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Can wasta bring in success? Many tells survey so

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Category: Local News

Created on Wednesday, 04 May 2011 04:41

DOHA: Many Qataris see ‘wasta’ (personal connection) and luck as elements of success, according to a Qatar University survey. The Social and Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI) yesterday unveiled the Qatar World Values Survey (QWVS) 2010 which was carried out by the university in December.

QWVS survey showed that Qataris are relatively divided over the question of whether hard work, rather than luck and ‘wasta’, brings success in life. While most of those interviewed agreed that “in the long run, hard work usually brings a better life,” many others replied that “hard work doesn’t generally bring success — it is more a matter of luck and connections.”

About 43 percent of Qatari respondents identified ‘hard work’ as most likely to bring success, compared to 29 percent who attributed it to luck and ‘wasta’. A little more than 25 percent of the respondents said that both hard work, and luck and ‘wasta’ were important factors.

The study released yesterday is a part of World Values Survey (WVS), a global network of social scientists studying changing values and their impact on social and political life. The study is the first one to be done in Qatar and the second in the region. The report offers a first-ever window into the attitudes and orientations of ordinary Qatari citizens, values that, as demonstrated throughout the report, do not always or indeed often accord with typical preconceptions.

For the survey, a total of 1,455 households were sampled and 1,060 interviews were completed.

The report revealed that economic growth was the most favoured national priority for the next 10 years. Some 64 percent of the respondents said that economic growth should be Qatar’s highest priority, while 16 percent wanted freedom -seeing that people have more say about how things are done at their jobs and in their communities. Only 15 percent chose to have a strong national defence while only six percent were concerned about the environment — trying to make cities and countryside more beautiful.

Contrary to the stereotype among some that Qataris and other Gulf Arabs are overly-reliant upon the state economically, Qatari respondents to the 2010 WVS expressed little support for the idea that government should play the main role in providing for the people. Only 24 percent of Qatari respondents answered that the government has the primary duty to provide for peoples’ economic needs. A combined 55 percent said that welfare is job of individuals.

Respondents were asked to rate their level of confidence in a number of important state institutions and, police and armed forces earned the highest percentages, at 75 percent and 74 percent, respectively. This was followed by the judiciary at 67 percent, the parliament at 57 percent, and other government institutions at 52 percent.

Source: The Peninsula, May 4, 2011

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