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In his classic, Whatever Happened to the Egyptians, Galal Amin splendidly demonstrated how the reconstruction of Egypt’s social structure—perpetrated by the July 1952 coup—shifted the moral code of Egyptian society.
By investigating social values and norms—ranging from the formation of the neo-bourgeoisie, the introduction of religious fanaticism alongside the intensification of westernisation, to the redefinition of marriage, love, class, vocation, and entertainment—Amin postulates that coup-induced social mobility inflicted radical changes in the moral and material values, customs, habits, and patterns of consumption and investment of the Egyptian aspirant classes.
