eat, drink, have shelter and clothing, before they can pursue politics, science, art, religion, etc." [9]9 Engels, "Speech at the Graveside of Karl Marx," 1883. The needs of "real individuals" are hierarchical; they typically pursue higher-level needs only after lower-level needs are satisfied. Traditional Chinese culture emphasizes that "when the granaries are full, the people know propriety and moderation; when food and clothing are sufficient, they know honor and disgrace" [10]10 From the Guanzi, an ancient Chinese political and philosophical text attributed to Guan Zhong (c. 720–645 BCE). and "being rich yet fond of ritual," [11]11 From the Analects of Confucius, Book 16, Chapter 13. all of which reflect that the production of material wealth is logically prior to the production of spiritual products. Regarding this logical order, Marxist historical materialism points out that only when social productive forces have developed to a certain level and a substantial surplus in material wealth production emerges does the production of spiritual products gradually grow into a relatively independent sector within the social division of labor. Only then do some individuals separate from the material production sector to specialize in the creation and dissemination of spiritual products, thereby bringing about cultural prosperity and development. Throughout human history, whether it was the cultural flourishing of China's Han and Tang dynasties or the European Renaissance of the modern era, both relied on robust material wealth production and thriving urban economies. The underlying logic is that relatively advanced technology was widely applied in production, thereby creating a level of social productive forces that surpassed that of other countries or regions of the same era.

恩格斯指出，“人们首先必须吃、喝、住、穿，然后才能从事政治、科学、艺术、宗教等等”。“现实的人”的需要是分层次的，通常总是在较低层次需要得到满足后才追求更高层次需要。中华传统文化强调“仓廪实而知礼节，衣食足而知荣辱”“富而好礼”等，都体现了物质财富生产在逻辑上先于精神产品生产。对于这个逻辑次序，马克思主义唯物史观指出，只有社会生产力发展到一定水平，物质财富生产出现大量剩余，精神产品生产才逐步成长为社会分工体系中相对独立的部门，一部分人才从物质生产部门中分离出来专门从事精神产品创造和传播，由此带来了文化的繁荣发展。纵观人类历史，无论是中国汉唐时代的文化繁荣，还是欧洲近代的文艺复兴，都依托于雄厚的物质财富生产和繁荣的城市经济，其底层逻辑是相对先进的技术广泛应用于生产，从而造就了其领先于同时代其他国家或地区的社会生产力发展水平。

Moreover, as science and technology increasingly become the new engine of social productive forces, they also continuously trigger revolutionary changes in the creation and dissemination of spiritual products. In the long ancient society, cultural products were often the creative output of individuals, and their dissemination mostly took forms such as "oral transmission" and "documentary records." Entering the modern era, continuous innovations in production technologies, such as those for music and film works, and in dissemination technologies, such as offset printing and intelligent printing, have powerfully driven the refinement of the division of labor within the cultural industry. This has not only enriched the variety and increased the quantity of cultural products but also greatly enhanced the labor productivity of cultural practitioners, leading to unprecedented development and prosperity of the cultural industry. In the current era, the emergence and application of digital technology have become a distinctive marker of new quality productive forces, endowing the cultural industry with the greatest capacity to date for capturing, generating, storing, and processing various cultural elements. China is a major country with a five-thousand-year historical heritage, and digital technology plays an especially significant role in its cultural construction. With the widespread application of digital imaging technology, digital twin technology, holographic technology, and real-time transmission technology in cultural construction, vast cultural resources have been updated and enriched in their forms of existence through digital generation and storage, virtual interpretation and exhibition, and immersive interactive connections. Consequently, the conversion rate of cultural resources and the efficiency of cultural dissemination have also been substantially improved. The extensive application of digital technology in cultural construction has also given rise to a series of new forms of digital cultural industries. Digital processing technologies such as computer-generated imagery (CGI), 3D, and visual effects technology have propelled cultural sub-sectors like electronic games and animation production onto a fast track of development, with a large number of high-quality digital cultural products continuously being innovated and introduced to the market.

不仅如此，随着科学技术日益成为社会生产力发展的新引擎，它也不断引起精神产品创造和传播的革命性变革。在漫长的古代社会，文化产品往往是个人的创造性产物，其传播多采取“口口相传”“文献记载”等方式。进入近代，音乐和电影作品等制作技术、胶版印刷和智能印刷等传播技术的不断创新，有力推动了文化产业内部分工的细化，这不仅丰富了文化产品种类、增加了文化产品数量，而且极大提高了文化从业者的劳动生产率，文化产业得到空前的发展和繁荣。当今时代，数字技术的出现和应用成为新质生产力的显著标识，这赋予文化产业以迄今为止最大的摄取、生成、存储和处理各种文化元素的能力。中国是一个有着五千年历史传承的文化大国，数字技术对我国文化建设的作用尤为显著。随着数字图像技术、数字孪生技术、全息技术、实时传输技术等在文化建设中的广泛应用，海量文化资源通过数字生成储存、虚拟演绎展览、沉浸互动连接等途径更新和丰富了存在形式，文化资源转化率和文化传播效率也随之实现大幅度提升。数字技术在文化建设中的广泛应用，还催生了一系列数字文化产业新形态，计算机生成图像（CGI）技术、3D、视觉特效技术等数字处理技术推动电子游戏、动画制作等文化细分产业步入发展快车道，大批数字文化精品不断在市场上推陈出新。

Marx pointed out in the "Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy": "The mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness." [12]12 Marx, "Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy," 1859. The core components of this social being are the definite, necessary relations of production that people enter into, independent of their will, in their social production. The totality of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real basis on which people form various forms of social consciousness. In capitalist society, the dominant relations of production are those in which the bourgeoisie exploits the proletariat through wage labor. These relations serve as the "universal light" [13]13 Marx's metaphor from the "Introduction" to the Grundrisse (1857–1858), describing how a dominant mode of production colors all other relations. that illuminates all economic and social relations. The law of capital accumulation projects itself into the ideology of every "real individual," thereby forming modern Western culture, dominated by bourgeois ideology, which is saturated with tendencies such as individualism, elitism, consumerism, and hedonism. These cultural currents not only effectively deconstruct the proletarian consciousness of the broad mass of wage laborers but also drive them increasingly to align their lifestyles with the law of capital accumulation. In socialist society, the dominant relations of production are those in which the working people are masters of their own affairs and jointly manage economic affairs. The working people are both the creators and the owners of value. The law of people-centered development projects itself into the ideology of every "real individual," thereby forming a socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, dominated by proletarian ideology. The leading tendencies within this culture are collectivism, democratic equality, hard work and struggle, and common prosperity. These cultural currents powerfully promote the establishment of a sense of ownership among the broad mass of working people, strengthen and consolidate the sense of community of the Chinese nation, and guide individuals to integrate the small self into the greater self of the social community, achieving comprehensive and free individual development on the new journey of comprehensively building a modern socialist country.

马克思在《〈政治经济学批判〉序言》中指出，“物质生活的生产方式制约着整个社会生活、政治生活和精神生活的过程。不是人们的意识决定人们的存在，相反，是人们的社会存在决定人们的意识。”构成这个社会存在核心要件的是人们在社会生产中发生的一定的、必然的、不以他们意志为转移的生产关系，这些生产关系的总和构成社会的经济结构，是人民形成各种社会意识形式的现实基础。在资本主义社会，占统治地位的生产关系是资产阶级雇佣剥削无产阶级的生产关系，它是一切经济关系和社会关系的“普照的光”，资本增殖规律投射到每一个“现实的人”的思想意识中，由此形成了以资产阶级意识形态为主导的近现代西方文化，其中充斥个人主义、精英主义、消费主义、享乐主义等思潮倾向。这些文化思潮不仅有效解构了广大雇佣劳动者的无产阶级意识，而且驱动他们日益向符合资本增殖规律的生活方式靠拢。在社会主义社会，占统治地位的是劳动人民当家作主共同管理经济事务的生产关系，劳动人民是价值创造者和价值所有者，以人民为中心的发展规律投射到每一个“现实的人”的思想意识中，由此形成了以无产阶级意识形态为主导的中国特色社会主义文化，其中居于主导地位的是集体主义、民主平等、艰苦奋斗、共同富裕的思潮倾向。这些文化思潮有力促进了广大劳动人民树立起主人翁意识，维护强化了中华民族共同体意识，引导个人将小我融入社会共同体的大我，在全面建设社会主义现代化国家的新征程中实现个人的全面自由发展。

It must also be noted that the industrialization trend of culture leads to economic organizational forms directly influencing the currents of cultural development. With the progress of social productive forces, the production of cultural products increasingly adopts the form of collective organization. The industrialization trend of culture is an important manifestation of the deepening development of the social division of labor. Correspondingly, the quantity of means of production necessary for the cultural industry increases rapidly; these are important tools for cultural practitioners to create and disseminate spiritual products and are indispensable factors of production for achieving cultural prosperity and development. As owners of the means of production in the cultural industry, they are often also the decision-makers in cultural industry production, dominating or even controlling the overall direction and phased priorities of cultural industry development. Relevant research indicates that in developed countries in Europe and America, large capital groups, relying on their monopoly ownership of the means of production, control and dominate cultural media, digital platforms, and other cultural opinion industries. Through means such as the cyclical consumption of homogeneous content, promoting bourgeois lifestyles, and inculcating bourgeois ideology, they make the production of cultural products serve the interests of large capital. In contrast, in socialist China, the development of cultural undertakings has always been based on public ownership of the means of production and has consistently implemented the people-centered development thought. The creation and dissemination of cultural products have a clear orientation toward core socialist values. Some viewpoints suggest that the socialist public ownership of the means of production determines that production is driven by the "yardstick of human development," thereby giving rise to a lifestyle of consumption based on the "yardstick of human development," reflecting an advanced, non-materialized consumer culture that rejects false needs and symbolic consumption.

还要看到，文化的产业化趋势导致经济组织方式直接影响文化发展潮流。随着社会生产力的进步，文化产品的生产日益采取集体组织的形式，文化的产业化趋势成为社会分工体系深化发展的重要表现。相应的，文化产业所必需的生产资料数量迅速增大，它们是文化从业者创造和传播精神产品的重要工具，是实现文化繁荣发展的不可或缺的生产要素。作为文化产业生产资料的所有者，他们往往也是文化产业生产的决策者，主导甚至控制着文化产业发展的总体方向和阶段性重点。相关研究表明，在欧美发达国家，大资本集团依托生产资料所有权垄断和控制了文化传媒、数字平台等文化舆论产业，通过同质内容的循环消费、推广资产阶级生活方式、灌输资产阶级意识形态等手段，使文化产品生产以服务于大资本的利益为目的。与之不同，在社会主义中国，文化事业的发展始终立基于生产资料公有制，始终贯彻以人民为中心的发展思想，文化产品的创作和传播具有鲜明的社会主义核心价值观导向。有观点指出，生产资料社会主义公有制决定了生产是以“人的发展尺度”为驱动力，由此催生的是“人的发展尺度”的生活消费，体现了摒弃虚假需要和符号消费的先进的、非物化的消费文化。

