Value Change and Patterns of Development in the Rich Arab Countries

Abstract

This chapter starts from the assumption that even advanced and very internationally recognized Gulf studies do not deliver us any more systematic clues about the social value patterns, held by the publics at large in the region. First of all, we debate here the Gulf country implications of research in the context of the GLOBE Project at Simon Fraser University in Canada and its hypothesis about an “Arabic cluster” of business leadership culture. We then review the research by Geert Hofstede and associates, followed by our discussion of the Gulf country perspectives in the value research by Shalom Schwartz and Ronald F. Inglehart. We round up our theoretical surveys by a debate about the Islamicity Index, developed by the American researcher Hossein Askari. In our own empirical work, which attempts to answer questions left over from current approaches, we first present an Index of Civil Society and an Index of Religious Tolerance, comparing Gulf countries with all the countries of the world with comparable World Values Survey data. We then develop our own multivariate scales, based on a comprehensive promax factor analysis with World Values Survey data. Combining the World Values Survey data about the acceptancy of 1. The non-violent and law-abiding society 2. Democracy movement 3. Climate of personal non-violence 4. Trust in institutions 5. Happiness, good health 6. No redistributive religious fundamentalism 7. Accepting the market economy 8. Feminism 9. Involvement in politics 10. Optimism and engagement 11. No welfare mentality, acceptancy of the Calvinist work ethics in a parametric Index construction from factor analytical data, it emerges that Qatar performs relatively well in global society, while Kuwait and Bahrain are in the lowest third global performance “group.” It would be wrong to assume that there is an “Arabic Cluster” of human and social values. An analysis of the development patterns of rich Arab countries, compatible with the comparative analysis of societal values of this chapter, finalizes our essay and shows the relevance of overcoming still existing restrictive gender norms and attitudes favoring inequality.