Social change is an integral part of human social behavior and a phenomenon that is continuously happening around us. We constantly challenge existing social structures and institutions and transform them by contesting the cultural norms and values upon which they are founded. While such disruption may seem at the superficial level a negative form of disorder, in reality, it represents the way in which societies develop and evolve over time. Social change involves a cultural transformation often as part of an adaptive response to an ever-changing world around us.

While the Arab Gulf region may seem immune to this natural phenomenon, unchanged and deeply rooted in its ancient tribal customs and traditions, merging both past and present smoothly and with apparent ease. In fact, the region has been subject to countervailing forces resulting in a constant state of flux, social change, and transformation since the oil era of the 1970s. One question that may be asked here however, is whether the phenomenon of social change and transformation in the Arab Gulf region is evolutionary or revolutionary.

The first two decades of the twenty-first century have witnessed an accelerated pace in social change and transformation within the Arab states of the Gulf, impacting nearly every aspect of life in their societies. These social transformations are most obvious in areas of education, economic development and employment patterns, urbanization, and deep demographic shifts within these societies.

Since the early 2000s, there has been a transformative revolution in the education systems to promote greater diversity and growth. One major manifestation of this transformation has been the inclusion of women. Despite the deeply conservative attitudes toward female education, female enrollment in higher education has been increasing steadily and, in some sectors, outnumbering males. Recent trends indicate that female education and employment are improving the social status of women within the family and facilitating the redefining of gender relations across the Gulf states. These changes are heralding significant social transformations in the region where women are now considered active members in their communities, gradually breaking the stereotype that Gulf societies are gender-biased.

One way in which the effects of this educational revolution have made themselves felt is in the employment sector. In response to the increase in the number of higher education graduates for instance, employment patterns in the Gulf have evolved and shifted in the last two decades, resulting in both men and women joining public and private sector employment. The economic advantages of gender diversity in the workforce are encouraging women to enter the work force in greater numbers across the region. Formal employment in government and the private sectors replaced more traditional occupations and provides a much higher income for nationals, enabling people to make personal decisions more independently than ever before (Ghabra, 1997). Furthermore, education and experience are now prerequisites for access to these better paid government jobs. As a result, governments and employers focused on and invested in education, to improve the quality of their workforce (both men and women) (Peterson, 2014).

At the same time, social change causes transformations also in demographic trends too: Dentice (2018) notes that over the next decade, population dynamics will play an important role in determining labor and immigration policies, economic growth, market liberalization, the role of women and youth and their inclusion in the workforce. 

The Gulf States have witnessed dramatic population growth mainly due to significant expatriate immigration as well as natural increase because of reduced mortality rate brought about by marked improvement and investment in health care and welfare. The growth of the expatriate population has led to wide-ranging social changes in Gulf societies. Migration plays a key role in population size and composition, as well as economic development and growth in these states. In turn, these shifts population dynamics are raising important questions related to labor market sustainability and migration control, permanent residency and citizenship, and culture and identity.

This rapid growth in population, and the stress it places on the current economic system in most Gulf States is clearly manifested when one examines the employment ratio between young people (nationals from these states) and the millions of people who migrated to the region. There is no doubt that these demographic pressures add to the challenges, as increasing numbers of young people (nationals) enter the job market looking for career opportunities that meet their financial aspirations. While this in the past may not have been a significant issue, but in an era of low oil prices, and energy revenues, the effects of this demographic shift have become more problematic. The revenues generated through oil and gas sales are no longer sufficient to sustain the current socioeconomic model at the basis of which is a social contract that expects citizens to support their ruling elites and forgo political participation in return for a generous welfare state that provides economic privileges (Dentice, 2018).

The process of urbanization which has accelerated exponentially since 2000 has also had a major and irreversible impact on Gulf society. The construction of entire new cities and neighborhoods some of which on newly reclaimed land (from the sea), hosting ultra-modern skyscrapers made of steel and glass both alien and ill-suited to the arid and superhot desert climate, have disturbed traditional social patterns. As more and more families and clans disperse throughout these new cities, clear shifts in traditional family residential patterns are emerging, leading to new forms of relationships. Both men and women now form close relationships with their peers and fellow workers, and other affiliations that are independent of traditional family and tribal kinship networks, or community connections. The impersonal nature of the city is further emphasized by the large numbers of expatriates from a wide range of countries, so that nationals now find themselves in the minority in their own countries in (Peterson, 2014).

