The anti-corruption policy cannot be effective if a society has a high tolerance rate toward corruption, and authorities have no clear and consequent anti-corruption strategy. A systematic analysis of corruption as a social phenomenon suggests not only the study of political, legal, socio-economic, cultural, and historical aspects of corruption but also the study of its perception in mass consciousness. The research on the official anti-corruption policy and evaluation of its effectiveness in mass consciousness allows for a more effective anti-corruption strategy to develop in a society. This article offers some results from the sociological research on the perception of corruption and anti-corruption policy in Russian mass consciousness. This research has been carried out by scholars from St. Petersburg University using a telephone survey in 2014-2018. The main goal here was to describe dominant stereotypes in the corruption and anti-corruption policy perception which are typical in the Russian mass consciousness. The empirical research results are indicative of a lack of significant changes in social consciousness regarding corruption in the last decade. There is an obvious contradiction between abstract and personal levels of corruption perception. Corruption in mass consciousness has been perceived as a social evil on an abstract level, but on a personal one as a functional necessity to settle private issues.