On the interpretation of certain law terms of social sphere

There are no doubts about the demands for the legal terms interpretation, according to which the terms should accurately reflect the nature and content of the phenomena identified. In practice, there are cases when the terms are not defined at the legislative level, and in the scientists’ studies they are interpreted differently. The problem concerns, in particular, the terms used in legal documents of a social orientation. The article analyzes approaches to the definition of such concepts as: «social state», «social policy», «social protection», «social security» and «social assistance». The contradictions existing in the literature are revealed, conclusions are made on how to logically distribute the features of defined concepts so as to eliminate duplication and systemically present the architecture of social policy. We believe this is important for the systematic adoption of regulatory decisions in the social sphere.