Politics is an important link connecting the economy and culture. The economic base determines the activities of government governance and thereby exerts an indirect influence on cultural development. Lenin pointed out that “politics is the concentrated expression of economics.” For “real individuals,” economic and political activities have always been two sides of the same coin; government governance activities are merely a special means of distributing economic resources in political form. As the subjective conscious form of “real individuals,” culture is the result of the formation of a certain identity among the social masses, and its objective content always involves the interaction of economics and politics: “A given culture (as an ideological form) is a reflection of the given society’s politics and economics.” [14]14 Mao Zedong, “On New Democracy” (1940). The full sentence is: “A given culture (as an ideological form) is a reflection of the given society’s politics and economics, and in turn exerts a great influence and reaction on them.” Government governance activities are the core content of the political superstructure and the main form of interaction between economics and politics; they inevitably exert an important influence on the concrete path and specific forms of cultural development. Looking at the history of the developed capitalist countries of Europe and America, government governance is an important means for the bourgeoisie to exercise political power and is also a necessary condition for the cycle of capital valorization. Effective government governance not only serves the reproduction of capitalist relations of production from both the political and economic aspects but also helps enhance the social masses’ identification with the existing system and order, thereby consolidating the dominant position of bourgeois ideology in cultural development. For the developed capitalist countries of Europe and America, although government economic governance swings back and forth between Keynesianism and neoliberalism, its essence is always to regulate the class contradiction between labor and capital and the multiple antagonistic contradictions in social reproduction, so as to adapt to the specific conditions of capital valorization and accumulation under different historical circumstances. It is precisely with the assistance of government economic governance that the Western capitalist economic and political system has become synonymous with “social progress,” and Western capitalist culture has been beautified in the cognition of the social masses as “universal values.” In socialist countries, realizing, safeguarding, and developing the fundamental interests of the people is the fundamental basis for forming socialist cultural identity. The fundamental interests of the people include both the political power of being masters of the country and a people-centered economic development; conscious and proactive government governance is a typical manifestation of the organic combination of the two. Examining the two miracles of China’s rapid economic development and long-term social stability, it is not difficult to find that conscious and proactive government governance under the leadership of the Communist Party of China is an indispensable key link. It is precisely with the assistance of this kind of government governance that economic development and social stability are continuously transformed into ever-improving people’s livelihood and well-being, effectively consolidating the people’s sense of community and continuously enhancing the degree of identification with socialist culture. Since the New Era, a series of main-theme literary and artistic works on poverty alleviation and revolutionary history have received good public acclaim, reflecting from one aspect the new achievements in the cultural construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Behind this lies the high recognition of the broad masses of the people for the development path of socialism with Chinese characteristics and their high recognition of the government governance activities under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.

政治是联系经济与文化的重要纽带，经济基础决定政府治理活动进而对文化发展形成间接影响。列宁指出，“政治是经济的集中表现”。对于“现实的人”而言，经济活动和政治活动从来都是一个硬币的两面，政府治理活动不过是以政治形式分配经济资源的特殊手段。作为“现实的人”的主观意识形式，文化是社会大众形成某种认同的结果，其客观内容总是涉及经济和政治的相互作用，“一定的文化（当作观念形态的文化）是一定社会的政治和经济的反映”。政府治理活动是政治上层建筑的核心内容，是经济和政治相互作用的主要形式，它必然对文化发展的现实路径和具体形态产生重要影响。纵观欧美发达资本主义国家发展史，政府治理是资产阶级行使政治权力的重要方式，同时也是资本增殖循环的必要条件。有效的政府治理不仅从政治和经济两方面服务于资本主义生产关系再生产，而且有利于提升社会大众对现存制度和秩序的认同，进而巩固资产阶级意识形态在文化发展中的统治地位。对于欧美发达资本主义国家而言，尽管政府经济治理在凯恩斯主义和新自由主义之间来回摇摆，但实质都是调节劳资间阶级矛盾及社会再生产中的多重对抗性矛盾，以便适应不同历史条件下资本增殖和积累的具体条件。正是在政府经济治理的助力下，西方资本主义经济和政治制度成为“社会进步”的代名词，西方资本主义文化在社会大众的认知中美化为“普世价值观念”。在社会主义国家，实现好、维护好、发展好人民群众的根本利益，是形成社会主义文化认同的根本所在。人民群众的根本利益，既包括当家作主的政治权力，也包括以人民为中心的经济发展，自觉有为的政府治理是二者有机结合的典型表现。审视中国经济快速发展和社会长期稳定两大奇迹，不难发现，中国共产党领导下的自觉有为的政府治理是不可或缺的关键一环。也正是在这种政府治理的助力下，经济发展和社会稳定不断转化为持续增进的民生福祉，有力巩固了人民群众的共同体意识，不断提升了社会主义文化的认同度。新时代以来，一系列扶贫题材、革命历史题材等主旋律文艺作品获得好口碑，从一个侧面反映了中国特色社会主义文化建设的新成就，其背后是广大人民群众对中国特色社会主义发展道路的高度认可，是对中国共产党领导下的政府治理活动的高度认可。

IV. The Reaction of Cultural Construction on the Quality and Mode of Economic Development

四、文化建设反作用于经济发展的质量和方式

Marxist historical materialism emphasizes that social being determines social consciousness, while also affirming that social consciousness has its own forms and laws of development, exerts an active reaction on social being, and under certain conditions can transform into a material force that influences the course of history. The key to realizing the transformation of spiritual force into material force lies in “educating people through culture” (yi wen hua ren), that is, transforming “real individuals” through cultural education, reshaping their modes of behavior and activity to promote the change and development of human society. As an important component of the superstructure, cultural construction reacts on the contradictory movement of productive forces and relations of production, not only improving the quality of economic development but also transforming the mode of economic development. First, culture contains the regular knowledge of humanity’s understanding and transformation of the natural world; cultural construction enhances the comprehensive quality and professional skills of laborers, providing indispensable intellectual support for economic development. Second, the core of culture is a specific ideology; it maintains the reproduction of specific relations of production by shaping the ideological consensus of the social masses, and cultural construction provides a source of cohesion for the specific mode of economic development. Third, the ideology within culture is also an important adhesive for the political superstructure; it powerfully promotes changes in the mode and improvements in the efficiency of government economic governance, thereby indirectly influencing the quality and mode of economic development.

