Sustainable Progress – The Achievable Result of Overall Social System Transformation

The paper concerns the fundamental issues of the sustainable social progress. As follows from the argumentation, a realistic design of institutional changes in connection with resource and organizational changes needed for sustainable progress is called for to realize in the line of overall social system transformation. This approach presupposes an exhaustive study of interconnected transformations in the main societal fields as system processes considering the influence of relatively exogenous factors (technological, demographic and climate changes). In turn, it is advisable, taking in view current world challenges, to expose an idea of universal sustainability, the property of which is inherent in all social practices, and not just mediating the relationship between society and its environment. The first result of study concludes in revealing the fundamentals of overall social system sustainability. The second result: the transition to sustainable transformation of society supposes the synergetic implementation of structure-forming system and policy-driven shifts.

other changes is not considered. Though, according to adherents of social sustainability paradigm (Boyer et al., 2016), the main point concludes in an integrative view of sustainability that understands economic, environmental, and social concerns.
Directly to publications in line with social sustainability are studies of social-ecological systems (SES).
Apparently, the main achievement in this direction was the formation of the SES framework concept (Berkes & Folke, 1998;Ostrom, 2007Ostrom, , 2009Partelow, 2018). It allows, reproducing the conclusion of Ostrom (2007, p. 15186), to bridge the gap between biophysical and social scientific research.
Moreover, a methodology based on the SES concept has successfully used in environmental design technology, especially in the Scandinavian countries (e.g., Schlüter et al., 2019). However, the scope of this methodology seems deliberately limited, since in most cases the successful functioning of SES is available under external favorable conditions, market (financial) and others.
The theoretical point of view shared by the author coincides with the position of proponents of the idea of universal sustainability (Giddings et al., 2002;Fisher & Rucki, 2017), which capturing on a whole the interconnected processes of sustainable changes in society. It is worth noting that this approach is consistent with concrete integrative studies of sustainable development in the main interdependent areas in the coming era of digitalization that have recently been successfully completed (TWI2050, 2018Sachs et al., 2019;TWI2050, 2019WBGU, 2019). Improving the information base of specific studies in these areas, to which new ones may add, objectively acts as a preliminary stage for a comprehensive understanding of the structural changes in different countries through the prism of universal sustainability.
The phenomenon of fundamental shifts in their integral unity in time and space may be figure out leaning on the recognized transformational paradigm. Its essence lies in the disclosure of the phenomenon of social development through the prism of interrelated transformation processes, reflecting long-term structural changes in space and time. The recent research contributions (Islam & Iversen, 2018;Transformation towards, 2018) as so as the fruitful experience of national indicative planning in Malaysia (Eleventh Malaysia Plan, 2015) support this approach.
The main hypothesis concerns the availability of a real future transition to a sustainable overall social progress and its further assertion. Allow me to present the arguments for such a metamorphosis precisely basing on a transformational paradigm.
The indicated project has predetermined the structuration of the rest of paper. In its second part, the conceptual vision of sustainable social progress is justified from the theoretical standpoint. In the following part, the author has revealed the conditions of system sustainability. Further, in the part 4 the central issue considers concerning the possibility of the transition to a sustainable overall social transformation. Discussion and conclusion present in the final part. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/sssr Studies in Social Science Research Vol. 1, No. 2, 2020 Published by SCHOLINK INC.

Theoretical Considerations
Let us turn directly to the concept of social progress. Following a positivist worldview in the spirit of Comte, it means constant, forward improvements in all areas of social life. This understanding of progress, it should be noted, is incompatible with the widespread popular idea about the possibility of achieving an ideal social order, which means "the end of history".
In order to justify the realistic vision of sustainable social progress, it seems reasonable to refer the theory of transformation of social systems (Polanyi, 1944;Parsons, 1951;Giddens, 1984;Luhmann, 1995). Following this theory, neither economic changes, nor changes of another societal type can be considered in isolation in the context of the study of the system transformation as a process. Ultimately its real picture is expressed by system social changes, which are simultaneously manifested in the interactions of economic (market) agents, political players and actors in other arenas of social life.
Transformation of the social system in its traditional understanding envelopes the three main fields of social action: economic, political and societal (status). Along with this, transformation processes in these institutionally structured fields have inevitably accompanied in large degree by non-institutionalized processes of technological, demographic and climate changes. Such as the fundamentally technological invention, the birth booms, the strengthening of solar activity.
In addition, one cannot get past the next principal point. Social system transformation is inconceivable without both inalienable and interconnected phases of the resource turnover: production and consumption of resources, on the one hand, distribution and redistribution of resources, including capital and income, on the other. Only if both sides of the coin are embraced, it becomes possible to understand precisely the phenomenon of the social system transformation.
The interpretation of overall social progress in the mainstream of the process of system transformation looks understandable. The initial postulate of the system transformational concept of progress lies in the permanent change in production, personal and social needs, based on achievable new resource, institutional and technological capabilities, expected demographic and climate changes. These requirements, in turn, predetermine the future structural / multi sector vector of the desired output in the economic space, designed to correspond with the desired vector of distribution of its results, and the vector of the desired long-term shifts in other fields of social actions. They directly act as objective guidelines for the fundamental development of the social macros as an integral system, during which, while ensuring the necessary conditions, desired transformations can occur in accordance with the sustainable progress.
We cannot ignore the following collision: a hypothetical possibility concludes in an approach to the trajectories of a sustainable overall social system transformation, which directly meet the criteria of optimality. In accordance with these criteria, optimal transformational trajectories can reveal that simultaneously satisfy various sustainability conditions as purposefully posed constraints.
Of course, everyone has seen the examples of many successful leading companies (including non-profit ones) on world arena. They convince the possibility of achieving optimal results by the market and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/sssr Studies in Social Science Research Vol. 1, No. 2, 2020 social entrepreneurs themselves in a result of their initiative decisions. However, in many economic and social segments this possibility is unlikely. The main reason concludes in the lack of significant motivation on the part of a huge number of market and social agents to achieve optimal sustainability under conditions of maintaining high risk and uncertainty. They have caused by both manifold institutional imperfections and the manifestation of the force factor and other negative externality effects. Along with this, there are great opportunities for gaining profit through rent-oriented or opportunistic behavior.
Consequently, frontal application of optimality criteria at the macro level to identify future sustainable trajectories of structural transformations can bring obviously distorted results. It is reasonable to expect reproduction of an unacceptable gap in the dynamics of the "profitable" and other sectors. In particular, on the economic field, it will likely be expressed in the hypertrophied growth of a number of brown sectors to the detriment of social well-being and the environment, while contributing to further deterioration of the climate.
The obvious question arises. How to ensure institutional and other conditions for the implementation of shifts to the frontiers of overall social development as a system transformation in the line of sustainable progress?
There is no comprehensive answer to it yet. In accordance with modern scientific notions, the existing To figure out the indicated new stage in the development of modern societies, it is advisable to expose an idea of universal sustainability; moreover, as applied to the system (precisely system!) transformation of the whole society. Following this idea, an inalienable attribute of the desired development of society as an all-encompassing social system refers to a sustainable transformation.
Based on the foregoing, the logical step concludes in reference to the mentioned above universal concept of system sustainability, at least in its existing preliminary version (Giddings et al., 2002; Fisher & Rucki, 2017). In accordance with this concept, the property of sustainability is inherent in one way or another with all social practices, and not just mediating the relationship between society and its environment. Thus, the spread of sustainability criteria in relation to the transformation of the entire social system and its main subsystems -economic, political, status -seems to be justified. The substantial sign of sustainable development as a system transformation is the normality / acceptability of fundamental changes in the main fields of social action.

Result I: The Fundamentals of System Sustainability
In the operational plan, the fundamentals of system sustainability through quantifiable resource indicators need identification. It is legitimate to formulate two unifying mutually dependent criteria for resource sustainability within the entire social system ( Figure 1).
The first of these criteria is sustainable, essentially rational reproduction and consumption of resources -material and non-material, human and natural, primarily based on SD goals/ targets within Agenda. In addition to this, in the future, in all likelihood, it will become expedient to incorporate additional targets, predetermining new trajectories of sustainable reproduction and consumption of distinguished resources.
The second criterion concerns the resource's allocation and distribution at overall system level. It presupposes a balanced resource structure and a normal distribution of certain types of resources at all levels of the system hierarchy in accordance with existing criteria. As applied to the economic field, at first place this condition means a balance of the main resource, material and financial flows along with the normal distribution of capital and labor and, consequently, wages/salaries in the sector and regional dimensions. Normalization of internal and external migration flows also assumes.
Along with this, such a transformation is designed to satisfy the imperative of resilience to possible unsustainable changes (Gallopin, 2006). Evidently, to the expected technological, demographic and climate changes insofar as they act as exogenous factors exactly with respect to transformation of the social system. Besides, one cannot fail to consider the existence of a huge number of processes of non-stable vulnerable changes, taking in view at least cyclical market fluctuations, sporadic political perturbations and social conflicts. The problem of neutralizing such disturbing influence in the future will be central to the design of smart institutional mechanisms for overcoming emerging risks.

