Middle-Class Perceptions of Poverty in Cairo

Abstract

This thesis looks at middle-class Cairenese perceptions of poverty in the capital of Egypt, Cairo. Moreover, it discusses the difficulty of defining class in Egypt. The aim of this study has been to find out how middle-class Cairenese discuss and explain poverty and the life of the poor people in Cairo. Thus poverty in this research is looked at from a ‘second order perspective’ that is adopted from phenomenography; the methodological approach of this thesis. Oscar Lewis’ culture of poverty is the theoretical approach of this thesis, and many of the interviewees of this study have, what I would call, “a culture of poverty-attitude” on the poor. Even though a blaming-the-poor-attitude can be seen when looking at the perceptions of the interviewees, this study also argues that quantitative estimates of the socio-economic situation in Egypt must be taken account when explaining and looking at poverty and the life of the poor in Cairo.