马克思主义唯物史观强调社会存在决定社会意识，同时也肯定社会意识具有自身的发展形式和发展规律，对社会存在具有能动的反作用，在一定条件下会转化为物质力量从而影响历史的发展。实现精神力量向物质力量的转化，关键在于“以文化人”，即通过文化教育来改造“现实的人”，重塑其行为活动方式以推动人类社会的变革和发展。作为上层建筑的重要组成部分，文化建设反作用于生产力和生产关系的矛盾运动，不仅提升经济发展的质量，而且改造经济发展的方式。其一，文化蕴含着人类认识和改造自然世界的规律性认识，文化建设提高劳动者的综合素质和专业技能，为经济发展提供不可或缺的智力支撑；其二，文化的核心是特定的意识形态，它通过塑造社会大众思想共识的方式维护特定的生产关系再生产，文化建设为经济发展的特定方式提供了凝聚力来源；其三，文化中的意识形态还是政治上层建筑的重要粘合剂，它有力推动了政府经济治理的方式变革和效率提升，进而间接影响了经济发展的质量和方式。

Science and technology are the primary productive forces, and technological innovation is increasingly becoming the source of progress in contemporary social productive forces. Scientific and technological knowledge is an important component of culture, representing the regular knowledge of humanity’s understanding and transformation of the natural world accumulated over generations. Laborers armed with scientific knowledge are the most active and revolutionary element in the development of productive forces. In this sense, without the progress of scientific and technological culture, the economic development of a society is impossible. The modern world history since the 16th century clearly shows that the economic modernization of the developed Western capitalist countries was inseparable from the First and Second Industrial Revolutions, and these two industrial revolutions were the social products of the rapid development and widespread application of modern natural science. Marx pointed out that competition among commodity producers is the logical prerequisite for the reproduction of capitalist relations of production. In order to obtain surplus profit in competition, the bourgeoisie not only devotes itself to applying the achievements of scientific and technological innovation to production and management but also trains the labor skills of the proletariat in various forms to adapt to constantly innovating production technologies and organizational methods. In this process, although the proletariat is one-sidedly cultivated into a “tool person,” the social reproduction system is modernized with the assistance of scientific and technological culture, and the developed capitalist countries thereby achieve economic modernization. As a historical transcendence of capitalist society, socialist society should develop productive forces faster and better, which naturally requires vigorously promoting the progress of scientific and technological culture. In socialist China, science and education are important contents of the Communist Party of China’s governance. Through compulsory education, higher education, vocational training, and other means, the scientific and cultural level, comprehensive labor quality, and pioneering and innovative spirit of the people are continuously enhanced. [35]35 This refers to the emphasis in the report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC (2022) on education, science and technology, and talent as basic and strategic supports for Chinese-path modernization. This provides a powerful endogenous driving force for China’s rapid economic development. On the new journey of comprehensively building a modern socialist country, the Party Central Committee has established education, science and technology, and talent as the basic and strategic supports for Chinese-path modernization, emphasizing the in-depth implementation of the strategy of rejuvenating the country through science and education, the strategy of strengthening the country through talent, and the innovation-driven development strategy, coordinating and promoting the integrated reform of the education, science and technology, and talent systems and mechanisms, building a system and mechanism that supports comprehensive innovation, and driving high-quality scientific and technological innovation through high-quality development of laborers, thereby achieving high-quality development of the national economy.

科学技术是第一生产力，科技创新日益成为当代社会生产力的进步源泉。科技知识是文化的重要组成，是人类世代累积的认识和改造自然世界的规律性认识，以科学知识为武装的劳动者是生产力发展中最活跃、最革命的要素。从这个意义上讲，没有科技文化的进步，一个社会的经济发展就无从谈起。16世纪以来的世界近代史清楚地表明，西方发达资本主义国家的经济现代化离不开第一次和第二次工业革命，而两次工业革命又是近代自然科学快速发展和广泛应用的社会产物。马克思指出，商品生产者间的竞争是资本主义生产关系再生产的逻辑前提，为了在竞争中获得超额利润，资产阶级不仅致力于将科技创新成果应用于生产经营中，而且以多种形式培训无产阶级劳动技能以适应不断创新的生产技术和组织方式。在这个过程中，无产阶级固然被片面培养成“工具人”，但社会再生产体系却在科技文化的助力下完成了现代化改造，发达资本主义国家由此实现了经济的现代化发展。作为对资本主义社会的历史超越，社会主义社会应当更快更好地发展生产力，这自然要求大力推动科技文化进步。在社会主义中国，科学教育事业是中国共产党治国理政的重要内容，通过义务教育、高等教育、职业培训等多种方式，人民群众的科学文化水平、劳动综合素质和开拓创新精神不断提升，[35]这为中国经济的快速发展提供了强大内生动力。在全面建设社会主义现代化国家的新征程中，党中央将教育、科技、人才确立为中国式现代化的基础性、战略性支撑，强调深入实施科教兴国战略、人才强国战略、创新驱动发展战略，统筹推进教育科技人才体制机制一体改革，构建支持全面创新体制机制，以劳动者高质量发展带动科技创新高质量发展，进而实现国民经济的高质量发展。

The different ideologies reflecting the fundamental interests of different classes constitute the main content of the mutual agitation of cultural currents in each historical era, and shape the worldview, outlook on life, and values of each "real individual." In the long course of human history, cultural development as ideology exhibits its inherent tension: on the one hand, the dominant ideology constrains and tames individual behavior, making it conform to the existing economic and political institutions, thereby serving the reproduction of the dominant relations of production; on the other hand, non-dominant ideologies incite and stimulate a spirit of resistance, striving to reveal the irrationality of the existing economic and political institutions, thereby promoting major changes in the dominant relations of production. In this process, culture as ideology is not only a glue for economic development but also a catalyst for economic change. Looking at the economic history of developed countries in Europe and America, social phenomena such as fierce class struggle between labor and capital and periodic economic crises have disrupted the stable path of capitalist economic development, thereby creating a huge impact on the rationality of the capitalist system. As a flexible buffer against this impact, various cultural trends representing bourgeois ideology have emerged one after another—refined egoism, historical nihilism, modern cynicism, extreme populism, and others taking turns on stage—shifting key issues such as class oppression and institutional defects out of the public's view, thereby promoting the "sick" development of the capitalist economy. At the same time, the proletarian revolutionary culture with Marxist theory as its core stood out in the class struggle. While revealing the exploitative nature and historical limitations of capitalist relations of production, it also exposed the ideological nature and apologetic function of capitalist culture, powerfully advancing the proletariat's revolutionary struggle for its own liberation and that of all humanity, and providing scientific ideological guidance for the leap of the socio-economic formation from capitalism to socialism. In socialist China, the proletarian ideology reflecting the people being the masters of the country dominates cultural development. Values such as people-centeredness, collectivism, hard struggle, and common prosperity have gained widespread recognition among the public and have gradually transformed into common value beliefs of various social groups, powerfully shaping the community consciousness, subjective identity, and collective self-awareness of the broad masses. These socialist cultures have effectively stimulated the consciousness and initiative of the masses, strengthened the bond between individual development and national development and national rejuvenation, and provided ideological cohesion for the reform and improvement of socialist relations of production and high-quality economic development.

反映不同阶级根本利益的不同意识形态，构成了各历史时代文化潮流相互激荡的主体内容，并塑造着每个“现实的人”的世界观、人生观和价值观。在漫长的人类历史中，作为意识形态的文化发展表现出其内在张力：一方面，占统治地位的意识形态约束和驯化个人行为，使之契合于现存的经济政治制度，从而服务于占统治地位的生产关系的再生产；另一方面，非统治地位的意识形态鼓动和激发反抗精神，致力于揭示现存经济政治制度的不合理性，从而促成对占统治地位的生产关系进行重大变革。在这一过程中，作为意识形态的文化不仅是经济发展的粘合剂，同样也是经济变革的催化剂。纵观欧美发达国家经济史，劳资间的激烈阶级斗争、周期性经济危机等社会现象瓦解了资本主义经济发展的稳定路径，进而对资本主义制度的合理性形成巨大冲击。作为对抗冲击的柔性缓冲器，各种代表资产阶级意识形态的文化思潮纷纷涌现，精致利己主义、历史虚无主义、现代犬儒主义、极端民粹主义等你方唱罢我登场，将阶级压迫、制度缺陷等关键问题转移出社会大众的视野，从而推动资本主义经济“带病”发展。与此同时，以马克思主义理论为内核的无产阶级革命文化在阶级斗争中脱颖而出，它在揭示资本主义生产关系剥削本质及历史局限性的同时，也揭露了资本主义文化的意识形态本质及其辩护功能，有力推动了无产阶级为解放自身和全人类的革命斗争，为经济社会形态从资本主义向社会主义跨越提供了科学的思想指引。在社会主义中国，反映人民当家作主的无产阶级意识形态主导文化发展，人民至上、集体主义、艰苦奋斗、共同富裕等价值理念获得社会大众广泛认同，并逐步转化为各社会群体的共同价值信仰，有力塑造了广大人民群众的共同体意识、主体性认同和集体自觉性。这些社会主义文化有力激发了人民群众的自觉性、能动性，强化了个人发展与国家发展、民族振兴的纽带联系，为社会主义生产关系的改革完善和经济高质量发展提供了思想凝聚力。

As the software and hardware of the superstructure, culture has a very direct impact on politics, including reforming political systems, adjusting political functions, and selecting political figures. These impacts jointly affect the government's economic governance activities, thereby profoundly changing the quality and mode of economic development. Some scholars have pointed out that the mainstream culture of the United States has distinct colors of liberalism, nationalism, and pragmatism. These cultural tendencies are highly compatible with the political system of separation of powers and checks and balances, providing a strong ideological guarantee for the operation of the political system. In the practice of U.S. economic governance, these cultural tendencies have an important influence on the formulation and introduction of economic policies. In a socialist society, Marxist theory is the guide for the proletarian party in governance, and the interconnection between culture, politics, and the economy is even closer. Starting from the Marxist historical materialism, socialist culture not only represents the spiritual aspirations of the broad masses but also contains scientific knowledge about the laws of human social development, the laws of socialist construction, and the laws of communist party governance, embodying the unity of class character and scientificity. It is in this sense that Comrade Mao Zedong emphasized, "A given culture (as an ideological form) is a reflection of the politics and economy of a given society, and in turn exerts a great influence and effect upon the politics and economy of that society." [36]36 Mao Zedong, "On New Democracy" (1940). The original Chinese is: 一定的文化（当作观念形态的文化）是一定社会的政治和经济的反映，又给予伟大影响和作用于一定社会的政治和经济. The success of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the failure of socialism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe show from both positive and negative facts that the gains and losses of socialist cultural undertakings are directly related to the success or failure of the socialist political system, and further determine the survival or demise of the socialist economic system. The Communist Party of China has always attached great importance to cultural-ethical progress, continuously promoting the construction of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, led by the Party's theoretical innovation, and has facilitated the formation among the broad masses of a "consensus and confidence" in major institutional frameworks such as Party leadership, the people's democratic dictatorship, and the basic economic system. It is precisely based on this "consensus and confidence" that the government's economic governance activities have received the support and endorsement of the broad masses, the national economy has continuously radiated new vitality and vigor in reform, and has created a world-renowned miracle of economic development in the fiercely competitive wave of globalization.

