Fahad Al Naser Challenges to Sociology in the Gulf States.pdf

7/27/2019 Fahad Al Naser Challenges to Sociology in the Gulf States.pdf

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Fahad Al-Naser 132

Challenges to Sociology in the Gulf States:

A Case Study of Kuwait

Fahad Al-Naser, Kuwait University, Kuwait

My paper is based on a bigger paper being published about the develop-

ment of family theories in Kuwait. Based on that paper I have written ageneral paper about the social sciences field in the Gulf States Region, aregion with shared interests in oil production and development, similar political systems and Sheikhdom, and what people in the Gulf Regionrefer to as an inheritance-based authority that controls each state. TheGulf Region consists of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, and theUnited Arab Emirates.

Our topic today is to clarify how far we have gone in terms of theo-retical development in the social sciences in Kuwait. Kuwait has led the

region in the development of science, and has a good history of academicand cultural achievement. Currently, the latest universities in the UnitedArab Emirates and Dubai have 63 international branches, which will havean important positive effect on the development of the social sciences inthe region.

I will focus on Kuwait as an example from which we can generalizeabout social changes that have occurred in the other Gulf State societies.The economic, social, and political changes that are taking place in Gulf State societies in the last half century can be attributed to many factors.

Economic factors related especially to the discovery of oil have played asignificant role in accelerating the process of socioeconomic development.After a long period of suffering, our primitive orthodox Gulf societies began to suddenly expand and develop in a relatively short period of timeand many dedicated specialists have emerged. As a result, the economic prosperity that was heralded by the discovery of oil in the Gulf Regionhas played a significant role in the socio economic development of theGulf States Region.



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THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

Research in the social sciences in the Gulf Region has gone through twodifferent stages. The first, the so-called “pre-oil” era ran through the late50s when Gulf societies were largely primitive and depended heavily on a primitive economy. This era is considered to be historically very primi-tive and what is called social science was based on short stories and prov-erbs. The second era follows the discovery of oil (in the early 1950s) andincludes the development of universities and schools. Many scholarstraveled to other countries like Egypt, the US, Lebanon, Britain and other European countries. Gulf scholars began to develop scientific theoriesthat could be applied to social science research for Kuwait and the Gulf States. My paper will highlight new findings while simultaneously em- phasizing an emerging consistency in social science thinking.

THE STATUS OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCESIN THE GULF STATES

During the 1980s and 1990s, the literature in social studies expanded and

improved. This period also witnessed a vigorous evolution of social stud-ies resulting from the high numbers of students returning with advanceddegrees. The general field of social studies in the Gulf Region entered anew stage in the middle of the twentieth century, although social scienceresearch did not begin in Kuwait until the early 70s. Following the early70s there was an entirely new system of scientific social research.

The growth of social science in the United States has affected manydifferent countries and Kuwait and the Gulf region in general are no ex-ception. There has been a growth in the literature on social studies in

Kuwait expanding considerably and showing marked improvement.Various academic institutions and organizations started not only to takean interest in the field but also to support and sponsor research in the fieldas well, including universities, the Kuwait Foundation for the Advance-ment of Science, the Ministry of Higher Planning, different governmentinstitutions in the Gulf States Region as well as non-governmental or-ganizations like social work and sociological organizations. The lack of social science studies in Kuwait reflects two interrelated conclusions.First, the field was an especially minor one, within the realm of larger

social behavior studies. Second, Kuwaiti social scientists have publishedfew articles devoted to social theory. Within the Gulf Region, most pub-lished studies have been in Arabic and have been published only in re-gional journals by those scholars interested in studying local societies.



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Some of those studies presented a very critical perceptive and this be-came an obstacle to publishing articles in government institution journals.Some studies were critical of the political economic field in Kuwait aswell as neighboring societies. While we do have democracy and devel-opment in the Gulf, we also have tribes and states as an obstacle to de-mocracy. The past fifteen years have witnessed a radical development of journals and institutions dedicated to social scientific study. Furthermore,the return of graduates from the US and Europe have also contributed tothe field of the social sciences.

