Public Workers' Mobilizations in Egypt
Perceptions of Sector Potential in Textile and Transport
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3407516 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nada Matta (0000-0002-8465-2393, Nada Matta is an Assistant Professor and Director of Middle East and North Africa Studies at Drexel University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 77 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 62-87 |
| Publication date | 2024-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Industrial and Labor Relations Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0019-7939 • E-ISSN: 2162-271X |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/00197939231213350 |
| OpenAlex | W4388797663 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 13 |
This article contributes to explaining the rise of labor unrest in Egypt in the early 2000s, led initially by public-sector workers. Using two case studies in textile and transport, the author shows that perceptions of sector potential affected workers' ability to protest and compensated for the decline in their sectors' roles in the economy. The perceptions of underutilization due to corruption and to sector viability based on squandered profits help explain workers' militancy and capacities to mount an extended protest campaign. These perceptions build on discourses that critique the state's adoption of neoliberal policies associated with privatization. Workers could develop these perceptions because their sectors still played a role in the economy despite their decline. The analysis contributes to the Power Resource Approach by showing how perceptions of sector potential enhance capacities among Global South workers in declining sectors. To explain labor unrest, the author engages labor scholarship on Egypt that focuses on grievances rather than on workers' economic position and sources of power
Business · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Economy · Language change · Perception · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Position (finance) · Power (physics) · Private sector · Public sector · Scholarship · Unrest · International Labor and Employment Law · Labor Movements and Unions · Social Policy and Reform Studies
Workers and Welfare
Trade Unions in Western Europe
Forces of Labor
The Power Resources Approach
Contesting Authoritarianism
Bread, freedom, social justice
Labour protests in Egypt
People Want
The Role of General Theory in Comparative-Historical Sociology
Working-Class Power, Capitalist-Class Interests, and Class Compromise
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |