On the instrumental meaning of communication

Introduction . Modern research is characterized by diverse, often contradictory, interpretations of the communication process and an extraordinary variety of terminology. This applies, among other things, to the interpretation of instrumental characteristics of communication. Purpose setting. The task of the research is to consider communication as a tool of cognition and as a tool for the transformation of an integratively understood environment. Methodology and methods of the study. The article examines communications from the point of view of studying their instrumental characteristics. The authors believe that the unity and contradiction of communication with industrial relations is manifested precisely in the instrumental nature of communication. Considering communication within the framework of such a methodology, we will see the possibility and necessity of changing approaches to communication research. According to the authors, the instrumental nature of communication is best revealed in the context of the division of labor (production). Results . The authors consider the process of communication formation in a logical aspect and come from the simplest natural attitude to a specifically human one through consideration of expedient activity (labor) and its division. The approach used by the authors allows us to define the boundary of the concept of «communication», which is revealed during the transition from the consideration of the technological division of labor to the consideration of the social division of production. The authors find a historical and philosophical analogy of the described process in the early works of K. Marx, where the concept of «communication relations» was present, which later transformed into the concept of productive forces. Conclusion . Communication functions are defined as the coordination of goals (results, products) of technologically separated labor processes, which means their connection. However, when separating management into a separate work process, the goal may not be agreed with the performer. When we move to the level of the whole society, we are no longer talking about the instrumental characteristics of communications, since at the level of the whole society, the coordination or opposition of interests occurs in the form of ideology.