Dec.2008
In this paper, I am going to discuss five social problems that exist in the Middle East. As I am studying in the American University in Cairo, in this research paper, I am going to focus on the problems exist in Egypt. Every society has its own social problems. Everyone in any society should pay attention to social problems because they have direct effects on people. One problem can cause another social problem because society is connected and one component affects the other component. A definition of every social problem should be mentioned. Another important point that should be discussed is reasons and consequences of every social problem. In addition, sociological theories should be mentioned as to view the scientific explanation for every social problem. Finally, solutions for every social problem should be mentioned to stabilize any society.
Five social problems that would be discussed in this paper are high rate of crimes in the Egyptian society, housing problem, unemployment in Egypt, public transportation and smoking. Those are the five social problems that would be discussed in this paper. Reasons, consequences, statistics, real examples and solutions for every problem would be mentioned. In addition, sociological theories of every social problem would be discussed to explain every problem theoretically. By pointing the problem out and discussing it theoretically, we can propose possible solutions for the problem if possible.
The first social problem that would be discussed is the high rate of crimes in the Egyptian society. First of all the definition of crime should be mentioned. Crime is the violation of the laws of the state and the state can apply sanction for this violation (‘Mooney, Knox and Schacht’). The Egyptian society nowadays is experiencing a high rate of crimes of its different types; Street, family and group crimes are very common in the Egyptian society these days.
Examples of crimes in the Egyptian society are several especially in recent years. For example, at the end of 2008, the rate of crimes has raised to the extent of reading two or more details of crimes in the media especially newspapers and TV.
The first example of crime is the child, Islam Amr Badr eleven years old, who was killed by his teacher in Alexandria. Haitham Nabil is a Mathematics teacher in Islam’s school twenty three years old, who kicked Islam to death because he did not finish part of the homework (‘Abo Shal and AlSharkawy’). Islam was sent to the hospital because he fainted after he was hit then he died after hours because of heart failure (‘Abo Shal and AlSharkawy’). The police caught the teacher to ask and start investigation about the murdering of eleven years old child. The teacher defended himself by saying he did not mean to kill the child but just to punish him for not doing the homework. This accident raises the issue of hitting children in Egyptian schools. Any type of hitting in the Egyptian schools is illegal according to the Egyptian laws. However, many are violating the rules and hit children in schools. Pupils in Egyptian public schools are suffering from hitting and no one punishes the teachers. The case of the pupil, Islam, has taken the huge coverage from the Media and government because the pupil was killed from hitting. Previous cases of hitting pupils did not take this care and coverage as children whether afraid of reporting as they will be fired from school or the pupils are just hit without being killed. This phenomenon is very common nowadays as it is not about hitting children but killing them as well. “I did not expect that when I sent my child to school would return home as a dead body”, the father of Islam said (‘Abo Shal and AlSharkawy’). This shows that parents nowadays are afraid of sending their children to school because they might be killed as the case of Islam. This accident raises another important point which is the change of schools image in parents and children mind from a place to receive education to a death place. Schools have become the place where hitting, killing and bad things are common. Schools are not for educating and teaching students how to behave properly and a safe place to send children to anymore. The image of schools has changed to a scary image. For example, also in Alexandria a student who is 16 years old was injured in his neck and brain when he tried to jump from the second floor to run and escape from school (‘Abo Shal and AlSharkawy’). This indicates how children hate school and scared from teachers and everything related to school. Furthermore, the image of teachers has been changed and they are viewed as criminals even if the teacher who killed Islam is innocent. As the teacher who is accused of killing Islam was sent to jail until the court decide what punishment he deserves. Islam’s parents and everyone are waiting for the court judgment until now. In my opinion, this teacher even if he did not mean to kill the child, he should be punished because he violated the laws by kicking this child to death. Also, he should be punished so other teachers would not think of hitting children and to learn a lesson of what happened to Islam.
