Abstract

Problem setting. Representatives of various social sciences – sociologists, political scientists, lawyers, economists – are engaged in the research of problems of social protec- tion of the population in general and its individual components, the process of organization, specifics about particular groups of the population. Analysis of scientific publications. A large number of domestic and foreign scholars are studying this problem.Traditionally, they define social protection as a system of funds from state bodies, organizations and officials that protect any citizen from economic and social degradation. The article proposes an alternative view on the problem of social protection, namely to consider it through the prism of social risks. Therefore, the purpose of the article was to identify and analyze the nature of the relationship between the categories of «social risks» and «social protection». Presenting main material. The analysis of the basic psychological, sociological, and legal approaches to the definition of the categories «social risk» and «social protection» is carried out. The analysis carried out in the article allowed to reach the following conclusions: - social risks arise and do not exist in extraordinary situations, and in normal condi- tions, therefore, naturally accompany the functioning of society; - if to analyze social protection within the framework of the theory of social security, it is an activity on prevention, mitigation and elimination of social risk factors; - it is advisable to distinguish between the notion of «social security of society» and «social security of the person» ; - social security can be considered as a goal of social protection and a way of minimiz- ing social risks, as it involves not only avoiding conditions which could lead to a decrease in the quality of life of people, but also the real availability of social prospects for all segments of the population; - when defining social risks as a process of decision-making by the subject about his actions in a situation of uncertainty, it can be argued that danger is one of the likely out- comes of action, and risk action can be only social action; - the delineation of risks and dangers in practice is highly arbitrary, because in each particular case, one and the same event can be considered both as a risk and as a danger; - the simultaneous existence of the probability of not only successful solution to the problem of choice, but unsuccessful allows you to consider the risk as a description of actions in the situation of uncertainty, and the danger – as a characteristic of the situation. Keywords: social risks, social protection, social security of a society, social security of the person.