This paper surveys phenomenological and atomistic methods by which glass transition can be described. A new generic phenomenological approach to the study of glass transition as an irreversible process is then derived and fully used. This new approach describes the kinetics and thermodynamics of vitrification as a real, nonequilibirum process of structural arrest, entropy freeze, and entropy production. The temperature dependence of the thermodynamic functions is constructed as it corresponds to the principles of both classical and irreversible thermodynamics and to the experimental evidence obtained through long years of glass-science research. The developed generic approach complements, expands and quantitatively corrects the approximations of F. Simon, which have been the principal method in glass science thermodynamics for over 80 years.
