The socio-economic and socio-political transformations taking place in the modern Russian society, are characterized by different contradictions. As a consequence, socio-political conflicts arise from time to time, which do not usually find the constructive resolution and contribute to the accumulation of latent discontent of the population. The mood contagion of social discontent and people dissatisfaction with the existing situation in this or that sphere of public life has a background character, its manifestation is in the level of expression of protest potential, i.e., the intention (propensity) of citizens to participate in protest actions under certain conditions. According to the regular monitoring held by ISEDT RAS in the Vologda Oblast in 2000-2013, on average, residents protest potential of the region is 23%. The correlation analysis shows that the accumulation of latent protest activity occurs under the influence of several groups of factors: negative social and political attitudes, dissatisfaction with the own financial situation and the general economic situation in the country and the region, the social wellbeing of the population. At various times the influence of socio-political and socio-economic indicators on the formation of protest sentiments is ambiguous. During the pre-crisis period 2000 - 2007 the political and ideological discontent is demonstrated with a strong relevance to protest potential, in the crisis period 2008 – 2009 the discontent with economic, material nature ranks first, during the period of post-crisis stabilization 2010 - 2013 indicators of negative social mood come first. One of the main conditions of reducing social tension in the society is to increase the efficiency of public administration at all levels of government. The important resource of the raising public administration efficiency is a clear organization of bilateral cooperation between representatives of the government and the population, the scientific basis of which sociology can provide
Keywords
public opinion, social feeling, social protest, social tension, correlation coefficient, efficiency
of public administration