Аннотация:The article analyzes one of the most urgent and complex problems of modern Russian society - the conflict between a doctor and a patient. The authors examine the main factors of the development of social conflict on the example of the doctor-patient relationship in the context of modernizing healthcare and medical care for the population of modern Russian society. The methodological basis of sociological research is a complex approach to the study of the interaction of medicine and society, a structurally functional approach to the study of conflictual relations in the system "doctor-patient". As a result of the research, objective and personal reasons for the emergence of doctor-patient conflict in contemporary Russian society have been singled out. It is proved that objective reasons include: imperfection of the existing normative base in the field of health, imbalance in the hierarchy of management of medical institutions, poor quality of medical education for future medical workers, expansion of the spectrum of paid medical services, destructive activity of the media. The personal causes of the conflict are due to the individual characteristics of the personality of the doctor and the patient. Among them: moral and philosophical disagreements, inconsistency of the personal qualities of the doctor, deformation of the professional consciousness of the doctor, low motivation of the doctor's work, his disinterest in healing the patient leading to medical errors. The conclusions are confirmed by the empirical results of a specific sociological study of the causes of the social conflict "doctor-patient". In conclusion, measures to resolve the relationship between doctors and patients and reduce the level of social tension are proposed.