The second example of crime is the act of murdering of two girls in the 6th of October city. Heba AlAkkad and Nadine were the victims of this awful crime. Heba AlAkkad is the daughter of the famous Moroccan singer, Laila Ghufran. The police immediately have started an investigation to find the murderer. After few days of investigating, the police caught Mahmud Sayed 20 years old who is suspected to be the murderer of the two girls. After checking the available evidence, the suspect admitted that he committed the murdering of the two girls (‘Ahmed’). Until these days, the parents of two victims suspect that this boy, Mahmud, did it as he looks weak. Victim’s parents especially Heba’s parents think that there is another one who did it or may be someone paid for Mahmud to commit murdering of Heba and Nadine. (‘Ahmed’). The reason that was raised behind killing the two girls is to steal money as the murderer needs money. However, the killer did not steal anything except the mobile and some cash which might raise suspect that the murderer wanted to kill not to steal (‘Ahmed’). This crime shows how some people might feel they are unsafe in their own home. Some residents of some gated communities such as the 6th of October especially Sheikh Zayed city feel they are unsafe although security is supposed to be strict in these small cities. Also, this crime raises another point which is the carelessness of people as no one helped the two girls and listened to their screams. The carelessness of the Egyptians nowadays is really a big problem that should be discussed to find solutions for this phenomenon.
The third crime is the murdering of the Lebanese singer, Suzan Tameem in August 2008. The two suspects of killing her are the famous businessman and a member in the Egyptian Perelman, Hesham Talaat, and Mohsen AlSukkari. This case has taken big coverage from the media because Hesham Talaat is a public figure that people would like to follow up the investigation and the trial (‘Abo Alez’). The investigation has shown that Hesham Talaat asked AlSukari to kill Suzan Tameem for 1 million dollars (‘Abo Alez’). Also, some rumors have declared that Hesham talaat is the husaband of Suzan Tameem and asked AlSukkari to kill her for personal purposes. The trail is keep going and no clear punishment has been declared yet as the police is still asking the suspects and investigating. This crime shows how famous businessmen and public figures can be involved in such crimes for personal reasons. In addition, the image of public figures would be changed. Furthermore, this crime might indicate the rate of corruption in the Egyptian government.
The reasons behind the rate of crimes in the Egyptian society are several. One of the reasons is the media and the violence in movies, series, internet and video games. According to an interview with Dr. Azza Kareem a sociologist on Nile TV for news on the 5th of December 2008, violence scenes in the Egyptian movies or series would raise the aggression, especially within the youth. As a result, those young people would try to be like what they see on TV and be criminals or aggressive. Also, at the same program, Sahar Abd Alrahman, a journalist, mentioned carelessness of people is increased nowadays as there are no strict laws to protect people’s lives. Crimes and violence have become normal in the Egyptian society, Mrs. Abd Alrahman added.
Sociological theories explain crimes in a theoretical and scientific way. According to the structural functionalist theory, crime is functional for society as people would learn that everybody would violate laws would be punished and this strengthens the solidarity of society. Also, crime can lead to a social change. Robert Merton developed strain theory. This theory explains the reasons of committing crimes as there is inconsistency between the legal goals (for example money) and the legitimate means to reach these goals (getting a job). There are five different concepts of strain theory that explains people behavior and why there are some people who violate laws and commit crimes. Conformity is the first concept when people accept the legitimate goals and means while Innovation is the second concept when people accept the legitimate goals but refuse the legitimate means to achieve goals. Ritualism is the third concept and occurs when people accept specific lifestyle but reject the cultural goal. Retreatism is the fourth concept and happens when people reject both the legitimate means and goals. Rebellion is the final concept when people reject both legitimate goals and means and create new goals and means (‘Mooney, Knox and Schacht’).
The third example of crime mentioned above of the man who killed two girls to steal shows that this person takes the innovation concept to reach the goal of getting money but with illegal means which is killing.
Also, conflict theory explains that the gap between low and high class is widening which can result in committing crimes. The third example of committing a crime of killing two girls from high class demonstrates that the conflict theory is right.
One of the solutions to address the issue of high rate of crimes is to raise the awareness of people about violence. Also, families should educate their children how to respect the others and avoid watching violent movies. In addition, government should put strict laws so people would be afraid to violate laws fearing of rigid punishment.
