Political economy is an important part of the basic theory of Marxism. It occupies an important position in the Marxist theoretical system. How to teach yourself political economy? How to get better results in the self-study exam of political economy? This is a problem that the majority of self-taught candidates are very concerned about and need to be solved urgently. Based on the long-term experience of participating in political economy counseling and self-study exam marking, the following views are put forward for candidates' self-study reference.
A clear understanding of the nature and purpose of the course is the premise of self-study and examination.
The course of political economy is a compulsory course for the economic management major in the national higher education self-study exam, and it is a professional basic course set up to cultivate and test the basic knowledge and application ability of Marxist economic theory for the self-study exam candidates. In addition to political economics, there are various economic disciplines that study economic management theory, such as accounting, social statistics, national economic management, financial economics, finance and so on. Political economy is a discipline that provides theoretical basis for other economic disciplines. Its basic principles and objective economic laws are instructive to other economic disciplines. Therefore, for the major of economic management in higher education, political economy is not only a public course for undergraduate and junior college students in higher education, but also a professional basic course. Candidates majoring in economic management should fully understand the important position of political economy in the major of economic management. First, they should learn political economy well.
Every science has its own research object. The research object of political economy is social relations of production and its development law, and its task is to reveal the objective economic law of economic development and economic operation. Political economy not only studies capitalist relations of production and their development laws and the development laws of various societies before capitalist society, but also studies socialist relations of production and their development laws, so it is a science that comprehensively reveals the relations of production and social development laws of human society, and at the same time realizes the unity of scientificity and class nature. Marxist political economy is a highly scientific science and a class science of the proletariat. The examination contents, objectives and propositions of political economy all reflect the characteristics of Marxist theory. Self-taught candidates must master the basic theory and knowledge and cultivate their theoretical application ability.
The specific purpose of offering this course is to enable self-taught candidates to master the basic theory and knowledge of Marxist political economy comprehensively and systematically, to understand the social and economic relations and the regularity of their development, to establish a scientific world outlook and values, and to cultivate and improve their ability to correctly analyze various social and economic problems in the contemporary capitalist economic system, especially to learn and master the theory of building a Socialism with Chinese characteristics economy. Correctly implement the basic line, principles and policies of socialist construction and reform and opening up, learn to act according to the requirements of objective economic laws, enhance the predictability of economic activities, avoid blindness, make self-taught candidates better adapt to the needs of economic management after graduation, and make their own contributions to the cause of socialist modernization in their respective posts.
2. Mastering the basic content of the course is the key to getting better results in self-study and examination.
Political economy is a science with tight structure, complete system, rich content, profound meaning and strict logic. The self-study of Political Economy must be based on the nature and requirements of this course, as well as the characteristics and requirements of the self-study examination of this course, and strive to improve the self-study ability. The key to cultivate and improve this ability is to have a serious, persistent and enterprising attitude and strive to master the basic content of the course. We should not only eliminate the intention of looking for "tricks" and "shortcuts" in understanding, but also master the correct learning methods, improve the quality of self-study and avoid detours in the process of self-study examination. Self-study teaching materials are the basis and key link to achieve better results in exams. Only by self-learning the basic contents of the course comprehensively, systematically and emphatically can we achieve good results in the exam.
Mastering the basic content of the course is the basic requirement and main task of our study. Only by mastering the basic content of the course in the process of self-study can we highlight the key points, study deeply, understand the basic principles and knowledge, and avoid scratching our heads. Candidates often feel that political economy is rich in content, theoretical and abstract, and they can't figure out the problems in each chapter and can't tell the priority. The reason is that they have not mastered the central idea and basic content of the course. To solve this problem, candidates must first master the system structure, basic points and characteristics of the textbook.
