Qatari Families losing Its Ties

Qatar has changed over the past couple of years. It changed in terms of its traditions and the development of the country. Some might argue that this change is positive and some might argue that its not. However, if we look at the family links of Qatar today and Qatar 60 years back, the change is quite vast. In the olden days of Qatar, all Qatari family members lived close by, they all lived in the same street, and their houses were stuck to each other. In cohen’s reading, he mentions that the modernization had resulted in the separation of family ties in East England. This also happened in Qatar, the families are not as close as they were. You rarely find families in Qatar that live next to each other or are in the same area. There are some today, in compounds but they usually separate when they get married. This is a generational conflict, because the way the older generation was raised is different than how people of today are raised due to the family ties. Personally, I have some cousins that I barely know. However, my parents for example their cousins are very close to them, they all lived next to each other, and were 24/7 with each other. This issue also causes the weakening of historical and cultural continuity. This is because it disperses the family ties in the Qatari culture and the parent culture itself. For example, one of the people I interviewed in Khretiyat area, said that because of the new highway and the modernization of Qatar, her family had to disperse. She now has family near Villagio, Landmark and Al-Khor. Another Qatari female said that she feels like she is not close to her family the way her parents are towards her grandparents. She talks about how she was not raised around her family and cousins the way her parents and grandparents lived. She showed me some pictures, of how different their lives were. You can tell that its very diverse now because when i went around West Bay, there were Qatari families living with Western neighbours. This never really would've happened years back. You can tell the difference of the people from the neighbourhood how its being more dispersed and different than how it was before. From Past knowledge, it is clear that subcultures are formed in reaction to social or economic or political changes. In this case, Qatar’s development and modernization has broken family ties

. We can use Cohen’s argument that the modernization has resulted in the loss of family relations.