Results
The following is a summary of the results obtained from survey responses. Of the 102 survey samples sent out to target audience, 64 replied and agreed to confidentially share their answers.
Figure 1
The pie chart demonstrates that majority of participants are legal citizens of Egypt. Of the 64 participants about 97% were Egyptians, and only 3% were non-Egyptian.
Figure 2
As expressed by the pie chart above, 98.4% of the participants aged between 15 to 26 years old. While only 1.6% the participants aged from 27 to 35 years old. No participants were below 15 or above 35 years old.
Figure 3
All participants held some educational degree. 73% reported that they hold a general high school diploma. Of those participants who obtained a high school diploma, 1.5% specified that they hold a Russian high school diploma, and another 2% specified that they hold an Egyptian high school diploma, Thanwya Amma. 15.6% obtained a bachelor’s degree, and only about 11% earned middle school certificates.
Figure 4
The bar chart shows that 52% of the people who answered this question feel that their work ethics resemble the Western culture more than the Egyptian one; while 30% classified that their work ethics resemble the Egyptian culture more than the wester one. 7.8% chose I don’t know, and only 6.3% felt that their work ethics only reflected the western culture. Of the remaining responses, 1.6 % chose that their work ethics resemble the Egyptian culture only, and the other 1.6% felt that their work ethics reflect both cultures equally.
Figure 5
when asked about the degree to which they feel affected by western trends, nearly 47% participants replied that they only feel that to a little degree, and 39% said that they extremely feel that. 12.5% didn’t feel that western trends affect their daily lives. The remaining 1.6% didn’t know whether western trends affect their daily lives or not.
Figure 6
The bar graph above shows that about half of participants felt that western trends are replacing the Egyptian culture to a certain extent. One-fourth reported that they extremely felt the western trends are replacing the Egyptian culture. Of the remaining participants, 20% didn’t feel that the Egyptian culture is being replaced by the western trends, and the remaining 2.2% were divided equally between those didn’t know and those who felt that this phenomenon can be observed in the upper class only.
Figure 7
As noticed from the pie chart, the participants’ answers were divided greatly, with 30% choosing that they somewhat object the replacing of western trends to the Egyptian culture. On the other hand, 22% choose that they somewhat don’t object this replacing process. An equal number of participants, 17.2% for each choice, felt either neutral towards the subject of question, or felt that they completely object such replacement. The remaining 14.1% welcomed the idea of western trends replacing the Egyptian culture.
Figure 8
As the figure above demonstrates, about 43% of respondents didn’t think that the spreading of western ideas in Egypt is deliberately done by the west to control the Egyptian people. While 20% thought that the west to somewhat intentionally spreads its ideas to control Egypt. 15.6% of respondents thought that the west intentionally respreads its ideas to control Egypt. 9.4% didn’t know, and 6.3% didn’t feel that western trends are replacing the Egyptian culture. some participants choose to add their own reposes, as 2.2% added that the west is intentionally spreading its ideas to control all cultures, not only Egyptian one. Another 1.6% added that there is no distinctive Egyptian culture, while the remaining 1.6% felt that the Egyptian people deliberately sought trendy western ideas.
Figure 9
when asked about the extent to which they think multimedia platforms are responsible for the spread of western trends in Egypt, 60% of participants agreed strongly that the media is extremely responsible. A percentage slightly more than 30% reported that the media are somewhat responsible. An equal percentage of participants felt either neutral or didn’t know, constituting the remaining 3.1% percent for each choice. no participant reported that they felt that the media is not responsible at all for the spread of western ideas in Egypt.
Figure 10
As shown in the pie chart, 42.2% of participants who were asked about the extent to which they feel the military is main political decision maker in Egypt completely agreed that the military totally controls Egypt. 25% said maybe the military is involved in the governing process of the country to some extent. 20% didn’t know. while 9.4% disagreed, as they felt that the military’s only role was to protect Egypt.
Figure 11
The bar graph shows that almost 40% felt that they don’t know whether the military allows the spread of western ideas to control Egypt. The percentage of participants who felt that the military spreads western ideas to control the Egyptian people was only 3% higher than the percentage of participants who said that the military doesn’t allow the spread of western ideas in Egypt at all. both percentages combined constituted about 40% of the total responses to the question. Only 12.5% felt that the military spreads western ideas deliberately to control the people. Some participants, 9.9% to be exact, added their opinion that the military neither allows nor restricts the spread of western ideas in Egypt.
Figure 12
As per the pie chart above, almost two thirds of participants expected that the Egyptian culture will have to adapt western ideas to survive the future. One third expected that they Egyptian culture can survive the future without having to change. 4.7% of percipients said they don’t know, and only 1.6% expected that the Egyptian culture will have to completely adapt to western trends and ideas to survive the future.
Figure 13
According the bar graph, more than 80% of participants reported that either multimedia platforms or the Egyptian people are most responsible for allowing the spread of western trends in Egypt. The remaining 12% of participants felt either neutral, felt the military is the main catalyst for the spread of western ideas, or felt that the people and multimedia platforms have equal influence on allowing western trends in Egypt.
The first interview with the Rhetoric professor introduced before began with the question of whether the western culture is replacing the Egyptian one. Interviewee replied that she has observed an adaptative behavior by the upper, educated class more compared to the majority, lower classes. She gave an example of the clothes patterns displayed by the different classes of Egypt, as girls of upper classes tend to wear more revealing clothes, while girls of lower classes tend to wear the “hijab” while still wearing tight clothes. She attributed that phenomenon to a process she called a clash between Egyptian morality against what is popular. She further describes this clash as a form of westernization. Then, interviewee was asked whether or not she thinks the west is deliberately exporting its ideologies to the people. She expressed that the west has always tried to control Egypt. Before, it was through direct physical, military occupation, but now it is done in subtle manners. She announced that the concurrent western occupation of Egypt as insidious, sabotaging, and more dangerous than the previously used military occupation. She compared this process of insidious occupation to cancer that would go, unfortunately, undetected until it becomes late for people to act. The interviewee later added that this is a mental occupation of the Egyptian people that instructs them to eventually abandon their identity.
