Guy Abutbul | The College of Management Academic Studies (original) (raw)
Papers by Guy Abutbul
Current Sociology, 2024
This article examines the relationship between intermarriage and integration in a novel context, ... more This article examines the relationship between intermarriage and integration in a novel context, centering on Israeli adolescents with ethnic origins from both Europe and Middle Eastern and North African countries (MENA). Current analyses explore this relationship mainly through the self-identification of multi-ethnic individuals. One line of studies shows that intermarriage enlarges social networks and lowers social differences thereby weakening ethnic identification among multi-ethnic adolescents; another line points to the continuation of ethnic boundaries within multi-ethnic families and close environments that lead adolescents to identify themselves as ethnic. In contrast to these lines of research, that examine the relationship between intermarriage and integration among different ethnic groups, this article analyses this relationship among two subgroups – MENA and European Jews – from the same ethnic group: Israeli Jews. Interviews with Israeli multi-ethnic adolescents show that they develop a dual ethnic identity that is comprised of two opposing elements. The first is a "thin" identity which enables them to choose and switch between ethnicities, thus blurring ethnic boundaries; the other, a "strong" identity, creates an inner experience of two opposing ethnicities, thereby maintaining a hierarchy between the groups. This article demonstrates that in specific structural conditions, intermarriage does not influence integration in one direction only, but both facilitates and impedes this process simultaneously in both directions.
Keywords; Intermarriage; Integration; Ethnic Identity; Multi-ethnic Adolescents; Ethnicity Switching
Routledge eBooks, Sep 21, 2023
Virtual Teams Across National Borders , 2022
The purpose of this chapter is to explore the ways whereby Israelis – who live in Moshavim or ... more The purpose of this chapter is to explore the ways whereby Israelis – who
live in Moshavim or those who previously lived in communities/settlements, scattered in Israel and abroad – shape their collective identity through international virtual communities. We collected and analysed Facebook as well as WhatsApp posts and messages sent between 2018 and 2020 in relation to the establishment of a new rural youth movement. Applying the model of Taylor and Whittier (1992), the narrative analysis of the posts has shown how rural activists were able to construct a new collective identity and subject. They did so by delineating the parameters differentiating and dividing the putative rural subject from the wider society; by creating interpretative frameworks that liberated rural “group” members from stigmatic identity markers; and by reformulating relations with other groups to make them more equal.
These processes of identity reconstruction have been affected by some significant changes that Israel’s rural space experienced in the last decades, including changes in the unique co-operative structure of the rural area, its economic structure, the loss of political hegemony and the loss of its pioneering brand, as Moshavim and Kibbutzim have been accused by several public representatives for making exploitative use of state’s lands.
In this context, this project, conducted through international virtual teams,
sought to unshackle rural Israelis from their marginality within the Israeli
leftist youth movement, but more importantly, to consolidate a new rural
Israeli identity, in the face of a deep identity crisis.
“The discourse remains stuck on an image of Mizrahim as victims,” Abutbul-Selinger says. “There ... more “The discourse remains stuck on an image of Mizrahim as victims,” Abutbul-Selinger says. “There is still a perception of significant inequality and of the Mizrahim as objects of discrimination, like three and four decades ago. Except that a completely new ethnic reality has developed. That [out-of-date perception] does a great wrong to the Mizrahim, who are actually a group that in a relatively short period – five or six decades after arriving in the Israeli space – is already highly mobile, strong and dominant.”
“The discourse remains stuck on an image of Mizrahim as victims,” Abutbul-Selinger says. “There ... more “The discourse remains stuck on an image of Mizrahim as victims,” Abutbul-Selinger says. “There is still a perception of significant inequality and of the Mizrahim as objects of discrimination, like three and four decades ago. Except that a completely new ethnic reality has developed. That [out-of-date perception] does a great wrong to the Mizrahim, who are actually a group that in a relatively short period – five or six decades after arriving in the Israeli space – is already highly mobile, strong and dominant.”
"השיח עדיין תקוע בתמונה של המזרחים כקורבנות", אומר אבוטבול זלינגר, "עדיין בתפיסה של אי־שוויון משמ... more "השיח עדיין תקוע בתמונה של המזרחים כקורבנות", אומר אבוטבול זלינגר, "עדיין בתפיסה של אי־שוויון משמעותי ושל המזרחים כמופלים לרעה, כמו לפני שלושה וארבעה עשורים. אלא שהתפתחה מציאות אתנית חדשה לחלוטין. זה עושה עוול מאוד גדול למזרחים, כי זו קבוצה שבתקופה יחסית קצרה, תוך חמישה או שישה עשורים מאז שהגיעה למרחב הישראלי, היא כבר מאוד מובילית, חזקה ודומיננטית".
Reconfiguration of Business Models and Ecosystems, 2023
The modern labor market is characterized by the transition from traditional employment to new emp... more The modern labor market is characterized by the transition from traditional employment to new employment models. One of the interesting expressions of these changes is the growing rates of freelance workers and entrepreneurs.
The trend of women venturing into new fields of entrepreneurship, for different reasons, has been already documented in literature. Literature points out some similarities between men and women entrepreneurs and their motives; yet, it is often argued that women, unlike men, are more motivated by intransient motives, like work-life balance or financial independence. Other significant differences between genders include the lack of role models for women, their lower experience in opportunity hunting and utilization, their lack of social networks, a smaller financial security network and a higher fear of taking risks (Ascher, 2012).
As a start-up nation, entrepreneurship in Israel is synonymous with the high-tech sector, which is also considered prestigious, lucrative and essentially masculine. The current study aims to reveal another aspect of women entrepreneurship in Israel. The study focuses on those women who chose to establish small businesses – an afterschool daycare, a cloths shop, a stylist business, counseling businesses in issues related to children or babies, and more. The study aims to shed some light on the common characteristics of these women, their socio-demographic characteristics, the reasons that brought them to establish small businesses and their unique voice – which tells us how these women use entrepreneurship to shape their work-life balance and how this discourse is anchored in the socio-cultural Israeli context.
The findings suggest that the structure of the traditional labor market is replicated into the new one. I.e., while women become entrepreneurs, they actually go back to working in “feminine” fields, subordinating their careers to their motherhood practices (home before work, housework mixed with work hours, etc.).
Peace Psychology Book Series, 2017
This chapter focuses on four case studies of political violence and examines the practice of self... more This chapter focuses on four case studies of political violence and examines the practice of self-censorship with regard to the historical narratives of these cases. The cases represent major examples of four types of political violence: (1) colonialism, the French-Algerian relations; (2) dictatorship (including intrastate conflict), the 1936–1939 civil war in Spain and the subsequent Franco regime; (3) genocide, the Turkish-Armenian case; and (4) interstate conflict, the Japan–Korea relationships.
The American Sociologist
This article examines ethnic identification among minority middle-class subjects in a novel way, ... more This article examines ethnic identification among minority middle-class subjects in a novel way, centering on adolescents from Mizrahi (descendants of Jewish immigrants from Middle East and North Africa) families. Guided by liberal assumptions-that proper social order is achieved when individuals interact free from hierarchies-US literature on race and ethnicity has conceptualized ethnic identification by minorities either as a political strategy to resist subordination, or as an act of submission to structures that compel minorities to internalize a stigmatized identity, which then impairs integration into middle-class culture. Similarly, Israeli literature examining middle-class Mizrahim tends to characterize Mizrahi ethnic identification as an act of submission that engenders an internal conflict between ethnic and middle-class status. This study, however, rather than employing a top-down approach to explain the causes of minority ethnic identification, focuses on the meaning adolescents themselves attribute to their ethnicity. Based on interviews with middle-class Mizrahi adolescents, this work uncovers a world of meaning within the middle class in which Mizrahi identity is associated with positive characteristics such as hipness and authenticity, serving, therefore, to improve adolescents' selfconfidence and social status among their peers. By revealing the existence of spaces that do not conform to the liberal logic, wherein a stigmatized ethnicity is not a burden but rather a valuable cultural resource granting belonging and privileges, this study contributes to the literature of ethnicity, showing that minority ethnic identification is not necessarily an act of resistance or submission.
The Ethnic Echo in the Israeli Center, 2022
מאמר זה בוחן את התנגדותם של אוהדי קבוצת הכדורגל בית"ר ירושלים, רובם ממוצא מזרחי, להצטרפות של שחקנ... more מאמר זה בוחן את התנגדותם של אוהדי קבוצת הכדורגל בית"ר ירושלים, רובם ממוצא מזרחי, להצטרפות של שחקנים ערבים לשורות הקבוצה. במקום לחשוד שמקור התנהגות זו מצוי בתודעה הכוזבת של האוהדים, אטען כי יש להשעות את חשד היתר ולשחזר את המשמעות והכוונה שאוהדי בית"ר נותנים למעשיהם. הניתוח הנרטיבי של ראיונות תקשורתיים עם אוהדי בית"ר ירושלים מצביע על כך שההתנגדות לשיתוף שחקנים ערבים בקבוצה קשורה לתפיסת עולמם הקהילתנית. באמצעות הגיוס של תחומי קדושה, אשר מסמנים את גבולותיה של הקהילה היהודית וזיהויָם עם בית"ר, יחד עם זיהויָם של שחקנים ערבים כמחללים את בית"ר, משרטטים האוהדים גבולות בין יהודים לערבים בישראל. באמצעות קידושה של בית"ר ירושלים מגדירים האוהדים את גבולותיה של הקהילה היהודית, ובכך שומרים על תפיסת עולמם וזהותם. יצירת גבול זו גם משמרת את ההיררכיה אשר מקנה ליהודים פריבילגיות על פני ערבים בישראל.
The Ethnic Echo in the Israeli Center, 2022
מאמר זה מנתח את הקשר שבין שייכות למעמד הביניים לבין הזדהות אתנית. בעוד הספרות הנוכחית מציעה כי שי... more מאמר זה מנתח את הקשר שבין שייכות למעמד הביניים לבין הזדהות אתנית. בעוד הספרות הנוכחית מציעה כי שייכות למעמד הבינוני מחלישה או מחזקת הזדהויות אתניות, מאמר זה מראה כי השפעת המעמד על זהות אתנית תלויה במבנה המרחבי של המעמד הבינוני. ניתוח הנרטיבים של 52 מתבגרים שמוצאם מזרחי מצביע על קיומם של גבולות אתניים מרחביים במעמד הבינוני הכפרי אשר מַבנים אצל מתבגרים אלו זהות אתנית חזקה אשר מתבטאת, בין היתר, בתחושות של כפיפות ושל אי-נוחות במעבר בין מרחבים. לעומת זאת, במעמד הביניים העירוני וההטרוגני, שבו הגבולות האתניים המרחבים אינם משמעותיים, מתבגרים מפתחים זהות אתנית רזה, אשר מאפשרת מעבר בין זהויות בהתאם לסיווגים ציבוריים שטחיים. ממצאים אלו, המראים כי המעמד הבינוני איננו אחיד אלא מורכב מרבדים שונים, מצביעים על הצורך לחקור את הדרכים שבהן רבדים אלו משפיעים על עיצובה של ההזדהות האתנית.
"We Shape our Buildings and afterwards our Buildings Shape us".
(Winston Churchill 1943
The American Sociologist, 2022
This article examines ethnic identification among minority middle-class subjects in a novel way, ... more This article examines ethnic identification among minority middle-class subjects in a novel way, centering on adolescents from Mizrahi (descendants of Jewish immigrants from Middle East and North Africa) families. Guided by liberal assumptions-that proper social order is achieved when individuals interact free from hierarchies-US literature on race and ethnicity has conceptualized ethnic identification by minorities either as a political strategy to resist subordination, or as an act of submission to structures that compel minorities to internalize a stigmatized identity, which then impairs integration into middle-class culture. Similarly, Israeli literature examining middle-class Mizrahim tends to characterize Mizrahi ethnic identification as an act of submission that engenders an internal conflict between ethnic and middle-class status. This study, however, rather than employing a top-down approach to explain the causes of minority ethnic identification, focuses on the meaning adolescents themselves attribute to their ethnicity. Based on interviews with middle-class Mizrahi adolescents, this work uncovers a world of meaning within the middle class in which Mizrahi identity is associated with positive characteristics such as hipness and authenticity, serving, therefore, to improve adolescents' selfconfidence and social status among their peers. By revealing the existence of spaces that do not conform to the liberal logic, wherein a stigmatized ethnicity is not a burden but rather a valuable cultural resource granting belonging and privileges, this study contributes to the literature of ethnicity, showing that minority ethnic identification is not necessarily an act of resistance or submission.
Israel Studies Review, 2019
This article explores the opposition expressed by fans of the Beitar Jerusalem football club to t... more This article explores the opposition expressed by fans of the Beitar Jerusalem football club to the presence of Arab players on their team. I suggest that instead of suspecting that fans’ behavior originates in false consciousness, we suspend suspicion and reconstruct the meanings they bring to their actions. Narrative analysis of fan interviews reveals the communitarian logic underlying their points of view. By appropriating sacred spheres in Judaism that demarcate the boundaries of the Jewish community, and identifying them with Beitar as opposed to signifying Arab players as defiling Beitar, fans delineate boundaries between Jews and Arabs. Through the sanctification of Beitar, the fans define Jewish collective boundaries and thereby preserve their worldview and identity while maintaining a hierarchy that grants Jews advantages in Israel.
Identities, 2018
ABSTRACT This article explores the integration of ethnic minorities into the middle class in a no... more ABSTRACT This article explores the integration of ethnic minorities into the middle class in a novel way. Current literature examines the existence of boundaries and the ways they construct ethnic identifications through visible acts. One line of research perceives the middle class as a homogenizing platform that lowers residential segregation and labor market discrimination, while another demonstrates how stereotypes and an occupational glass ceiling continue to operate, reinforcing minorities’ ethnic identifications. By contrast, this article demonstrates the significance of invisible boundaries for the study of ethnicity in the middle class. I center on the ways whereby microaggression, namely tacit everyday insults, signifies an ethnic difference between middle-class adolescents. Analyzing adolescents’ narratives shows how the classification of spaces has given rise in minority adolescents to inner experiences of incongruence and subordination. By constructing an ethnic identity that prevents adolescents perceiving themselves as middle-class subjects, invisible boundaries reinforce the ethno-class order.
This article analyzes the relationship between middle-class belonging and minority ethnic identif... more This article analyzes the relationship between middle-class belonging and minority ethnic identification through the narratives of Israeli adolescents in contrasting middle-class spaces. While current literature suggests that middle-class belonging will either weaken or strengthen ethnic identification, this paper demonstrates that the effect of class on ethnic identity varies between different spaces. Analyzing the narratives of 52 middle-class minority adolescents shows that spatial ethnic boundaries operating in the rural middle class lead these adolescents to construct a salient ethnic identity that can produce feelings of incongruence and subordination. However, in the urban middle-class, where spatial ethnic boundaries are less significant, adolescents develop a thin, interchangeable ethnic identity in accordance with shallow and superficial public classifications. These findings demonstrate that the middle classes are not monolithic but diverse within themselves, and point to...
Ethnicities, 2021
This article analyzes the relationship between middle-class belonging and minority ethnic identif... more This article analyzes the relationship between middle-class belonging and minority ethnic identification through the narratives of Israeli adolescents in contrasting middle-class spaces. While current literature suggests that middle-class belonging will either weaken or strengthen ethnic identification, this paper demonstrates that the effect of class on ethnic identity varies between different spaces. Analyzing the narratives of 52 middle-class minority adolescents shows that spatial ethnic boundaries operating in the rural middle class lead these adolescents to construct a salient ethnic identity that can produce feelings of incongruence and subordination. However, in the urban middle-class, where spatial ethnic boundaries are less significant, adolescents develop a thin, interchangeable ethnic identity in accordance with shallow and superficial public classifications. These findings demonstrate that the middle classes are not monolithic but diverse within themselves, and point to the need to study the variety of ways diverse middle classes can affect the shaping of minority ethnic identification.
Israel Studies Review, 2019
This article explores the opposition expressed by fans of the Beitar Jerusalem football club to t... more This article explores the opposition expressed by fans of the Beitar Jerusalem football club to the presence of Arab players on their team. I suggest that instead of suspecting that fans' behavior originates in false consciousness, we suspend suspicion and reconstruct the meanings they bring to their actions. Narrative analysis of fan interviews reveals the communitarian logic underlying their points of view. By appropriating sacred spheres in Judaism that demarcate the boundaries of the Jewish community, and identifying them with Beitar as opposed to signifying Arab players as defiling Beitar, fans delineate boundaries between Jews and Arabs. Through the sanctification of Beitar, the fans define Jewish collective boundaries and thereby preserve their worldview and identity while maintaining a hierarchy that grants Jews advantages in Israel.
This article explores the integration of ethnic minorities into the middle class in a novel way. ... more This article explores the integration of ethnic minorities into the middle class in a novel way. Current literature examines the existence of boundaries and the ways they construct ethnic identifications through visible acts. One line of research perceives the middle class as a homogenizing platform that lowers residential segregation and labor market discrimination, while another demonstrates how
stereotypes and an occupational glass ceiling continue to operate, reinforcing minorities’ ethnic identifications. By contrast, this article demonstrates the significance of invisible boundaries for the study of ethnicity in the middle class. I center on the ways whereby microaggression, namely tacit everyday insults, signifies an ethnic difference between middle-class adolescents. Analyzing adolescents’ narratives shows how the classification of spaces has given rise in minority adolescents to inner experiences of incongruence and subordination. By constructing an ethnic identity that prevents adolescents perceiving themselves as middle-class subjects, invisible boundaries reinforce the ethno-class order.
Current Sociology, 2024
This article examines the relationship between intermarriage and integration in a novel context, ... more This article examines the relationship between intermarriage and integration in a novel context, centering on Israeli adolescents with ethnic origins from both Europe and Middle Eastern and North African countries (MENA). Current analyses explore this relationship mainly through the self-identification of multi-ethnic individuals. One line of studies shows that intermarriage enlarges social networks and lowers social differences thereby weakening ethnic identification among multi-ethnic adolescents; another line points to the continuation of ethnic boundaries within multi-ethnic families and close environments that lead adolescents to identify themselves as ethnic. In contrast to these lines of research, that examine the relationship between intermarriage and integration among different ethnic groups, this article analyses this relationship among two subgroups – MENA and European Jews – from the same ethnic group: Israeli Jews. Interviews with Israeli multi-ethnic adolescents show that they develop a dual ethnic identity that is comprised of two opposing elements. The first is a "thin" identity which enables them to choose and switch between ethnicities, thus blurring ethnic boundaries; the other, a "strong" identity, creates an inner experience of two opposing ethnicities, thereby maintaining a hierarchy between the groups. This article demonstrates that in specific structural conditions, intermarriage does not influence integration in one direction only, but both facilitates and impedes this process simultaneously in both directions.
Keywords; Intermarriage; Integration; Ethnic Identity; Multi-ethnic Adolescents; Ethnicity Switching
Routledge eBooks, Sep 21, 2023
Virtual Teams Across National Borders , 2022
The purpose of this chapter is to explore the ways whereby Israelis – who live in Moshavim or ... more The purpose of this chapter is to explore the ways whereby Israelis – who
live in Moshavim or those who previously lived in communities/settlements, scattered in Israel and abroad – shape their collective identity through international virtual communities. We collected and analysed Facebook as well as WhatsApp posts and messages sent between 2018 and 2020 in relation to the establishment of a new rural youth movement. Applying the model of Taylor and Whittier (1992), the narrative analysis of the posts has shown how rural activists were able to construct a new collective identity and subject. They did so by delineating the parameters differentiating and dividing the putative rural subject from the wider society; by creating interpretative frameworks that liberated rural “group” members from stigmatic identity markers; and by reformulating relations with other groups to make them more equal.
These processes of identity reconstruction have been affected by some significant changes that Israel’s rural space experienced in the last decades, including changes in the unique co-operative structure of the rural area, its economic structure, the loss of political hegemony and the loss of its pioneering brand, as Moshavim and Kibbutzim have been accused by several public representatives for making exploitative use of state’s lands.
In this context, this project, conducted through international virtual teams,
sought to unshackle rural Israelis from their marginality within the Israeli
leftist youth movement, but more importantly, to consolidate a new rural
Israeli identity, in the face of a deep identity crisis.
“The discourse remains stuck on an image of Mizrahim as victims,” Abutbul-Selinger says. “There ... more “The discourse remains stuck on an image of Mizrahim as victims,” Abutbul-Selinger says. “There is still a perception of significant inequality and of the Mizrahim as objects of discrimination, like three and four decades ago. Except that a completely new ethnic reality has developed. That [out-of-date perception] does a great wrong to the Mizrahim, who are actually a group that in a relatively short period – five or six decades after arriving in the Israeli space – is already highly mobile, strong and dominant.”
“The discourse remains stuck on an image of Mizrahim as victims,” Abutbul-Selinger says. “There ... more “The discourse remains stuck on an image of Mizrahim as victims,” Abutbul-Selinger says. “There is still a perception of significant inequality and of the Mizrahim as objects of discrimination, like three and four decades ago. Except that a completely new ethnic reality has developed. That [out-of-date perception] does a great wrong to the Mizrahim, who are actually a group that in a relatively short period – five or six decades after arriving in the Israeli space – is already highly mobile, strong and dominant.”
"השיח עדיין תקוע בתמונה של המזרחים כקורבנות", אומר אבוטבול זלינגר, "עדיין בתפיסה של אי־שוויון משמ... more "השיח עדיין תקוע בתמונה של המזרחים כקורבנות", אומר אבוטבול זלינגר, "עדיין בתפיסה של אי־שוויון משמעותי ושל המזרחים כמופלים לרעה, כמו לפני שלושה וארבעה עשורים. אלא שהתפתחה מציאות אתנית חדשה לחלוטין. זה עושה עוול מאוד גדול למזרחים, כי זו קבוצה שבתקופה יחסית קצרה, תוך חמישה או שישה עשורים מאז שהגיעה למרחב הישראלי, היא כבר מאוד מובילית, חזקה ודומיננטית".
Reconfiguration of Business Models and Ecosystems, 2023
The modern labor market is characterized by the transition from traditional employment to new emp... more The modern labor market is characterized by the transition from traditional employment to new employment models. One of the interesting expressions of these changes is the growing rates of freelance workers and entrepreneurs.
The trend of women venturing into new fields of entrepreneurship, for different reasons, has been already documented in literature. Literature points out some similarities between men and women entrepreneurs and their motives; yet, it is often argued that women, unlike men, are more motivated by intransient motives, like work-life balance or financial independence. Other significant differences between genders include the lack of role models for women, their lower experience in opportunity hunting and utilization, their lack of social networks, a smaller financial security network and a higher fear of taking risks (Ascher, 2012).
