Being Young, Male and Saudi
Identity and Politics in a Globalized Kingdom

Based on remarkable primary research, this unique contemporary account of the lives of young Saudi men reveals a distinct group of voices.

Mark C. Thompson (Author)

9781107185111, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 3 October 2019

374 pages
23.5 x 15.6 x 2.4 cm, 0.67 kg

'Mark Thompson's indispensable, book, Being Young, Male and Saudi: Identity and Politics in a Globalized Kingdom, breaks new ground for Saudi watchers and academics and is well overdue … There is an excellent bibliography and hundreds of useful notes.' Caroline Montagu, Asian Affairs

Although the position of Saudi women within society draws media attention throughout the world, young Saudi men remain part of a silent mass, their thoughts and views rarely heard outside of the Kingdom. Based on primary research across Saudi Arabia with young men from a diverse range of backgrounds, Mark C. Thompson allows for this distinct group of voices to be heard, revealing their opinions and attitudes towards the societal and economic transformations affecting their lives within a gender-segregated society and examining the challenges and dilemmas facing young Saudi men in the twenty-first century. From ideas and beliefs about, identity, education, employment, marriage prospects and gender segregation, as well as political participation and exclusion, this study in turn invites us to reconsider the future of Saudi Arabia as a globalized kingdom.

Introduction and background
1. What is Saudi? Identity, religiosity and generational divides
2. The Saudi 'social contract' under strain: employment, housing and healthcare
3. The new media revolution, public opinion and the relationship between the governing and governed
4. Education, societal transformation and globalization
5. Masculinity, gender relations and marriage
6. Distrust, fault lines and recreation
7. Saudi Vision 2030 and national development
Conclusion: youth, Saudi Arabia's human capital.

Subject Areas: Islamic studies [JFSR2], Social groups [JFS], Social interaction [JFFP], Social issues & processes [JFF], Cultural studies [JFC], Society & culture: general [JF]