The author analyzes the fundamentals of social competition and its specific features in Russia. As the basic prerequisites for social competition, the author considers the activity in which its subjects enter into various forms of interaction and relationships, including competitive ones, objective and subjective differences between people and their communities — historical, socio-political, socio-economic, socio-cultural, international. Competition manifests itself in developing living and social systems, from which stem its two main varieties — biological and social, between which there is continuity. In the living nature, competition is manifested, as shown by Charles Darwin, within one species and between different species, in the fight against life conditions, leads to the natural selection and evolution of species. Competition in society has its own characteristics. At the same time, competition in the animal world and society, as P. Kropotkin has shown, is associated with various forms of cooperation, mutual assistance, which are dominant and more conducive to progress than competition. The transition of Russia from the socialist system of public relations with a planned economy to a capitalist system with a market system of development created the foundations of competition in the country. This transition is influenced by traditional socio-cultural characteristics, as well as current processes in society and in the world.Th is article considers the competition of collective subjects of professional activity as one of the types of social competition, its structure, typology, and basic functions are revealed. Competition is defined as a system of interaction of individual, group and collective subjects of professional activity, characterized by the achievement of goals of activity and advantages in the context of confrontation with those pursuing the same goals and advantages by other actors.