Celebrations in Qazaqstan: Social Norms and Their Change

Dinara Abildenova

The celebration of life-cycle events are an important element of Kazakh culture. In recent decades their conduct have changed fundamentally. In particular, wedding ceremonies have become very expensive and one of the biggest among other celebrations. The general transformation process after the collapse of the Soviet Union has influenced the way of celebrating weddings and has brought about the growth of conspicuous consumption.

This research looks at wedding ceremonies in the Kerbulak region of Almaty province to study larger processes of social change and stratification. One key aspect is the role of social norms in economic relations. The aim of the study is to examine the mechanism of establishing new norms and determine the factors which affect this process.