Egyptian Youth Research Articles

Political Participation and Power Relations in Egypt: The Scope of Newspapers and Social Network Sites

The political use of media in Egypt post-2011 revolution brought about drastic transformations in political activism and power structures. In the context of communication power theory, this article investigates the effects of newspapers and social network sites on political participation and political power relations. The research employed a mixed methodology, comprised of a survey of 527 Egyptian youth and semi-structured interviews of 12 political activists and journalists. The results showed a significant relationship between reading newspapers and youth’s political participation, but not between using social network sites and political participation. In addition, newspapers and social network sites were platforms for a series of conflicts and coalitions that emerged between pro- and anti-revolution actors. Despite the importance of social network sites as key tools for informing and mobilizing the public, they eventually failed to empower new political actors, and this was because old actors, supported by newspapers and other mainstream media, managed to obstruct the new actors’ progress.

Education, Social Mobility and Religious Movements: The Islamic Revival in Egypt

Muslim societies have been reshaped in recent decades by an Islamic revival. We document a contemporaneous decline in social mobility among educated youth in Egypt, the epicentre of the movement in the Arab world. We then develop a model to show how an unexpected decline in social mobility combined with inequality can produce a religious revival led by the educated middle class. The principal idea is that religion helps individuals to cope with unfulfilled aspirations by adjusting their expectations-based reference point. By raising aspirations, economic development may make societies more prone to religious revivals. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Arabic Performance Poetry: A New Mode of Resistance

Performance poetry, as a literary term, is known in the Western literature, although some critics may not consider it literary in the first place. This article assumes the applicability of this term to new attempts of some Egyptian youth whose poems share the common features of performance poetry in English literature. Their poetic works are passionate, rhythmic, using aural and visual effects in the background, and dialects in addition to the poet's presentation of the poem face to face with the audience. Regarding the content, their verse has preceded and accompanied the political turmoil Egypt witnessed before, during, and after 25 January Revolution. For this reason, this poetic pattern loudly reflects the concerns, demands, and aspirations of the rebellious generation of youth and the whole Egyptian society. It can be considered the manifestation of the new challenging spirit of the youth in Egypt. The aim of the research is to highlight the similarities between the Anglo-American performance poetry and the literary works of two Egyptian young poets: Hisham al-Gakh and Amr Qatamish. As an interdisciplinary study, literary criticism, cultural criticism including socio-political analysis will be utilized to elucidate how performance poetry represents a new trend of resisting corruption and injustice, as well as a revolution against conventional poetic forms.

Consanguineous Marriage among Egyptian Youth: Secondary Analysis of Survey of Young People in Egypt, 2014

Consanguineous Marriage among Egyptian Youth: Secondary Analysis of Survey of Young People in Egypt, 2014

Shattered worlds: political trauma amongst young activists in post-revolutionary Egypt

ABSTRACTBased on qualitative testimonial research with Egyptian youth activists, this article argues that Egypt’s post-revolutionary aftermath has been profoundly traumatic. Trauma shatters one’s assumptive world as it confronts one with the fragility of existence and the possibility of immediate death. Activists experienced automatic psychological coping mechanisms of intrusion (e.g. dreams and nightmares) and numbing, but Egypt’s post-revolutionary social and political context inhibited the operationalisation of non-automatic, socially embedded, coping mechanisms of reintegration and reinterpretation. The former entails the reintegration of one’s experiences into an adjusted assumptive world through a shared holding space and the latter the reinterpretation of the suffered traumas through a positive outcome. In the absence of socially embedded coping mechanisms, due to political polarisation and a lack of positive revolutionary outcomes, Egypt’s social trauma deepened as is illustrated by the depoliticisation of activists as they tried to mend their shattered assumptive worlds.

The Birth and Death of 25TV: Innovation in Post-Revolution Egyptian TV News Formats

This case study highlights an experiment that aimed to disrupt traditional television news production and presentation models in post-revolution Egypt. It is a snapshot of a brief moment in Egyptian television history when an attempt was made at innovating news production and content, but much like the Egyptian revolution, ultimately failed to change the status quo. The case study of 25TV examines how political, social, and economic dissatisfaction among Egyptian youth inspired innovation in news formats that gave more content production power to younger and less experienced news presenters and producers. Through the brief lifespan of 25TV, this article will discuss the role of social media and television in the immediate aftermath of the revolution, the contentious relationship between freedom of speech and military rule, and the innovative ways in which television formats in Egypt were nurtured, grew and perished in the post-revolution era.

