region

The article analyzes the value orientations of regional students as a social group that has its own special evaluative attitude to the totality of material and spiritual benefi ts, expressed through cognitive, emotive and behavioral aspects of life. The article pays special attention to the theoretical approaches to the consideration of value orientations given in the works of E. Durkheim, T. Parsons, T. Lukman, K. Klakhonoma, P. Sorokin, J. Toshchenko and others.

The article considers the basic features of the transformation process of the political elite in relation to the region of a transitive, agrarianindustrial type, like Saratov region. The differences between the transformation process and the change of the elite and the so-called "change of elites" are revealed. The characteristics of the structural-institutional, group and generational aspects of the dynamics of elites in the region are given.

The article analyzes the environmental consciousness of the region's population as a special property of reflecting the social nature of a person, expressed through personal concern about the state of the environment, through the acquisition of environmental information and practical activities to preserve and restore the natural environment. Particular attention in the article is given to theoretical approaches to the consideration of the phenomenon of ecological consciousness.

The social space of the contemporary Russian labor market is characterized by the growing dynamics of changes, its structure becoming more differentiated and amorphous. Nonstandard, unsustainable employment including selfemployment practices gains larger scale. The above mentioned changes have controversial social consequences, especially at the regional level, where the problems of human capital preservation and reproduction are of importance.