The purpose of the study is to give an overview and present special features of socialization of the research type that prepares young people for life in the knowledge society. Methods of cultural and historical epistemology, of hermeneutic and structural-functional analysis of social action have been used in the study, as well as elements of the theory of values and philosophic ontology. The experimental part of the study involves methods of comparative analysis and synthesis of social work with creatively active schoolchildren and students. The article analyses the role of education in the conception of the knowledge society, created in the period 1940-1960s. As fundamental factors of a new type of socialization, the cognitive role structure of the knowledge society and spiritual abilities determining creativity are presented. The possibility of early research socialization is explained through the dynamics of the professional maturation period in the conditions of the general technological field of modern knowledge culture. The article lays a theoretical foundation and provides practical justification for a new socialization of the research type, which plays a crucial role in the development of the knowledge society and interprets the content of modern education according to its cultural mission.