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Social state as a mechanism for ensuring a decent level and quality of life for population has always been in the focus of scientific interests of N. M. Rimashevskaya. In memory of the famous scientist, the article presents an analysis of what happened to the social state in Russia in the past three decades, and argues the need to overcome the existing negative trends leading to its dismantling. Conclusions and recommendations are based on a study of the history of the formation of various models of welfare state, the operation of its economic mechanism, modern challenges to welfare state, as well as analysis of the Russian legislation, budget statistics, and results of sociological studies on the impact of reforms in the social sphere on the level and quality of life of Russians. It is shown that in the formation of a welfare state in the post-Soviet Russia, three stages can be distinguished, differing in the economic capabilities of the state and imperious rhetoric, but united by neoliberal ideology manifested in the desire to reduce social spending and commercialize the social sphere. The reduction of social obligations of the state forces citizens to independently decide on the issues of acquiring housing, medical treatment, and material support for old age. In conditions of low incomes, this pushes people to the financial market, in the development of which the state is interested, that fully fits into the mainstream of financialized capitalism and neoliberal ideology. The far from pleasing socio-demographic and economic indicators demonstrated by Russia against this background show the need for a turn towards the true development of a welfare state, and the events of early 2022 set this task with the utmost urgency. The article outlines the key components of the proposed pivot, related to rejection of the neoliberal dogmas about the negative impact on economic growth of large-scale social spending and income redistribution policies based on progressive income taxation, about selective social policy as an allegedly effective tool to combat poverty, etc.

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In Russia, as in many countries, the state is showing increased attention to the topic of financial literacy of the population, which is connected, on the one hand, with the expansion of the financial market inherent in the modern world economy, involving ordinary people in its orbit, and, on the other hand, with the curtail of the welfare state, and the reorientation of citizens to self-financing their needs for pensions, medical care, education, etc. In the process of such pushing up people to become investors, borrowers, participants of funded pension schemes, the specific character of the economic culture of the population is not taken into account, while many observed phenomena, such as low level of financial literacy and massive distrust of financial institutions, are due exactly to it. The article presents analysis of the cultural archetypes and patterns of behavior characteristic of the Russians that make up the economic culture; they were correlated with the models of behavior of the population of interest to the state; the impact on the existing economic culture of the current socio-economic context is considered. It is shown that the natural-climatic, geographic, geopolitical and religious factors have shaped Russians' specific attitude towards savings, their own and other people's property, planning horizons, contractual obligations, separation of common and individual responsibility, financial discipline, work ethics, state and commercial institutions, interpersonal relationships, etc., which is far from that sought by the state. Meanwhile, the problem is that it is the socio-economic policy pursued by the state, the events of the economic life of the past thirty years that act as the factors of reproduction and consolidation of the formed cultural archetypes and patterns of behavior, but not their productive transformation.

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The first ILO report against the background of the Covid-19 pandemic names youth among the most anxious groups. Russian sociologists also spoke about this, linking such a reaction with the greenhouse conditions created by Russian families for children. Graduation from a university is a serious life milestone, especially in the context of the pandemic that has required long periods of distance learning and dramatically accelerated the digitalization of the economy. According to the research conducted by the authors, more than two-thirds of students believe that the pandemic has changed our lives forever, and also that in the modern world it is impossible to have one profession for all your life. Medium-term and long-term prospects for specialists with their education do not seem very optimistic to students. But and in the short term, the majority of graduates assess their competitiveness in the labor market as average and foresee high competition for vacancies (or their shortage) and the offer of low wages. For many, the problems of future employment are laid down at the stage of choosing a profession: a significant part goes to study where there are affordable budget places, but poorly understand the essence of the profession and its relevance. Today, half of the graduates would choose another profession and do not plan to work in their specialty. High proportion of those who expected successful employment before the pandemic has noticeably decreased against its background. With regard to employment problems, almost half of the respondents have an internal locus of control, the rest are divided in equal proportions into those who have an external locus of control, or both loci of control are expressed or not expressed. For older students, problems with employment are more often seen as a combination of external factors and their own shortcomings. Among those looking for problems in themselves or both in themselves and in the external environment, there are quite a lot of expecting difficulties in finding a job. Acting within the framework of the "ontological security", young people implement practices that allow them to adapt, but do not reduce uncertainty.