The article is devoted to the problem of social inequality and social justice in modern Russian society. Based on Rosstat’s statistical data and research results of the leading sociological centers of the country (HSE, WCIOM, Levada-Center, etc.), the author revealed the scope of social inequality in Russia. The analysis of the WCIOM archival data, starting from 2007, revealed an increase in the need for justice and in a sense of insecurity from the tyranny of authorities, which activated the search for so-called „substitutes of trust”. A secondary analysis of the data of the Russian survey conducted among students with the support of the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences showed the features of the perception of social inequality and justice in the youth environment. The author came to the conclusion that the opinion of young people about the most important criteria of justice refl ects the opinion of the society as a whole and includes such aspects as equal access to education, medical care, reduction of income polarization and social security. The youth do not consider the Russian society as a fair institution, in order to prove this hypothesis, the author reveals its own arguments.