Figure 1. Sustainable Overall Social System Transformation: Concept View
The key question concludes in resilience to the implementation of numerous new technologies (Körner et al., 2018;World economic, 2018). As evidenced by numerous facts, the applying of these technologies, including digital technologies, in principle does not meet the usual condition of economic stability. Thus, according to the recent resonance studies (Acemoglu & Restrepo, 2017Korinek & Stiglitz, 2017), the consequences of new automation accompanying the use of robots and technologies based on artificial intelligence will have a very strong impact on the labor markets. There will be a substitution of human labor in many areas of routine activity with an orderly increase in the number of highly qualified personnel of a new time, distinguished by the intellectual abilities of independent analysis, critical thinking and informal problem solving.
The fate problem of employment under the unfolding automation and digitalization is absolutely insoluble on a market basis only. Alternative-free imperative concludes in orderly employment growth in social services. The quantity of workers in the sectors (education, health and local social work), where a wide area will emerge for the use of technological innovations as social benefits, might tremendously increase in the twenties. Also one can hope for a crucial growth in employers, including intellectuals, in the non-market environmental sector, embracing a great number of various activities.
Thus, proceeding from the formulated criteria / conditions of system sustainability and the resilience imperative, it becomes legitimate to choose the further trajectories of the overall social transformation.
In line with the sustainable overall social transformation (SOST), the time-space positioning of institutional and resource changes has a decisive value considering the influence of changes on the "adjacent" fields of social actions and relatively exogenous factors (technological, demographic and climate changes). Therefore, an adequate reflection of the integrative transformation of the entire vector of parameters of the social system becomes possible, according to the imperatives of system Initial concept of social system transformation Sustainable overall social system transformation Fundamentals of system sustainability: 1) Sustainable reproducing and consumption of the basic material and immaterial, human and natural resources. 2) Overall sustainable allocation and distribution of resources, supposing balanced resource structure and normal distribution of different kinds of resources. In economic field: a) overcoming macro and structural (sector, region) imbalances as an initial condition; b) sustainable allocation of capital, labor and innovations plus normal distribution of personal incomes and investment/ financial resources along with normalization of migration tide as a final condition.
The possible trajectories of sustainable system transformation, ensuring adaptation to unsustainable changes (exogenous technological, demographic and climate shifts, cyclical market fluctuations, sporadic political perturbations and social conflicts). sustainability.
The long-term reproduction of the system sustainability determines the preference in favor of the stable and plausible long-term transformations in the main social fields. Their immanent feature is not a spasmodic, but a steadily consistent movement to the achievable boundaries, based on the identified opportunities. Judging

Result II: Reality of the Transition to Sustainable Transformation of Society
The first important prerequisite for the future overall social progress relates to technological driver. In comparison with previous notions, it characterizes by the incredible potential of scientific and technological changes. The problem of their implementation in specific economic and social sectors can be successfully solved thanks to the joint efforts of innovators, ordinary business and, of course, the state in collaboration with public organizations. Particularly weighty hopes are reasonably pinned on a large-scale and simultaneously smart innovation policy, which has successfully activated in several advanced countries.
As a consequence, the hard-to-overestimate global effect of the spread of new digital and other technologies in the coming period, called the fourth industrial revolution or digital revolution, will achieve. It will affect many countries far beyond the borders of the existing industrial world.
The unfolding of new industrialization/ digitalization opens the way for the maximum reduction in the consumption of renewable resources, especially hydrocarbons and other "brown" products, and the establishment of a green economy that meets the human needs. One can expect a long-awaited Following the transformation paradigm, the achievement of a sustainability of a social system presupposes its substantial qualitative change in time and space relative to the initial position. Such a transition is inevitably associated with relative changes in the root institutions of ownership and coordination, the main resource, price and financial proportions, as well as organizational mechanisms.
In turn, these structure-forming system shifts are designed to act as drivers for the implementation of specific SD imperatives in accordance with Agenda.
It would be shortsighted to underestimate the multifaceted complexity of indicated transition problem (Loorbach et al., 2017, Kemp et al., 2018, Feola & Jaworska, 2019. This problem cannot be carried out without cardinal changes at the national as well as at the supranational level. Evidently, the possibilities for the Transition to SOST are highly differentiated across different groups of countries. They are well prepared in the enclave of advanced countries (such as Switzerland, Norway, Denmark), where, according to the OECD (2019), the achievement of SD imperatives in many directions has actually taken place or is likely to occur. Much longer and inevitably discrete shifts are required for such Transition in most other developed (industrial) countries, including post developing and after socialist ones. The main reason is due to the presence of deep structural gaps in the main market and social sectors, and therefore at the system level (Global economic, 2020).
In the context of the above, the question of the differences between economies with advanced economies (AE) and economies with emerging markets (EME), post-developing and after socialist, regarding the possibility of approaching sustainable system transformation, is becoming more and more relevant. Proceeding from sustainability criteria, the serious flaws of EME preserved. In particular, the debt burden in many post-developing countries, an unacceptably sharp increase in the income www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/sssr Research Vol. 1, No. 2, 2020 differentiation / property inequality and a corresponding increase in the contingent of semi-poor undemanding consumers, infrastructural and institutional barriers to the implementation of advanced environmental and social standards (Global economic, 2019). Besides, one cannot ignore the continuing market trends in many EME to the detriment of the environment and social well-being in general (as, for example, the incredible scale of "brown" construction in Russia).