Egypt: inequality of opportunity in education

The paper examines the levels and trends in access to education and educational outcomes across generations of Egyptian youth. Examination of four cohorts of individuals aged 25–29 shows that, although basic education has democratized, some inequities in access to general secondary and college education have persisted over the past 25 years. The analysis of test scores from TIMSS and national examinations in the late 2000s shows that more than a quarter of learning outcome inequality is attributable to circumstances beyond the control of a student, such as parental education, socioeconomic background, and birthplace. The high level of overall achievement inequality observed makes inequities in learning opportunities between Egyptian youth high compared to other countries in absolute levels. Moreover, learning gaps among pupils from different backgrounds appear at early grades. High and unequal levels of household expenditures in private tutoring and tracking into vocational and general secondary schools that depend on high stakes examination substantially contribute to unequal learning outcomes.

Excluded Generation: The Growing Challenges of Labor Market Insertion for Egyptian Youth

Youth in Egypt hold rising aspirations for their adult lives, yet face an increasingly uncertain and protracted transition from school to work and thus into adulthood. This paper investigates how labor market insertion has been evolving over time in Egypt and how the nature of youth transitions relates to gender and social class. We demonstrate that youth today face poorer chances of transitioning into a good job than previous generations, despite large increases in educational attainment. Social class is playing an increasing role in determining the success of the transition from school to work in Egypt. Whether youth successfully make transitions to formal jobs, embark on such transitions and fail, or pursue a traditional route to adulthood depends on a complex and changing interaction between their own educational attainment and the resources of their families. In light of these findings, we discuss the policies that can help facilitate successful transitions for struggling youth in Egypt.

Egyptian youth: National policies and international initiatives

Egyptian youth: National policies and international initiatives

Benefits and Challenges of Remote Working in Egypt

Information and communications technologies (ICT) had played a big role in helping the Egyptian economy through the rapid growth of IT investment. It had opened a lot of job opportunities in front of thousands of Egyptian youth who have professional IT skills. Remote work (also known as telework, virtual work, off-site work, anywhere work or flexible workplace) is one of the great options for flexible work arrangement in ICT, it can boost the IT investment if applied widely in Egypt through multinational organizations that’s why we felt the importance to investigate the remote working concept in the research .The research addressed the benefits of remote working on the employee and IT organizations level. It is focusing on remote working concepts and impact on the employee as well as the benefits for IT organizations .We found that Remote working is one of the partial solutions provided through IT to unemployment problems especially among Egyptian females who face problems with the life balance between child care and work. Remote work is a fast growing employment field that has opened up new opportunities for women using ICT to enable them to work from their homes utilizing flexible working hours and location. Managers face new challenges with supervising remote workers, monitoring their performance and evaluating their virtual teams. Remote management is a key factor in the success of remote work.

Youth Perspectives on Social Insurance in Egypt: Qualitative Insights on the Gap between Legal and Effective Coverage

A gap between legal and effective coverage rates is a common challenge facing social insurance systems in Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries. This article draws on an exploratory qualitative study with youth in Egypt to examine how labour market dynamics and worker preferences contribute to this gap. Labour market factors, particularly instability of employment and job mobility, were found to reduce the perceived value of social insurance. Poor understanding of how social insurance works was another contributing factor. However, youth displayed a high level of trust in the public social insurance system and saw pensions as valuable in the abstract. In combination with awareness promotion, eliminating penalties to discontinuous labour force participation could make social insurance more attractive to youth.

Impact of Athlete Role Model on the Behavioural Intentions of the Youth in Egypt

This study aims at examining the effect of athlete role models on the young generation including both students at school age and others at the university age purchase intentions and behaviours. Teenagers are currently considered a part of young generation (Generation Y); they have been identified as individuals born between 1977 and 1994. Young adults are major sport consumers; therefore, sport marketers target them. The reasons for this targeting are: (1) their spending power, (2) their ability to be trendsetters, (3) their receptivity to new products, and (4) their tremendous potential for becoming lifetime customers. This research has reached the conclusion that athlete role models have great impact upon teens; which helps to spread positive word of- mouth about the product or the brand and enhances brand loyalty.

