Will They Ever Belong?

At seven years old Abu Afif was told he was going on a little vacation and that he would return to Palestine after 10 days, while things settled between Israel and Palestine. Almost sixty years later, Abu Afif, like millions of other Palestinians, still hasn’t returned and lives in Burj Barajneh, one of several Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. Three of the main countries the Palestinian Diaspora spread to were Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. In Lebanon, there are 12 refugee camps that house thousands of Palestinians each, building their own societies within a larger Lebanese society.


Burj Barajneh was the camp I stayed in for two weeks this summer. We drove
into the only road in the camp. As I got out, walked to my temporary “home,” I had to zigzag my way through numerous alleys that flowed with sewage and waste. Trying to look up to the sky, there was nothing to see. All I saw were countless electric wires.



Like Mexicans in the US, Palestinians in Lebanon suffer from minimum wage. Palestinians cannot usually find jobs outside the refugee camps. However, if they do, it’s probably a low-wage job like a painter, carpenter and so on. Many refugees graduate from medicine, engineering and other majors. But later, they unfortunately find it very difficult to work in their field. If they can’t find a way out of the country to somewhere where they could actually do their job, they end up opening a small business in the camp itself for very low incomes, or they divert into another direction in life.



Due to their economic, social and political background, Palestinians have created a new culture that will allow them to adjust their way of life to this subculture that they have created. The term subculture in sociology basically means a smaller group contained within a larger culture, so a world within a world. Palestinians have established and try to maintain their identity and culture within a complete different culture, the Lebanese culture.


Palestinians in Lebanon also suffer from an identity crisis. Like many other Palestinians around the world, they don’t really have a culture and try to adapt to what they hear about the Palestinian culture. The only home they really had was taken away and the “home” they currently live in can’t really be considered a home because it could be taken away from them at any time.

Culture shock?

If someone would ask you, what makes you different from Person A or Person B, you would probably be able to come up with a list from the top of your head, without even having to think, like nationality, language, religion or even food habits or education.

In other words, the way you have been brought up is what differentiates you from the others. A sociologist defines this as culture. The way of life of people or more specifically, the human created strategies for adjusting to the environment.

For some of us, seeing different culture is the best part about traveling, where as for few other, they have a culture shock coming from place X to Y. Culture shock is the strain that people experience while traveling from one region to the other, and must reorient themselves to the ways of the new culture. And this was exactly what happened in the movie Outsourced, where an American products salesman (Todd) heads to India to because of his replacement, after his entire department is outsourced. Being unaware of the beliefs and values of India, he found himself in a very inconvenient situation. For example, in India, Cows are considered sacred and play an important role in the Hindu religion. Whereas when Todd goes to India, being ignorant, he talks about cows as a food product without realizing how sensitive a topic it was and he goes on doing the same sort of mistake, until he finally finds someone who could teach him about the Indian culture.

People’s behavior and values change from culture to culture, and that is rooted to the shortage and abundance of resources in different regions. For example, the video shows how common begging is in India. However, in Qatar it is hardly seen in public. The economic structure of the country breaks the conservation-oriented behaviors of its people.



According to Sociology, some of the most important types of non-material cultures are beliefs, values, norms, symbols and language. And some of these aspects were clearly noticeable in Culture Shock, an Al Jazeera documentary, on how African migrants find ways to deal with the European culture. These African migrants face instances of racist violence in Germany, where because of their skin color, people assign symbols. People assign offensive names.

Despite being immigrants, some of their habits perfectly match local customs, which is a case of cultural universals, which refers to things found in every culture. But sometimes people hold on to the viewpoint of ethnocentrism, because of which these African migrants are not being accepted by the social norms.

Click here to check out the documentary on Al Jazeera

Culture Shock: What is it like to live in Europe with an African identity?

Getting Sociological on the VMAs

There are so many theories in every subject and sociology is not an exception. There are three big sociological theories: the functionalist theory, the conflict theory and the symbolic interactionism theory. One of the three big sociological theories is the Functionalist Theory, which can be applied to almost anything. The functionalist theory is basically looking at society as if it is a car and knowing that each part in the car has a particular function, and that if there was a part missing then the whole car, society, will fall apart. The functionalist theory believes that people actively work making stability and order happen.

The Functionalist Theory can be applied to almost any event. Recently there were the Video Music Awards that aired this summer. If we look closely the Video Music awards you can apply many different functions of the functionalist theory.

This year the event was held in Los Angeles but there was no host for the VMAs, as they were unable to find anyone that matched the requirements. Different celebrities presented the awards and there were several performances done by different people. Every year the VMAs try to go over the top and give a completely unexpected performances but there is a certain degree as to which you can out do something, so this year the VMAs were much simpler than the extravagant events they used to be. Even Lady Gaga didn’t change into a million costumes throughout the event , instead she dressed as a man, which is still not the most normal thing to do but people always expect something different from her and she always delivers.

