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

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.

Mark C. Thompson is Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia, and Senior Associate Fellow at King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, Saudi Arabia. His articles have been published in the Journal of Arabian Studies, Asian Affairs, Middle Eastern Studies, Middle East Policy and Gulf Affairs, he is the author of Saudi Arabia and the Path to Political Change: National Dialogue and Civil Society (2014) and co-editor of Policy-Making in the GCC: State, Citizens and Institutions (2017) with Dr Neil Quilliam.