Expert: Le Anne Clausen - 10/13/2006

Question
I am University Student studing in Riyadh, where in a project I am asked to research about the differences and similarities between Arab culture and the Western Culture. Regarless of the religious differences, I would be greatful to you if you can tell me the main differences and the similarities. (we tend to think of more differences than the similarities).

Answer
Greetings Umair,

I am sorry for the delay in responding to you--for some reason I did not get the notification there was a question waiting.  I hope that my answers may still be helpful to you!

In general, between cultures, I find that youth are quite similar, regarding tastes in music, clothes, computers, and issues with their parents.  

I'm from the Midwest, and both the Midwest and the Middle East are hospitality cultures, but we express this differently.  Here it is important to clean your plate and to not ask for anything that is not offered (you don't want to embarrass your host).  There, I found that it's important to leave food on the plate, and that your host will not necessarily tell you what they have; they will run to the store if they don't have what you want.

Here we tend to keep our shoes on in the house; to have more social connection between men and women; to rarely eat together as a family; to wear 'casual' or 'sport' clothes everywhere, unless it's a special occasion.  In my experience, Arab cultures dress more formally when going outside than we do.  

These are all actually rather rapid changes, in the past few decades.  In the 60's, women still covered their heads, especially in church, were not in the company of men, and everyone dressed more formally when going outside.  Pictures of Arab city dwellers at that time look like pictures of us.  The emphasis on youth culture since then has changed many things.  

Perhaps the greatest difference is the Arab emphasis on togetherness and the Western emphasis on individuality.  We tend not to know our neighbors outside small towns and generally keep to our own small groups.  

You may be interested in Wikipedia's answer to this question, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_culture  They also have a listing under 'Arabic Culture.'

I hope this will at least get you started.  Please let me know if I can be of further help!

peace,
Le Anne