In the article the development of the Russian state social policy and social relations in the 90s of the XX century is analyzed through the example of the Lower Volga Region. The author gives the comparative analysis of the social policy officially declared by the government and that reality which actually took place in the society at that time. The author studies the reasons and dynamics of the new social differentiation and specifies the main points of the socio-economic tension as well as socio-political conflict existing in that period; the author analyses benefits and drawbacks of the social policy of the country in 1990s as well as the degree of their influence on the life of the citizens; he shows the dynamics of the development of the social processes through the example of a certain Russian region – the Lower Volga Region. The analysis of the social stratification at the time of radical socio-economic reforms of the post-Soviet time is also given in the article. The period from 1991 to 2000 coincides with the crisis and fall of the socio-political system of the Soviet society. The end of the period falls at the change of the political elite of the 90s and transfer of the Russian social policy from liberal-democratic reforms to authoritarian-democratic ones designed to reinforce the vertical power system of the governance and decrease social tension of the society. The author of the article comes to the conclusion that 1990s became the epoch of the change of the socialist paradigm towards liberal-democratic concepts. From the second half of the decade it took more and more specific Russian features.
