Globalization and Kuwaiti Society: A Study of Cultural Transformation in Kuwait

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Globalization and Kuwaiti Society: A Study of Cultural Transformation in Kuwait
Today's world is a world of technology, and advancement, especially in the field of communication, has altered the social, political, and cultural landscape of human societies. Nevertheless, this availability and use of global communication and access to information have their harms. For example, this globalization has removed the religious, cultural, social, and geographical identities of human societies and sped up the global mixing of communities. Such challenges of globalization, foreign media, and advanced communication are prominent in Middle Eastern countries such as Kuwait.
In backward societies, such as Kuwait, involvement of global media and exposure to foreign language and culture has posed many challenges, especially to their social, cultural, and moral standards. In Kuwait, the availability of international media and Western ideologies and culture has produced a strong sense of nationalism and national and cultural identity (Wheeler 433). The origin of different forms of mixed languages in Kuwaiti society is some of the outcomes of this multiculturalism (Holes 129). More specifically, language and culture have been greatly influenced by modernistic views, trends, fashion, and ideologies. The effects of westernization are prominent in Kuwaiti culture, especially on the dresses of women.[Deborah Wheeler, "New Media, Globalization And Kuwaiti National Identity", The Middle East Journal 54, no. 3 (2000): 432-444, /stable/4329510?origin=JSTOR-pdf.] [Clive D. Holes, "Language And Identity In The Arabian Gulf", Journal Of Arabian Studies 1, no. 2 (2011): 129-145, doi:10.1080/21534764.2011.628492.]
Observation of the history of fashion trends reveals a remarkable change in Kuwaiti women's dress code, which does not follow the standard notion of decency prevalent in Kuwaiti society. This trend is an unexpected but logical outcome of the introduction of Western culture and tradition in this society. Therefore, the argument is whether the evolution of fashion trends in Kuwaiti society is good or bad for its progress.
Decency, modesty, and hiding are the three prominent points of women dressing that are the characteristics of Arab culture. Kuwaiti society is too sensitive about women's dress code as the way a woman's dress determines her social, religious, and ethical status and image. For the same reason, Abaya and Hijab are the necessary parts of women's dress in Kuwait (Kelly 217). However, being a wealthy society, Kuwaiti women enjoy the freedom to select their dresses from international brands outlets and change them according to their social and cultural context. Abaya is, nevertheless, a necessary part of Kuwaiti woman's dress, and women without abaya are received anger from society. For a foreigner, the abaya adds color to the Islamic tone to the culture of a society, but in reality, it is an outcome of the struggle for a separate cultural identity (Phillips 2). Another study confirms this notion by considering the Kuwaiti abaya as a different branch of the Islamic abaya. After giving details of the design of the Kuwaiti abaya, it becomes clear that Kuwaiti abaya is a represen...