Social distance between Muslim Kuwaiti social work students and non-Muslim American social work students : a cross-cultural study

الملخص EN

This article reports on a cross-cultural study that investigates scores of social distance between Muslim Kuwaiti social work students toward non-Muslim Americans, and American social work students toward Muslims in two convenient samples.

The Bogardus social distance scale (1959) was completed by 114 Kuwaiti students and 101 US students.

Findings indicate that most of the students in the study had positive and liberal attitudes toward the Other group.

Students were generally willing to participate in social contacts of varying degrees of closeness with members of the other group, with the American sample having less social distance toward Muslims than the Kuwaiti sample toward Americans.

Nevertheless, a closer examination of the findings suggests that social distance still exist on the more intimate levels of contact.

These findings are discussed within the cultural context, and implications for education and practice, and directions for future research are presented.