Multiculturism in the Arab Gulf States: Kuwait and Qatar as Examples

We used the concept of “Multiculturism” in this study to refer to the diversity of languages, religions, nationalities, ethnics and races in a single society. This study examines the students and employees’ attitudes towards “multiculturalism” in Kuwait and Qatar. The existence of a large number of expatriates in the Gulf States has led to the existence of several aspects of “Multiculturism” in these countries.

A questionnaire was designed in order to collect data from Qatar University and Arab Open University in Kuwait. The total sample n= 261 respondents

Results show that no significant differences between male and female attitudes towards multiculturism aspects. In addition, no significant differences among the different age categories. However, significant differences exist based on the educational level. The respondents with a University level have more positive attitudes towards “multiculturism aspects” (M=47.57) than the respondents who have a lower level. In the opposite, the results show significant differences in the respondents’ attitudes towards multiculturism in Kuwait. Female’s attitudes are more positive than male’s attitudes. Furthermore, old people have more negative attitudes than younger people towards multiculturism.

In short, we found that Kuwaitis have more positive attitudes towards multiculturism than the Qataris . We may explain these differences by the fact that Qatar is more conservative country than Kuwait. The issue that the females attitudes towards multiculturism is more positive than the males’ attitudes in both countries might be explained based on the fact that females are more supportive to human rights issues than males in general in these two countries.