The Economic Sociology of Ivan Pososhkov (1652 - 1726)

Ivan Pososhkov (1652-1726) is the author of the first systematic economic treatise in Russia. His works are interesting due to three reasons at least. Firstly, it is worth-introducing some original non-European authors, who are often underestimated, in order to determine their specific features and place in the evolution of the economic and sociological thinking, and to answer the question how much the economic and social thought reflects the characteristics of the socio-economic development and to what extent it is a result of propagation of economic ideas. Secondly, such an analysis would be of benefit not only to enrich the history of the economic and social thought, but it could also contribute to the development of the theory itself, to generate new trends for analysis (such as the Pososhkov’s case of the “power-money” relation). Thirdly, even the fact alone, that Pososhkov works in a transitional period, which is difficult for Russia (the reforms made by Peter the First), he gives valuable practical ideas for the contemporary age, for the present-day situation in Russia and for the post-Soviet period.