New scientific journals, for example, the Journal of the Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula Studies, the Journal of Social Science and the Arab,and the Arab Journal of the Humanities have all evolved into impressive publications. Several journals are devoted to the topic of social science inthe Gulf States Region, including Social Affairs in the UAE, the Journal of Education and numerous other journals in Saudi Arabia. Kuwait Uni-versity is represented by the Sociology and Social Work Department andthe Psychology Department as well as the newly established departmentfor rendering financial support for research in every college, have all con-tributed substantially to this field.

Furthermore, the Kuwait Foundation for Advancement of Science

(KFAS) and other similar research support institutions in other Gulf States have stepped forward as leaders in the development of social stud-ies in general, funding valuable social science research projects whilesocial workers and non-profit organizations have become firmly estab-lished and flourishing since 1966. All of this has taken place in a re-markably short period of time in the field of social studies in Kuwaitwhile similar situations have occurred in the Gulf States Region. KFAShas a state award that it awards each year in the social science field toindividuals who enrich the social sciences.

Empirical research has improved methodology in social studies in-cluding the areas of sample selection, questionnaire design, data collec-tion, and identifying the target population of the sample. Help from uni-versity and high school students have also made it easier for researchersto deal with the issues related to the general population.

Therefore what we need in the future are social scientists who can bridge the gap between the philosophy of science literature, and the socialsciences. To accomplish this, we need to develop a new approach to the-ory construction, one that will help us to find theoretical variables and to

state theoretical ideas systematically, to link data with an abstract propo-sition, link different theoretical ideas together, and be mindful of the dif-ferences between observable and contingent variables. This will help us



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to develop more refined theories in the long run. It will facilitate interac-tion between theory and empirical research, helping both to grow.

Although we have many different study areas in the social sciencefield, none of them are competent enough to create a goal theory. Weneed a new methodology that will equip the social sciences with the toolsto become actively involved in the systematic development of theory.What we lack in Kuwait and the Gulf States Region in the field of socialstudies is methodological innovation. Most of the literature is mainly empirical with an emphasis on description and prognosis. Theory tends to beunderdeveloped at best once methodological substitution is increased be-yond the marginal level of utility. Early studies of theoretical writinghave become a rich source for future analysis. It is relatively easy to usenew methodology to integrate scientifically and deduce and refine earlier studies and findings.

My conclusion is that the social sciences in general and sociologicaltheory in particular has come a long way in Kuwait and the whole Gulf Area. My present review reflects a significant increase in the number of relevant studies from past years.

Social scientific research in general in Kuwait has increased duringthe 1990s in terms of quantity but not quality. It is clear that there is a

lack of conceptual methodology and theoretical substitution in this area because the field is still a relatively new one, and one that relies moreheavily on the use of survey techniques. Survey research is an importantelement of social study and must continue in a new direction where bothqualitative and quantitative approaches are combined. Research theoryand agenda should promote and create a synthesis. It should inherit support for avenues of research theory that appear to be promising while uni-fying avenues previously neglected. A research policy agenda shouldcombine enough to encourage universities and scientific institutions to be

attentive to and provide effort in the scientific community in Kuwait .Weneed scholars to get involved in the difficult challenges of theory building,and this will improve many aspects of social theory. In the future we needto move from descriptive to explanatory research. We also need to inte-grate reliable analysis of all subspecialties in the field.

CONCLUSION

Finally, research continues to be clustered and needs to be focused ontheory development and application. Advances in these fields are antici- pated. So, we have to move toward greater scientific efficiency and de-scription. We need to see more studies in the social theory field especially



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from a sociological perspective. It should be noted that Kuwaiti societyand the Gulf States are a very rich and unexplored source of empiricalresearch with regards to many variables. Most significantly, Kuwaiti so-ciety is a society that has undergone radical social change. The Iraqi inva-sion and occupation of Kuwait left its mark on it in spite of the fact thatthe incident only lasted approximately seven months. The aggression hasgiven rise to a great number of social and psychological effects estimatedto have last for many years. This period of the Iraqi occupation has pavedthe way for Kuwait to interact more closely with other societies and cul-tures, consequently acquiring new norms and phenomena worth studying.Therefore with the availability of such a rich source, researchers havemore than enough on their hands to probe deeper than ever.

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Fahad Al Naser Challenges to Sociology in the Gulf States.pdf