Abstract
The economic exclusion of youth under 30 years of age in the Middle East, in general, and Egypt, in particular, has received attention by several scholars in recent years. However, little is known about the beliefs and attitudes of this group of young people that might have contributed to or resulted from their social and economic exclusion. The present paper attempts to analyze survey data based on representative samples of the Egyptian publics 15 years of age and over conducted since 2000-2001. Egypt is at a stage in its demographic transition with a marked "youth bulge," a period in which the proportion of youth in the population is increasing significantly compared to other age groups. It is expected that the present investigation will provide valuable information that might have policy implications for developing strategies to deal with the economic and social exclusions of youth in Egypt and other Arab countries in the Middle East.
The present analysis will focus on youth culture or value changes along selected number of indicators that reflect their religious, political, and cultural orientations. The selection of comparable indicators over the ten years period will enable us to understand their value changes vis-a-vie family and faith, gender issues, work ethic, identity formation, politics, attitudes towards the environment, the community, and their future orientations.
During the course of the analysis, we will address the following questions:
1. What are the sources of their knowledge of society and the
worldo
2. How much do global influences, such as the media and the internet, have on their values and beliefsi
3. What role do authoritative sources, as represented by their parents and religious institutions, have on their values and beliefsi
4. What shapes their views of the socio-political and cultural issues facing their societyi
5. How do they view the direction in which their society is goingo
6. Do they have much hope for the futuret
7. What are the factors that shape their world orientations o
8. How do they view the job situation and their possibilities for entrepreneurships
In answering the above questions, we expect that understanding the attitudes of Egyptian youth will shed some light on their priorities in life and give insights on the norms that shape their lives.
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