As a start-up nation, entrepreneurship in Israel is synonymous with the high-tech sector, which is also considered prestigious, lucrative and essentially masculine. The current study aims to reveal another aspect of women entrepreneurship in Israel. The study focuses on those women who chose to establish small businesses – an afterschool daycare, a cloths shop, a stylist business, counseling businesses in issues related to children or babies, and more. The study aims to shed some light on the common characteristics of these women, their socio-demographic characteristics, the reasons that brought them to establish small businesses and their unique voice – which tells us how these women use entrepreneurship to shape their work-life balance and how this discourse is anchored in the socio-cultural Israeli context.
The findings suggest that the structure of the traditional labor market is replicated into the new one. I.e., while women become entrepreneurs, they actually go back to working in “feminine” fields, subordinating their careers to their motherhood practices (home before work, housework mixed with work hours, etc.).
Peace Psychology Book Series, 2017
This chapter focuses on four case studies of political violence and examines the practice of self... more This chapter focuses on four case studies of political violence and examines the practice of self-censorship with regard to the historical narratives of these cases. The cases represent major examples of four types of political violence: (1) colonialism, the French-Algerian relations; (2) dictatorship (including intrastate conflict), the 1936–1939 civil war in Spain and the subsequent Franco regime; (3) genocide, the Turkish-Armenian case; and (4) interstate conflict, the Japan–Korea relationships.
The American Sociologist
This article examines ethnic identification among minority middle-class subjects in a novel way, ... more This article examines ethnic identification among minority middle-class subjects in a novel way, centering on adolescents from Mizrahi (descendants of Jewish immigrants from Middle East and North Africa) families. Guided by liberal assumptions-that proper social order is achieved when individuals interact free from hierarchies-US literature on race and ethnicity has conceptualized ethnic identification by minorities either as a political strategy to resist subordination, or as an act of submission to structures that compel minorities to internalize a stigmatized identity, which then impairs integration into middle-class culture. Similarly, Israeli literature examining middle-class Mizrahim tends to characterize Mizrahi ethnic identification as an act of submission that engenders an internal conflict between ethnic and middle-class status. This study, however, rather than employing a top-down approach to explain the causes of minority ethnic identification, focuses on the meaning adolescents themselves attribute to their ethnicity. Based on interviews with middle-class Mizrahi adolescents, this work uncovers a world of meaning within the middle class in which Mizrahi identity is associated with positive characteristics such as hipness and authenticity, serving, therefore, to improve adolescents' selfconfidence and social status among their peers. By revealing the existence of spaces that do not conform to the liberal logic, wherein a stigmatized ethnicity is not a burden but rather a valuable cultural resource granting belonging and privileges, this study contributes to the literature of ethnicity, showing that minority ethnic identification is not necessarily an act of resistance or submission.
The Ethnic Echo in the Israeli Center, 2022
מאמר זה בוחן את התנגדותם של אוהדי קבוצת הכדורגל בית"ר ירושלים, רובם ממוצא מזרחי, להצטרפות של שחקנ... more מאמר זה בוחן את התנגדותם של אוהדי קבוצת הכדורגל בית"ר ירושלים, רובם ממוצא מזרחי, להצטרפות של שחקנים ערבים לשורות הקבוצה. במקום לחשוד שמקור התנהגות זו מצוי בתודעה הכוזבת של האוהדים, אטען כי יש להשעות את חשד היתר ולשחזר את המשמעות והכוונה שאוהדי בית"ר נותנים למעשיהם. הניתוח הנרטיבי של ראיונות תקשורתיים עם אוהדי בית"ר ירושלים מצביע על כך שההתנגדות לשיתוף שחקנים ערבים בקבוצה קשורה לתפיסת עולמם הקהילתנית. באמצעות הגיוס של תחומי קדושה, אשר מסמנים את גבולותיה של הקהילה היהודית וזיהויָם עם בית"ר, יחד עם זיהויָם של שחקנים ערבים כמחללים את בית"ר, משרטטים האוהדים גבולות בין יהודים לערבים בישראל. באמצעות קידושה של בית"ר ירושלים מגדירים האוהדים את גבולותיה של הקהילה היהודית, ובכך שומרים על תפיסת עולמם וזהותם. יצירת גבול זו גם משמרת את ההיררכיה אשר מקנה ליהודים פריבילגיות על פני ערבים בישראל.
