Materialism in Qatar

Ignorance is the word that should be used to describe the symptom spread among a lot of people in the Qatari society. Many Qataris, and especially woman, are hypnotized by materialism and luxury. In my point of view, this issue is crossing the limits and is not helping these people to be alerted about what might happen when the country loses its source of wealth. As it is known, gas is the initial source of Qatar’s success due to exporting it abroad. Therefore, Qatar and most Qatari people have become prosperous. A lot of Qataris favor economical developments over social developments, because they believe that spirituality can be altered with materialistic needs. Many young Qatari women are used to satisfying their needs with the latest branded bags and the newest trends in fashion. Instead of competing with knowledge in their areas of expertise, they flaunt with their latest and most expensive material purchased. I personally find it unfortunate, because Qatar holds a bright future for its youth and especially women.


During summer time, many Qataris travel to Paris and London as part of their long holiday. It is very noticeable from the way both women and men dress, that they indirectly compete against each other. Furthermore, some tend to ship their own fancy cars to flourish around the streets of Paris and London. Lately, a Qatari tourist in London parked his car with a local plate in front of the Harrods building, where it is not allowed for any car to park there. He was issued a parking ticket that cost him about one million pounds worth of violation. Prior building the Villagio Mall and The Pearl, not many people were in recognition with the major brands such as Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Prada, etc. However, the country provided the locals with a new direction by opening many major designers stores in Villagio and The Pearl, and they are still continuing to introduce more with time. One of Qatar’s initial goals is to make the country a portal of education and culture. Millions of dollars were spent to build educational institutions for the locals join and learn from. Appreciation is required from these locals, because we are unable to predict when will we run out of gas.