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At the same time, regarding the development prospects in the coming decade, it is reasonable to take into account the significant competitive advantages of EME in the form of relatively lower costs, including wages, and a relatively higher return on investment. Based on the analysis of actual trends [McKinsey Global, 2018, The Global Competiveness, 2019, it is reasonable to make the following assumption: in the event of global stabilization after the recession of the Covid-19 Pandemic, in a near future, both conglomerates of countries will converge in terms of the quality of market institutions, infrastructure provision and other key indicators of national economic systems. It would then be feasible to bridge the gap between AE and EME in the degree to which the imperatives of sustainable development are met. True, this opportunity is critically dependent on the adopted political course of countries with emerging markets. It is quite possible that in some of these countries there will be a need for a significant change in the government-led course associated with overcoming the resistance of a part of the ruling elite and its cardinal renewal.
Much more pessimistic is the outlook for the desired Transition in most developing countries. Their position is characterized by deep structural imbalances, which are unlikely to be overcome in 10 years (OECD, 2019). Moreover, the targets corresponding to the Agenda will not be fulfilled; the optimistic result in the twenties is a dramatic reduction in the gap from these boundaries. Only in the next decade, apparently, in this part of the world, the question will arise about approaching the trajectory of sustainable development as a system transformation.
Based on the system notion of overall social transformation, in any country the approval of SOST is fully realized only if supranational economic, geopolitical and status transformations will take place in accordance with the conditions of sustainability in the main fields of social action.
Proceeding from the recognized knowledge, the indisputable condition of sustainable supranational system transformations concludes in the assertion as dominant precisely the fair world economic order.
The long-term stable regimes of trade, international movement of capital and labor will achieve on the base of coordinated application of global, regional and national legislation and multilateral international competition. Following the optimistic scenario, on the globe three competing groups of countries will be comparable in market potential: 1) the United States, UK and other countries with the prevailing capitalistic institutional arrangement; 2) the number of non-Western countries with emerging markets; 3) the countries of continental Europe, apparently, in alliance with Japan and Canada. At the same time, the role of regional economic unions, which includes various sovereign countries, will remain very weighty.
Along with this, achieving a sustainable global political order is just as important. It assumes that the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/sssr Research Vol. 1, No. 2, 2020 factor of military / sovereign potential will cease to play a dominant role in the global balance of power as a result of the proliferation of effective preventive weapons on a new digital base in many countries.