The second social problem that would be discussed is housing problem in Egypt. Egypt has experienced housing problem since the 1950s as the population growth has rapidly increased (‘Feiler’). Evidence shows that growth in Egypt doubled in the period of 1897 to1947 and again doubled in 1947 to 1976 (‘Feiler’). Overpopulation has led to housing problem as many people are concentrated in Cairo especially in the Nile and Delta area (‘Feiler’). The total land area is roughly one million square kms. However, only 38,500 km2 invested in the area along the Nile River and its Delta (‘Feiler’). The pressure on Cairo and other urban areas has led to housing problem (‘Stewart’). Emigration from rural areas to urban areas seeking better jobs opportunities and better lifestyles is another reason of overpopulation and pressure on Cairo (‘Stewart’). Egypt population is almost 80 millions nowadays and can be increased (‘Stewart’). Almost one million live in informal housing such as slums (‘Stewart’). Slums are random housing that people randomly live in. These slums do not receive the essential services such as sewage, electricity and water services (‘Stewart’). Also one of the results of housing problem in Cairo is that nearly one million live in rooftops of buildings (‘Stewart’). Moreover, evidence shows that almost one million live in graveyards where dead people are buried and sometimes it is called “city of deads” (‘Stewart’). All these informal housings do not offer proper services because the government does not authorize people to live in but some people can not offer living in other proper places. Consequently, people have to find alternatives to live in as the government is not able to offer proper housing for them (‘Stewart’). Another consequence of housing problem is that those informal and random places might be the source of producing criminals and drug users (‘Stewart’). Final consequence is that lack of housing can delay the youth getting married. As a result, phenomenon such as sexual harassment would be increased in such communities.
The government is trying to solve housing problem by constructing new cities which are located in the desert. Examples of new cities are as 6th of October, Alobor, Sadat city and 10th of Ramadan city. The main goal of building those cities is to attract businessmen to invest in these areas especially the desert. Also, another goal is to attract people to live in those areas as a solution for housing problem and to reduce housing pressure on Cairo (‘Stewart’). Although these cities have attracted some people to live and invest, high class and businessmen tend to go and live in those new cities; the reason for that is the high cost for middle and low class to go and live in those city. Another reason is that most these cities are owned by private companies not the government. As a result, the costs would be high for low class to buy in those cities (‘Stewart’).
The sociological theories such as conflict theory explain some of the reasons for housing problem. Conflict theorists concentrate how the competition for wealth, power and prestige can create a gap between different classes. As we can see that the government does not control the housing business but private companies do. This can lead to low class can not offer buying or investing in new cities. Consequently, people would live in informal housing such as slums. During the regime of president Naser, he adopted what is called “Arab Socialism” which favored lowered income people and redirecting some resources from the higher income groups to lower groups (‘Stewart’). This resulted in a reducing the gap between classes. However, president Saddat regime in 1970s promoted the private sector and high class (‘Stewart’). All these examples support what conflict theory has explained about different classes and competition for prestige and wealth (‘Mooney, Knox and Schacht’).
A solution that might be applied to address housing problem is that government should care more about offering proper housing to people seeking housing. Also, government should control housing business by reducing costs of new cities and help the youth finding houses to live in. Wages people from low classes and middle class get should be raised. Moreover, a temporary solution is to provide people who live in slums and informal housing essential services of sewage, electricity and water.
The third social problem is unemployment in Egypt. Unemployment is a sever problem that Egypt has experienced since the 1970s (‘Bilgin and Kilicarslan’). Egypt is not the only country which has experienced unemployment but most MENA, the Middle East and North Africa, have experienced this problem. 12.2 percent of unemployed people are from MENA countries (‘Bilgin and Kilicarslan’). Most of those unemployed people are young people (‘Bilgin and Kilicarslan’). According to the World Employment Report 2004-2005, job opportunities are not enough for seekers jobs in the Middle East and North Africa (‘Bilgin and Kilicarslan’). This shows that the reason for unemployment in the Middle East and North Africa is the lack of job opportunities. What also causes unemployment is the high growth rate especially in Egypt and also rapid demand on labor force (‘Bilgin and Kilicarslan’). Women participate more nowadays on labor force than before which causes pressure on labor force. Unemployment is more common among women as they are not that favored. Also, the rate of unemployment these days in Egypt is higher among people with high level of education than lower education (‘Bilgin and Kilicarslan’). 55 percent of unemployed people in Egypt are the ones with intermediate education (‘Bilgin and Kilicarslan’). This shows that education is not a key anymore for guaranteed job after graduation. Many graduated people from engineering and medical schools can not find jobs after graduation (‘Bilgin and Kilicarslan’). The Egyptian government has tried to solve unemployment problem by promoting family planning and offering job opportunities (‘Bilgin and Kilicarslan’).
