The article considers social modeling as a method of studying Russian regions in order to identify inequalities in their socio-economic, socio-political, socio-cultural development processes. The purpose of the study is to analyze theoretical and methodological approaches to the social modeling of regional inequalities with access to the development of territorial strategies and political and managerial practices, to reduce interregional inequalities in socio-economic and socio-cultural spheres. The disproportions in the socio-economic and socio-cultural development of the regions, the level and quality of life of the population, the devastation of large areas of the country due to the concentration of fixed capital in several large centers are shown. Some theoretical and methodological approaches of Russian scientists to the social modeling of political and managerial practices at the federal and regional levels, types (models) of local self-government, where there is a great potential of the human factor, are considered. The new conditions of the existence of Russian culture, requiring special cultural security and the presence of institutional regulation, are emphasized.