Why are Egyptian Youth Burning Their University Diplomas? The Overeducation Crisis in Egypt

In September 2015, student unions in Egypt staged several protests in front of the higher education ministry. They were protesting a number of issues, such as inadequate educational resources in universities and restrictions on political activities on campus. In one of several simultaneous protests on September 11, a group of university graduates set their PhD and MBA certificates on fire to protest their inability to find suitable jobs despite these advanced degrees. They were particularly upset with the government’s failure to create more public sector jobs for university graduates. This unusual symbolic protest by these angry university graduates followed a protest a day earlier in front of the higher education ministry by high school students and their parents, who were demanding an increase in the admissions capacity of public universities.

THE EFFICACY OF USING ALTERNATIVE MEDIA IN DEVELOPING ENVIRONMENTAL CITIZENSHIP FOR A GROUP OF YOUTH.

This research purpose is to develop environmental citizenship in a group of youth who are users of the social communication website, namely, the “facebook” measure as one of the media alternative means. Using the quasi-experimental method for the remarkable shortness of traditional media as approved by the pilot study and after reviewing pages and private groups of the environment that exceed (100) groups on the facebook social media in Egypt, researchers have prepared a checklist of the environmental dimensions necessary for developing environmental citizenship in Egypt. The study sample consists of (60) youths divided into three groups, users of facebook, group, page, and the control group. The study results showed the effectiveness and impact of alternative media and its means on developing environmental citizenship for youth in Egypt compared to traditional ones and the impact of one of the two means (page) or (group) rather than the other; using as well the Scale of Environmental Citizenship to be applied on page of “Helwa Ya Balady” and group of “Masr Khadra Bina” Which were established on social communication website, namely, facebook as one of alternative media means. Study results showed that using alternative media models(facebook) has led to development of environmental citizenship for a group of youth, as the first (experimental) group, page of “Helwa Ya Balady” on which the Scale of Environmental Citizenship has been pre/post applied, has shown significant effect and superior performance regarding efficacy of alternative media. The second experimental group “Masr Khadra Bina” shows significant effect post-application more than the suggested group of the control group which has not been exposed to alternative media; because of the direct interactive impact between the receiver and the sender that makes the message clearer affecting in turn the development of environmental citizenship among youth rather than the traditional media. The research recommends the necessity of developing specialized environmental pages on facebook through including dimensions of environmental citizenship in more effective way through modern applications. It also recommends seeking assistance of experts in communication technology field to update proposed approaches for presenting environmental dimensions, preparing specialized videos for exposing how to practice positive environmental activities, including as well environmental dimensions through various publications (videos – texts) not to be limited only on pages or specialized groups as they are less effective.

Yes We Are: A Sociolinguistic Study of Egyptian Slang

Yes We Are: A Sociolinguistic Study of Egyptian Slang Mai Samir El Falaky Abstract This article draws on a sociolinguistic study of slang as a marked speech style of Egyptian youth. This social group speaks a linguistic variety which is evaluated by other subgroups to be incomprehensive and inappropriate. This article presents examples from the Egyptian slang highlighting their semantic features (obscenities, address forms, addressee-oriented tags), their formation processes as well their social implications. The study sheds light on the degree of societal acceptance to the used slang, arguing that such linguistic deployment offers a variety of opportunities to a marginalized social group to express their novelty and uniqueness. The results extracted from the circulated survey uncover the features of such linguistic repertoire. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/ijll.v4n2a10

The Age of the Efendiyya: Passages to Modernity in National-Colonial Egypt

The Age of the Efendiyya: Passages to Modernity in National-Colonial Egypt

The Public Sector as the Employer of Choice among Youth in Egypt: The Relevance of Public Service Motivation Theory

ABSTRACTYoung people in Egypt want to work in the public sector, even if they get less pay there than at the private sector. This article seeks to explain the attractiveness of public-sector jobs to this group, embedding this experience within the literature and theorization on public service motivation (PSM) and discussing its relevance. Issues of trust, respect, and social status are reflected in the discourse of interviewed youth about this job preference. A generation-held and culturally-ingrained appreciation among the educated to work in the public sector also contributes to this sector preference. Qualitative and quantitative data also show that extrinsic benefits of job security and stability are also pivotal to this preference. The analysis in the article suggests a holistic reading of motivational factors to join the public sector in contexts of job scarcity and labor surplus.

The Contribution of the Egyptian Youth Hostels Association in Developing Intercultural Understanding: A Case study of IOU Respect as an International Exchange Programme

The Contribution of the Egyptian Youth Hostels Association in Developing Intercultural Understanding: A Case study of IOU Respect as an International Exchange Programme

Bringing Down an Uprising: Egypt's Stillborn Revolution

Despite warnings that bleak socio-economic conditions were pushing Egyptians to the brink, few could have predicted the timing and extent of what has come to be known as the “January 25th revolution.” For the two years that followed this unprecedented revolutionary moment, many Egyptians believed their nation was headed toward a political rebirth in the direction of democratization – albeit in fits and starts. But what ultimately transpired was far from a revolution, but rather an uprising. Those who risked life and limb in multiple mass protests are now in jail or dead while the military-security apparatus sits firmly at the apex of power. Rather than join other countries moving forward toward a free society, dissent in Egypt is brutally crushed harking back to Gamal Abdel-Nasser’s pervasive police state. This article seeks to answer the question on the minds of millions across the globe who witnessed Egyptians inspire the world as they rose up against a brutal authoritarian state: What happened to Egypt’s revolution? In hindsight, it has become clear that the moment the Egyptian military took on the official reins of leadership through the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) on February 11, 2011, a pall was cast on the people’s revolutionary aspirations. What was supposed to be a historic political opening to transition Egypt onto a more democratic political trajectory resulted in a regression to military domination where soldiers, rather than civilians, control the levers of political, economic, and security power. This is part of a larger project that addresses the role of law and the judiciary in Egypt’s stillborn revolution. As such, this article provides the political backdrop in the lead up to January 25 and the key political decisions made by the SCAF and the military-backed interim government led by President Adly Mansour, which lays the foundation for my future articles on the Egyptian judiciary and the role of law in Egypt’s post-January 25 aftermath. In doing so, I analyze the historic events of the past three years to address the first of two pressing questions: 1) did January 25, 2011 permanently redirect Egypt’s political trajectory toward a more democratic, openly contested political system and 2) what role did the law play in producing the outcome? Here, I argue that, as of the fall of 2014, Egypt shows signs of increasing political contestations at the margins while simultaneously regressing to repressive state policing practices firmly under the grip of the military. There is a growing tension between Egyptian youth’s expectations of meaningful political change, regardless of their political or religious persuasions, and the state apparatus reverting to calls for stability at the expense of political rights. In the end, the military hijacked a revolutionary moment by transforming it into a mere uprising. Recognizing Egypt’s missed opportunity to have the revolutionary outcome called for by its youth paves the way for an honest discussion on whether a real revolution is imminent, if not inevitable.

From State Exclusionary Politics to Youth Inclusionary Practices: The Tahrir Square Experience

In the four years since the uprising of January 25, 2011, Egypt has undergone many changes—but exactly what kind of changes? Although January 25, 2011, is marked as the beginning of a revolution, its precise meaning remains unclear regarding how to analyze its outcomes related to transformative social change. When focusing on institutions, revolutionary changes are indeed largely invisible four years later in that they have not fundamentally transformed to ease Egyptians’ daily practices and living conditions. Instead of just looking at institutional changes, the revolution sparked a temporary opening to the general Egyptian public, and youth especially, during the 18 days until the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak. This opening, I argue, has affected youth activism that focuses on unity and inclusion in response to many years of exclusionary state politics. This article analyzes the discourse on Egyptian youth from the state’s perspective since Egypt’s independence, highlighting the escalating exclusionary practices over the years due to sociopolitical and economic strategies. Using Tahrir Square as a focus for understanding the dynamics of youth activism, I argue that although this temporary opening was marked by inclusionary youth activism, it did not overcome those mental structures in their imagination for change as a more cohesive and inclusionary society.