The textbook was prepared by leading domestic sociologists at the Institute of Social and Political Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The textbook contains a comprehensive presentation of the foundations of general sociological theory. The second edition takes into account the latest achievements of domestic and foreign sociological thought, the results of theoretical and empirical research. They also reflected the current problems, phenomena and trends that have taken place in social reality, the changes that have occurred in the world recently. A special place is given to the sociological understanding of the changing Russian society, the state of sociology itself as a science in our country, its role in the transformation of society and the state.