The content of political economy, in addition to the introduction of chapter 1, expounds the research object of political economy, the evolution of social and economic system, and the research methods of political economy. , mainly including the capitalist part of political economy and the socialist part of political economy. The content of the capitalist part of self-study political economy should grasp a main line, that is, Marxism uses the universal laws of human society and history revealed by dialectical materialism and historical materialism to analyze the capitalist mode of production, and mainly discusses the basic characteristics and movement laws of the capitalist economic system. The main contents of this part can be summarized into four theories: The first part is Marx's labor theory of value, that is, the second chapter, commodity economy and market economy. Through the analysis of commodity and currency, understanding the relationship between commodity and social production and its movement law, and mastering the basic content of labor theory of value can lay a theoretical foundation for learning and mastering surplus value theory and all Marxist political economy. The second part is Marx's surplus value theory, including chapters 3, 7, 8 and 9 and 10 in the textbook. Through the analysis of capitalist production process, this paper expounds the production process and basic production methods of surplus value, and reveals the essence of capitalist production; Through the analysis of the general process of capitalist production, this paper expounds various concrete forms of capital and surplus value, and reveals the exploitation relationship of capitalism and the basic contradiction of capitalism. The third part is Marx's theory of capital accumulation and social capital reproduction, including the contents of the fourth, fifth and sixth chapters of the textbook. Through the analysis of capitalist reproduction process and capital circulation process, this paper expounds Marx's theory of capital accumulation and reveals the internal contradiction of capitalist production mode, that is, the analysis of capitalist economic operation. The fourth part is the theory of monopoly capitalism, including chapters 1 1, 12, 13 and 14 in the textbook. Through the analysis of the emergence and development of monopoly capitalism, this paper expounds the basic economic characteristics and essence of monopoly capitalism, the main forms and essence of state monopoly capitalism, and the historical trend of monopoly capitalism. The basic content of capitalism not only reveals the laws and essence of capitalist economic movement, but also can be understood from the general laws of socialized mass production, commodity economy and market economy and the practice of socialist economic construction.
The socialist part of political economy is a science that studies socialist economic relations and economic operation laws. The content of self-study in the socialist part of political economy should take the construction of Socialism with Chinese characteristics Theory as the main line and the socialist market economic system as the core, that is, under the guidance of the basic principles of Marxist political economy and Socialism with Chinese characteristics Theory, learn from the achievements and experiences of relevant science at home and abroad, study the practice of China's socialist construction and reform and opening up, and explore the basic socialist economic system and the laws of socialist economic operation in China. The socialist part of political economy can be divided into four parts: the first part is about the basic system of China's socialist economy. This part includes three chapters in the textbook: 15, 16 and 17. On the basis of analyzing the theoretical issues such as the establishment of the socialist economic system, the essence and fundamental task of socialism, and the characteristics of the primary stage of socialism, it is emphasized that the coexistence of various economic forms with socialist public ownership as the main body and various distribution forms with distribution according to work as the main body are two basic characteristics of the social economic system in the primary stage of socialism. Mastering the contents of these two basic characteristics is the theoretical basis and starting point for correctly understanding China's socialist market economic system and socialist economic operation mechanism. The second part is to clarify the socialist market economic system. Although there is only one chapter in this part, namely 18, it is rich in content and is a very important chapter. To study this chapter, we should master the relationship between socialist commodity economy and market economy, the characteristics of socialist market economy, the relationship between planning and market in economic system reform, and the ways to establish and improve the socialist market economic system in China. Economic operation is carried out under the market economy system. The third part is to clarify the operation of socialist micro-economy. Microeconomic operation is the foundation of the whole economic operation. This part includes chapters 19, 20, 2 1 in the textbook, and discusses the relationship between people in the process of socialist direct production and circulation. Socialist enterprises are the main body of microeconomic operation. To learn this part, we must master the status, nature, characteristics and reform direction of socialist state-owned enterprises; The basic position and role of agriculture in the national economy, the goal and direction of rural economic system reform; The law of socialist circulation. The fourth part expounds the operation and regulation of socialist macro-economy and analyzes the total amount of socialist national economy. This part includes chapters 22, 23, 24 and 25 in the textbook. Through the analysis of the growth and development of socialist economy, this paper discusses the contents and characteristics of socialist industrial structure and economic benefits; On the basis of analyzing the distribution and redistribution of national income, grasp the relationship between socialist accumulation and consumption and improve the social security system; Expounding the necessity, policy and various basic forms and principles of developing foreign economic relations in socialist countries; Finally, the analysis of socialist economic operation is completed through the total balance and structural optimization of total social supply and total demand, as well as the macro-control of economic operation and economic development by the state. Chapter 26 is the summary of the whole book, which examines the historical trend of the development of socialist society, expounds Marxist theory on the development of two classes in capitalist society, and briefly explains that the socialist system needs to go through a historical process of self-improvement and self-development from immaturity to maturity.
