In a conversation with F. E. Sheregi – one of the leading Russian sociologists, little- known plots of the institutionalization of Soviet sociology are revealed. Some details are given about the admission of the first graduate students of the ICSI of the USSR Academy of Sciences in sociology, about the free and democratic environment at ICSI, which distinguished it from most academic institutions. A portrait of the first editor-in-chief A. G. Kharchev is given. The experience of understanding research at Komsomol construction sites, including BAM, is described. The exceptional role and importance of such applied research is shown, in particular, in predicting the collapse of the USSR. The contribution of a number of academic sociologists such as B. A. Grushin, V. A. Yadov, A. G. Zdravomyslov, V. E. Shlyapentokh, A. G. Kharchev and others is assessed. The features and importance of entrepreneurship and marketing in sociology are considered.