Why are lots of Egyptians ...?

Question

so preoccupied with social status, brandished in the form of pricey accessories like cell phones, imported cars, private school education for their children, seaside chalets and extravagant wedding celebrations? Why do we hear the phrase "don't you know who I am" (inta mish 3arif ana ibn meen) so much?! What has gone wrong with us?

Answer 1

Galal Amin explains this phenomenon in detail in his book "What happened to the Egyptians" ماذا حدث للمصريين. The book itself is a very concise sociological study about life in Egypt in the last 50 years.

He attributes this phenomenon to what he calls social movement الحراك الاجتماعي which can be simply explained as the ease with which an individual can move up and down the social ladder between the established classes (lower, middle and upper class).

Before 1952 such movement was quite impossible, once a peasant (فلاح) always a peasant. And the aristocracy was an exclusive club for a few elite families. in such a system the social balance limits the ambitions of the individual and he is just satisfied with his position, you wouldnt find in this system a poor person trying to immitate another from a higher class compare the Fellah, the civil servant and the aristocrat in the Egyptian movies of the 40s. I would even say that such imitation was considered bad manners.

After the revolution every thing changed, the barriers between those social classes vanished and movement inbetween was possible, peasants moved up to join the middle class with the agricultural reform laws, aristocracy moved down with the nationalization of their vast wealths and a new Military elite emerged from within the middle class ranks.

In the 70s a further shocking development occured with the liberal laws of Sadat, not only climbing the ladder step by step was made possible but shooting up through it has become a common occurence. The new elite reached the higher echelons in a no time due to unproductive activities that didn't require any education or professional skills.

This new elite could show off their new social status only through appearances since they were in fact empty headed with no substance, hence came the necessity to bye luxury cars, mansions, pricey accessories etc... all of which are not of a very good taste reflecting the true origins of those "nouveaux riches".

It has since become a trend, if you can't move up the social ladder you have to pretend to be moving up by emphasizing on appearances not substance. Those are todays trends and as long as you have instability in the social composition of the Egyptian society this trend will continue. Things are moving in the right direction though, today is not as bad as the 70s and 80s. and moving across social classes is resulting once more difficult.

Ok... I know I already have a reputation here on YA for my lengthy Answers, sorry I can't help it, so I guess I'll stop right here... ;-) ... I guess if you are interested in more detailed and scientific explanations for why we are what we are today you should try reading Galal Amin's book.

Cheers

Answer 2

They have drifted away from religion.
They feel that having material things will make you a better person, guarantee a better life.
We're consuming people not productive, we'd rather sit on our arses and let others do the job or export things rather than make them ourselves and save money.
Egypt is ruled by the military so if you are in the military or related to or know somebody in the military, you think you're untouchable and above the law. What goes on the people doesn't,by any mean, go on you.
Besides we've this HUGE inferiority complex called "3o2det el khawaga" we don't feel better unless we feel superior than others or imitate the "civilized people" in the west.

Those who don't go with the flow,feel outsiders and left out.
I am who I am and I don't care what others think of me as long as I'm doing the right thing and not angering Allah :)

Answer 3

Its poverty, it happens every place there is poverty. It helps separate the mind from the poverty of the those 'others' i.e the person is not connected to them.

The shallowness can turn me nuts', you know yourself when these people come outside of Egypt they hardly survive because they are required to show their skills, what do they know and if they survived in Egypt by saying -do you know who i am, if people heard this outside, they would simply say - who cares who you are- can you do the job, pass the task and so on.

This is why there are alot of people living in the bubble of Egyptian money- is it real money?

When Gandhi came to visit the Queen of England, he her colonial subject, was dressed in near rags- the clothes of the poor- Gandhi before returning to India had studied law in one of the top universities in UK, imagine that he had achieved this in that day and age, well the queen offered for him elaborate clothes to wear and he said no...

I'm sorry to say it but is a reflection of what is going wrong- the same person that will be going crazy over the new applei phone will be blaming all the conspiracies in the world for the luck of themselves. This victimhood lack of responsibilty mentality that is so ripe in Egyptian culture is what will keep the few saying do you know who I am and getting away with that!

Before the thumbs down start- do you remember a few years ago about the rich Arab kid that was racing his top car to the airport and on the way to the airport he killed other human beings-your country man and woman- he ran them over with his car and then boarded his plane, Egyptian authories were saying- no one is beyond justice- oh so did we hear that he was sentenced in absence by an Egyptian court to death? which no doubt would have happened if it was a young poor kid!

Answer 4

i'm effective there's a lot of Egyptians who drink alcohol because of the fact in Egypt there are some shops which sell alcohol yet I merely comprehend Egyptian Muslims who do no longer drink it in any respect.

Answer 5

because our religon is traditions not the true meaning of islam

we dont use our heads but we follow our tradtions


+ we are soo shallow the student go to the highest colloge not because they love it no because its prestige

Edit: like many ppl look at me as a werid when i say i want to be an officer if u think about its meaning that i want it so that i can help ppl (as a police officer) el nas el 3'albana asa3edhom and make the whole country respect the law but look at the ppl sooo shallow

howa el baled reg3et men showya

Answer 6

3arfa elly bey2ol ( kan f gara w tle3 l bara ) ???
aho 3lshan keda e7na b2ena bentsaraf kda.

zaman before 1952. only 0.05 % of Egyptians are rich..and the rest of the nation are , seriously, Farmers.

the political conversions happened gave the opportunity to alot of egyptians to (work hard or rob or con)... any way

the poor people become rich and less poorer than past.
this is why every body is trying to show that he is better than the others according to the amount of money he have and
elegance of life style money can afford.
anyone GOT IT >?????!!!

Answer 7

I can simply call this preoccupation (Kheiba Aweya).
In UAE, you can hardly notice the difference in class among people. Every body can ride the car of his choice and live in the neighborhood of his preference and so on. Maybe in Egypt we have so limited resources that we brag these things if we got them. That is so sick and pathetic.

Answer 8

yes ! i am in America and my Egyptian freinds all want a fancy car! I have an old truck, I tell them its not important to have a n expensive car! but they buy anyway! I live simply and material things I dont want ! Peace

Answer 9

because they are unsecured and they think material things and social connections are the answer plus many other things like lack of wisdom, lack of the global view of subjects and things, ignorance, stuff like that..
people forget that they were born equal, people forget why Islam was so great and why it had too many believers in short times, they talk and talk about it, saying that's haram, that's infidelity, and they have no idea about the real essence of their great religion..

Answer 10

I believe that the person who has such an attitude tries to compensate a personal defect in him/her.