Sociological theories have explained reasons and facts about unemployment problem. The structural functionalists explain how work is essential of everyone in society. Work is important because it provides people with essential needs. Consequently, when people can not find jobs to provide these basic needs, people would be affected badly. Plus, without meeting the basic needs for individuals, people can not move to another step which seeking wealth and other secondary needs.
There might be solutions for unemployment problem and can reach them step by step. The first step should be taken is to control population by imposing strict population policy to control population. By reducing population, main reason causing unemployment would be addressed and solved. Offering job opportunities should be offered to young people. Also, the government should pay more attention to educated people and also the quality of education people get. . Egypt should also attract its people to invest their skills in Egypt not migrating. However, with offering good job opportunities, people would not think of migration to other countries such as Gulf areas or the West. To conclude, solving unemployment is like a cycle that we should start from one side and move to the other one.
The fourth social problem is public transportation services in Egypt. Public transportation of taxis, buses, and trains is problematic in the Egyptian street. The quality of these transportations is not good as to compare to other developed countries. Bad public transportation can have consequences such as the high rate of accidents in private cars and public transportation as well. First of all, the Egyptian traffic has always labeled as “chaotic” (‘Gregory’). The traffic behavior reflects the social interaction between people (‘Gregory’). Egyptian people just get used to the chaos in the street and have become part of their culture (‘Gregory’). One reason for this chaos in the Egyptian street is overpopulation (‘Gregory’). Overpopulation has caused many problems in the Egyptian society and chaos in the Egyptian traffic; public transportation is one of these consequences.
To understand the problem of public transportation problem, consequences of bad public transportation should be addressed. The first example is when five people were killed in the high way of Kafr Alsheikh city (‘Abdullah’). The reason of this accident was the unlimited speed that drivers drive. This unlimited speed has caused death of many people in the Eid holiday. Actually four accidents happened at the same days. One accident was the accident of a bus for tourists as a result of the rain; one girl was killed in this accident and 8 were injured (‘Abdullah’) .This accident can affect the tourism business in Egypt. Egypt’s income depends on tourism. As a result, such accidents can reduce the rate of tourists who visit Egypt. Consequently, the economy of Egypt can be affected negatively as well. The second accident was the accident of the crash of two cars and one person was killed and 6 people were injured (‘Abdullah’). The third accident is the crash of one car and motorcycle and one person was killed. The final accident was when one taxi driver hit one child when she was trying to cross the street to celebrate the Eid (‘Abdullah’). Another accident was the death of 14 people as a bus crashed in its way from Al Menia to Alexandria (‘AlHussieny’).
All these accidents show the high rate of carelessness of people. Also, this shows how the Egyptian street is not safe and chaotic. In addition, some of these accidents demonstrate that the quality of public transportation is not efficient so people would use it easily. As a result, people have to use their private transportation such as cars to reach their university or to do shopping.
The government has tried to solve this problem by providing new taxis which is called “City Cab”. City Cab is very good service and there is specific fees to pay for any journey unlike the normal taxis. In the beginning of hosting this service, the service was very good and efficient. However, the quality of City Cab service has become bad recently and turns to be as bad as the normal taxis. The problem is there are no strict laws that punish everyone who violate traffic laws.
The sociological theories explain some of the reasons for traffic and transportation problem. Symbolic internationalist perspective focuses on how meanings and labels can control people’s interaction and personalities. The case of the Egyptian street supports this theory. People in Egypt are labeled as chaotic; as a result, people would follow what’s norm in the street. For example, if you have driving rules in your mind, you can not follow the rules because you might be hurt. This is the case of Egypt because it is chaotic and you should be like others.
