THE CULTURAL DIVISION OF LABOR IN LESS-DEVELOPED COUNTRIES The Case of Bahrain

Abstract

Abstract : This study of the social division of labor is an attempt to provide a dynamic view of social and economic life and to examine the multidimensionality of social status systems in a small developing country like Bahrain. The study therefore endeavors to break down the social segments of society into basic divisions according to ethnicity and gender and analyze them as interacting groups. Moreover, it offers an opportunity to understand the patterns of power, wealth, culture, and stratification and their impact on the operations of the social division of labor in general and in the labor market in particular. In order to pursue the inquiry, some questions have to be examined. First, the relationship between the cultural characteristics of individuals, their degree of power, wealth, and status within the general social hierarchical arrangements, and their location within the labor market; second, the nature of the system of morals, attitudes, and judgment of each social group towards itself, on the one hand, and towards other groups, on the other; and, finally, the variability of social and state orders and how they affect the interactional behaviors of social groups .