During the transition to the model of sustainable development the pursuit of aims of the social progress is of importance. On the basis of analysis of the 17 basic indicators, which are measuring the different aspects of public welfare and are used in international practice, a conclusion is done, that a major indicator, enabling to take effective decisions in relation to development of the whole social-ecological-economic system, is an integral indicator - 'genuine progress indicator' (GPI). GPI settles accounts in a number of countries of the world on national and regional levels. Taking into account the national features of statistical information, the calculation of GPI is carried out for Ukraine.
This study, which also has bearing on recent death of Claude Levi-Strauss, is concerned both with the questions how his work influenced sociology and how sociological thinking of his time was affected by his writings. Specifically, the following topics are addressed: the revitalization of the Durkheimian school, the relation between 'authentic' and 'inauthentic' societies, the problem of the historical perspective in the social sciences (in controversy with Sartre), his contribution to delineation (and redefinition) of the concept of 'social structure' (in controversy with Gurvitch), the formulation of the ' open future' problem, and especially the topic of progress (Levi-Strauss is considered to be a moderate 'cultural pessimist'). Three other significant problems are sketched out in this text: the transformation of the relation between anthropology and sociology, the question of race and the problem of racism – which are not unequivocal in Levi-Strauss's conception (and this holds true also for the topic of multiculturalism) - and the relation between 'classical structuralism' and post-structuralism.
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