Th is paper considers the issue of escalating protest sentiment in protest activity. Despite the fact that the study of social protest is quite a developed part of political sociology, there remains a lot of theoretical aspects that do not have a universally acceptable solution. One of them is the conditions under which protest sentiment develops into active protest. Th e article presents some results of the research into protest moods in the Vologda Oblast, which help defi ne the presence of a stable group of carriers of protest sentiment (protest potential). Th e analysis of protest potential has found that the deterioration of social well-being observed in recent studies of public opinion of the Vologda Oblast residents does not, however, cause either a signifi cant growth in protest sentiment or a growth in protest activity. Within the fi eld of the research, the most eff ective way to mobilize individuals is the webs of trust. A search task is formulated for the further study of protest potential
Keywords
protest potential, trust, infl uence factors, political sociology