作为上层建筑的软件和硬件，文化对政治的影响非常直接，包括变革政治体制、调整政治功能、遴选政治人物等，这些影响共同作用于政府的经济治理活动，进而深刻改变经济发展的质量和方式。有学者指出，美国的主流文化具有鲜明的自由主义、民族主义和实用主义色彩，这些文化倾向与分权制衡的政治制度高度契合，为政治制度的运转提供了强大的意识形态保障。在美国的经济治理实践中，这些文化倾向对经济政策的制订和出台产生重要影响。在社会主义社会，马克思主义理论是无产阶级政党执政的指南，文化与政治经济的相互联系更为紧密。以马克思主义唯物史观为生发起点，社会主义文化不仅代表广大人民群众的精神诉求，更包含关于人类社会发展规律、社会主义建设规律和共产党执政规律的科学认知，体现了阶级性与科学性的统一。正是在这个意义上，毛泽东同志强调，“一定的文化（当作观念形态的文化）是一定社会的政治和经济的反映，又给予伟大影响和作用于一定社会的政治和经济”。中国特色社会主义的成功和苏东社会主义的失败，从正反两方面事实表明，社会主义文化事业的得失直接关系社会主义政治制度的成败，并进一步决定社会主义经济制度的存亡。中国共产党始终高度重视精神文明建设，以党的理论创新为龙头持续推进中国特色社会主义文化建设，促成了广大人民群众形成关于党的领导、人民民主专政、基本经济制度等重大制度架构的“共识和自信”。也正是基于这种“共识和自信”，政府的经济治理活动得到广大人民群众的拥护和支持，国民经济在改革中不断焕发新的生机活力，在竞争激烈的全球化浪潮中创造出举世瞩目的经济发展奇迹。

V. The Socialist State Is the Practical Subject for Promoting the Benign Interaction between Economy and Culture

五、社会主义国家是促进经济与文化良性互动的实践主体

According to the principles of Marxist historical materialism, the state is the product of irreconcilable class contradictions and is a violent tool for the ruling class to rule in order to maintain the reproduction of specific relations of production. That is to say, the state is certainly a political power organization for maintaining class rule, but it is also an economic management organization serving the reproduction of specific relations of production. Research by scholars such as Gramsci and Althusser further shows that the state is also an ideological machine for the ruling class to consolidate its position; it controls cultural hegemony to persuade the public to identify with the political and economic power of the ruling class. Therefore, the functions of the state always manifest as the mutual penetration and embedding of political, economic, and cultural functions. Through the structure and functions of the state, the dialectical relationship between economy and culture can be identified very directly. The state is not only an important practical subject of economic development but also an important practical subject of cultural development.

依据马克思主义唯物史观原理，国家是阶级矛盾不可调和的产物，是统治阶级进行统治以维护特定生产关系再生产的暴力工具。也就是说，国家固然是维护阶级统治的政治权力组织，但同时也是服务于特定生产关系再生产的经济管理组织。葛兰西、阿尔都塞等学者的研究进一步表明，国家还是统治阶级巩固地位的意识形态机器，它控制文化领导权以说服社会大众认同统治阶级的政治和经济权力。因此，国家的职能总是表现为政治职能、经济职能和文化职能的相互渗透和相互嵌入。透过国家的结构和职能，能够极其直接地辨识出经济与文化的辩证关系。国家，不仅是经济发展的重要实践主体，也是文化发展的重要实践主体。

However, merely forming the above general conclusions cannot accurately understand the status and functions of the socialist state from the perspective of humanistic economics. Only by contrasting the limitations of the economic and cultural functions of the capitalist state can we accurately understand and grasp why the socialist state becomes the practical subject for promoting the benign interaction between economy and culture.

然而，仅仅形成上述一般性结论，还无法准确认识社会主义国家在人文经济学视域的地位和职能。只有对照资本主义国家经济职能和文化职能的局限性，才能准确认识和把握社会主义国家何以成为促进经济与文化良性互动的实践主体。

Western liberal scholars argue that the capitalist state is a modern state different from traditional states; it is an organization connected through public power, aimed at safeguarding public interests and handling public affairs. Engels' critique was to the point: "The modern state, no matter what its form, is essentially a capitalist machine, the state of the capitalists, the ideal total capitalist. The more it takes over productive forces into public ownership, the more it becomes the real total capitalist." [37]37 Friedrich Engels, *Anti-Dühring* (1878). The original German is: "Der moderne Staat, was auch seine Form, ist eine wesentlich kapitalistische Maschine, Staat der Kapitalisten, der ideelle Gesamtkapitalist." The English translation here follows the standard edition. More importantly, based on the specific stipulations of the reproduction of capitalist relations of production, the capitalist state—the concentrated form of the political superstructure—has a special elastic structure. This structure "transforms" the interests of the bourgeoisie into the interests of the public, thus cloaking the capitalist state, as a tool of class rule, in the false form of a defender of public interests. But this "transformation" cannot eliminate the class contradiction between labor and capital, nor can it fundamentally resolve the antagonistic contradictions that continuously accumulate in social reproduction. The macroeconomic governance of the capitalist state cannot escape the trap of institutional failure; concurrently, the deterioration of economic problems and the failure of government governance will eventually spill over into the cultural field. The dominant position of bourgeois ideology in culture will inevitably be impacted, and capitalist culture may face endogenous conflict and division. In short, the class nature of the capitalist state limits its scope of action; it cannot play an active role in both promoting economic development and flourishing cultural undertakings.

