In this book, the outstanding Russian economist, philosopher and politician A. A. Bogdanov (1873–1928) examines the successive phases of the economic development of society and characterizes each era according to the following plan: 1) the state of technology, or the relationship of man to nature; 2) forms of social relations in production and 3) in distribution; 4) psychology of society, development of its ideology; 5) the forces of development of each era, which determine the change of economic systems and successive transitions from primitive communism and the patriarchal clan organization of society to the slave system, feudalism, petty bourgeois system, the era of merchant capital, industrial capitalism and, finally, socialism. Marxist principles of teaching, along with with the conciseness and accessibility of the presentation, the book gained wide popularity in Russia, and until recently it could be considered the most widespread aid in the study of economic science not only among workers, but also in wide circles of students.