Send message to Author

Abstract

This paper examines the value-motivational sphere and psychological well-being of mothers raising children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Kazakhstan, situating their experiences within broader debates on gender, care, and social support in Central Eurasia. While autism is frequently addressed through medical and educational frameworks, this study argues that the everyday realities of mothers of children with ASD cannot be understood without attention to culturally specific expectations of motherhood, gendered care obligations, and the limited availability of institutional support. In the Kazakhstani context, maternal resilience emerges not simply as an individual psychological trait, but as a socially structured response to uncertainty, stigma, and unequal distributions of emotional and practical labor.

The paper draws on empirical data collected from mothers raising children with ASD in Kazakhstan, including survey-based materials on resilience, social support, and related psychological predictors, as well as a contextual analysis of cultural norms surrounding family responsibility, caregiving, and women’s roles. Methodologically, the study combines psychological analysis with a broader socio-cultural interpretation in order to connect individual experiences to regional patterns of social organization.

The paper argues that the emotional and motivational experiences of these mothers are shaped by an interaction between personal coping resources and external cultural pressures. Preliminary findings indicate that social support functions as a key predictor of resilience, while intolerance of uncertainty, persistent caregiving burden, and normative expectations of self-sacrificing motherhood intensify emotional strain. At the same time, cultural and spiritual values may serve both as sources of meaning and as mechanisms that reinforce gendered responsibility for care.

By focusing on Kazakhstan, this paper contributes to Central Eurasian studies by bringing disability, care, and maternal experience into conversations that have more often centered on nationalism, state-building, or geopolitics. It also contributes to interdisciplinary scholarship on gender and care by showing how autism-related caregiving in Central Eurasia is mediated by local moral worlds, family norms, and uneven support infrastructures.

Send message to Author

Abstract

This paper examines the structure of cultural value orientations in contemporary Kazakhstan and asks how value change unfolds in societies undergoing rapid institutional and economic transformation. Kazakhstan provides an important empirical case for understanding value transformation in Central Eurasia, a region undergoing rapid change since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Classical theories of modernization, particularly those associated with Ronald Inglehart and Christian Welzel, propose that economic development gradually shifts societies from survival values toward self-expression, civic autonomy, and higher interpersonal trust. However, empirical evidence from post-Soviet societies frequently uncovers more intricate and internally contradictory patterns of value formation.

Using nationally representative survey data from Kazakhstan, this study identifies latent cultural configurations through hierarchical cluster analysis (Ward’s method with Euclidean distance) followed by k-means clustering. The clustering model includes views on equality, the state's role in providing welfare, support for progressive taxation, trust between people, and the trade-offs that people make between freedom, equality, and security. This approach allows the identification of underlying value formations that are not reducible to conventional socio-demographic categories.

The analysis reveals six distinct value clusters reflecting different orientations toward the state, redistribution, and social solidarity. These clusters range from statist welfare supporters and egalitarian redistributionists to liberal humanists and right-leaning individualists. The key empirical finding is the dominance of a large cluster encompassing roughly seventy percent of respondents, characterized by weak ideological alignment, low interpersonal trust, and a pragmatic orientation toward personal responsibility rather than collective social projects.

The presence of these clusters does not indicate a linear progression towards a cohesive modern value system; instead, it implies that Kazakhstan's value landscape is shaped by conflicting normative frameworks. Elements of paternalism, egalitarianism, liberal autonomy, and pragmatic individualism coexist within the same social space without forming a stable cultural hierarchy.

The paper argues that this configuration reflects a broader condition of ambivalent modernity, in which societies experience modernization without the consolidation of a unified moral order. By identifying empirically grounded value clusters, the study contributes to the literature on cultural change and post-socialist transformation, demonstrating how rapid institutional change can generate hybrid and internally contradictory value systems rather than a clear shift toward post-materialist values. More broadly, the findings contribute to ongoing debates about the trajectories of social change in Central Eurasia, suggesting that modernization in the region may generate ambivalent and hybrid value structures rather than a linear transition toward post-materialist values.

Send message to Authors

Abstract

Kazakhstan represents a demographic outlier among post-Soviet states, experiencing a sustained fertility recovery since the late 1990s while most of the region stagnated at sub-replacement levels. This paper examines how religion, religiosity, and value orientations shape fertility outcomes in Kazakhstan using data from the 2018 Generations and Gender Survey (GGS). Poisson and Cox regression models show that Muslims consistently report more children than non-Muslims, even after controlling for socio-demographic characteristics. Religiosity has a non-linear effect as modest levels already raise fertility among Muslims, while religiosity has no effect for non-Muslims. Value orientations show that family-support norms increase fertility, especially for Muslims, whereas gender egalitarianism reduces fertility across groups. Therefore, these findings demonstrate that Kazakhstan’s demographic trajectory is sustained by a combination of Muslim identity, kinship-based family values, and selective adoption of modern norms.