printSocial Contract in Modern Russia:
Has Balance of Interests Been Achieved?
Toshchenko Zh.T.
Corresponding Member of RAS, Scientific Director of the Sociology Department of the Russian State University for the Humanities; Chief Researcher of the Institute of Sociology of FCTAS RAS, Moscow, Russia zhantosch@mail.ru
The article was supported by RSF project No. 23-18-00093.
Toshchenko Zh.T. Social Contract in Modern Russia: Has Balance of Interests Been Achieved?. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2025. No 2. P. 3-14
A considerable amount of time has passed since the ideas of the social contract were conceptualized and substantiated in the works of thinkers of the Enlightenment. But as the history of the development of these ideas shows, attention to them in the modern era has not only not weakened, but also increased. The article provides a brief analysis of modern theories of the social contract, on the basis of which interpretations of its essence, content are proposed, its structure and its main criteria are determined. On this basis, the state of the social contract in modern Russia is analyzed, the mechanism of interaction of its main subjects is revealed – the state represented by political power and society, which is represented by classes, social communities, public organizations, movements and initiatives. Since any social contract is based on the philosophy of the common destiny of the state and society, a description of its objective foundations and subjective components in the main spheres of society’s life is given – economic, political, social and spiritual- cultural. Based on the proposed ideas and a study of the practice of implementing the social contract, a generalization of the experience of understanding its content is carried out and the author’s interpretation of its essence and structure, as well as the complex path of its functioning in modern Russia, is given.
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