Self-taught candidates must master the basic content of the textbook, and also carefully read the learning objectives and requirements of each chapter and the assessment content. It actually tells you the central idea and basic content of this chapter. For example, the third chapter "the essence of capitalist production" is the key chapter of the capitalist part, which explains the surplus value theory founded by Marx. Self-taught candidates feel very abstract, long and confused, and can't grasp the main content. According to the learning purpose and requirements of this chapter, as well as the examination contents and assessment requirements, its basic content is: (1) Labor becomes a commodity, which is the premise of converting money into capital. (2) the production process of surplus value and the essence of capital. (3) Two basic methods of surplus production. (4) The nature and form of capitalist wages. Grasp the above four basic problems, the outline of this chapter will be clear, and other problems will be solved. Another example is the chapter "Ownership Structure and Production Essence in the Primary Stage of Socialism", which contains so many contents that it is difficult for candidates to grasp the basic principles and points. In fact, its basic content is: (1) the objective inevitability of the coexistence of various ownership systems in the primary stage of socialism. (2) the dominant position of socialist public ownership and the role of various non-public economic forms. Focus on understanding that China should adjust and improve the ownership structure at this stage. It is a basic system in the primary stage of socialism that public ownership is the main body and multiple ownership economies develop together, and the forms of realization of public ownership should be diversified. (3) The essence of socialist production is to grasp the purpose of socialist production and the means to achieve it, as well as the relationship between them. If you master the basic points of these three theories, you can understand and master the contents of this chapter.
Thirdly, mastering the correct learning methods is an effective way to achieve good results in self-study and exams.
Self-study of political economy requires mastering the correct learning methods according to the characteristics of political economy course, the requirements of examination syllabus for self-taught candidates and the characteristics of self-taught examinations, which is an effective way to achieve better results in the examination.
First, correctly handle the relationship between examination syllabus and teaching materials, and master the basic content of the course extensively and deeply.
The main feature of higher education self-study exam is that candidates take the exam on the basis of self-study and get qualified results. Political economics is different from specialized courses. As a national unified examination course, the Economic Management Committee of the National Higher Education Self-taught Examination Steering Committee has formulated a unified syllabus for the self-taught examination of political economy, which uniformly expounds and stipulates the nature and purpose requirements of this course. Examination contents and objectives (including examination knowledge points and requirements), relevant explanations and implementation requirements. Among them, the examination content and objectives are the main components of the examination syllabus, which play a guiding role in the self-study of candidates and serve as the basis for unifying the examination proposition. The examination syllabus not only systematically expounds the basic principles of Marxist political economy and the basic contents of Socialism with Chinese characteristics's economic theory, but also highlights the assessment requirements of basic theory, basic knowledge and basic application ability, and pays attention to the requirements of economic management and college-level public courses. The content is concise, the analysis is concise, the narrative is clear, and the assessment content, assessment objectives and assessment points are accurately expressed. Convenient and conducive to self-study. According to the requirements of the syllabus of the self-study exam, Principles of Political Economy edited by Wei Xinghua and Gu Xuerong is a high-level self-study textbook, which is closely related to the syllabus. Therefore, to take part in the self-taught examination of political economy, we must carefully read the Outline of the Self-taught Examination of Political Economy, clarify its contents and requirements, focus on learning textbooks, and profoundly grasp the basic principles of political economy. This is the most basic requirement and way to learn and test this course well.
In the process of studying political economy, self-taught candidates should correctly handle the relationship between teaching materials and examination syllabus. In order to take shortcuts, some candidates only read the outline and don't study the textbooks seriously. Although they can clearly define the basic content and central idea, they can't systematically grasp the main points of the basic principles. Some candidates pay attention to reading the textbook carefully but ignore the study of the outline, so they feel that some problems are discussed in detail in the textbook, but it is difficult to grasp the central idea and main points of the basic principles. Only by comparing the two, or reading them together, can we not only summarize, but also profoundly grasp the main points of basic principles and basic knowledge. For example, the relationship between commodity economy and market economy is not easy for self-taught candidates to understand and master. The content on pages 24-25 of Principles of Political Economy is very detailed, but it can't summarize what this relationship is. If you carefully read the examination syllabus (12 pages), this problem will be clear at a glance. The outline says: "(1) Market economy is a commodity economy that plays a fundamental role in resource allocation. (2) In a market economy, the allocation of resources is realized through market mechanisms ... (3) The difference between a commodity economy and a market economy is that the former refers to the specific ways in which different producers exchange labor and engage in labor contact under the social division of labor, while the latter refers to the allocation of social resources. (4) Commodity economy and market economy are intrinsically linked, and commodity economy is the premise and foundation for the existence and development of market economy. It can be seen that the textbook is written according to the outline. According to the high summary of the outline, re-reading the textbook can deeply understand the content of the textbook and grasp the basic points of the relationship between commodity economy and market economy. For another example, there are nearly two pages on the necessity of developing foreign economic relations in socialist countries (pages 434-435). It is not easy for self-taught candidates to master the basic points discussed in the textbook. If we look at the exam outline again, it will be easy to understand. The necessity of developing foreign economic relations in socialist countries in the outline can be summarized as two points: (1) the objective requirement of socialized mass production; (2) The need of developing commodity economy and implementing socialist market economy. Grasping these two basic points, we can deeply understand the content of the textbook.