The manifest functions could be that the VMAs brings people/family together whether they are watching it on Television or Live in Los Angeles. Everyone is interested in what the celebrities are going to wear and who's going to be there. The marketing and Public Relations sectors benefit from this event. Companies can place advertisements throughout the show, every time it was time for Jessie J to perform during the break several advertisements for fast-food restaurants or products played., particularly Taco-Bell.

Latent functions that are associated with the VMAs is the focus on public transportation as people would more likely use the bus or train to avoid traffic jams. The VMAs could bring complete strangers together if they have similar tastes in music or videos.

Anticipated disruptions of the VMAs are the same as the disruptions that happen with any large celebration, traffic, littering and shortage of clean toilets because of the large amount of people.

Everything can be looked at in a sociological way even the most unexpected cases.

A Sociological Perspective on Infrastructure Works in Doha

Sociology’s big question focuses on how existing larger social forces around us impact human activity and shape virtually every aspect of our lives. They affect the simplest mundane behavior and actions such as the way we address our mentors, the way we walk, talk, move, act and interact in public and with the public. In other words, sociology allows us to see and understand the world and the way it works in a whole new perspective. As sociologist Peter L. Berger explains: “the first wisdom of sociology is this – things are not what they seem.”



From using credit cards to the way we dress, to construction here in Doha, the influences of social factors become easier to interpret, detect, and understand, when we adopt a quality of mind that allows us to do so, called the social imagination.




First, when visiting a construction site, the most obvious social force to consider is the everlasting effect of the Industrial Revolution which according to the book by Joan Ferrante, is partly the reason for the emergence of sociology. Apart from the changes in transportation, tunneling and manufacturing which are all applicable to the construction industry in Qatar, Berger highlights the process of mechanization as the central feature of the Industrial Revolution. The process of mechanization is significant in infrastructure work sites. Skilled workers have shifted into the roles of machine operators and automated labor force, where the pile-driving machines do the excavations, and the cranes do the heavy lifting and moving of heavy materials such as pipelines.





The workers perform non-skill demanding tasks such as fixing pipe supports in place in the concrete tunnel, preparing to place the pipes on the side anchors inside the tunnel and placing the belt around the pipes for crane lifting.




Use of railroads is also applicable in infrastructure. The video below shows a battery-operated engine as it drives the tires that move the pipes along a railway into the tunnel. In addition to the rails on the bottom that are built for the pipes, there are rails on the top to transport workers into the tunnel as well.






At times where leveling and balancing the pipes in place required skill and timing-perfection of the laborers, the total station surveying instrument is a technology that enables the surveyor to accurately place the pipes to accurate level and alignment.





However, a process such as GRP pipe lamination still requires skill combined with the use of technology and machinery. Apart from technology, globalization is another force that influenced infrastructure in Doha by allowing western innovations such as GRP pipe lamination and other tactics and procedures to be integrated here in this region. By doing so, older methods are eradicated and newer ones are introduced. Adopted methods from other places around the world can also altered and improved to create more appropriate solutions.



Symbolic meaning is another social force that can be noted while observing a construction site. Symbols such as the workmen’s protection equipment, helmets, gloves, and protective clothing and the company’s logo have a shared assigned meaning or value. A particular dress code could signify a person’s station or job rank. The company’s name or logo on the workers’ vests can mean the company itself, the field of construction, site work, infrastructure or a even a shared feeling of affinity and belonging to a certain group, where all members of the company or workers feel a sense of solidarity.





The social status or ranks in a construction organization is the social force that determines how different employees interact with each other. The general hierarchy of positions in a construction company usually includes: the managing director, site engineers, superintendants, general foremen, foremen, crew leaders and workers. The social status of say, a foreman, and the associated roles and attributes of this role influences the way in which the workers respond to the foreman’s orders by obeying him, as well as the way they address him and speak to him. The foreman for example is most likely to be assertive and authoritative and the workers are likely to comply. Each status affects the way these people interact with each other. This sharing of meaning and interpretation of symbols relates to the sociological theory called the Symbolic Interactionist Theory, which in this case would be used to examine the role of symbols in shaping social interaction among individuals including their daily communication and response to each other.




Ultimately, industrialization changed more than just the way things operate. It changed how people lived their own lives and the lives of everyone around them. According to Ferrante, developments such as the railroads, electricity, and the steamship changed our perception of time and space. The time needed to complete a project such as the ones shown in the pictures, or for building a skyscraper, and the way engineers and project managers negotiate this time has changed dramatically and will continue to change. In turn these changes affect the entire execution of a project and its completion date. Moreover, the changes in the process of shipping of equipment and materials, introduction of new machinery and technology and moving them across sites contribute to the emergence of a fast-paced, mechanized, bottom-line thinking, consumption-oriented economy and wealth-pursuing culture.

Latino Dance Culture in Qatar

American Food Subculture of Johnny Rockets in Doha

A Sociological Study of Johnny Rockets in Doha from Zaina on Vimeo.

Equine Love