Avenues of Participation: Family, Politics, and Networks in Urban Quarters of Cairo / Edition 1

by Diane Singerman

Overview

Intentionally excluded from formal politics in authoritarian states by reigning elites, do the common people have concrete ways of achieving community objectives? Contrary to conventional wisdom, this book demonstrates that they do. Focusing on the political life of the sha'b (or popular classes) in Cairo, Diane Singerman shows how men and women develop creative and effective strategies to accomplish shared goals, despite the dominant forces ranged against them. Starting at the household level in one densely populated neighborhood of Cairo, Singerman examines communal patterns of allocation, distribution, and decision-making. Combining the institutional focus of political science with the sensitivities of anthropology, she uncovers a system of informal networks, supported by an informal economy, that constitutes another layer of collective institutions within Egypt and allows excluded groups to pursue their interests.

Avenues of Participation traces this informal system from its grounding in the family to its influence on the larger polity. Discussing the role of these networks in meeting fundamental needs in the community—such as earning a living, reproducing the family, saving and investing money, and coping with the bureaucracy—Singerman demonstrates the surprising power these "excluded" people wield. While the government has reduced politics to the realm of distribution to protect itself from challenges, she argues that the popular classes in Cairo, as consumers of goods and services, have turned exploiting the government into a fine art.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691025681
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	08/11/1996
Series:	Princeton Studies in Muslim Politics , #5
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	358
Product dimensions:	7.75(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Diane Singerman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Government, School of Public Affairs, at The American University.

Table of Contents

List of Tables
Foreword
Acknowledgments
A Note on Transliteration
Introduction	3
Egypt and Popular Political Expression	5
The Context and Approach of the Study	17
Ch. 1	The Family, Politics, and the Familial Ethos	41
The Public/Private Dichotomy and Political Participation	44
Patrimonialism, the Family, and Participation in a Middle Eastern Context	45
The Familial Ethos	49
Conclusion: An Ethos beyond the Household	71
Ch. 2	Reproducing the Family	74
Choosing a Mate: "Shababiik, shababiik, id-dunya kullaha shababiik"	77
Marriage Protocol, or the Rules of Engagement	85
Sexuality and the Transgression of Public Norms	92
The Cost of Marriage: An Economic Nightmare	109
Raising the Capital to Marry	121
Conclusions: Marriage, the Economy, and the State	126
Ch. 3	Networks: The Political Lifeline of Community	132
Earning a Living	138
Development: Education Networks	160
The Bureaucracy and the State	164
Ch. 4	Informality: Politics and Economics in Tandem	173
Informal and Formal Economic Activity in a Shabi Community	179
Family Enterprises	199
Informality Meets the State	205
The Shab and Informality: Wages and Wealth	231
Informality: The Economic and Political Consequences for the Nation	238
Ch. 5	Politics as Distribution	244
Private Voluntary Organizations: A Mediated Distribution Point	246
Elite Politics, the State, and the Shab	255
Conclusions	269
Notes	273
Bibliography	315
Index	331

Editorial Reviews

"Political anthropology of a high order. Singerman shows how family ties empower people....Her picture of women black marketeers is especially revealing. As a social scientist, she is determined to challenge the stereotype of the passive urban poor, and she makes a largely successful case for seeing politics in other than elite terms."

Foreign Affairs

Singerman's work cuts across a variety of disciplines—comparative political science, anthropology and sociology, women's studies, and economics—and all are handled deftly. . . . She is a superb writer and has produced an enjoyable, informative, and challenging piece of scholarship.

Middle East Journal - Denis J. Sullivan

[An] outstanding piece of scholarship that forces us to rethink and broaden our understanding of political participation to better appreciate the alternative institutions that marginalized communities create in order to satisfy their political and economic needs. . . . [Singerman's] vivid account is one of only a handful of studies that provide a detailed picture of the daily political and economic experiences of lower-class communities in the Middle East.

American Journal of Sociology - Guilain Denoeux

Singerman's work cuts across a variety of disciplines—comparative political science, anthropology and sociology, women's studies, and economics—and all are handled deftly. . . . She is a superb writer and has produced an enjoyable, informative, and challenging piece of scholarship.
— Denis J. Sullivan

Middle East Journal

[An] outstanding piece of scholarship that forces us to rethink and broaden our understanding of political participation to better appreciate the alternative institutions that marginalized communities create in order to satisfy their political and economic needs. . . . [Singerman's] vivid account is one of only a handful of studies that provide a detailed picture of the daily political and economic experiences of lower-class communities in the Middle East.
— Guilain Denoeux

American Journal of Sociology

"[An] outstanding piece of scholarship that forces us to rethink and broaden our understanding of political participation to better appreciate the alternative institutions that marginalized communities create in order to satisfy their political and economic needs. . . . [Singerman's] vivid account is one of only a handful of studies that provide a detailed picture of the daily political and economic experiences of lower-class communities in the Middle East."—-Guilain Denoeux, American Journal of Sociology

"Singerman's work cuts across a variety of disciplines—comparative political science, anthropology and sociology, women's studies, and economics—and all are handled deftly. . . . She is a superb writer and has produced an enjoyable, informative, and challenging piece of scholarship."—-Denis J. Sullivan, Middle East Journal

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