The proposed research is intended to examine the relationship between state and class formation in the capital city of Azerbaijan in context of modernization and de-Sovietization processes of the country. The revenues from oil and gas extractions made the recovery of the post-Soviet Azerbaijan relatively fast in comparison with other post-Soviet countries from the region, except Kazakhstan. In consequence, especially in the capital city, has started an intensive modernization process. However, the formation of a middle class, has become a point of reference in political discourse. The eradication of extreme poverty and expansion of the middle class issue became priority projects, at least in the public discourses of the local authorities. Moreover, the last decades of independence, Azerbaijani politics were oriented towards Europeanization and purification of Soviet remains. However, transforming the face of the country brought with it the transformation of its inhabitants.

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