Social Capital and Local Water Management in Egypt by Gouda Dalia M.;

Author:Gouda, Dalia M.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The American University in Cairo Press
Published: 2016-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Rules of the Game in the Village Field

The current rules of the game within the village field are complex, as they include some past norms as well as new ones. Consequently, there are two groups within the village field: those who seek to sustain the old rules of the game that belong to the older generation, and the younger generation that is keen to establish new rules, with regard to interaction with senior people, mutual support, the roles of women, and access to benefits.

As a result, norms that emphasize obedience and respect to senior and high-ranking people currently sit alongside rules stressing equal treatment and rights among villagers. Villagers from both governorates said that they are aware of their rights as a result of education. Villagers from Fayoum case study areas also spoke of lawyers who help them in knowing more about their rights. Thus, villagers know that the umda or the police are not allowed by law to physically harm them, and if someone does they can report or sue him. Equitable norms developed as a result of increased exposure and social mobility by villagers and young peoples’ rejection of the authority of family elders who could no longer fulfil their needs. Additionally, the weakening of the state’s means of symbolic violence—bureaucracy, welfare services, and control of mass media—has affected all authority structures at central and local levels.

Mutual support has become limited to family elders, while young people provide support to others only if it does not affect them in terms of money and effort. This rests on norms of increased individuality and easy access to gains without effort through wasta and khawater, capitalizing on increased connections from education and migration, as well as the poor performance of state institutions. Furthermore, good standing among villagers is no longer only linked to doing good, but also to having money and connections. At the same time, women have de facto taken on more roles outside the home as a result of men’s absence. There are some, however, who still perceive it to be a disgrace and thus deny it; this was more apparent in Fayoum case study areas than in KSH.

The struggle between old and new rules of the game is a result of increased exposure and the multiplicity of socialization means, such as education provided by the state, migration, television, internet—which has allowed villagers to see themselves the world in new ways—at the same time as the traditional means of socialization through the family and the community have deterioriated, as well as that of the state. All this has allowed the younger generation—endowed with different types of capital—to challenge traditional social positions and norms, which has influenced community interactions.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.