New estates and social policy of the Russian Empire in the Kazakh steppe in the 19th century

Abstract

In empire-building of the 19th century the Russian power had a priority task that was to build a uniform political and social system across all imperial territory which included absolutely different regions. The Kazakh steppe as a part of the empire represented a cultural type distinctive from the center, based on nomadic lifestyle. In the background of difficult methods of construction of the unified empire, one of important questions was the state policy promoting creation of a socio-political system in the Kazakh steppe which would be most approximate to the empire model. This paper investigates the nature of social changes and process of new estates formation (the nobility and honorable citizens) in the Steppe in the context of administrative, social policy of the Russian government. Social changes on the Kazakh lands began with transformation of the administrative-territorial structure of the region at the beginning of the 19th century. With introduction of new legally fixed form of political management and inclusion of the Kazakh region in the rang system of the empire traditional social order of Kazakhs was transformed, and new estates on an imperial sample as officials, noblemen and honorable citizens began to form. Actually the process of formation and character of these estates among Kazakh nomads differed from social groups of the settled and agricultural people. The symbiosis of traditional nomadic and imperial social features was observed, at that time the imperial government maintained distinctions among the incorporated groups. The important aspect in social transformation of the Kazakh steppe was incorporation of the Kazakh elite in privileged estates (the nobility and honorable citizens) of the Russian Empire. In this connection, the paper represents the process of entry of the Kazakh sultans into nobility of the empire and features of the Kazakh nobility. The paper also considers the process of adaptation of local population to new social transformations. Their study will allow to reveal characteristics of imperial methods in the region and perceptions of the new social system by the Kazakh population, extent of their identification with imperial estates.