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The hegemony of one country or group of countries, as well as a superpower duopoly (the United States and its closest allies, on the one hand, and China and Russia, on the other) will irrevocably become a thing of the past. The desired stability in the geopolitical space will be ensured through the creation of special institutional and organizational mechanisms and the unconditional application of the international legal regime (Mazarr, 2018).
Tremendous value, though still underestimated, concludes in the achievement of a sustainable societal there will be an improvement in the stratification structure in terms of the criterion of inter generation social well-being (e.g., Arita, 2017).
To date, there is a need to develop the feasible framework model of desired Transition at national level in advanced countries, although not fully achievable due to the likely preservation of the high weight of external, global and regional, unsustainable processes. The implementation of this model presupposes the achievement of synergistic complementarities of the ongoing system transformational and policy-driven shifts ( Figure 2).
The forward setting parameters of the model are distinguished SD goals/ targets for resource production and consumption. They are complemented by the accepted conditions for the sustainability of resource allocation according to the main factors of output -capital, labor and innovation (TFP), as well as the conditions for the sustainable (normal) distribution of income and capital / financial resources within the whole system. These conditions suggest ensuring not only macroeconomic stability, but also sector and regional balances.
True, it makes sense to pay attention to the problematic identification of sustainable distribution conditions. The validity of the normative specification of the desired levels of the Gini coefficient and other indicators of the distribution of income and capital is highly doubtful due to information restrictions. On the way to implementing such a normative approach, a particularly difficult task is the reliable assessment of the consequences of deepening wage differentiation (e.g., Vo et al., 2019), which will definitely increase in the coming decade of digitalization. A more flexible and pragmatic approach concludes in determining ranges of the sustainable distribution of income and capital specific to certain countries, based on the steadily positive impact of these processes on economic output and its main factors (Cingano, 2014;Dabla-Norris et al., 2015, Taylor et al., 2016. The current stabilization solutions (monetary, financial, etc.) as so as long-term reforms (macro, structural, social) also present "input" parameters. In particular, the reform relates to stimulating the In the future, a likely consequence of automation and digitalization concludes in the formation of a reliable and transparent information base. It can exhaustively reflect the sector and regional levels of social activity and even selectively its local level, primarily in relation to the state of social capital. One would like to hope for a system synthesis of socio-economic information at various levels. Then the way will open for a reliable design of the spatial-temporal approach to SOST due to the overall complete information using the comprehensive multi-dimensional models.

Discussion and Conclusion
A substantive discussion issue concerns the possibility of integrative research of SD as a transformational process and, on this basis, the implementation of a long-term strategy. To date, widespread opinion in public circles prevails in favor of the need to first resolve the climate threat and other "burning" problems, and then only apply the existing arsenal of means, models and methods to achieve other recognized SD imperatives. In our opinion, the following counterargument is valid. The achievement of environmental improvements and relative climate stabilization depends on the expected integrative consequence of positive transformational shifts in all areas of social activity. At the same time, what has been said, does not call into question the exceptional importance of public policy directly in the field of ecology and climate stabilization, objectively implementing in a relatively autonomous mode.
In addition, a debatable problem concludes in the alternative selection of criteria of sustainability or optimality for assessing the results of sustainable overall social transformation. Implementation of optimization macro structural models can yield well-interpreted results regarding the future distribution of resources and revenues. However, these pleasant results seem too unreliable, at least for two very significant reasons. Firstly, the extreme uncertainty of setting changes in time, both as restrictions reflecting the conditions for sustainable consumption of resources and existing market and non-economic restrictions. Secondly, the factual lack of information to assess the risk of the consequences of violations of accepted restrictions, taking into account the enormous scale of the apparently non optimal activities of economic and other social agents. As follows from our research, a realistic positivist approach is advisable: primary, achieving sustainable and resilience trajectories of transformation, then optimization in relation to the limited areas where real motivation of market and social entrepreneurs to rational decisions has provided.
The applicability of long-term projection of transformation processes in the main social fields also presents a disputable question. The well-known objection to modeling indicators of long-term sustainable transformation, including a key economic indicator -long-term potential output, concerns their forecast applicability. I recognize that the probability of a significant deviation of these variables from the projected levels may be rather high. However, the meaning of constructing the described framework model does not consist in predicting the actual transformational trajectories within a sufficient time horizon. It consists in substantiating scenario-based interconnected solutions to achieve the desired results proceeding from the sustainability criteria in a wide digital range.
A few words about the purely theoretical discourse related to the research. The presented theoretical results definitely do not compatible with the well-known concept of institutional evolutionism. Its adherents usually emphasize the broad possibilities of evolutionary adaptation of contract and other institutional mechanisms to emerging social preferences (e.g., Hodgson, 2015). But, unfortunately, one really does not have to count on the self approaching of the existing inertial trajectories of institutional changes to trajectories corresponding to the imperatives of sustainability. To achieve them, there are no www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/sssr Studies in Social Science Research Vol. 1, No. 2, 2020 alternatives for radical changes associated with targeted actions in the field of economic and public policy as well as the long-term institutional and structural reforms. The justification of these changes becomes possible precisely on the base of the system transformation paradigm.
To conclude: sustainable overall social transformation in its main interconnected fields performs as an indispensable attribute of future progress, though accompanying by the likely weightiest costs.
Undoubtedly, the implementation of updated sustainable development strategy based on overall social transformation vision а will come across serious various obstacles -sources of risks. Even in the best scenario suffice it to say at least about the threats of tech-gen disasters, unexplored before epidemics similar to Covid-19 and ethnic-national conflicts. However, these obstacles might be overcome in an acceptable way without long crises and immense social damage, on the base of global, regional and national consensus.