In addition to the study syllabus and teaching materials, we should also read some enlightening reading materials, especially the Guide to the Self-taught Examination of Principles of Political Economy edited by Gu Xuerong, which can play a role in guiding self-study, clarifying learning requirements and understanding the curriculum system, deepening understanding and grasping key and difficult points. In recent years, some questions and key points of reference answers in the self-taught examination of political economy (economic management) are in the Guide to the Self-taught Examination of Principles of Political Economy. For example, a brief answer to the self-taught exam of political economy: How is the land price of capitalism determined? On the position and function of consumption in the process of socialist reproduction. (1the second half of 996) What important principles must be adhered to in the correct use of foreign capital? (1997 second half) Paper: Try to explain the difference between fixed capital and variable capital, and fixed capital and current capital. (1the second half of 996) discusses the basic structure of China's socialist market economic system (1the second half of 997). The Guide to the Self-taught Examination of Principles of Political Economy is based on the syllabus and teaching materials, combined with the reality of the self-taught examination, and compiled according to the examination questions. It is authoritative, targeted and practical, and the answers are accurate and standardized. It can help candidates to summarize and sort out the knowledge points of the textbook, familiarize themselves with the test questions, solve difficult problems in self-study, and improve the self-study effect and test-taking ability. It is a necessary reference book for the self-taught candidates majoring in economic management. Reading counseling books should be based on the syllabus of the examination and the teaching materials for self-study, otherwise the cart before the horse will get twice the result with half the effort.
Second, correctly handle the relationship between emphasis and generality, and master the basic principles of the course comprehensively and systematically.
When learning any subject, we should deal with the relationship between key points and general ones, and studying political economy is no exception. This is determined by the theoretical content of the course and the characteristics and requirements of the self-study exam. On the basis of comprehensive and systematic study, we should thoroughly grasp the key and difficult issues of political economy.
First of all, from the theoretical content of the course, we should not only grasp the key and difficult problems, but also understand and master the general problems. The so-called focus is the important economic issues involved in the overall situation in the teaching materials. If you don't grasp the key points, you won't learn this course well. The contents of the examination syllabus and textbooks are ***26 chapters, including chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 1 1, 12, 15, 16, 17, etc. In the capitalist part of political economy, there are labor theory of value, surplus value production and distribution theory, capital accumulation theory, capital circulation, turnover and social capital reproduction theory, monopoly capitalism theory and so on. In the socialist part of political economy, the essence of socialism, the theory of socialist basic economic system, the theory of socialist market economy, the theory of socialist microeconomic operation and the theory of socialist macroeconomic operation are all important theoretical contents of this course. If you don't master them, you can't master the basic principles of political economy. These important theoretical contents of political economy and their interrelationships, as well as the corresponding basic knowledge and concepts, should be comprehensively and systematically mastered.
Learning textbooks comprehensively and systematically is the key to master the key points and difficulties of the course. Only by deeply understanding the key and difficult issues can we promote the understanding of general issues and better integrate all the basic principles of political economy. For example, the second chapter "Commodity Economy and Market Economy" expounds Marx's labor theory of value, focusing on the relationship between the two elements of commodity and labor duality, the determination of commodity value, the essence and basic functions of money, the law of value and its functions. Mastering these key principles can help us understand the basic knowledge and concepts related to commodities, money, value, use value, exchange value, concrete labor, abstract labor, value quantity, socially necessary labor time, market, inflation and so on. Another example is the seventh chapter "Average Profit and Production Price", whose central idea is to analyze the formation of average profit and production price, which lays the foundation for revealing various specific forms of capital and surplus value and the whole picture of capitalist social and economic relations. The key content of this chapter is to explain "three transformations", that is, surplus value is transformed into profit, and surplus value rate is transformed into profit rate; Profit is converted into average profit, and profit rate is converted into average profit rate; Value is transformed into production price, which shows that industrial capitalists divide surplus value according to the average profit rate.
If you want to learn political economy well and get good grades in the exam, it is necessary and necessary to understand and master the key contents. However, political economy is a scientific system with complete structure, rich content and strict logic. It is a combination of emphasis and generality, and its basic principles and corresponding basic concepts are interrelated. Therefore, we can't just focus on the key content and ignore the general problems. Mastering general problems is also conducive to deepening the understanding of key issues. Key content and general problems are also relative, with key chapters containing general problems and non-key chapters containing key content. Focus and general problems should be analyzed according to the content and assessment requirements of each chapter.
