Systemic change from a planned economy to a market society requires not only an implementation of market institutions but also actions of people according to the new conditions in everyday-life. The book focuses on the question how far middle-class households are able to organize their livelihoods. Do they take the necessary self-responsibility for their lives? Or do they still rely on the Soviet-type nanny state of the past? Or, do they only believe in their own networks of kin and acquaintances for earning their livelihoods?The book presents a cross-country, rural-urban comparison in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan based on secondary data and quantitative and qualitative primary research.