To What Extent the Arab World Culture can be One Singular Culture - Assignment Example

To what extent can you consider the Arab World culture to be one singular culture Working Hofstede’s study on 7 Arab countries (Iraq, Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon , Libya, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates) led to the assumption that these countries have cultural similarities; actually, these countries’ cultural similarities (and differences) can be proved using the countries’ normative information; the relevant assumptions are further verified by a survey based on a questionnaire similar with the one that Hofstede used. 2. Academic Context and Background Current study focuses on the examination of the cultural similarities and differences of 7 Arab countries (Iraq, Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon , Libya, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates); the study of Hofstede is used as the basis for the development of this paper. Literature review is used in order to present important normative information on the Arab countries to which this study refers. On the other hand, the literature helps to identify the views of theorists regarding the characteristics and the importance of culture as part of a country’s social framework. Culture is an important part of a country’s history; in fact, culture reflects the development of a country’s social and political life. Through the decades, the changes on a country’s culture can be explained using the ‘social comparison’ theory; this theory is based on the assumption that every individual is likely ‘to use others to make sense of himself and his social world’ (Guimond, 2006, 15); in accordance with Singerman et al. (2006) ‘culture can be seen as a kind of soft power spreading the image and influence of the state beyond its borders among the peoples of other nations’ (Singerman et al., 2006, 157). At the next level, it is noted that the development of culture across a country – but also across a greater region – can be achieved using a series of different tools/ paths, like ‘media products, educational infrastructure and models of economic development and modernization’ (Singerman et al., 2006, 157). The culture of Arab countries can be explained by referring primarily to the characteristics of Arab culture as an indication of a specific way of life; indeed, in the study of Moran et al. (2007, 316) it is noted that the term ‘Arab’ is mainly related with a specific way of life – the nomadic way of life; through the decades, the term has been used in order to refer to the culture of people living in Middle East; however, it is made clear that not all people living in this area have the same cultural characteristics mostly because today Arab is considered to be related with the Islam; the Christians living this region have developed their own cultural characteristics which have similarities with those of Muslims but, still, differentiations exist under the influence of the Christian religion. The overview of the cultural characteristics of the 7 Arab countries to which this study refers proves that cultural similarities exist among these countries; these similarities have been developed under the influence of the Arab way of living; at the next level, factors like religion have affected the cultural identity of the local population; cultural differences have been identified not only among those countries but also among the people living in each of the countries examined in the context of this study. Egypt has been a country with a decisive role in the formulation and development of Arab culture; at a first level, many nomadic groups of Arabs used to live in the specific country (Asante, 2002, p.145); through the years, teachers and professors from Egypt have been asked to teach learners of all ages in various Arab countries – Egypt’s influence on Arab culture and Arab language has been proved to be significant (Singerman et al., 2006, p.157). On the other hand, social and political life in Egypt has been characterized by the concentration of power, wealth and population around the country’s capital – a phenomenon that was in opposition with the nomadic style of life of Arabs (Shaw, 2003, p.111). The cultural characteristics of Kuwait have been found to be related with the following factors/ events: a) the fully independency of the country from 1961 onwards, b) the country’s political system and c) the extremely rapid economic development of the country under the influence of the oil production (Jabbra, 1989, p.107); the characteristics of Arab culture as developed in Kuwait have been affected by the above factors/ events; the country’s cultural characteristics reflect the Arab way of living but differentiations may appear in the context described above. In accordance with Obeidi (2001) the political culture of Kuwait is related with ‘families that dominate the social and political life’ (Obeidi, 2001, p.18); the dependency of Kuwait’s political culture on specific families is also highlighted in the study of Maleh et al. (1999, p.131). Iraq is a country with an important role in the economic development of the Middle East area. However, the political, financial and social life of Iraq has been related with the country’s conflict with Kuwait (Davis, 2005, p.132). The potentials for a significant oil production have made Iraq a key competitor in the global oil industry (Tetreault, 1995, p.194). The country’s political life changed from 2003 onwards; however, democratization in Iraq has not been yet achieved; still issues exist that need to be addressed – referring mainly to the negotiations required among the political authorities that want to get the control of the country (Stansfield, 2007, p.159, 184). The strong political conflicts in Iraq have led to the expansion of the concept of ‘populism’, a theory that focuses on ‘opting for equal opportunities to all social and ethnic groups’ (Al-Musawi et al., 2006, p.43). Lebanon is a country that is characterized by pluralism; more specifically, it is noted that ‘the principle of pluralism is highly institutionalized in contemporary Lebanon, especially in the political sphere’ (Anthonie et al., 1971). It is perhaps this characteristic that makes Lebanon different from other Arab countries, which are less governed by the principles of pluralism, for example Kuwait, a country with a specific system of governance. Another principle which characterizes Lebanon is the principle of ‘marginalism’ which ‘refers to the situation or condition of a person or a group living within a society with which the individual or the group feels only partial identification, while nourished and sustained by a culture that differs from that of the majority’ (Gordon, 1980, p.17); in the case of Lebanon, marginalism is used to express the parts of the population with different cultural characteristics and religion (Stone, 2008, p.89). As for Libya, the country’s cultural framework seems to be depended on a series of different factors like the Mediterranean way of living, the cultural and social characteristics of North Africa region and the colonialism – which is likely to affect, still, the behaviour of foreign countries towards the countries of North Africa – including Egypt (McDougall, 2003, 194). UAE are distinguished for their importance in developing the social and political life in the Arabian peninsula; Leung et al. (2009) have examined the culture of UAE; it is noted that ‘the UAE culture, customs and traditions continue to make up the UAE identity’ (Leung et al., 2009, 466); UAE is a country characterized by the principle of multiculturalism; indeed, the percentage of foreigners living in the country makes it one of the most multicultural areas globally – even compared to Australia and the USA (Walker et al., 2007, p.94). 3. Research Objectives As noted above, current study focuses on identification and the evaluation of the cultural similarities and differences among 7 Arab countries – those examined by Hofstede. In this context, the study’s mains objectives can be described as follows: a) the identification of the social and political history of the 7 Arab countries – as described above, b) the identification and the evaluation of the demographic characteristics of these countries; c) the identification of these countries’ cultural framework, d) the examination of the social, cultural and political development of the specific countries. 4. Methods The study will be based on two different research methods, the literature review (secondary research) and the survey (primary research); the literature review will be used as a tool for gathering normative information on the 7 countries included in Hofstede’s study; in other words, issues like the politics, the history and the demographics of Iraq, Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon , Libya, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates will be examined relevant studies and statistics. On the other hand, the empirical research will help to check whether the 7 Arab countries included in Hofstede’s study have the same culture or not; the questions included in the questionnaires will be the same with those used by Hofstede. The survey will be conducted among the students of the university trying to align the study’s work culture with that of Hofstede. At the next level, the findings of the survey will be analyzed using an appropriate method of statistical analysis – SSPS. The use of the literature review in current study is expected to serve a series of research needs: a) to highlight issues that need particular attention – as identified by researchers that have worked on the particular field, b) to ‘relate the study to a larger ongoing dialogue in the literature about the topic under discussion’ (Creswell, p.29), c) to offer the basis for suggestions on addressing specific aspects of the study’s main issue, d) to ‘provide a benchmark for comparing the results of the study with other findings’ (Creswell, p.29) and e) to support the findings of the study – i.e. to verify the credibility of the study’s findings, especially in case that the conduction of the research faced a series of challenges/ difficulties and its findings need to be verified. In any case, the review of the literature will be developed using a critical approach, i.e. by studying each particular source (book, journal), which will end to a critical judgment on the material studied (Saunders et al., 2009, p.65); it should be also noted that the literature review developed for this study would ‘be filtered through two