Chapter 5 discusses the growing sense of social alienation expressed by many in Egyptian public discourse in the face of these contemporary economic and social transitions. Much of this criticism targeted alleged ‘parasitic’ (i.e., non-productive) and, at times, illegal practices and opposed the spread of the ‘parasitic’ groups, benefitting from such ignoble economic activities in Egyptian society. In various commentaries, the educated and often state-employed middle class was depicted as deteriorating under the threat posed by other social groups from above, from below, and from the middle (parvenus, i.e., social climbers into middle-class status). By pursuing individualistic, immoral, or foreign interests, these new social forces were ostensibly sinking the Egyptian economy, degrading Egyptian culture, and ruining Egyptian politics. Chapter 5 follows the discontentment regarding the new, ‘fat-cat’ elite. Under the guise of the ‘Open Door’, Egypt’s upper class was perceived to be selfishly enriching itself, making local inequality worse, and damaging national interests in the process. This chapter further explores social grudges held against peasants, small traders and artisans—social climbers who side-stepped their earlier social ranking. During the oil-boom era, such lower-class Egyptians were able to earn a middle-class status by means of labor migration and/or ‘informal’ economic practices; their apparently unproductive occupations were thought to undermine national economic development. In Egyptian public discourse, ‘parasites’ from above and below wrenched adequate remuneration and a decent standard-of-living from the educated, state-employed middle class. Moreover, they supposedly ruined the middle class from within, by promoting social competition and heightened consumer expectations, coupled with their inferior morality and lack of culture.