Another important aspect of social change in Gulf society has come through technology—as in satellite television and the Internet—both have transformed Gulf societies by dramatically opening them up to the wider world and exposing them to different cultural and political narratives. They provide the capability for communication beyond mere face to face contact and emphasizes the process of time–space compression. Social media, especially Facebook and Twitter, have since emerged as a powerful driver of social transformations in the Gulf too with the number of users rising exponentially since 2010 by several hundred percent. The use of social media is changing the way people discuss, post, and deliver their messages to their communities and communicate with ruling elites. There is a consensus that this new media presents a virtual yet vibrant space for social empowerment in the region.

In the face of this overwhelming evidence for social change in the region, Abdulla (2011) points out that the Gulf States “have experienced more changes in the past fifty years than in their 500 years of recorded history. These states are pregnant with all types of changes, some deep-rooted and structural and some superficial and cosmetic” (p. 114). This change has taken place on a massive scale and unprecedented speed, sweeping away the older traditional conservative way of life and replacing it with one that is modern, urban, and prosperous.

Yet, Peterson, Al Ghabra, Abdulla, and others argue that there are also strong counterforces of continuity with Gulf societies that resist social change and transformation. They have put forward the notion that Gulf States and their societies, while open to economic development have been much more resistant and have shown deep resilience to the inevitable forces of social change and modernization. This resilience or “social continuity” as Peterson calls it, has been maintained, through inherent social conservatism, backed by religious (Islam), tribal and other sociocultural identities, and reinforced by the state. It can be argued as well that tribalism and the enduring emphasis on family and clan is another compelling force for continuity too. This has been held together by the gradual and incremental pace of economic change and, especially, by the traditionalist and patriarchal political order (Peterson, 2014).

In part, this resistance to change or “social continuity” due to an intentional strategy by states and their ruling elites. According to Al-Tarrah (2007) “"Gulf states use their wealth to buy political loyalties through public spending, including a generous subsidy system. This non- economic utilization of resources socialized youth to believe that work has no inherent value and production is irrelevant because salaries are paid in the bureaucracy without regard to work” (p. 123). As a result, citizens view their income from the state as their right, by way of their share in the oil revenues. This sense of entitlement, is a powerful inhibitor for the majority of people to seek change in the current situation. In fact, were they to attempt to bring pressure on the state to alter the existing status quo, they might jeopardize these benefits altogether.

Furthermore, from this point of view, Gulf societies have been overwhelmed by the large numbers of expatriates and the inescapable and at times pervasive draw of Western, influence. This in turn has produced a backlash and a countermovement towards an authentically purer Gulf Arab social identity rooted in a tribal past. Social interaction between nationals and expatriates are now increasingly discouraged outside the workplace, while restrictions on national dress, economic benefits, and rights of residence have all been enforced on expatriates at various times. Expatriates are now increasingly seen as threats to both the purity (“cultural integrity”) and the security of Gulf society as a whole. This is becoming increasingly noticeable in efforts by various states to make the issue of expatriates and pervasive foreign/Western influence a matter national security (Peterson, 2014).

A different approach to interpreting the phenomenon of tribalism and modernizing social change is taken by Miriam Cooke. She views adherence or return to tribal identity not as backlash against Westernization or a “social continuity movement”, as part of a resistance to change; rather, as an agent of social change and transformation. Cooke states that the tribal (identity) as manifested in the Arab Gulf today is essential to the modern and a principal element in the Gulf’s perceived sense of modernity. Unlike in the middle of the twentieth when it (the tribal) was considered it an impediment to modernization, tribal identity is making a comeback today offering the opportunity for racial privilege, social status, and exclusive entitlement to a share in national profits (Cooke, 2014).

In the twenty-first century, there is the emergence of a national brand that merges both tribal and modern identities and for which Miriam Cooke coined the phrase “Tribal Modern”. This goes against the popular stereotype and media hype of a highly stigmatized, region that is usually thought of as either tribal or modern; in other words, it is either backward tribal with a thin, modern veneer or a failed modern because of its tribal residue (Cooke, 2014).

According to Cooke (2014), “to begin to understand the culture of the Gulf and to appreciate what is new and different in it, we must see how the modern and the tribal, the high-rises and the tribal regalia, converge, each reinforcing the other” (p. 11). A new space where the hypermodern, the tribal, and the national meet and coalesce, with ruling the elites comfortably occupying it. 

