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Development of social conditions

Development of social conditions

Point 6 of 6 — Lesson 13: Economy and Society under Muhammad Ali – The Monopoly SystemQuestion bank: 0 questions (0 with pictures)

06Development of social conditions

The forces that vanished, weakened or appeared

  • The influence of the Mamluks as a ruling body ended; in their place came the family of Muhammad Ali and some Turkish elements.
  • The influence of the ulema of al-Azhar and the popular leaders shrank, and leadership passed from al-Azhar to the graduates of the new schools.
  • The class of notables (a'ayan) appeared — the large and middle landowners — and their power grew from the mid-nineteenth century as property rights were widened.
  • The industrial workers' class appeared in the state's large factories, while the craft guilds continued in small industries as brokers for the government.
  • The class of merchants deteriorated because of the state's monopoly of trade: great merchant figures such as Ahmed al-Maharagi disappeared, and foreign merchants and their agencies took their place as middlemen.
  • The Bedouin appeared as a settled social force: Muhammad Ali granted their leaders wide lands, and they gradually merged into civilised life.

Comparison table of monopoly in the three sectors

Point of comparisonAgricultureIndustryTrade
What the government fixesThe kinds of crops grownRaw materials, products and their pricesPrices and the buyers
The role of the stateSupplying seeds and tools and receiving the cropState factories and supplying raw materialsSelling to foreigners and monopolising imports
Most important measuresAbolishing the iltizam, the Delta Barrages, the school of agriculturePublic-sector factories, missions, expertsMonopoly of exports and marketing of crops

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