西方自由主义学者主张，资本主义国家是不同于传统国家的现代国家，它是通过公共权力联结起来的组织，以维护公共利益和处理公共事务为目的。恩格斯的批判一针见血：“现代国家也只是资产阶级社会为了维护资本主义生产方式的一般外部条件使之不受工人和个别资本家的侵犯而建立的组织。现代国家，不管它的形式如何，本质上都是资本主义的机器，资本家的国家，理想的总资本家。”更为重要的是，基于资本主义生产关系再生产的具体规定性，资本主义国家——政治上层建筑的集中形式——具有特殊的弹性结构，这种结构将资产阶级利益“化形”为社会大众利益，作为阶级统治工具的资本主义国家因此罩上了公共利益维护者的虚假形式。但这种“化形”不能消除劳资阶级矛盾，不可能从根本上化解社会再生产中不断累积的对抗性矛盾，资本主义国家的宏观经济治理无法摆脱制度性失灵的陷阱；与此并行的是，经济问题的恶化和政府治理的失灵最终会波及文化领域，资产阶级意识形态在文化中的主导地位必然遭受冲击，资本主义文化有可能面临内源性冲突和分裂。简而言之，资本主义国家的阶级性质限制了其行动边界，它无法发挥既促进经济发展又繁荣文化事业的能动作用。

Ellen Wood argues that under capitalism the economy and politics are relatively separated; “the social functions of production and distribution, the extraction and appropriation of surplus, and the allocation of social labor are, so to speak, privatized and are achieved through non-authoritarian, non-political means.” [38]38 Ellen Meiksins Wood, *Democracy Against Capitalism: Renewing Historical Materialism* (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), p. 29. On the basis of this relative separation, the capitalist state is characterized as a key element of the political superstructure. In socialist society, by contrast, the political system determines the ownership of the means of production and the distribution of products; socialism is the unity of the politicization of the economy and the economization of politics, and the socialist state possesses the dual attributes of both economic base and superstructure. Taking China as an example, whether during the period of the planned economy or the market economy, the economic leadership of the Communist Party of China has always been established, and the corresponding state economic governance has become a typical form of the organic integration of economy and politics. A deeper examination of this organic integration reveals that the socialist state is not only a key element of the political superstructure but also a key element of the socialist economic base. Both in connotation and extension, the socialist state’s economic governance differs from the macroeconomic regulation of the capitalist state. As the general representative of the overall interests of the people, the socialist state is the substantive organization that coordinates the overall situation of national economic development and also the substantive organization that exercises the various powers over publicly owned means of production. It dynamically exerts the counteractive effect of the political superstructure while actively participating in the reproduction of socialist relations of production. Its structure includes political functional departments and key economic organizations, and its functional authority covers the construction and improvement of the basic economic system, the formulation and implementation of medium- and long-term development plans, the deployment and implementation of major development strategies, the adjustment and optimization of the strategic layout of the state-owned economy, and the guidance and regulation of the mode of capital development.

艾伦·伍德认为，资本主义经济与政治是相对疏离的，其“生产和分配的社会功能、剩余榨取和占有，以及社会劳动的安置，可以说都被私人化了，并通过非权威主义的、非政治的手段来实现。”基于这种相对疏离，资本主义国家被概括为政治上层建筑的关键要素。而在社会主义社会，政治制度决定生产资料的归属和产品的分配，社会主义是政治经济化和经济政治化的统一，社会主义国家具有经济基础和上层建筑的双重属性。以中国为例，无论是计划经济还是市场经济时期，都始终确立中国共产党的经济领导权，对应的国家经济治理成为经济与政治有机融合的典型形式。深入考察这种有机融合发现，社会主义国家不仅是政治上层建筑的关键要素，而且是社会主义经济基础的关键要素。无论是内涵还是外延，社会主义的国家经济治理都不同于资本主义的政府宏观调控。作为人民整体利益的总代表，社会主义国家是统筹国民经济发展全局的实体组织，也是行使公有制生产资料诸项权力的实体组织，既能动地发挥政治上层建筑的反作用，也积极参与社会主义生产关系的再生产，其架构包括政治职能部门和重点经济组织，其职能权限覆盖基本经济制度的建构与完善、中长期发展规划的制订与实施、重大发展战略的部署与落实、国有经济战略布局的调整与优化、资本发展方式的引导与规范等。

The socialist state’s economic governance adopts the special form of the organic integration of politics and economy, and the unity of the economic base and the political superstructure manifests itself in an intuitive form. Starting from this intuitive phenomenon, many Western scholars simply classify the Chinese economy as an authoritarian development model, and then judge that the miracle of China’s rapid economic development cannot be sustained; the hype about the “theory of China’s economic collapse” has also been incessant. The fact is that since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, [39]39 The 18th National Congress of the CPC, held in November 2012, marked the beginning of the New Era under Xi Jinping’s leadership. in the face of the ever-increasing hegemonic containment by the United States, the Chinese economy has demonstrated strong resilience and achieved phased results of high-quality development. Facts speak louder than words. In light of the facts of China’s high-quality economic development, the classifications and judgments of the aforementioned Western scholars expose the cognitive limitations of their bourgeois ideology. The success of the socialist state’s economic governance lies not only in the form of the integration of economy and politics but, more importantly, in its content conforming to the development law of being people-centered. Understanding this requires examining the active role of the ideological superstructure and analyzing the supporting role of socialist culture for the socialist state’s economic governance.

