A study of the current state and trends of many countries and regions in conditions of transforming the political, social and market environment leads to the conclusion that most of the territories and their populations are severely affected by negative factors, leading to the deterioration of living conditions, violation of rights and freedoms, reduction of opportunities and redistribution of desires to satisfy the most simple needs. In advanced economies, these processes reveal themselves in the form of declining trends in household incomes, violation of trade relations, diversion of capital from the sphere of economic development to the sphere of military spending, curtailing of social programs. Most vividly modern social and economic cataclysms show themselves in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Literature review and problem statementThe problem of management of the complex characteristics that are used to create an enabling environment for economic and social development was raised by many scientists [Amosha, Kharazishvili, Liashenko, Kvilinskyi 2016, pp.19-34; Babkin 2013, pp. 138-148; Baranovskyi, Girchenko, Serdiukova 2017, pp. 20-33; Blagodarnyi, Tolmachova, Kvilinskyi 2014, pp. 30-37; Bondaryeva, Kravchenko, Mieshkov 2015, pp. 236-244;Bukharova 2012 Bukharova , pp. 1843 Bukharova -1849 Dementiev, Vishnevskiy, 2010, pp. 81-95; Ivanov, Liashenko, Kamińska, Kvilinskyi, 2017, pp. 86-101; Ivanov, Lyashenko, Tolmachova, Kvilinskyi 2016, pp. 9-34 Investigation of the social factors of development of society in the territories with transforming environmentConstantly changing environmental conditions lead to the necessity of regular updates, enhancements and adaptation of the existing approaches to the investigation of the development of societies that live in different territories. As a result, the purpose of the paper is to identify the main social factors that affect the vital activity of society at the present stage of development of territories which have unstable socio-economic and political environment. Specific trends, reflecting the state of social and economic processes in the countries of the evolving political and legal systems are considered (on the example of the Donetsk region). The components of the social and cultural environment as factors of forming a system of vital activity of the society are determined: the level of development of education, medicine, social infrastructure facilities, the environmental aspects, the social hierarchy and relationships in the community, the criminal and military risks, the demographic trends, the level of unemployment and informal employment. The authors developed a methodology of an expert assessment of the importance of the factors of forming the system of vital activity of the society. A set of recommendations for the coordinated impact on the economic and social processes in the conditions of transforming market system was proposed as a result of the research. Keywords: vital activity of society, the Donetsk region, the socio-cultural environm...