ABSTRACT
The "social question" emerged in connection with the first push for innovation and industrialization in the industrialized countries. There it was in part defused through the organized pressure brought to bear by the persons affected, government responses to this pressure, and the further progress of industrial development; this entailed introducing and expanding the social dimension of the market economy, which contributed to preventing and reducing social imbalances. These days, the demands growing out of the worldwide success of the market system in most competitive and innovative industrialized countries lead - especially in the transitional phase - to an intensification of social problems. Responses to the demands posed by new waves of innovation may lead to a reintensification of social imbalances, even in the industrialized countries.
