The article analyzes the history of the traditional Kazakh society of the XVIII - early XX century, the institutions of power established by the colonials, the course and consequences of the transformation of land, financial relations, the activities of political and social institutions of the Kazakh traditional society, the process of their transformation by the colonial power, systematizes the characteristic society signs of a traditional society, classified by their cultural, spiritual, political and social activities. The influence of the Russian Empire in Kazakh-Russian relations is seen as a reflection of the process of traditional society transformation. During the transformation of traditional society, the parallel implementation of two directions - modernization and ethnic deformation is revealed. An assessment is given to the formed Eurocentric, ethnocentric conclusions regarding the history of transformation of a traditional society into a modern society, or an agrarian society into an industrial one.
The authors propose an interpretation of the concept "ethno-deformation of traditional society" and its manifestation in Kazakh society. Analysis of the history of Kazakh traditional society using the principles of socio-economic determinism, formed by the developers of the theory of modernization.