The article examines the moral economics of the “good life” in the context of post-socialist inequality, based on critical moral sociology. The analysis is based on semi-structured interviews with residents of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region (N=60), whose incomes have increased in recent years, but whose social acceptance remains unstable. The authors show how subjects from different socio-economic groups construct moral consistency through narratives about work, care, and minimalism, articulating the right to normalcy and a decent life. The theoretical framework includes three key concepts — dignity, recognition, and moral autonomy — and allows us to describe strategies for moral navigation in a situation of fragmented recognition. Special attention is paid to the gender structure of recognition mechanisms: masculinity is shaped through work ethic and non—dependence, while femininity is shaped through caring, emotional involvement and respectability. The article demonstrates how moral categories become resources of everyday subjectivity, structuring the boundaries of what is acceptable and the mechanisms of social distinction in conditions of instability and limited access to symbolic resources.