Searching for a Different Future

The Rise of a Global Middle Class in Morocco

Nonfiction, History, Africa, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science, Social Science
Cover of the book Searching for a Different Future by Shana Cohen, Duke University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Shana Cohen ISBN: 9780822385936
Publisher: Duke University Press Publication: August 11, 2004
Imprint: Duke University Press Books Language: English
Author: Shana Cohen
ISBN: 9780822385936
Publisher: Duke University Press
Publication: August 11, 2004
Imprint: Duke University Press Books
Language: English

By examining how neoliberal economic reform policies have affected educated young adults in contemporary Morocco, Searching for a Different Future posits a new socioeconomic formation: the global middle class. During Morocco’s postcolonial period, from the 1950s through the 1970s, development policy and nationalist ideology supported the formation of a middle class based on the pursuit of education, employment, and material security. Neoliberal reforms adopted by Morocco since the early 1980s have significantly eroded the capacity of the state to nurture the middle class, and unemployment and temporary employment among educated adults has grown. There is no longer an obvious correlation between the best interests of the state and those of the middle-class worker. As Shana Cohen demonstrates, educated young adults in Morocco do not look toward the state for economic security and fulfillment but toward the diffuse, amorphous global market.

Cohen delves into the rupture that has occurred between the middle class, the individual, and the nation in Morocco and elsewhere around the world. Combining institutional economic analysis with cultural theory and ethnographic observation including interviews with seventy young adults in Casablanca and Rabat, she reveals how young, urban, educated Moroccans conceive of their material, social, and political conditions. She finds that, for the most part, they perceive improvement in their economic and social welfare apart from the types of civic participation commonly connected with nationalism and national identity. In answering classic sociological questions about how the evolution of capitalism influences identity, Cohen sheds new light on the measurable social and economic consequences of globalization and on its less tangible effects on individuals’ perception of their place in society and prospects in life.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

By examining how neoliberal economic reform policies have affected educated young adults in contemporary Morocco, Searching for a Different Future posits a new socioeconomic formation: the global middle class. During Morocco’s postcolonial period, from the 1950s through the 1970s, development policy and nationalist ideology supported the formation of a middle class based on the pursuit of education, employment, and material security. Neoliberal reforms adopted by Morocco since the early 1980s have significantly eroded the capacity of the state to nurture the middle class, and unemployment and temporary employment among educated adults has grown. There is no longer an obvious correlation between the best interests of the state and those of the middle-class worker. As Shana Cohen demonstrates, educated young adults in Morocco do not look toward the state for economic security and fulfillment but toward the diffuse, amorphous global market.

Cohen delves into the rupture that has occurred between the middle class, the individual, and the nation in Morocco and elsewhere around the world. Combining institutional economic analysis with cultural theory and ethnographic observation including interviews with seventy young adults in Casablanca and Rabat, she reveals how young, urban, educated Moroccans conceive of their material, social, and political conditions. She finds that, for the most part, they perceive improvement in their economic and social welfare apart from the types of civic participation commonly connected with nationalism and national identity. In answering classic sociological questions about how the evolution of capitalism influences identity, Cohen sheds new light on the measurable social and economic consequences of globalization and on its less tangible effects on individuals’ perception of their place in society and prospects in life.

More books from Duke University Press

Cover of the book Universities and the Future of America by Shana Cohen
Cover of the book Ordinary Genomes by Shana Cohen
Cover of the book Do the Americas Have a Common Literature? by Shana Cohen
Cover of the book Cochabamba, 1550-1900 by Shana Cohen
Cover of the book Unconsolable Contemporary by Shana Cohen
Cover of the book Speculate This! by Shana Cohen
Cover of the book Bodies in Contact by Shana Cohen
Cover of the book The Jamesonian Unconscious by Shana Cohen
Cover of the book Muslim Becoming by Shana Cohen
Cover of the book The Argumentative Turn in Policy Analysis and Planning by Shana Cohen
Cover of the book Museum Frictions by Shana Cohen
Cover of the book Songs of Life and Hope/Cantos de vida y esperanza by Shana Cohen
Cover of the book An Improper Profession by Shana Cohen
Cover of the book Right to Rock by Shana Cohen
Cover of the book Anthropological Intelligence by Shana Cohen
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy