There has been an increasing focus on social problems facing the UAE society. Issues such as divorce, late marriage, drug addiction, family violence and sexual harassment have become a source of concern.
Many seminars and conferences are being held to address these problems. It has been noticed that events organised by public welfare societies do not receive enough response from the public or specialists.
Media professionals say people refrain from such activities and events due to the repetition of topics.
Yet, anyone, who has been following the nature of topics discussed, might notice that people are only interested in topics that directly impact their daily lives, whether social or economic.
However, a major issue that affects people's daily lives is politics, and this is why people's response to a political event is always high.
Government and civil institutions must pay special attention to this point before choosing the kind of topics they want to address at any event.
A fact which is repeatedly noticed is that a large number of audience only attends the opening ceremony just for the sake of the event's sponsor.
This raises a question: Can the low response to conferences be attributed to the repetition of topics, and that people are tired of the same discussions and analysts?
People consider listening to repeatedly discussed issues and topics a waste of time because they think of life's requirements.
And time is a sharp weapon that is not merciful with those who do not benefit from their time properly. Such a concept establishes the idea of the capitalistic community.
Modern societies, which go through tremendous developments related to economic, political and social fields, are now facing new problems.
They need to find out the reasons for the spread of these problems, as well as to identify the prospects and the expected results.
For example, the problems of divorce, sexual harassment and family violence have become problems of alarming proportions in the UAE society. Such problems must be tackled and addressed at the root before it is too late.
In this respect, I recall a study conducted on the problems of youth 20 years ago when some people expressed their anger at the results of the study, saying such problems are far away from the UAE society.
Even more, they said such a study was part of the imagination of researchers who wanted to destroy the society and its values.
The problems, which were covered in the study, would have been resolved if a federal plan was set at that time.
Unfortunately, people with lack of scientific methods do not realise that such problems can snowball into major problems, because finding solutions to the ignored social problems become more difficult, if not impossible.
Intense discussions
There is an urgent need to involve all parties concerned to address the gravity of the social ills confronting the society.
Many social problems such as drug addiction, divorce, sexual harassment, late marriage, change of lifestyles by the younger generation and family violence have surfaced, generating intense discussions in the UAE society.
All these problems, however, began as individual problems, but with time they have become social phenomena.
Finding solutions to such problems requires collective efforts from groups specialising in sociology, economics, politics and media, without ignoring the role of parents at home and that of teachers at school.
This is simply because the solution must start from home, school and district. Only this way can any social problem be addressed and looked into from its various dimensions.
It should be discussed from the social aspect by socialists to find out its social roots. Economists must look at the problem from its economic angle and find out the impact of economic changes on the society and the relation between such changes and the problem.
Economic changes such as the oil and construction boom have had a direct impact on the society, leading to the emergence of the socio-economic gap between the rich and poor people, or the so-called social classes, according to the capitalistic theory. Such facts must be taken into consideration.
The third angle that must be addressed is the political one, which requires politicians to discuss the reasons for social problems through finding out the co-relation between the inside and the outside, particularly in the information and globalisation age.
There is a need to discuss the impact of globalisation on the political movement and the policies to be followed to face such problems.
While addressing social problems, it is important not to suppress or exclude any of the social categories as many experiments have showed that problems must be tackled through raising awareness among all social sectors, to find out proper solutions to social problems.
No doubt it is difficult to discuss and analyse social problems in any society. So what is the situation in the UAE society, which forms a unique phenomenon in terms of its economic, social and political development?
The Social Problems Seminar, which was held by the UAE Sociologists Society last week, has set an example of the importance of tackling issues that concern all social categories in the country.
The seminar was an opportunity for UAE citizens to get together and discuss the social problems that have become a part of their daily lives.
It received an unprecedented turnout from various sectors of the UAE society, stressing the fact that topics and issues of interest prompt people to attend such events.
A huge number of UAE nationals including women participated in the event. It was good to have UAE women at such an event, since women are an equal partner in the society, and must be involved. By keeping them away from participation in resolving social problems will make any solution incomplete.
Dr Mohammad Abdullah Al Mutawa is a professor of sociology at UAE University, Al Ain.
