Aigul Zabirova,
Chief Research Fellow
KazISS under the President of the RK
More and more Kazakhstanis say that everything matters. This is not an inability to choose, but a structural shift, social life no longer organizes itself around a single answer.
Sometimes sociological data does more than reveal trends, it makes us, as sociologists, pause. Look more closely. And even feel a sense of surprise.
This is precisely such a case.
When examining responses to questions about the importance of life values, one is struck by an almost complete consensus. Nearly everything is considered important, and not just important, but very important. For instance, 90% of respondents say that being independent is ‘very important, 91% emphasize taking care of oneself, 92% value being faithful to a partner, and 89% stress loyalty to their country[1].
Family, children, responsibility, and personal development all rank highly.
At some point, you find yourself asking: where is the choice? After all, if something becomes more important, shouldn’t something else recede? But that is not what we observe here. Kazakhstanis affirm multiple priorities at once:
–being independent (90%),
–having children (87%),
–being married (81%),
–pursuing personal development (81%),
– and taking responsibility (85%).
And it does not appear as a contradiction. Rather, it feels like a natural state.
Why? Because today these values are no longer perceived as mutually exclusive. This is no longer an ‘either–or’ logic, but a logic of combination: one can be independent and have a family, build a career while seeking work–life balance, pursue personal development while caring for others.’ This is becoming a new, and increasingly common, way of organizing life in the 21st century. If we look more closely, values in the past were more rigid: family or career, tradition or modernity. Today, these boundaries have become blurred.
Individuals increasingly inhabit multiple states at once. This is not a conflict. It is an overlay, and one that is becoming normalized.
It is precisely here that sociologists begin to sense a deeper shift,
we are no longer dealing simply with a set of values, but with a transformation of social character itself. If we try to describe this new character in simple terms, it is a person who wants to rely on themselves, but not to be alone. They do not abandon the family, yet no longer dissolve into it.
They aspire to a career, while 87% say it is important to maintain a balance between work and personal life.
A similar pattern emerges when it comes to responsibility.
On the one hand, people increasingly emphasize independence and self-realization.
On the other, moral commitments remain highly significant: loyalty to a partner (92%), loyalty to one’s country (89%), and personal responsibility (85%). In other words, individuals are becoming more independent, but no less connected.
There is another dimension that further complicates the picture: digital life.
The digital world has become the norm, yet it is also beginning to feel exhausting.
This is a distinctly contemporary experience. While 74% consider it important to develop digital skills, 46% emphasize the importance of being able to disconnect from the Internet entirely.
Perhaps the question is not what Kazakhstanis want, but what lies behind this desire to have everything. Is it freedom of choice, or freedom from the need to choose? A society that wants everything at once may be allowing itself, perhaps for the first time, to imagine without limits. Or its value system may still be in the process of taking shape. Or it may be a society that is in no hurry to make a final choice, having already learned the cost such choices entail. The data does not give a definitive answer, but it clearly poses the question.
What kind of social reality is taking shape here? When we bring the full picture together, a relatively clear image emerges. This is a person who does not make a hard choice between the old and the new, but holds them together. We are witnessing a shift toward a condition in which different dimensions of life coexist simultaneously. People are not willing to ‘trade’ family for career, or stability for freedom. And perhaps the most essential question today is no longer what it should be, but whether we are ready to recognize it.
[1]The survey dated 07/11/12/2025, commissioned by KazISS, 8,000 respondents. Respondents over the age of 18 from 17 regions of the country and big cities Astana, Almaty and Shymkent took part in the survey.
