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We may prefer to implement liberal social organizations, because our personnal philosophies tend this way or because some scientific aspects have convinced us that societies which value equality or freedom for all are better than others, or because we do not belong to the favorized classes. But this is totally independent from the fact that a democracy or a dictatorship will have to feed their populations to survive as societies, and therefore they will have some economical mechanisms that can be studied.
But all economic systems are primarily value systems. And all value systems are political, in the sense they privilege some individuals and organisations, and handicap others.
What i call a "productive process" is the physical processus that allows food to be found in our environnement (and eaten). You can apply that to other needs that may arise, be it understood that I do not say anything on the nature of these needs, that may be culturally defined (as in: a primitive society living in the rainforest has no deterministic reason to have the same preferred needs as a pastoral society from central asia or an urban society from Europe). The choices between these different kind of societies may be determined by the reciprocal influences of culture on the members of each society. It seems that the occidental model is quite attractive at the moment, as everybody wants to emulate it - with some differences-, maybe for wrong reasons (comfort, life expectancy, sense of luxury...) It seems also that it is quite predatory, as the regulation (or lack of) we have decided to apply to our economical system since the 18th century is favorizing the accumulation of capital over work or natural resources preservation.
Other societies may have made different choices in the past (like in amerindian societies in the US, where work and preservation of natural resources where privileged). This choice is cultural. and therefore political also, I will agree with you on this: culture is maybe a way to justify some kind of power repartition in society.
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