Solutions for this transportation problem are several; one of these solutions is imposing strict laws in the Egyptian laws which can protect people’s right of driving safely. Also, anyone who violates these laws should be punished or pay fines for this violation. As a result, people would follow the rules and then people feel safe walking and driving in the Egyptian street. Moreover, public transportation services of taxis, buses and trains should be improved. Consequently people would use these services. This also can reduce pollution which is another big problem Egypt has experienced since years. To conclude, laws should be imposed so people would feel safe that there is laws in the country could protect them. It is the responsibility of the Egyptian government to improve the public transportation. On the other hand, if the government is unable of improve public services, the government can hand this mission to private companies hoping to improve these services. In addition, another solution is to reduce the exportation of cars and limit people to have specific cars.
The final social problem is smoking. Smoking rate is very high in the Middle East. Young people are the most common groups who smoke. Smoking is supposed to be a freedom of expression. However, smoking not only harms the person who smokes but harms other people that surrounded this smoker as well; this is called negative smoking. For example, I do not smoke but some people in the university, street and public places smoke. This can affect my health and also can violate my freedom as I do not want to smoke but others smoke in public spaces. As a result, some developed countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom forbidden smoking in public and close places (‘Day’). Anyone who smokes in public places such as buses, trains and buildings would have to pay fines for that. For example, in the United Kingdom, anyone who smokes in trains would pay one thousand pound (‘Day’). This shows that there is strict laws that punish everyone violates the rules. People would not follow the rules unless there are rigid and strict laws. These sever laws protect the smoker and non smoker rights (‘Day’). The problem in the Arab countries is that there are no strict laws that forbidden smoking anywhere. Some places ban smoking but not all people follow this ban as there are no fines for violating laws (‘Day’). As we all know smoking has harmful effects on people’s health whether smokers or non smokers (‘Key’). Children are the ones who are most affected by smoking habit especially if the mother is a smoker (‘Key’). Smoking of the mother during pregnancy period can affect the mother’s health and later the baby’s health (‘Key’). Smoking can lead to sever health problems such as lungs cancer, heart disease and other diseases (‘Key’). Smoking not only cause health problem but can also worsen other diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure (‘Key’). In Egypt, most males smoke and unfortunately start smoking from a very young age. Most taxi drivers are smokers and this is against the human rights as non smokers should enjoy not smoking everywhere.
Sociological theories addresses smoking problem. Symbolic internationalists concentrate on how labels and meaning can enforce people to act in a specific way. For example, there is an important question that should be asked and it is why do young people tend to smoke? According to the symbolic internationalist perspective, smokers are labeled to be strong and tough men. As a result, young people who would like to prove they are strong and prove to adults they are important try to smoke to be labeled as strong. Furthermore, young people are affected easily by their peers in schools and university and they would not like to be different from their peers. As a result, they choose to smoke to be like their peers. Also sometimes teenagers would like to try everything new so they would try smoking and later could not give up. Sometimes children can be affected by their family if one of the adults in family smoke, they would like to do as adults do.
Many solutions can be mentioned to solve smoking problem. Solutions can be the responsibility of the government, family and media. The first solution is on the hand of the Egyptian and government. First the government in Egypt should impose strict laws that ban smoking in public places as many countries are trying to limit smoking to specific places. For example, taxi drivers should not smoke during their shift and if the police catch any taxi drivers who smoke fine should be paid. Those laws need control and follow up from the government not just imposing laws without any control; if so people would follow the laws for specific time then will violate those laws later. The second solution is on the hand of family. Family should watch their children and prevent them from smoking because it is harmful for their health. Children are not responsible for their behavior so parents should watch and teach them what’s wrong and right. Media has the third role in solving smoking problem. Advertising of smoking on TV should be banned even if there is a warning of the bad effects of smoking. Also, campaigns on TV should be held to teach people that smoking is not a good habit. Moreover, some movies especially in the Arab world include smoking scenes that can promote audiences to smoke. As a result, these scenes should be reduced on TV series and movies.
Works Cited
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