The paper analyzes issues of social and cultural modernization in the regions of Siberian federal district. Modernization processes are assessed using the methodology and analytical tools developed by the Center for the Study of modernization the Chinese Academy of Science, adapted to Russian statistical data by the Centre for the Study of Socio-cultural Change the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Science, under the supervision of N.I. Lapin and L.A. Belyaeva. It is concluded that current process of modernization is nonlinear and erratic in different regions of Siberia. Until now, this macro-region serves mainly as a resource store for Russia, thus making possibility of modernization throwback more likely to happen.