B. N. Mironov thanked the journal “Sociological Studies” for organizing the discussion of his work and expressed the hope that his research will help to understand current problems of the country and to shape design of the movement of Russia into the future, which the participants of the symposium focused on. He did not agree with the opinion that it was inappropriate to apply modernization theory to the analysis of problems that were the focus of his attention as a researcher. The idea of modernization was used by him as a hypothesis that needs to be tested by empirical data. B. N. Mironov dwelt in great detail on polemics with opponents who questioned some of the facts he presented in his research and consistently analyzed their arguments. He also focused on the meanings of the positions taken by some participants in discussing his work.