The article analyzes the results of monitoring studies of scholars of the Institute of sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, set out in the monograph «Twenty-five Years of Social Transformations in the Estimates and Judgments of Russians: the Experience of Sociological Analysis» / [M.K. Gorshkov, etc.]; Resp. ed. by M. K. Gorshkov, V. Petukhov. Moscow: The Whole World, 2018. 384 p. The basis of the empirical base of the project was a five-year project «Dynamics of social transformation of modern Russia in socio-economic, political, socio-cultural and ethno-religious dimensions», supported by the Russian Federation and two projects «New Russia: ten years of reforms» (2001), «Twenty years of reforms in the eyes of Russians» (2011). Based on the materials of the monograph, the author carries out an analytical analysis of the actual theoretical and empirical points of view on the processes of social transformation and the search for scientifically verified vectors of development and modes of interaction between the Russian society and the state, verification and comparison of monitoring findings with the results of sociological studies of other research centers. Particular attention is drawn to the current critical assessment of the functioning of social and political institutions of society by citizens, critical parameters, level and quality of life, socio-economic and socio-political transformations. The author draws attention to the strategic nature of geopolitical and geo-economic challenges and risks that arise in the transition to a new technological order.