Through the concept of the Tribal Modern brand, the potential for dynamic interaction is unleashed. It allows for the contradictory state of social change and stability, transformation and preservation, Western modernization and, tribal tradition to paradoxically occupy the same space. The brand offers entitlements and advantages to both individuals and nations but also differentiates them. Internally, it distinguishes nationals from the many foreigners sharing their cities. Externally, it allows these new nation to place their distinctive mark on world politics. The brand effectively addresses/negates the issue of resistance to change forcing “social continuity” as framed by Peterson and others to shape a new way to think of the modern in cultural terms where the tribal becomes a modernizing force.

In conclusion, contrary to popular notions that social change in the Gulf and its acceleration over the course of the Twenty-First Century, is the product of something novel or groundbreaking, it is due to the impact of a natural course of modernization. This radical social transformation is simply a case of Gulf Arabs asserting their wills in a modern world that does neither reject nor forget their rooted, ancient, and tribal identities. This does not somehow make their emergence into a global scene which is transnational, modern, and cosmopolitan paradoxical or hypocritical. It is their own natural course for creating their national identity which blends several aspects of their histories and culture along with the contemporary future of their nation. There is no one correct or natural path to modernization, and to assume so, would be to fall into an essentialist trap that is both inaccurate and limiting. As history has shown, adaptation and progress are processes that constantly navigate the twisting road of the romance of the traditional and the excitement of the new.

1.1 The Study of Social Change in the Arabian Gulf Region

There are several earlier attempts to document the social change in the Middle East region as a whole since the early 1960s (Antoun & Harik, 1972; Belgrave, 1968; Duckworth, 1981; Halpern, 1963; Heard-Bey, 1972; Kergan, 1975; Monroe, 1975; Polk, 1967). For instance, Manfred Halpern’s book, “The Politics of Social Change in the Middle East and North Africa”, is probably one of the most comprehensive works of outstanding merit that documented the political and social forces underlying developments in the Middle East before the surge of oil price in early 1970s (Halpern, 1963). Halpern’s administrative experience enabled him to emphasize the need for policy-oriented research. From an academic point of view, the book is still relevant and regarded as authoritative masterpiece on the studies of the Middle East and North Africa Studies. We find parallel policy orientated research work in the same decade. For instance, William R. Polk presents a conceptual scheme for the analysis of economic and social change in the Middle East in the late 1960s (Polk, 1967). Polk offers a political analysis of social change in order to improve reporting of the events and to bridge the gap between theory, reporting, and formulation of policy.

Sir Charles Belgrave, a British citizen and an advisor to the rulers of Bahrain from 1926 until 1957, delivered a powerful address at the Royal Central Asian Society on June 28, 1967. In this address, Belgrave discussed the Gulf region—past and present—and summarized the story of the Gulf in three words: pearls, pirates, and petroleum (Belgrave, 1968, p. 28). While the Gulf remained famous for pearls and piracy for many centuries, the exploration of petroleum and oil-price hike in early 1970s changed the region dramatically over time. The Gulf has been able to transform itself at a pace unprecedented in human history. We notice that oil as a driving force for change is reported prominently in the early works of Frauke Heard-Bey (1972), J. L. Kergan (1975), H. F. Duckworth (1981), and Robert E. Looney (1990).

Since the 1990s, we can observe a more systematic study of the scope and depth of impact of rapid development on various aspects of the societies in Arab Gulf and beyond, for instance, gender and social change (Moghadam, 1993); politics of change (Satloff, 1992), economic change and population and political stability (Gause, 1997), development and change (Touraine, 1998), Social transformations of the twentieth century (Abdelkarim, 1999), War, Institutions and social change (Heydemann, 2000), Gulf in the 20th Century (Heard-Bey, 2002), gender, religion and change (Flaskerud & Okkenhaug, 2005), political change (Tetreault et al., 2011), government and politics (Ismael & Ismael, 2011), Islam and political reform (Alshamsi, 2012), politics, economics and global order (Held & Ulrichsen, 2013), political economy, war and revolution (Ehteshami, 2013), change and development (John & Howard, 2013), higher education (Tuma, 2014), Economic and political change in the Middle East (Badry & Willoughby, 2015), political and socio-economic change (Bahramitash & Esfahani, 2016), new regional order (Bazoobandi, 2019), the 2017 Gulf crisis (Zweiri & Qawasmi, 2021), linguistic identities (Hopkyns & Zoghbor, 2022). This volume has benefited from these earlier works, and, in many ways, our approach and interests are shaped by these volumes as well as many other research publications.