eligibility screens: a practical one and one referring to the studies’ quality’ (Fink, 2009, p.235); the first eligibility screen aims to identify the study that is most appropriate for the issue under examination; the second eligibility screen aims to prove whether the studies chosen are of a high quality – in terms of credibility of their content. Primary research will be also employed in this study; the primary research will be conducted through a survey; actually questionnaires will included the questions that Hofstede used; in this way emphasis will be given on the differences (or similarities) on culture of the 7 Arab countries to which the study of Hofstede also referred. The development of the survey is made easier by the fact that the questionnaire is already ready – a questionnaire similar with the one of Hofstede will be used in the study; in this way, the design part of the survey can be omitted; in the design part of the survey the following two activities are likely to involve: ‘deciding what to measure and designing and testing questions that will be good measures’ (Fowler, 2002, p.105). 5. Research Ethics The research developed for this study will be based to practices that are aligned with the ethics held in the academic research; two different frameworks will be developed in regard to the specific issue: a) research ethics in literature mean that the text used from a person’s work will be clearly cited; b) in the empirical research, survey, ethics are related with the following activities: b1) giving to the participants clear information on the survey’s issues, b2) the personal details of participants will not be made known to anybody (protection of personal data), b3) participants are free to state their view on the paper’s main issue. At the same time, ethics in primary research mean that no pressure will be made on the participants in order to persuade them to participate in the survey. In accordance with Gregory (2003, p.2) ‘addressing all of the issues of ethics of human research would call for an altogether more ambitious piece of writing’; efforts will be made in order for the paper to be aligned with the ethics and the principles held in the academic research field. 6. Timescale and Resources The study will be divided in phases; each phase will be completed before the other phase to start – except from the case of the survey – which needs to start early – before the completion of the introductory section of the paper. The phases of the study are analytically presented in the graph that follows – which can be regarded as an ‘alternative’ form of a Gantt chart: Design of the research Development of the literature review Distribution of questionnaires Gathering and analyzing the findings Development of the empirical research part of the study Development of the conclusion section Review of the project As for the resources used in this study these will be described as follows: a) books and journals from the University’s library and b) online journals and material published on the issue under discussion; Internet will used in order to further develop the literature review; also to identify any report/ study that includes significant material on the issue under discussion. References Al-Musawi, M. Musami, M., 2006. Reading Iraq: culture and power and conflict. I.B.Tauris Anthonie, C., Nieuwenhuijze, O., 1971. Sociology of the Middle East: a stocktaking and interpretation. Brill Archive Asante, M., 2002. Culture and customs of Egypt. Greenwood Publishing Group Creswell, J., 2003. Research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method approaches. SAGE Davis, E., 2005. Memories of state: politics, history, and collective identity in modern Iraq. University of California Press Fink, A., 2009. Conducting Research Literature Reviews: From the Internet to Paper. SAGE Fowler, F., 2002. Survey research methods. SAGE Gordon, D., 1980. Lebanon, the fragmented nation. Taylor & Francis Gregory, I., 2003. Ethics in research. Continuum International Publishing Group Guimond, S., 2006. Social comparison and social psychology: understanding cognition, intergroup relations and culture. Cambridge University Press Jabbra, J., 1989. Bureaucracy and development in the Arab world. BRILL Leung, S., Gerstein, L., Norsworthy, K., Heppner, P., 2009. International Handbook of Cross-Cultural Counseling: Cultural Assumptions and Practices Worldwide. SAGE McDougall, J., 2003. Nation, society and culture in North Africa. Taylor & Francis Moran, R., Harris, P., Moran, S., 2007. Managing cultural differences: global leadership strategies for the 21st century. Butterworth-Heinemann Obeidi, A., 2001. Political culture in Libya. Routledge Shaw, I., 2003. The Oxford history of ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press Singerman, D., Amar, P., 2006. Cairo cosmopolitan: politics, culture, and urban space in the globalized Middle East. American University in Cairo Press Stansfield, G., 2007. Iraq: people, history, politics. Polity Stone, C., 2008. Popular culture and nationalism in Lebanon: the Fairouz and Rahbani nation. Routledge Tetreault, A., 1995. The Kuwait petroleum corporation and the economics of the new world order.Greenwood Publishing Group Walker, J., Butler, S., Gordon, F., 2007. Oman, UAE & Arabian Peninsula. Lonely Planet Read More