The Impossibility of Contemporary Innovative Economic Development without Social Transformations: Arguments from Noonomy Theory
Noonomy and Noosociety. Almanac of Scientific Works of the S.Y. Witte INID · Vol. 5, No. 2 · pp. 86-98
Abstract
the article examines the problem of the transition of national economic systems to sustainable economic growth amid the current turbulence and fragmentation of the global economy. Based on contemporary macroeconomic dynamics and forecasts from international organizations - such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the OECD - it can be observed that global economic growth is slowing, while trade segmentation is deepening, with geopolitical values increasingly taking precedence over market-based ones. At the same time, an analysis of the development of national economic systems (1961-2024) demonstrates that economic growth rates significantly increase during periods when technological advancement is accompanied by profound transformations in society and its social institutions. Today, the innovation system - both at the national level and across the global economy - is no longer capable of ensuring sustainable expanded reproduction while remaining within an exclusively market-based paradigm. This is because innovations driven by technological progress and the accumulation of knowledge come into conflict with outdated social institutions oriented toward economic efficiency and profit maximization. To fully realize the potential of new technologies (such as automation and artificial intelligence), it is necessary to overcome the logic of market fundamentalism and transition to new forms of labor motivation, where creativity and self-realization displace purely material incentives. Social transformations thus become a necessary condition for the deployment of innovation: they create an appropriate institutional environment (new forms of ownership, distribution, and governance) that enables knowledge to become a direct productive force. Without the transformation of social structures and values, technological breakthroughs are either constrained or lead to increasing social inequality rather than qualitative societal development. In conclusion, it is argued that the movement toward a noosociety presupposes a synergy between technological and social innovations.
Keywords: economic systems, innovative development, sustainable economic growth, social transformations, mechanism of “creative destruction”, noonomy
For citation
Kharitonova E. V. (2026). The Impossibility of Contemporary Innovative Economic Development without Social Transformations: Arguments from Noonomy Theory. Noonomy and Noosociety. Almanac of Scientific Works of the S. Y. Witte INID, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 86-98. DOI: 10.37930/2782-6465-2026-5-2-86-98