The article was prepared based on the results of a 2024 study and is devoted to the changes taking place in Kazakh society in the XVIII – early ХХ centuries under the influence of the socio-cultural «frontier». The author introduces into scientific circulation the visual and written sources found in the archives, museums and libraries of Kazakhstan. The socio-cultural «frontier» implies a borderline mobile space between two societies, two cultures: traditional Kazakh and imperial. The frontier space is a blurred zone, unstable, where imperial power is not yet influential enough. The research was conducted in the following areas: studying the first steps of the Russian Empire's advancement into the Kazakh steppes; recruiting Kazakhs for military service in order to reduce the confrontation between Kazakh society and the imperial government; reforming governance systems in the Kazakh steppe; introducing Russian education into the Kazakh steppe as a fundamental factor in the state policy being built by the Russian Empire, aimed at introducing Kazakhs to the imperial way of life and the immediate entry of Kazakh society into the Russian Empire; the process of creolization and conflict situations. The long-term existence of the socio-cultural frontier on the territory of Kazakhstan during the period under study is explained by the fact that reforms were carried out and the Russian Empire had no long-term political course. Kazakh society, under the influence of the spatial complex phenomenon of the socio-cultural «frontier», was forced to adapt to the new conditions and way of life introduced by the Russian Empire.