Secondly, from the perspective of examination, the proposition of political economy takes the form of a question bank, and each chapter in the question bank has many questions of various types. Every year, the self-taught examination papers are drawn from the question bank and then assembled. Moreover, each test paper has a variety of types, a large number of questions and a wide coverage, which not only ensures that the key points are prominent, but also makes the general questions account for a considerable proportion, thus scientifically and comprehensively examining the candidates' mastery of the course.
When dealing with the relationship between key points and general issues, we must give priority to studying textbooks comprehensively and systematically, and on the basis of mastering the basic contents of political economy, we should deeply understand key chapters and key issues, promote the understanding of general issues, and grasp the logical relationship between chapters. Facts have proved that you can't get good grades without studying textbooks comprehensively and systematically and focusing on key issues in isolation.
Third, correctly handle the relationship between theory and practice, and improve the ability to understand, analyze and solve practical problems.
Learning political economy, like learning other social sciences, requires integrating theory with practice. As an economic theory science, political economics is a high generalization and summary of economic processes and economic phenomena. Therefore, the study of political economy must be compared with the actual economic movement process in order to deepen understanding. For example, the theory of capital circulation and turnover and the theory of social capital reproduction all seem abstract and difficult to understand. But apart from its capitalist nature, it is easier to understand and master as long as it is related to the capital (capital) circulation and socialist reproduction of enterprises in China. Another example is the relationship between commodity economy and market economy, planning and market, speed and benefit, microeconomic benefit and macroeconomic benefit, and market mechanism and macro-control. This is not only an important theoretical issue, but also a practical issue in China's current socialist economic construction and reform and opening up. As long as they are connected, they can be integrated.
The basic theory of political economy comes from the practice of economic movement process, which is of great guiding significance to the actual economic movement process. The purpose of studying economic theory lies entirely in its application. If theory is divorced from reality, economic theory cannot be used to solve practical economic problems, and even the best theory is meaningless. Integrating theory with practice is also an excellent style of study of our party. In the process of studying the theory of political economy, we must attach importance to the study of course content, combine it with the reality of contemporary capitalist economic movement and the analysis and research of China's current socialist construction and reform and opening up, especially attach importance to the application of Socialism with Chinese characteristics theory to solve China's real economic problems, so as to cultivate and improve our ability to understand, analyze and solve practical problems. The textbook of self-taught examination of political economy embodies the requirement of integrating theory with practice in content and structure. The practical economic problems that the self-study exam requires to contact are basically included in the scope of the textbook.
Fourth, correctly handle the relationship between understanding and memory, and improve the ability and effect of self-study.
As an economic theory course, political economics mainly uses scientific and abstract methods to analyze and study social and economic problems, and reveals the essence of economic operation and economic relations through economic phenomena, which has the characteristics of strong theory and logic. Therefore, to learn political economy, we should strengthen our memory, study by ourselves according to the requirements of self-taught examination, and improve our self-study ability and examination results on the basis of understanding the contents of teaching materials and mastering basic principles, basic knowledge and basic concepts.
In the self-study of political economy, we should remember what we have learned, so that we can answer questions. The key is how to remember. Generally speaking, memory can be divided into mechanical memory and understanding memory. Mechanical memory is rote memorization, which only remembers theoretical problems or noun concepts and does not understand the profound connotation of the content to be memorized. This memory method is often difficult to remember, incomplete, and even remembers some contents, but it is easy to forget, so it is difficult to answer questions completely and accurately in the exam, and rote memorization is common. In essence, it is a lazy mentality, an unscientific learning method, which can't meet the requirements of self-study exam.
The basic principles of political economy are very abstract and logical. In the process of self-study and preparing for the exam, you can't simply memorize mechanically, but you must memorize on the basis of understanding. The deeper you understand, the better your memory will be. The comprehensible memory mentioned here mainly refers to memorizing the basic points or basic knowledge and concepts of each topic on the basis of understanding the profound connotation of the basic content according to the examination knowledge points and requirements listed in the examination syllabus, so as to master the basic principles. Facts have proved that what is truly comprehensive and thoroughly understood in the course content is easy to remember and not easy to forget. If you forget, you can restore your memory by remembering. Therefore, the study of political economy must focus on understanding memory.
Self-taught examination is a road full of hardships. Political economy is also a difficult course to learn. Self-taught candidates should establish confidence and study hard, and they will certainly learn political economy well.