Basic Informations

C.V

Master Title

Popular markets and their relationship to the culture of consumption in the Egyptian village

Master Abstract

Summary of the Dissertation in English This Dissertation aims to study the impact of popular markets on consumption culture in Egyptian villages. The main objective is further divided into the following sub-objectives: • To identify the factors those influence the selection of popular markets (geographic location, area, cost, ancillary services, market layout, etc.). • To identify the distinctive urban ecological and organizational features of the village market. • To understand the impact of urbanization on the social structure of the village market. • To examine the extent to which changing economic values have impacted the market's functions as an economic system. • To investigate the extent to which the market's cultural influence has reinforced changes in production, exchange, and consumption patterns. To achieve these objectives, the dissertation employed a descriptive qualitative approach, selecting a limited number of cases or units. In-depth interviews were the primary tool for collecting field study data for the case studies. The dissertation was applied to a random sample of vendors and consumers in the Qumbsh public market in Beni Suef Governorate, Beba Center, with a sample size of 20 cases, ten vendors, and ten consumers. The dissertation relied on the following theoretical perspectives as guiding principles: • Charles Swedberg's theory of "Markets As Social Institutions." • Thorstein Veblen's theory of the "Leisure Class." • Pierre Bourdieu's theory of "Consumer Culture." • Jean Baudrillard's theory of "Consumer Society." • James Coleman's Theory of "Social Capital" Following the qualitative analysis, the dissertation yielded a set of key findings: • The dissertation's findings revealed that social relationships and income systems in popular markets were investigated to understand the motivations of vendors to join these markets. These motivations were categorized into three types: (vendor motivations and challenges, social relationship motivations within popular markets, economic income motivations). • It became evident that the forms of social relationships or interactions within popular markets are defined by three types of these relationships: (bargaining practices between vendors, competition between vendors, forms of exchange). • The dissertation's findings disclosed that the market economy and income forms derived from the popular market are characterized by two types of laws: supply and demand laws. The supply laws governing the popular market control the types of merchants based on the market's sales system, as well as competition among merchants to attract customers and sales activity, product prices in the market, the market's role in exchanging information and news, and seasons according to fluctuations in sales volume. Regarding demand laws related to consumer goods, which are represented by types of basic and modern goods and their marketing, weekly working hours for vendors, sources of goods prices, methods of attracting consumers to purchase goods. • There was a consensus among consumers about the availability of basic goods in the popular market and a few from outside the market. Seven consumers identified the most common goods available in the market, including vegetables and fruits, meat and poultry, household appliances, dairy products, and grains. Goods from outside the market included traditional bread and rural products. • Consumer preferences stemmed from saving time, effort, and monetary costs, obtaining diverse products from different sources, and having various options in one place, especially since the choices in the popular market are diverse, offering a wide and deep range of options for consumers. • Finally, the dissertation's findings concluded that popular displays combine material and symbolic products simultaneously. This highlights the strength of the symbolic dimension, particularly in marketing communications, where symbols of price, form, brand name, type of companies, and so on are used to convey additional information about products and services to consumers.

PHD Title

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PHD Abstract

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