The author emphasizes that the object of the research work under discussion is not the theoretical concept of the social state itself, but a contradictory condition of the social state in Russia as a constitutional principle (contradiction between the declared norms and their actual content), problems of its formation and implementation. The goal of the study is, based on criticism of the contradictory reality, to find the ways of humanistic overcoming of these contradictions and to form a strong social welfare state in Russia. The understanding of the authentic meanings of the terms «worthy life» and «free development of man» of article 7 of the Russian Constitution permits to offer a new, functional interpretation of the correlation between the two parts of this article: as two different functions of the social state – protection of the vulnerable and active humanism. How are these functions manifested in the real history of a social state? What is the role of the concept of human dignity? Are they related to different stages of the historical evolution of society? How are a social and a legal state correlated? Is the concept of a «social state» applicable to the USSR? The search for answers to these and other questions leads to examination of the principles and norms of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The researcher has to understand a special socio-legal status of the meanings of constitutional provisions, the objective-subjective nature of such an object as a social state. Doesn’t it create prerequisites for a new scientific direction – «constitutional social philosophy», or, in a wider perspective, «constitutional sociohumanitarian research»?