Underappreciated ideas of Valeriy Khmelko

Анотація

Thе article revisits and systematizes several underappreciated theoretical and methodological contributions of the prominent Ukrainian sociologist Valeriy Khmelko. Despite his significant intellectual influence, many of his ideas have remained insufficiently known in global sociology, primarily due to the limited number of English-language publications and the historical isolation of the Soviet academic community. The article examines five main directions of his scholarly work. First, it analyzes his macro-sociological theory of the transformation of dominant types of the “production of social life.” Khmelko conceptualizes society as a system of interrelated processes of reproducing people, material goods, social relations, and information. He identifies five main types of production and proposes a dynamic model in which dominance shifts historically—from biological reproduction to agrarian, industrial, informational production, and ultimately to the production of a creative personality. This concept was developed earlier than other “wave” theories of social development, including that of Alvin Toffler, and offers a more scientifically grounded mechanism of structural change. Second, the article discusses efforts to develop a computer model of society capable of forecasting the formation and dynamics of social processes, particularly value orientations. A computer model based on Khmelko’s theory generates forecasts of the macro-structure of employment, which in turn shapes the social structure of society. Projecting the dynamics of social stratification make it possible to describe changes in societal values. These models were aimed at creating tools for forecasting social development and evaluating policy decisions, highlighting the gap between intuitive governance and model-based decision-making. Third, the article examines Khmelko’s original methodology for measuring life values. Unlike traditional approaches based on self-assessed importance, his method relies on the relationship between satisfaction with various domains of life and overall life satisfaction or happiness. As Khmelko argued, the stronger is the emotional significance of a particular life domain, the stronger is the degree to which satisfaction with this domain influences overall life satisfaction. The use of regression-based approaches allows for a more reliable measurement of the emotional component of values and helps overcome the limitations of purely cognitive assessments. Fourth, the article considers the idea of a universal indicator of social effectiveness based on the duration of a full and satisfying life. This approach shifts the focus from economic outcomes to human well-being as an intrinsic goal of development, anticipating contemporary debates on alternatives to GDP and aligning with indicators such as life expectancy and quality of life. Fifth, the article reviews Khmelko’s research on the relationship between parameters of the linguistic-ethnic structure and characteristics of Ukrainian-Russian bi-ethnicity. It emphasizes the importance of accounting for bi-ethnic self-identification in understanding patterns of language behavior in the population. The article argues that Khmelko’s ideas remain highly relevant for contemporary sociology, particularly in the context of interdisciplinary research, social modeling, and the search for comprehensive indicators of societal development. Their integration into the global academic discourse could significantly enrich theoretical approaches to the analysis of social change and human-centered development.

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