Abstract: The article analyzes approaches to understanding the role of the peasantry as the basis of the Russian nation and culture and a special social community. The ideas of M. M. Kovalevsky, S. N. Yuzhakov, P. A. Sorokin, A.V. Chayanov and T. Shanin are presented. The conclusion is made about the relevance and methodological value of the approaches of representatives of Russian sociology to this issue. The article states that today, among the priority areas of agricultural sociology, the most popular is the study of family farming as a subject of the informal economy sector of the production of environmentally friendly products for the population interested in the development of bio-agriculture and innovative food networks that reduce the distance between food producers and consumers. It is this urgency of the problem that makes peasant studies the most promising direction of agrarian sociology. Taking into account the practical significance of this problem, relying on methodological approaches and developments of domestic and foreign sociologists, the research group of the Ural Agrarian University, based on the network interaction of universities of the Ural region and India, developed a program of initiative cross-cultural sociological research on the topic "Culture of farm labor", the purpose of which is to analyze the value bases of economic behavior of representatives of this social group for designing an effective agricultural policy.

Abstract: The article highlights and briefly analyzes the main directions of agrarian sociology in Russia, and shows that agricultural sociology is only evolving today. Theoretical research methods were used: a systematic approach, a comparative historical method, as well as quantitative and qualitative methods of applied sociological research: questionnaires, analysis of documents and work in a focus group. The research allows identifying the main directions of modern agrarian sociology in Russia. These include: 1. Sociological research of ecological culture and consumer culture. 2. The sociology of nutrition. 3. Sociological studies of farming as a special social group. Based on the results of the study, the authors identify the trend directions of modern agricultural sociology in Russia which are currently being formed and waiting for research by the joint efforts of sociologists, economists, lawyers, philosophers and representatives of agricultural sciences. Solving these problems will help attract young people to work in farms, including the organization of their own family farm. The first group of problems is the loss of traditions of family farming as a way of life and the related underestimation of farm labor and farming as a social community. The second group of problems is related to the insufficient use of innovative technologies, including digital ones, in family farming and everyday life, as well as the insufficiently developed social infrastructure in rural areas.