The Ethnic Echo in the Israeli Center, 2022
מאמר זה מנתח את הקשר שבין שייכות למעמד הביניים לבין הזדהות אתנית. בעוד הספרות הנוכחית מציעה כי שי... more מאמר זה מנתח את הקשר שבין שייכות למעמד הביניים לבין הזדהות אתנית. בעוד הספרות הנוכחית מציעה כי שייכות למעמד הבינוני מחלישה או מחזקת הזדהויות אתניות, מאמר זה מראה כי השפעת המעמד על זהות אתנית תלויה במבנה המרחבי של המעמד הבינוני. ניתוח הנרטיבים של 52 מתבגרים שמוצאם מזרחי מצביע על קיומם של גבולות אתניים מרחביים במעמד הבינוני הכפרי אשר מַבנים אצל מתבגרים אלו זהות אתנית חזקה אשר מתבטאת, בין היתר, בתחושות של כפיפות ושל אי-נוחות במעבר בין מרחבים. לעומת זאת, במעמד הביניים העירוני וההטרוגני, שבו הגבולות האתניים המרחבים אינם משמעותיים, מתבגרים מפתחים זהות אתנית רזה, אשר מאפשרת מעבר בין זהויות בהתאם לסיווגים ציבוריים שטחיים. ממצאים אלו, המראים כי המעמד הבינוני איננו אחיד אלא מורכב מרבדים שונים, מצביעים על הצורך לחקור את הדרכים שבהן רבדים אלו משפיעים על עיצובה של ההזדהות האתנית.
"We Shape our Buildings and afterwards our Buildings Shape us".
(Winston Churchill 1943
The American Sociologist, 2022
This article examines ethnic identification among minority middle-class subjects in a novel way, ... more This article examines ethnic identification among minority middle-class subjects in a novel way, centering on adolescents from Mizrahi (descendants of Jewish immigrants from Middle East and North Africa) families. Guided by liberal assumptions-that proper social order is achieved when individuals interact free from hierarchies-US literature on race and ethnicity has conceptualized ethnic identification by minorities either as a political strategy to resist subordination, or as an act of submission to structures that compel minorities to internalize a stigmatized identity, which then impairs integration into middle-class culture. Similarly, Israeli literature examining middle-class Mizrahim tends to characterize Mizrahi ethnic identification as an act of submission that engenders an internal conflict between ethnic and middle-class status. This study, however, rather than employing a top-down approach to explain the causes of minority ethnic identification, focuses on the meaning adolescents themselves attribute to their ethnicity. Based on interviews with middle-class Mizrahi adolescents, this work uncovers a world of meaning within the middle class in which Mizrahi identity is associated with positive characteristics such as hipness and authenticity, serving, therefore, to improve adolescents' selfconfidence and social status among their peers. By revealing the existence of spaces that do not conform to the liberal logic, wherein a stigmatized ethnicity is not a burden but rather a valuable cultural resource granting belonging and privileges, this study contributes to the literature of ethnicity, showing that minority ethnic identification is not necessarily an act of resistance or submission.
Israel Studies Review, 2019
This article explores the opposition expressed by fans of the Beitar Jerusalem football club to t... more This article explores the opposition expressed by fans of the Beitar Jerusalem football club to the presence of Arab players on their team. I suggest that instead of suspecting that fans’ behavior originates in false consciousness, we suspend suspicion and reconstruct the meanings they bring to their actions. Narrative analysis of fan interviews reveals the communitarian logic underlying their points of view. By appropriating sacred spheres in Judaism that demarcate the boundaries of the Jewish community, and identifying them with Beitar as opposed to signifying Arab players as defiling Beitar, fans delineate boundaries between Jews and Arabs. Through the sanctification of Beitar, the fans define Jewish collective boundaries and thereby preserve their worldview and identity while maintaining a hierarchy that grants Jews advantages in Israel.
Identities, 2018
ABSTRACT This article explores the integration of ethnic minorities into the middle class in a no... more ABSTRACT This article explores the integration of ethnic minorities into the middle class in a novel way. Current literature examines the existence of boundaries and the ways they construct ethnic identifications through visible acts. One line of research perceives the middle class as a homogenizing platform that lowers residential segregation and labor market discrimination, while another demonstrates how stereotypes and an occupational glass ceiling continue to operate, reinforcing minorities’ ethnic identifications. By contrast, this article demonstrates the significance of invisible boundaries for the study of ethnicity in the middle class. I center on the ways whereby microaggression, namely tacit everyday insults, signifies an ethnic difference between middle-class adolescents. Analyzing adolescents’ narratives shows how the classification of spaces has given rise in minority adolescents to inner experiences of incongruence and subordination. By constructing an ethnic identity that prevents adolescents perceiving themselves as middle-class subjects, invisible boundaries reinforce the ethno-class order.