社会主义的国家经济治理采取政治与经济有机融合的特殊形式，经济基础与政治上层建筑的统一以直观形式展现出来。很多西方学者由这一直观现象出发，将中国经济简单归入威权主义发展模式，进而判定中国经济的快速发展奇迹是无法持续的，有关“中国经济崩溃论”的炒作也不绝于耳。事实是，党的十八大以来，面对美国不断加压的霸权遏制，中国经济表现出强大韧性，取得高质量发展的阶段性成果。事实胜于雄辩。对照中国经济高质量发展的事实，上述西方学者的归类和判断暴露了其资产阶级意识形态的认知局限。社会主义国家经济治理的成功，不仅仅在于其经济与政治相融合的形式，更在于其内容符合以人民为中心的发展规律。理解这一点，需要考察思想上层建筑的能动作用，解析社会主义文化对社会主义国家经济治理的支撑作用。

General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasizes, “The reason why the Communist Party of China was capable and why socialism with Chinese characteristics worked was ultimately because Marxism worked, and because Marxism adapted to the Chinese context and the needs of the times worked.” Marxism is a scientific theory, a theory of the people, a practical theory, and an open theory. It creatively revealed the laws of the development of human society, established an ideological system for the people to achieve their own liberation, guides the people’s actions to transform the world, and always stands at the forefront of the times. Taking Marxism as the guide is the clear banner of the socialist ideological superstructure. Only by promoting socialist cultural construction under the guidance of Marxism, arming the proletarian party with scientific theory, and transforming the broad masses of the people with advanced thought can it be ensured that state economic governance always follows the people-centered law of development, thereby achieving rapid economic development and long-term social stability. In other words, it is precisely with the guidance of scientific theory and the shaping of advanced thought that the masses of the people are no longer passively dominated by the laws of economic development but, through the joint method of state economic governance, actively apply the laws of economic development to promote the accelerated resolution and transformation of the basic contradictions and principal contradictions of society. The Communist Party of China has always attached great importance to building a strong cultural country; the flourishing development of socialist culture is an important part of comprehensively building a modern socialist country. General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized that we must take the innovation of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times as support, strive to build a socialist ideology with strong cohesion and leading power, and continuously enhance the country’s cultural soft power and the influence of Chinese culture. In this sense, the socialist state is not only a key element of the political superstructure and a key element of the economic base but also a key element of the ideological superstructure.

习近平总书记强调，“中国共产党为什么能，中国特色社会主义为什么好，归根到底是马克思主义行，是中国化时代化的马克思主义行。”马克思主义是科学的理论、人民的理论、实践的理论、开放的理论，它创造性地揭示了人类社会发展规律，创立了人民实现自身解放的思想体系，指引着人民改造世界的行动，始终站在时代前沿。以马克思主义为指导，是社会主义思想上层建筑的鲜明旗帜。只有在马克思主义指导下推进社会主义文化建设，以科学的理论武装无产阶级政党，以先进的思想改造广大人民群众，才能确保国家经济治理始终遵循以人民为中心的发展规律，进而实现经济的快速发展和社会的长期稳定。换言之，正是有了科学理论的指导和先进思想的塑造，人民群众才不再被动地受经济发展规律支配，而是以国家经济治理这种联合的方式主动运用经济发展规律，推动社会基本矛盾和主要矛盾加速解决和转化。中国共产党始终高度重视文化强国建设，社会主义文化繁荣发展是全面建设社会主义现代化国家的重要内容。习近平总书记多次强调，要以马克思主义中国化时代化创新为支撑，着力建设具有强大凝聚力和引领力的社会主义意识形态，不断提升国家文化软实力和中华文化影响力。从这个意义上讲，社会主义国家不仅是政治上层建筑的关键要素、经济基础的关键要素，还是思想上层建筑的关键要素。

Human society is an ever-changing organism, whose constituent elements are mutually causal and self-renewing; economy, politics, and culture are necessarily in a relationship of mutual embedding and interaction. The issue of humanistic economics focuses on the benign interaction between economy and culture, and politics is an important link for realizing this benign interaction. The socialist state is a complex that runs through the economic base, the political superstructure, and the ideological superstructure; it is the central regulator that coordinates economic development, political stability, and cultural prosperity. To advance Chinese-path modernization and promote the coordinated development of material civilization and cultural-ethical progress, it is necessary to give full play to the active role of the socialist state, take problems as the orientation, and steadily advance the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity.

人类社会是一个不断变化的有机体，其构成要素互为因果、自我更新，经济、政治与文化必然处于相互嵌入、相互作用的关系中。人文经济学议题聚焦经济与文化的良性互动，而政治是实现这种良性互动的重要纽带。社会主义国家是贯通经济基础、政治上层建筑和思想上层建筑的综合体，是统筹经济发展、政治稳定和文化繁荣的中枢调节器。推进中国式现代化，促进物质文明和精神文明相协调发展，必须发挥好社会主义国家的能动作用，以问题为导向，稳步推进国家治理体系和治理能力现代化。

Online editor: Paul

网络编辑：保罗