Colonial-era Egyptian elites ranked willpower weakness as more harmful than poverty

Evidence

Addiction to alcohol and drugs, the author summarised, was part of a general weakness of will, which was causing more damage to social life among the poor than poverty itself. — Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, 379

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the moralizing class discourse in the ‘Complaints About Immodesty’ article — decadence attributed to personal moral failing rather than material conditions.