Guest editorial

Social management is an innovation in economics and politics of the 21st century. Social security is one of the most important areas of state regulation of economic systems, which has been developing along with the evolution of regulatory practices. Over the past decades, this evolution has accelerated to an all-time high level and therefore deserves special attention.

For many millennia, the institution of social inequality has maintained a strong position in societies around the world, and social security has been focussed on a limited circle of the socio-economic and political elite. In the colonial era (16th–17th centuries), social security of the metropolises (groups of developed countries) was carried out at the expense and to the detriment of the colonies (many lagging countries).

Liberal-democratic revolutions (18th–19th centuries) contributed to the reduction of social inequality and in many countries (for example, in the USSR, Germany and the PRC) led to the establishment of national/public ownership of production factors. In the socialist economies of the 20th century, social security was already oriented towards society as a whole, but it was differentiated for different segments of the population.

Under the influence of globalization, by the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century, social boundaries began to erase. This was facilitated by the scientific and technological progress, due to which a high efficiency of diffusion of knowledge and information has been achieved in the information society and the digital “knowledge economy”, all segments of the population are progressive and readily defend their rights (human, consumer and citizen).

By now, the outlines of a new model of society, economy and state have been formed – a social market economy, in which capitalist relations dominate, but society is progressive and responsible, shares and realizes the global goals of sustainable development, is also integrated into international economic and political relations, and social inequality is close to eradication – the principles of feminism prevail, the equivalence of ethnic groups and cultures, the importance of all social roles, the desire to equalize income.

In this new model, the practice of social security was transformed into social management, flexibly and harmoniously combining the features of social paternalism and capitalist management. In this regard, a relevant scientific and practical problem is the study of the social management phenomenon and its four manifestations.

The first manifestation is the social management of human capital. In a social market economy based on the principles of sustainable development, ubiquitous education and lifelong learning play an important role. The rapid change in the technological structure, the need for mastering the professions of the future requires a special approach to training young people, the formation and development of the professional and qualification potential of workers in the labour market. Against this background, an increase in professional and academic mobility is required.

The second manifestation is ensuring the social efficiency of the market economy. Economic growth and digital development of industrial markets, national and global economies must be justified from a social point of view, that is, provide benefits for society and assume low social costs. In this process, an important role is played and should be taken into account by non-economic factors in the development of a market economy, in particular, consumer preferences in the consumer society and social risks.

The third manifestation is the fight against the institutional challenges of social management, which include the remaining elements of social inequality that need to be finally eradicated, trends in socio-economic integration, demographic and budgetary problems of the state. “Institutional traps” as a vestige of the previous model of society, economy and state must be overcome and new progressive and effective institutions must be formed in both developed and developing countries.

The fourth manifestation is managing the social consequences of globalization. Against the background of more frequent economic crises and the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, a new phenomenon has emerged in modern globalization – fragmentation, which suggests the opposite effect: disunity at the level of society (social distancing) and international relations (economic and political disintegration). At the same time, the issues of internal and international migration remain acute and, in particular, are expressed in the need for social management of interethnic relations in multicultural societies that exist and prevail throughout the world.

For a comprehensive consideration of all the indicated manifestations and scientific and methodological support of social management in modern economics and politics, a system approach to this management has been developed in this special issue. The uniqueness of the special issue lies in the complex reflection of social management in both economics and politics due to the reflection of the results of the multidisciplinary research in the field of sociology and social policy at the interface with other humanities (economics, law and management).

The special issue contributes to the reflecting and rethinking of the unique experiences of developing countries in the field of social management. The novelty of the special issue also consists in taking into account the modern international experience of social management at all levels of its implementation – international, national and regional. The advantages of the special edition are the development of a risk-based institutional approach to social management. Due to the indicated advantages, the special issue reflects the system of social management in the economy and politics, taking into account the modern institutional environment, the latest risks and threats, as well as the current manifestations of this management, taking into account the wide international experience.