THE NEXT MODERNITY: EVOLUTIONARY STAGES OF ECONOMIC ACTION – TERRESTRIAL, MARITIME, AND SPATIAL ECONOMIES

The social organisation within which we live is becoming increasingly complex. It is therefore important to
acknowledge that, throughout its economic history, the world has not always been as it is today. Humanity has
experienced various stages of economic activity, depending on the degree—more or less limited—to which people
perceived the world around them. Culture and the specific representations of reality have shaped and conditioned
economic action. By understanding our past, we can better comprehend our future. The present study seeks to highlight
the main stages that have led to the contemporary spatial perception of the economy and civilisational development.
Founded upon the surrounding natural environment, culture is the force that dominates and guides us. Nothing within
the social sphere exists outside the reverberations of culture—that is, outside the way in which a particular human
system perceives its world. In turn, culture is shaped by the specific geographical space in which it develops. Hence,
there exists a general dimension of capitalism, a shared foundation of values without which a given social organisation
cannot rightfully be called capitalist.