The Media’s Portrayal of The "The Own–Other/Other–Other–Alien–Enemy" Opposition as a Political and Sociocultural Tool for Establishing the Emerging Ethnic Identity of the Republic of Kazakhstan | South-Russian Journal of Social Sciences
The Media’s Portrayal of The "The Own–Other/Other–Other–Alien–Enemy" Opposition as a Political and Sociocultural Tool for Establishing the Emerging Ethnic Identity of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Vol. 24 (2023) No. 2, Identity Politics
Vol. 24 (2023) No. 2
Identity Politics

The Media’s Portrayal of The "The Own–Other/Other–Other–Alien–Enemy" Opposition as a Political and Sociocultural Tool for Establishing the Emerging Ethnic Identity of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Topchiev M.S.
Astrakhan State University
ORCID ID 0000-0001-8296-6631
Khrapov S.A.
Astrakhan State University
ORCID ID 0000-0003-1962-748X
PDF (Russian)
https://doi.org/10.31429/26190567-24-2-21-34
https://doi.org/10.31429/26190567-24-2-21-34

How to Cite Array

Topchiev M.S., Khrapov S.A. (2023) The Media’s Portrayal of The "The Own–Other/Other–Other–Alien–Enemy" Opposition as a Political and Sociocultural Tool for Establishing the Emerging Ethnic Identity of the Republic of Kazakhstan. South-Russian Journal of Social Sciences, 24 (2), pp. 21-34. DOI: 10.31429/26190567-24-2-21-34 (In Russian)
Submission Date 2023-04-05
Accepted Date 2023-05-23
Published Date 2023-07-31

Copyright (c) 2023 Михаил Сергеевич Топчиев, Сергей Александрович Храпов

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

The paper focuses on the complex problem concerning political and socio-­cultural factors of new national identity shaping in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The authors use an interdisciplinary research methodology that incorporates socio-­philosophical, philosophical, political, socio-­cultural, and informational approaches. The processes of formation of a new national identity in Kazakhstan are analyzed with regard to the specificity of post-­Soviet countries, and the originality of Kazakhstan’s political and socio-­cultural development. The paper highlights the contradictory nature of Kazakhstan’s multi-­vector policy, which aims to combine a successful interaction with the USA, EU, Russia and China but results in unstable political and social systems. This situation manifested itself, specifically, in the mass riots in January 2022. A contradictory approach to language is also apparent in Kazakhstan’s cultural policy, notably through the introduction of “tri-lingualism” incorporating Kazakh, Russian, and English. These political and socio-­cultural controversies are susceptible to external dangers. They aggravate not only Kazakhstan’s national security, but also the security of all the states in the Caspian macro-­region. The transitional shift of Kazakhstan’s national identity from the Soviet to the post-­Soviet identity is researched within the framework of its representation in media environment, which is the most important cognitive and informational venue of functioning of the significant strata of the Kazakh public consciousness. In the authors’ opinion, specific markers of these transformation developments in media space are oppositional images of “The own – Other / Other – Alien – Enemy”, which reflect the shift in identification orientation among diverse social groups in Kazakhstan. Based on the results of the study, the paper concludes that political and socio-­cultural mechanisms play a crucial role in the development of the new national identity of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and reveals the negative effects of scaling anti-­Russian sentiments and images in the media.

Keywords

national identity, Kazakhstan, “The Own – Other / Other – Alien – Enemy”, media environment, geopolitics, political, political, socio-­cultural mechanisms of formation of a new national identity, language, cultural memory

Acknowledgements

The research was funded under the Russian Science Foundation (RSF) as part of research project 23-28-01230 “The formation of anti-­Russian sentiment in the media environment of the Republic of Kazakhstan as part of the Caspian frontier”.

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