The paper discusses formation of the discourse of “winners” /“losers”, which serves as the ideological legitimation of social inequality prevailing in the Russian transformation process. Current hegemony with a distorted view of “survival of the fittest” refers to the gain of material success. The loser is constructed as Other forced to passively accept prescribed roles. Role of social scientists in creating this discourse is discussed. Constructing “winners” and “losers” sets framework for a zero-sum game, that is a dichotomic picture reducinf diverse social phenomena. Possible consequences of discourse in the context of the Russian transformations are offered.