Imagining Kazakhstan’s Future: Youth Perceptions and Symbolic Representations

• Салтанат Ермаханова

  Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the RK

  Author

• Гулназ Касимова

  Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the RK

  Author

The article examines how young people in Kazakhstan perceive the future of the country, employing a mixed-method approach that combines data from a national survey and focus-group discussions. Quantitative findings demonstrate a predominance of positive assessments of the country’s current development trajectory, a moderately optimistic emotional background, and a high level of trust in near-term prospects. Qualitative analysis reveals the symbolic and value-based structures underlying these expectations, including perceptions of a just, technologically advanced, and socially responsible state; the importance attributed to education; and the value placed on personal freedom and security. The data reveal a complex and multidimensional image of the future constructed by young people and highlight their role as bearers of modernization potential and agents of social transformation.

1. Салтанат Ермаханова, Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the RK

   Head of the Public Opinion Monitoring Department, Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Candidate of Sociological Sciences (PhD)

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