The functional change of household’s economic role

Abstract

The word oikonomia can be originated from the Greek word „oikos”, whose meaning was the Greek households in the archaically age. „Oikos” is not only a place of living, but also a farming form meeting the family’s and the wider community’s (slaves, relatives) material needs (Schweitzer, 1988). The fundamental interpretation of „oikonomy” meant such operation of the households whose aim was to increase the value of the households for all the members in long terms (Egner, 1985). Economics today means the “chrematistics” (called by Aristotle as the “art of earning money”), which was created in close connection with trading and which does not know bounds. The basic theory of the oikonomia is sufficiency, while the principle of chrematistics is the short-term monetary exchange value, i.e. maximizing the profit. (Zsolnai, 2001) The rediscovery of the original ideal of “oikonomia” i.e. „oikos”, based on reciprocity and redistribution needs the radical reformation of the dominant, profit-oriented economic structures and philosophies. I would like to prove that the household activities and performances, which are often devaluated, are the organic parts of the modern societies and national economies, and the inevitable processes of the everyday life. Looking at the theoretical basis and the findings of the research work we feel to revaluate and review the former axioms of such disciplines. It is obvious that in practice such micro- and macro economic theory is not justified which says that households take part in the activities of the national economy and the society only with their incomes and consumption. I hope that this work can contribute to the development of the domestic theories of economics, since with it we can get closer to the understanding of the “everyday” economy.