The article discusses the actual problems of socio-economic and socio-political development of France. Special attention is paid to the analysis of social changes: reforms of the pension system and labor legislation. The author comes to the conclusion that increasing social expenditures have begun to lose their effectiveness in alleviating social problems and have resulted in expanding budget deficit of the social security system. The issue of greater flexibility and diversification of the social insurance system has come on the agenda. The study of transformation processes on the labour market gives grounds to conclude that the decentralization of labour relations regulation is taking place. The article emphasizes the role of social factors that influenced the results of the presidential and parliamentary elections of 2017, shows the orientation of the measures taken by the new authorities of the country on its social modernization.