The Reproduction of Privilege: Education, Jobs and Precarity in Rural Upper Egypt
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American University in Cairo AUC Knowledge Fountain Theses and Dissertations Fall 2-2020 The reproduction of privilege: education, jobs and precarity in rural Upper Egypt Ghosoun Tawfik Follow this and additional works at: https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds The American University in Cairo School of Humanities and Social Sciences The Reproduction of Privilege: Education, Jobs and Precarity in Rural Upper Egypt A Thesis Submitted to The Department of Sociology, Egyptology, and Anthropology In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts In Sociology - Anthropology 1 Chapter One .................................................................................................................................... 5 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 5 The Conceptual Framework .................................................................................................... 6 Bourdieu’s Forms of Capital and Variants of Non-Economic Capital ............................................. 6 Class Privilege .............................................................................................................................. 9 Why Class Privilege and not the Classic Class Stratification? ....................................................... 11 Social Mobility and Inequality of Opportunity ............................................................................... 11 Different Forms of Social (Im)mobility in Egyptian Society ..................................................... 13 The Historical Relation Between Mass Education and wzīfa in Modern Egypt ................... 15 Private Sector Entry: More Private Schools, More Inequality of Opportunity ............................... 17 Rural Upper Egypt: A Case of State Marginalization .................................................................... 18 Why Rural Upper Egypt? ........................................................................................................... 20 Methodology .......................................................................................................................... 22 The house when it hosts a researcher .............................................................................................. 25 Thesis outline ............................................................................................................................. 26 Chapter Two ................................................................................................................................. 28 Who are the Privileged? ............................................................................................................ 28 Identifying the Privileged in Akhmim ................................................................................... 30 Alaam’s Family ............................................................................................................................... 34 Helal’s Family ................................................................................................................................. 35 Zalta’s Family ................................................................................................................................. 37 Salem’s Family ................................................................................................................................ 38 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 42 Chapter Three ............................................................................................................................... 43 The Educational Decisions: ....................................................................................................... 43 Between Poor Public Education and the Privilege to Encounter it ........................................... 43 Public Education: Between the Lack of Inputs and the Poor of Outputs .............................. 46 How Worthless is Public Education? .............................................................................................. 48 The Teacher: The Active Element in The Educational Decision .................................................... 49 Privatization in Education: A Better Route for Privileged Status? ....................................... 51 Conclusion: The Dilemma of Education Value ..................................................................... 54 Chapter Four ................................................................................................................................ 56 Privilege Reproduction Through Exclusion and the Response of the Underprivileged ............ 56 Education, privilege, and Profit for the Youngest Investor in Suhag .................................... 57 International Education in Suhag for The Family Reunion! ................................................. 60 Why do the underprivileged invest in public education? ................................................................ 63 ID card, Passport and Shorter time in Military ...................................................................... 64 For Girls: Going to School is an Escape ......................................................................................... 66 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 67 Chapter five ................................................................................................................................... 69 Social Network: The key to finding a job wazīfa ....................................................................... 69 Increasing of Unemployment Rates and Decreasing of Public Jobs ..................................... 69 Classification of job types and sectors ............................................................................................ 70 Social Capital and Wazīfa ...................................................................................................... 72 The wazīfa and the attempts to preserve it ............................................................................ 74 In the Private Sector: To Get a Job, Work on Yourself ......................................................... 77 The reproduction of privilege through certain occupations ................................................... 79 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 81 Chapter Six ................................................................................................................................... 83 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 83 Reproducing Privilege Through Reproducing Inequalities ....................................................... 83 Bibliography .................................................................................................................................. 88 2 Acknowledgment I would first like to thank my thesis advisor Dr, Reem Saad. She consistently allowed this paper to be produced in the highest possible quality. She steered me in the right direction whenever she thought I needed it. Without her patient, understanding, support and beautiful soul, this thesis would not be completed. I would also like to thank my first reader, Dr, Dina Makram Ebeid for her fruitful discussion during the thesis production and unconditional support and faith in my project. Lastly, it was a privilege to work with Dr, Hania Soby on the thesis as the second reader. I am thankful for her aspiring guidance, invaluably constructive criticism and friendly advice during the thesis production. I would also like to thank my colleagues in the Master program. Amira Mahmoud, Soha Mohsen, Nour Salama and Alaa Attiah for their support and the positive environment that has been created between us during the Master program. However, special thanks to Noha Fikry, because without her passionate participation and unlimited input, the thesis could not have been successfully conducted. My sincere thanks also goes to my team at the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights. They provided me an opportunity to join their team without the required job skills but only for believing in my passion toward education. Thus, Special thanks to Khaled Ali, who decided to establish ECESR in 2009 and Heba Khalil for her supervision because without their precious support it would not be possible to enroll from the beginning in the Master program. For all of the individuals and families I met during the fieldwork, it was a pleasure knowing them. Without your open hearts and generosity, this project would not have the opportunity to see the light. Finally, I must express my profound gratitude to my mother, my sisters, friends and the person who the heart beats to for providing me with unfailing support and continuous encouragement throughout my years of study and through the process of researching and writing this thesis. This accomplishment would not have been possible without them. Thank you. Ghosoun Tawfik 3 Notes on Transliteration, Translation, and Style I used the International Journal for Middle East Studies (IJMES) system for Arabic transliteration. All translations are my