The editors decided to hold an interview with academician M.K. Gorshkov, Director of the RAS Institute of sociology, who directs it since 2005, on the occasion of the Institute 50th anniversary celebration. Benchmarks of the institute history are reviewed and assessed focusing on repeated structural transformation of the Sovet and Russian sociological institutions within the framework of the national Academy of Science. The issues of reorganization of the Institute into the Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russia Academy of Sciences, the problems and difficulties of this transformation, the issues of interaction between government and sociology are discussed. Key projects of the Institute are highlighted, which contributed to the scientific knowledge. What role does sociology play in society, whether sociology needs publicity, how cooperation with foreign partners is developing, the impressions from the International Sociological Congress in Toronto – the reader will also find the answers to these questions in the interview.