Theoretical and methodological basis of the research

Abstract

What is the subject of the research that served as material for this publication is economic awareness. This very concept itself is embedded in a broader category of the so called social awareness. Defining this concept is usually difficult because one deals with multiple ways of understanding the concept of awareness. Latin may be helpful in shedding some light on the term of awareness – Latin conscientia is derived from con – “with” and scientia – “knowledge.” Accordingly, it signifies knowledge about something, the state of being aware of something, being conscious about something (Dubisz, 2003, t. 3, 1595). Psychologists define awareness as the highest level of mental development characteristic of the human inner subjective state of realizing something, a state of vigil (Reber, 2000: 740). The notion of social awareness has been discussed by a number of researchers. Initially, the term was found applicable in dialectical materialism. In this system, social awareness is a philosophical category opposed to the social state and means the total mental sum of all the people who formed the community. Social awareness in this system refers to social being, which is being, in a general sense, a part of a superstructure. The concept of social awareness was used to define and discuss class awareness and devalue the false awareness of the bourgeoisie (Mc Lenan, 1971) [...].