{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,9]],"date-time":"2026-09-09T05:10:05Z","timestamp":1788930605806,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,9]],"date-time":"2026-09-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788912000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Sociol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This study examines how imposed religious identities operate as an ideological instrument in Kazakhstan\u2019s post-Soviet transformation, with particular attention to the social production of stigma and the ways in which boundaries of the national community are articulated in public discourse.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Building on Erving Goffman\u2019s concept of stigma and critical approaches to ideology and governance (Althusser, Gramsci, and Foucault), the article adopts an interdisciplinary case-study design combining descriptive analysis of secondary quantitative data with qualitative analysis of key legal and policy documents and a purposively selected set of six publicly accessible media and official materials published between 2016 and 2023.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The analysis identifies changes in patterns of religious self-identification alongside differentiated discursive positioning of religious groups. Within the reviewed materials, \u201ctraditional\u201d confessions, particularly Hanafi Islam and Orthodox Christianity, are associated with cultural heritage and social stability, whereas some movements categorized as \u201cnon-traditional\u201d are linked to security-related and \u201cforeign influence\u201d narratives. These qualitative patterns are especially relevant to new religious movements, denominations perceived as non-traditional in the region, and youth whose religious learning is mediated by digital and transnational networks.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The study concludes that formal commitments to freedom of religion and pluralism coexist with practices of differentiated regulation and representation that can contribute to the stabilization of confessional hierarchies within broader processes of nation-building.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fsoc.2026.1805651","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,9]],"date-time":"2026-09-09T04:41:33Z","timestamp":1788928893000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The ideology of religious stigmatization: imposed identities as a tool for constructing the national community in Kazakhstan"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Tussubzhan","family":"Duzbayev","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Political Science and Political Technologies, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University","place":["Almaty, Kazakhstan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Essenzhol","family":"Aliyarov","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Political Science and Political Technologies, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University","place":["Almaty, Kazakhstan"]},{"name":"Kazakhstan Center for Humanitarian and Political Trends","place":["Almaty, Kazakhstan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Natalya","family":"Seitakhmetova","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Philosophy, Political Science and Religious Studies","place":["Almaty, CS MSHE RK, Kazakhstan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sholpan","family":"Zhandossova","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Philosophy, Political Science and Religious Studies","place":["Almaty, CS MSHE RK, Kazakhstan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marhabbat","family":"Nurov","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Kazakhstan Center for Humanitarian and Political Trends","place":["Almaty, Kazakhstan"]},{"name":"Higher School of International Relations and Diplomacy, Turan University","place":["Almaty, Kazakhstan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.26577\/\/EJRS.2023.v35.i3.r1","article-title":"Social and economic inequality in Kazakhstan: the contextual factor of religious identity","volume":"35","author":"Abdiraiymova","year":"2023","journal-title":"Eurasian Journal of Religious Studies"},{"key":"ref2","volume-title":"Natsional\u2019nyi Sostav, Veroispovedanie i Vladenie Yazykami v Respublike Kazakhstan","year":"2010"},{"key":"ref3","year":"2023"},{"key":"ref4","volume-title":"Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays","author":"Althusser","year":"1971"},{"key":"ref5","volume-title":"Istoki Totalitarizma","author":"Arendt","year":"2011"},{"key":"ref6","year":"2015"},{"key":"ref7","first-page":"231","article-title":"Religiozno-politicheskie otnosheniya v Respublike Kazakhstan: sostoyanie i problemy [religious and political relations in the Republic of Kazakhstan: current state and problems]","volume":"57","author":"Aymukhambetov","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. 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