Comments on: A Question of Class http://www.mideastyouth.com/2008/07/08/a-question-of-class/ Thinking Ahead Sat, 11 Feb 2012 20:46:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: anon http://www.mideastyouth.com/2008/07/08/a-question-of-class/#comment-20196 anon Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:47:59 +0000 http://www.mideastyouth.com/2008/07/08/a-question-of-class/#comment-20196 I don't know if my family emigrated to the US due to the ability to attain a "classlessness", but money and the opportunities I would be able to have in the US as opposed to Egypt as a minority and a female with rather limited monetary resources were the motivating factors in why my parents chose to leave. I've found that "class" seems to be a much bigger deal amongst arabs than it is amongst your average joe american. My grandmother was a servant and my grandfather a fruit/vegetable picker who never went to school and the absolute looks of disgust and comments of dismay I've gotten from arabs (even ones that have been raised to a large extent in the US) when this sort of topic comes up in conversation is something I've never encountered amongst nonarab americans. I do think it is much easier to succeed in the west irrespective of what social strata you come from (my family being text book example of this). From what I've seen in the ME/NA how far you can go seems to be in large part dictated by your father's connections and what position your family is in already. (Not that this isn't so in the west for a lot of people, it just seems like a smaller degree to me). The idea of "if you work really hard you can do anything" doesn't seem as applicable in my mind to the Arab world as it would in places like the UK in your case. I'm really not an expert so feel free to lambast my opinion :) I don’t know if my family emigrated to the US due to the ability to attain a “classlessness”, but money and the opportunities I would be able to have in the US as opposed to Egypt as a minority and a female with rather limited monetary resources were the motivating factors in why my parents chose to leave.

I’ve found that “class” seems to be a much bigger deal amongst arabs than it is amongst your average joe american. My grandmother was a servant and my grandfather a fruit/vegetable picker who never went to school and the absolute looks of disgust and comments of dismay I’ve gotten from arabs (even ones that have been raised to a large extent in the US) when this sort of topic comes up in conversation is something I’ve never encountered amongst nonarab americans.

I do think it is much easier to succeed in the west irrespective of what social strata you come from (my family being text book example of this). From what I’ve seen in the ME/NA how far you can go seems to be in large part dictated by your father’s connections and what position your family is in already. (Not that this isn’t so in the west for a lot of people, it just seems like a smaller degree to me). The idea of “if you work really hard you can do anything” doesn’t seem as applicable in my mind to the Arab world as it would in places like the UK in your case.
I’m really not an expert so feel free to lambast my opinion :)

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