The image of Russia in Kazakhstan: sociological research, content analysis of the media

Abstract

The article is devoted to identifying the ideas of young people in Kazakhstan about Russia, their
choice of media sources, and assessing the information received about the country from the point of view of
reliability. The authors have carried out a content analysis of the media, polls among students on the role of
Russian media in Kazakhstan. The article presents a comparative analysis of sociological surveys of 2015 and
2021 and highlights the dynamics of the views of Kazakhstanis on the image of Russia. The study was conducted
in April-May 2021 whereas the first study was conducted in 2015. The author invokes the legislative acts of the
Republic of Kazakhstan, the Constitution, quotes the statements of political scientists on this topic. A scientific
analysis of media materials reveals new trends in the structure of Russia’s image after the Ukrainian events.
The aim of the article is to identify the communicative, functional, and structural-semiotic resources of the mass
media used in the construction of the image of Russia in Kazakhstan, to identify whether the holistic model of
this image is created in the representation of Kazakh youth, to identify the prospects of Kazakhstan media in
the global Internet space.