The Pursuit of Stability (ʾistiqrār): Kinship, Class and the Making of Value in an Egyptian Steel Town

In Egypt, the concept of stability (ʾistiqrār) holds a range of aspirations, including access to marriage, the formation of a family, a steady income, job security and sometimes the opportunity to pass employment to one’s children. This seminar paper investigates how the Egyptian Iron and Steel Company (EISCO), an exceptional public sector factory, was upheld as a model that sustained people’s dreams of ʾistiqrār. 

Through ethnographic research conducted on the shopfloors of the factory in Helwan during the early 2000s, the study depicts how new contractual arrangements intersected with kinship ties. These contractual lines, designed to structure employment according to neoliberal orientations, were quickly blurred along familial ties. The coming together of contract and kinship in the workplace made claims to class belongings more complex and reinforced the value of stability within the broader society. The study reveals that negotiations of work were key to the discourse on stability, becoming ubiquitous in Egypt. It argues that social values’ capacity to link different socio-economic spheres is fundamental to the desires for stability, in turn, influencing major events in contemporary Egyptian history.

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