The round table “Reflections on the scientific school” is dedicated to the classic of modern Russian sociology Vladimir Aleksandrovich Yadov and the community of scientists who have been cooperating with him for many years. During the discussion, the main criteria of scientific work of this community, uniting sociologists of different thematic areas, ages and even methodological approaches, were revealed. Attention was also paid to the problem of the existence and development of scientific schools in modern science. The idea of apprehension of the presence of scientific schools in the sociological community is very important in order to understand what exactly is science in the current situation, how it is devised and functioning. After all, the fabric of scientific communities is very complex, it does not consist of individual characters, but of what is formed around some characters. A life, which feeds this character, and those who are with him, is bobbling. Apparently, when Vladimir Aleksandrovich started, this was the idea: teamwork on research projects, problems that meet the demands of science and society. This is the key point. Such a project, in which many are involved, generates a certain synergy, and a breakthrough, a burst might happen, a school might emerge. The presence of a strong and authoritative leader is recognized as an unavoidable condition for the existence of a school. He is not only a recognized master, but an enthusiast who is ready to constantly generate fresh ideas, new topics, apply innovative theoretical approaches, guide the research process, protect young scientists and help them. It was also suggested that the current situation is that many people are engaged in different projects, science is funded not only by collective, but also by individual grants. There emerges a different kind of competition and everything that accompanies it is fairly good, but does it lead not to the fact that, basically, completely different versions of scientific organizations are being formed?