Popular culture is everything that surrounds us and people all over the world. What are the underlying causes that lead to accepting and approving this culture? According to Storey, “popular culture is always defined, implicitly or explicitly, in contrast to other conceptual technology: folk culture, dominant culture, working class culture, etc” (p. 1). There are various factors that shape what and how will the culture that we live in look like. The fact that USA is one of the leading countries in the world should not be underestimated when talking about culture as well. In this research, I would like to correlate the impact of American culture to the countries of Middle East, Americanization of their culture and the impact of politics on their culture.
There is a big Americanization of education in most of countries that lie on the Gulf peninsula: Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and UAE. The leading country in this region is Kuwait which was in 1991 attacked by Iraq and its former leader Saddam Hussein. Ever since than America is one of the leading partners in this country. According to an official web site “Kuwait’s GDP increased from 1993 to 1995 as a result of the resurgence of its oil industry”. Therefore it would not be difficult to suppose that Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain and Qatar are one of the smallest, but also the richest countries in the world. The reason for that is the amount of oil that they produce. Due to their fast development, a lot of American Universities, Mc Donald restaurants and other fast-food chains opened. Very soon, fast food restaurants became very attractive to local residents. According to online news edition, Kuwait Times, “today, 88 percent of Kuwaitis are overweight and at least one-third are obese”. Another CNN article also states that “researchers from the London school of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine recently placed Kuwait second only to the United States on a league table ranking countries by the amount of food they consumed per capita to sustain being overweight” (Verjee and Humme). Based on this, it is evident that the culture of life in the Kuwait has increasingly changed. There are a lot of expats who live and work in these cultures and spread their culture as well. The fact that American standard and values promote Hollywood style is just another stimulus that advocates people form these countries to accept American culture. On the other hand, traditional way of life like marring at an early age can be seen as a step forwards. In the past, young girls at the age of 12 were marring, nowadays education comes first and them marriage. According to Gulf news, nowadays in Kuwait, “the government, which sees itself as the guardian of traditional values and social stability, has shown its concern about the trend with a campaign called ‘Marriage Comes First’”. In spite of the large dominance of American culture in this part of the world, they preserved some of their tradition and a unique mixture of cultures emerged.
In this research, I intend to analyze and research the impact of American culture and its outcome in the Persian Gulf Countries.
Bibliography:
Storey, J. Communication approach popular culture. Fifth edition. Pearson Lingman
The Economic and Environmental Impact of the Gulf War on Kuwait and the Persian Gulf retrieved from: http://www1.american.edu/ted/KUWAIT.HTM
Obesity epidemic in Kuwait. Kuwait Times. Retrieved from:http://news.kuwaittimes.net/2012/07/22/obesity-epidemic-in-kuwait/
Verjee, Z, Hamme, T. (2012, November12.). Fast-food-loving Kuwaitis fight with stomach stapling. CNN. Retrieved from:http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/08/world/meast/kuwait-obesity-fast-food/index.html
Marriage loses its sparkle in Kuwait. Shafnaqna. (2012, October 13). Retrieved from:http://www.shafaqna.com/english/islam-world/item/7944-marriage-losing-its-sparkle-in-kuwait.html
