Lebanon

Gabrielle Christopher, Sarah Hamad, Shirish Bishwokarma, Kyrtham Franco

Demographics

• Population: 6,100,075 people
• Large number of Syrian, Palestinian, and Iraqi refugees
• Median Age: 31.3 years
• Life Expectancy: 77.9 years
• Capital: Beirut (also largest city)
• Second largest city: Tripoli
• Official language is Arabic, with additional use of Armenian, French, and English

https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/lebanon-population

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Religion

• Dominant religion is Islam, which makes up 54% of the popualtion.
• Islam evenly split between Sunni and Shia at 27% each.
• Chiristanity makes up 40% of the population. (includes 21% Maronite Catholic, 8% Greek Orthodox, 5% Melkite Catholic, 1% Protestant, 5.5% other Christian).
• Druze makeup 5.6% of the population which consists of small numbers of Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Etc.
• Lebanon is considered the most religiously diverse country in the Middle East.
• Religious leaders do not exist in isolation from politics. They are products of and selected by elite institutions, not by popular mandate.

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https://culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/lebanese-culture/lebanese-culture-religion

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Political System

• Lebanon is a parliamentary democratic republic which is led by the president , who is voted in by the parliament.
• The number of seats in parliament is split between Christians and Muslims and proportionally divided among the different denominations within each religion. Government posts and public-sector positions are also divided among the majority sects. The president must always be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni and the speaker of parliament a Shia.
• The president serves 6 years.
• Lebanon’s political system institutionalizes the representation of various religious sects and grants their leaders powers over affairs, including education. This system is known as confessionalism. In this system the highest offices are reserved for representatives from different religious communities.
• Lebanon’s political system ensures representation for its many religious communities, but suppresses intracommunity competition and impedes the rise of secularist parties.

https://www.britannica.com/place/Lebanon/Government-and-society

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Status of Women

• Women are not treated as equal to men in Lebanon.
• Even though the Lebanese constitution cheers for "equality in rights and obligations between all citizens without distinction or preference", many laws still contain many provisions that discriminate against women.
• Women gained the right to Vote in the 1950s.
• Lebanon is considered fairly progressive compared to other middle eastern countries in terms of women's rights.
• Article 562, which had historically been used to reduce sentences awarded for a non-premeditated honor killing resulting from an "illegitimate" sexual intercourse, was scrapped by the Lebanese Parliament on August 4, 2011.^[21] Moreover, in 2014, the Lebanese Parliament finally passed a full-fledged law targeting domestic violence.
• Under the current Lebanese nationality law, descendants of Lebanese emigrants can only receive citizenship from their father; women cannot pass on citizenship to their spouses or children
• Women's salaries compared to their male counterpart is drastically different. Men tend to make more than women causing a vast gender wage gap.
• Women who are engaged in political organizations often acquire social stigma.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Lebanon

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Episodic-Discourse Model

The episodic discourse model in one four models used to examine ideology, the remaining are the subjectivist model, the organizational model, and the Marxian model,.

The model that we used in this class class and also in our project is the Episodic discourse model. This model treats ideology as an episodic discourse, consisting of a general principles, concepts, symbols, and rituals that shape human actions in a particular historical period, and considers revolutionary phenomenon as a particular mode of historical action constituted by revolutionary ideology.

The notion of episode implies that culture production is not a developmental process that would go through stages. It is rather a discontinuous process.

Cultural Change

Throughout the course of this class we have examined and discussed how and why cultural change comes about. Understanding cultural change is imperative to understanding the Episodic discourse model because it servers as an element within the model. Cultural change refers to change in ideology, dress and/ or social structure.

Throughout our research in this class, we have concluded that cultural change comes about as a result of social discourse. In Lebanon’s case, it is a heterogeneous society composed of numerous ethnic and religious groups which is a breeding ground for social change and evolution.

Lebanon has also widely accepted western values and trends. The education system in Lebanon was briefly based on the French Education system and thus the second most spoken language in Lebanon is French.

These cultural changes can be attributed to a multitude of things- first being that Lebanon is a heterogeneous society, but also due to their colonization by the West- France and the adoption of their values.

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Cultural Episodes

Lebanon

1900-1918

Reforming movements; The Great Famine 1915-1918

1920-1939

League of Nations Mandate

1958-1970

Economic prosperity and growing tensions

1940-1943

WWII and Independence

1946

The last French troops withdrew from Lebanon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Lebanon

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Cultural Episodes Cont.

Lebanon

1975-1990

The Lebanese Civil War

1990-2005

Post-war occupation

2005-2006

Cedar Revolution and 2006 War

2007-present

Instability and Syrian Civil War ‘Spillover’

Lebanese Orientations

Utilizing SPSS, we will present data on Lebanese orientations towards expressive individualism, secular politics, and gender equality by differences in age, gender, and education level.

Lebanon vs. Other Countries

Age

Youth

Age 30+

Gender

Education Level

Below University

University education

Thank you!