When the interviewee was asked the third question of whether or not she thinks the Egyptian culture will be able to survive the digital era, the Interviewee remarked that there are plenty of sub-cultures present now in the Egyptian society, and not all of them will survive. She specifically distinguished between the Egyptian, pharaonic culture that, in her opinion, will certainly survive, as it is considered an international treasure; therefore, it will be always protected. However, the Egyptian, Islamic aspects of the culture are not likely to survive on the other hand. Considering the widespread islamophobia, the reluctance of major Muslim institutions like Al-Azhar to rectify misunderstandings and accusation pointed towards the religion, the spread of the Zionistic views, as the interviewee explicitly expressed, all led to the weaking and decrease of popularity of the Islamic aspects of the culture. The interviewee demonstrated that the “western sabotaging” is an action, and so naturally it has to have a reaction, and that reaction, to her, is the acceptance of the people of being sabotaged. She mention a couple of reasons that created this acceptance which include: the inability to sustain good life, as most of the Egyptian people are considered poor and don’t have access to major life sustaining resources, and the weak educational system that fails to teach youth critical thinking and decision making. she added that identity is overlooked now since it is not the main priority of those who suffer to survive. When asked if the military has any special role in the support and spread of western ideas in Egypt, she answered that the military has and still is a major political player in Egypt; however, it doesn’t spread western ideologies, but at the same time it does nothing to stop their spread. This could be, according to interviewee, the result of the military’s desire to gain approval of the stronger west ; thus, protect the military’s personal interests in Egypt. The interviewee concluded with her recommendation for improving the educational system, as she viewed education as the most powerful tool trough which the people would gain the ability to think critically.
The second interview with Mr. Sabah started, also, with the question of whether or not he thinks western trends are replacing the Egyptian culture. Mr. Sabah replied that he doesn’t think this is a replacing process, as he preferred to described what is happening as a process of “Fusion”, an integration between the popular western trends and the Egyptian identity. He added that what is happening is, to him, logical, considering the effect of globalizations and the interconnectedness the world has and is experiencing through technological advancing. When asked whether or not he think the west is deliberately exporting its ideologies to Egypt, he answered that the west is economically motivated to influence Middle Eastern politics specially the Egyptian one. He recalled an instance of when the west has tried to influence the democratic process in Egypt through the 2011 revolutions and the following years. According to Mr. Sabah, the more conflicted and troubled the Middle East is, the greater are the western gains, as he quoted the ex. American president Trump” As long as they are fighting, the oil is better”. After he was asked whether or not the Egyptian culture will be able to survive the digital era, Mr. Sabah remarked that the Egyptian culture is fully capable of surviving the digital era, as it has survived all the past millenniums without losing its core identity. Mr. Sabah considered the Egyptian culture to be of a resilient nature that is rarely shaken, yet he anticipated that the Egyptian culture would adapt some western trends only to ease the surviving process, but it will definitely retain its core Egyptian Identity. However, he was a little concerned when asked about whether or not he thinks the spread of western trends is welcomed by the Egyptian people, as he described Egyptians to have what translates into English as “ foreigners knot ”in other words, Egyptians favor what is western over what is Egyptian. This, to Mr. Sabah, indicated that the people are accepting the flow of western trends. When asked about who he thinks is behind the welcoming of western trends to Egypt , as described by him, he replied with “no one”. He explained that no one in Egypt is intentionally trying to feed the people western trends, and that the people unconsciously lead themselves to accept western trends. Mr. Sabah concluded with an example of how Hong Kong was able to create its own culture that was a fusion of the British and Chinese culture together and was able to perfectly adapt in a situation similar to what Egypt is going through, now. This made Mr. Sabah optimistic and surer that the Egyptian culture will, indeed, survive the digital era without losses and perhaps with improvements.
The final interview was done with the industrialist, and business owner as previously introduced. The interviewee was asked if he thinks the Egyptian culture is being replaced by western trends. He replied with that Egyptians are being greatly influenced by “ consuming and materialistic ” characteristics of western culture. He gave an example of how, now, many Egyptians buy items for which they have no need at all. According to the interviewee, Egyptians are only adapting the negative aspects of the western cultures, as they don’t adapt positive characteristics like productivity and efficiency. The interviewee was then asked whether or not he thinks the west is deliberately exporting its ideologies to Egypt. He answered with certainty and complete agreement that the west is indeed exporting their ideologies to Egypt, and he traced this effect as far back as Presidents Abdel-Nasser’s and Sadat’s reigns when they first adapted the policy of “Infitah” or welcoming private investments to Egypt. The interviewee expressed that those private business eliminated prospects of Egyptian industries like automobile manufacturing. He explained that the west deeply influences Egypt culturally because it can influence its economy to a great extent, as he expressed his absolute discontent with the situation. When asked about who he thinks is responsible for allowing the flow of western trends in Egypt, the interview answered that there are two main drivers behind this phenomenon. He specified them to be the government and the weak economy. According to the interviewee, the government offers inadequate support for the citizens in addition to the weak, fragile economy that is based on “trivial, nonvital industries”. He finally concluded with his recommendations to decrease western influence through implementing a more serious economic path that should be based on vital industries the county needs; therefore, the country should become economically self-sufficient, and lastly, focus and improving vocational learning for skills and craftsmen to ensure that the Egyptian workforce is ready to support the required transition and ensure that a variety of crucial occupations are present for the self-sufficing to occur.