This article analyzes the relationship between middle-class belonging and minority ethnic identif... more This article analyzes the relationship between middle-class belonging and minority ethnic identification through the narratives of Israeli adolescents in contrasting middle-class spaces. While current literature suggests that middle-class belonging will either weaken or strengthen ethnic identification, this paper demonstrates that the effect of class on ethnic identity varies between different spaces. Analyzing the narratives of 52 middle-class minority adolescents shows that spatial ethnic boundaries operating in the rural middle class lead these adolescents to construct a salient ethnic identity that can produce feelings of incongruence and subordination. However, in the urban middle-class, where spatial ethnic boundaries are less significant, adolescents develop a thin, interchangeable ethnic identity in accordance with shallow and superficial public classifications. These findings demonstrate that the middle classes are not monolithic but diverse within themselves, and point to...
Ethnicities, 2021
This article analyzes the relationship between middle-class belonging and minority ethnic identif... more This article analyzes the relationship between middle-class belonging and minority ethnic identification through the narratives of Israeli adolescents in contrasting middle-class spaces. While current literature suggests that middle-class belonging will either weaken or strengthen ethnic identification, this paper demonstrates that the effect of class on ethnic identity varies between different spaces. Analyzing the narratives of 52 middle-class minority adolescents shows that spatial ethnic boundaries operating in the rural middle class lead these adolescents to construct a salient ethnic identity that can produce feelings of incongruence and subordination. However, in the urban middle-class, where spatial ethnic boundaries are less significant, adolescents develop a thin, interchangeable ethnic identity in accordance with shallow and superficial public classifications. These findings demonstrate that the middle classes are not monolithic but diverse within themselves, and point to the need to study the variety of ways diverse middle classes can affect the shaping of minority ethnic identification.
Israel Studies Review, 2019
This article explores the opposition expressed by fans of the Beitar Jerusalem football club to t... more This article explores the opposition expressed by fans of the Beitar Jerusalem football club to the presence of Arab players on their team. I suggest that instead of suspecting that fans' behavior originates in false consciousness, we suspend suspicion and reconstruct the meanings they bring to their actions. Narrative analysis of fan interviews reveals the communitarian logic underlying their points of view. By appropriating sacred spheres in Judaism that demarcate the boundaries of the Jewish community, and identifying them with Beitar as opposed to signifying Arab players as defiling Beitar, fans delineate boundaries between Jews and Arabs. Through the sanctification of Beitar, the fans define Jewish collective boundaries and thereby preserve their worldview and identity while maintaining a hierarchy that grants Jews advantages in Israel.
This article explores the integration of ethnic minorities into the middle class in a novel way. ... more This article explores the integration of ethnic minorities into the middle class in a novel way. Current literature examines the existence of boundaries and the ways they construct ethnic identifications through visible acts. One line of research perceives the middle class as a homogenizing platform that lowers residential segregation and labor market discrimination, while another demonstrates how
stereotypes and an occupational glass ceiling continue to operate, reinforcing minorities’ ethnic identifications. By contrast, this article demonstrates the significance of invisible boundaries for the study of ethnicity in the middle class. I center on the ways whereby microaggression, namely tacit everyday insults, signifies an ethnic difference between middle-class adolescents. Analyzing adolescents’ narratives shows how the classification of spaces has given rise in minority adolescents to inner experiences of incongruence and subordination. By constructing an ethnic identity that prevents adolescents perceiving themselves as middle-class subjects, invisible boundaries reinforce the ethno-class order.
The Ethnic Echo in the Israeli Center, 2022
במשך שלושה ימים, בין ה 19 - ל 21 - בדצמבר 1999 , נערך במכון ון ליר בירושלים כנס בנושא "נקודות מב... more במשך שלושה ימים, בין ה 19 - ל 21 - בדצמבר 1999 , נערך במכון ון ליר בירושלים כנס
בנושא "נקודות מבט מזרחיות על חברה ותרבות בישראל". ספר זה מקבץ בתוכו את
ההרצאות שנישאו במהלך שלושת ימי הכנס ואת חלקם של הדיונים הפתוחים שהתנהלו
בעקבות ובמהלך הרצאות אלה. כנס זה היה ראשון מסוגו בישראל בכמה מישורים:
מזרחיות נדונה בו לא כ"בעיה חברתית" ולא כמושא מחקרם של אנשי אקדמיה שראו עצמם
חלק מה"חברה הישראלית" החוקרת את ה"אחרים", המזרחים. אלא מזרחיות הייתה נקודת
מוצא, בסיס לגיטימי לדיבור ולמחקר, נקודה שממנה אפשר להבין את החברה הישראלית.
מזרחיות הפסיקה להיות ה"שוליים" הנחקרים של האקדמיה והפכה למרכז, לאתר אנליטי
ופוליטי שמתוכו נשמעים קולות הדוברים את עצמם.