Vladimir Petukhov

The author using the results of the monitoring sociological research carried out by the Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology (Russian Academy of Sciences), analyzes the causes and consequences of the paradigm change’s turning-point, caused by the actualization of the demand for social change. As the author argues the formation of such a request was determined mostly by the fact that a significant part of the Russia’s citizens has realized that maintaining of the status quo during the economic depression and degradation of many social institutions means, in fact, preservation of stagnation and crisis. At the same time, as the author stresses, the desired changes are not radical by their nature and are just partly oriented to the future. It is noted that many Russians would prefer to return to the period of the 2000-ies, «well-fed» and relatively calm. It is noted in the article that, substantially, this demand is maximally de-ideologized and depoliticized. It is rather a set of wishes than a set of the requirements, addressed to the authorities. As the author argues this demand is focused, first of all, on the solution of the actual social problems and on the minimization of various inequalities. This demand for social change in its essence doesn’t deny stability as a public good, it rather demonstrates that citizens understand that the inertial and protective paradigm of social development, implemented by the authorities, is exhausted.