ABSTRACT

This study examines citizens’ sense of neighbourhood belonging in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, focusing on the State of Qatar. While much research about this issue has been conducted in developed countries, little is known about how citizens’ ‘stock’ of social capital, religiosity and civic engagement affect their sense of belonging to their neighbourhood within GCC countries. In the present study, we address this question by analysing data from two waves of nationally representative surveys undertaken in Qatar, drilling down into the various dimensions of social capital and their effect on community attachment at the neighbourhood level. The results indicate that, even after controlling for a wide range of demographic variables, social capital has a strong effect on the nationals’ sense of belonging to their communities. The results have implications for researchers with respect to the salience of social capital as a concept and for policymakers concerned with building an integrated and diverse community that is inclusive of people from various backgrounds.

摘要

本研究考察了海湾合作委员会 (GCC) 国家公民的邻里归属感，重点是卡塔尔国。虽然在发达国家已经对这个问题进行了大量研究，但人们对公民的社会资本“存量”、宗教信仰和公民参与如何影响他们对海湾合作委员会国家邻里的归属感知之甚少。在本研究中，我们通过分析在卡塔尔进行的两轮具有全国代表性的调查的数据来解决这个问题，深入研究社会资本的各个方面及其对社区依恋的影响。结果表明，即使在控制了广泛的人口变量之后，社会资本对国民对社区的归属感也有很强的影响。