WOQOD Petrol Station in Doha: Examining Social Stratification

As I drove into a Woqood petrol station, I didn’t really think my sociological imagination was in gear. I wanted to fill up my car tank, grab some treats and candy after a very long day, re-fill on some comfort McDonalds meal just in front of the Sidra convenient store of Woqod – and go home. However, waiting for my gas meter to fill up, I look around and notice the countless sociological concepts that can be applied in every corner and feature of this location. Apart from the McDonaldized process of the car wash service, the gas meters, oil change, and convenient store including a small fast food corner, an Internet area and other services and adjacent fast-food chains located next to the Woqood Petrol station, I move on to observe the social stratification of people within this cluster of car and food services in the context of this petroleum-rich country.





According to this source, in 1973, petroleum production and profits radically increased, moving Qatar from the position of one of the world’s poorest countries and leading it to have one of the highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the world. Today, Qatar is probably viewed as a very “wealthy” nation. And in sociology, wealth can refer to income, property, buildings, businesses, assets, stocks, bonds etc. However, this wealth is not distributed equally. Although absolute poverty, where people live without the basic needs of living such as food, water, and shelter, may not really exist in Qatar, relative poverty can be observed when the wealth of different people in this society is compared to other standards within the same country.



For example, if the situation of the employee who filled my gas tank and wiped my front and back windows, or the person who served me my fries were compared to the living standard and wealth of the owner of Woqod for example, their situation would be ranked way at the bottom, or at a significantly lower level. Even though these workers might be way better off than the people in their home country, compared to the standards of the average situation or elite and high status members of the Qatari society, they would fall at the bottom of the hierarchy.




If you are born into a Qatari family, your life chances are not likely to lead you to any of the jobs I observed in the services offered at Woqod. Instead, you will more likely to earn a relatively high income, and belong to a social class that shares characteristics of high economic and social status, high level of education (with lowest being a college degree), and an occupation that holds a certain prestige. If I come across a “Land cruiser”, or an expensive car on the road, I would assume, that the driver is most probably Qatari, or a driver for a Qatari family or businessman, based on my cumulative experiences and observations.



Furthermore, the arrangement of people into divisions of power and wealth can be determined by ascribed statuses (characteristics you cannot control/inherited) or achieved statuses (characteristics you achieve or attain). Due to Qatarization most top ranks in management roles are given to Qataris instead of expatriates and non-Qataris. This program or system favors or prioritizes Qataris for the positions of higher authority and management. According to the book by Joan Ferrante, a caste system of stratification is a form of assigning people into social classes on the basis of their ascribed status, which they have no control over, and usually cannot change. A car wash worker is not likely to move up the social ladder to become the CEO of Qatar Gas. And neither would the McDonald’s cleaner, or the server, or the laborer moving stock around the store. Therefore, social mobility is unlikely for those in the caste system that is more prominent in this society.

Social Status defined by Material Culture

Maintaining a social status in the 21^st century is a tricky business. Back in the day when the birth of a child into the right family guaranteed it’s “enhanced” social status, people were fully aware of their places in the society. Now however, in many parts of the world, simply having ancestors who once held an important position in the society doesn’t fully guarantee the same to the successors. With the increasing flow of money in the global economy, money has become an increasing factor in achieving a higher degree of social status. In other words, money has become a symbol of power worldwide. I think at this point in time, it is okay to generalize the fact that the money has become a material culture which influences the social status of everyone. This form of achieved status has become very common in developing countries like India. A man with riches gets greater attention from the people around him than a mild-mannered reporter, even if he turns out to be Superman’s cousin.

But to be more exact, its how a person carries around his money that makes all the different in the world. In India, a rich family is expected to have at least two expensive cars at minimum along with drivers. The other wealthy people would almost always shun the one driving a car by a local manufacturer.

But this does not mean that there are only two status in society - rich and poor.

There are those which lie in between. For example, taking the example of Indian farmer, there is a gradient of distinction between the rich farmers and poor ones; even though, farming is considered a completely different status in society. A farmer is considered wealthier in society depending on his possession of land, his cattle, and other living stock.

A social status in general creates various interesting things to the economy of a country. In some Asian countries like China, large corporations hire Caucasian men to be the face of the company while expanding across borders. This is done to increase the “validity” of the company. The person is hired simply because he is Caucasian (white-skinned) and speaks good English. The person need not even have any commendable qualifications. This can be seen as an example of a master status overshadowing even that of the CEO (in certain cases). This can also be seen as impression management.

In Qatar, its interesting to see how perceived social statuses can play out on the road while driving. Drivers generally tend to give way to more expensive looking cars than ones that seem like they were made in a shed by Jeremy Clarkson (an observation my father and I share in common). And also, similar to the Indian culture, the possession of multiple cars is another indicator of a higher social status. This generally goes the same for other third world countries wherein the difference between the rich and poor is large.