The article discusses the nature and mechanism of functioning of symbolic goods, their types, functions properties, and structure. The author highlights the social, communicative, utilitarian, and coordinating and distributing function of symbolic goods. Symbolic goods provide individuals with higher social status, structure social behavior and establish subordination between individuals. They also may be a means of social product appropriation, and so on. Symbolic goods have two important properties: social significance and conditional redundancy (conditional irrelevance). The author shows the role and importance of symbolic goods in the economy, describes the mechanism of symbolic capital functioning. The author also distinguishes tangible and intangible symbolic goods, consumer, investment and mixed symbolic goods, as well as transferable (exchangeable) and inalienable ones. The paper highlights the problem of overproduction of symbolic goods and functioning of symbols - institutional traps. The study states that the society, when producing symbolic goods, produces and reproduces a certain kind of institutions. Symbolic economy is a system of economic relations arising in the process of creating, sharing, exchange and consumption (functioning) of symbolic goods. Production of symbolic goods may be associated with creation of rents (symbolic rent). The author discloses the main idea and substance of economic symbolic capital. Economic symbolic capital constantly reproduces adequate economic relations (institutions), which ensure the functioning of the reproducing production system. Accumulation of such capital contributes to the effectiveness of social economic mechanism and acts as a factor of social and economic development. The conclusion is that symbolic goods are a special category of goods that matter only in the society and do not meet the necessary vital needs of individuals. However, without these goods, due to the functions they perform, the existence of a society is impossible.
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