State Concept of Social Management and Its Implementation in the Second Half of the 19th – Early 20th Century (On the Materials of Saratov Province)

. The paper deals with the conception of state social management in Russia after the reform of the system of local self-government in the second half of the 19th century and the practical activities of charitable organizations at the provincial and district levels.Methods. The research is based on the social legislation of the period under study, the works of Russian social policy researchers of the 19th – early 20th centuries, materials of statistical collections, periodicals.Analysis. The concept of charity and philanthropy, being developed during the period under study, involved the transformation of public-private philanthropy into public charity. Its main actors are the provincial and city authorities, which solve social problems in conjunction with private charitable institutions and are responsible for the state of social problems. The state reserved coordination and control functions. Within the framework of this concept, specific guidelines for charitable work were developed, including: its distribution to all demographic and social groups in need, a wide range of types of social assistance, and even distribution of charitable institutions throughout the country. However, in practice, innovation touched mainly metropolitan and provincial cities. Territorial and city medical, educational, social and rehabilitation institutions that had emerged in provinces, expanded the possibilities of providing assistance to the most vulnerable segments of the population. However, their distribution was still not even, rural settlements lost significantly. In uyezds, charities were few and could not help all socially disadvantaged groups of society.Results. The article shows that in the period under study, the concept of public philanthropy was not fully implemented.