International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Jun 11, 2018
PurposeReligious minority groups often enjoy strong support systems and high levels of trust, pro... more PurposeReligious minority groups often enjoy strong support systems and high levels of trust, providing for volunteering within the community, but under what conditions are members of these groups likely to volunteer outside their community? Or, would they prefer the security, intimacy and commitment to their own communities. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approachTo answer this question, the authors examine the motivations of ultra-Orthodox young men who volunteered for National Civil Service in Israel, and compare the choices of volunteer frameworks: separatist-religious volunteering within the community compared to volunteering in secular institutions outside the community.FindingsThe authors associate the interest and motivations with different types of social capital, “bonding” and “bridging.”Research limitations/implicationsResearch based on one case study.Practical implicationsGuidelines for encouraging volunteering among closed groups.Social implicationsUnderstanding of motivations and concerns among religious groups.Originality/valueAn original study of a relatively new phenomenon.
A thriving, yet small, liberal component in Israeli society has frequently taken issue with the c... more A thriving, yet small, liberal component in Israeli society has frequently taken issue with the constraints imposed by religious orthodoxy, largely with limited success. However, Guy Ben-Porat suggests, in recent years, in part because of demographic changes and in part because of the influence of an increasingly consumer-oriented society, dramatic changes have occurred in secularization of significant parts of public and private lives. Even though these fissures often have more to do with lifestyle choices and economics than with political or religious ideology, the demands and choices of a secular public and a burgeoning religious presence in the government are becoming ever more difficult to reconcile. The evidence, which the author has accrued from numerous interviews and a detailed survey, is nowhere more telling than in areas that demand religious sanction such as marriage, burial, the sale of pork, and the operation of businesses on the Sabbath.
Religion has played an important part in Israeli politics, and religious-secular contentions are ... more Religion has played an important part in Israeli politics, and religious-secular contentions are likely to remain part of the political landscape. In the early years of Israel’s statehood religious politics was contained by common goals; secular ambivalence toward religion; and a political leadership able to create agreements, both formal and informal, known as the status quo. Beginning in the 1990s, however, economic, demographic, and sociocultural changes undermined the agreements, and religious questions became politicized. Israeli governments were unable to mediate between new demands of secular and religious groups, so subpolitics—political actions outside the formal political sphere—combined with traditional politics to become a way for Israelis to struggle for and against religious authority.
Citizenship is a legal status conferring privileges of membership in a particular political commu... more Citizenship is a legal status conferring privileges of membership in a particular political community and thereby creating processes of social inclusion and exclusion. Inclusion provides members with social status, social rights and the right to take part in collective decision making. As such, citizenship is often a contested ground for individual and group rights, and over the very definition of the political community. Social and political struggles over the boundaries of citizenship and the meaning of citizenship are central to contemporary Israeli politics. These diverse struggles – religious, national, gender, economic and ethnic – are, on the one hand, about equality, recognition and re- defining the collective and, on the other hand, about the practical needs of everyday life. This collected volume engages with contemporary questions about citizenship in Israel as they pertain to particular group demands and to the dynamics of political life in the public arena. Contributors to this volume examine different aspects of citizenship primarily through the needs, demands and struggles of minority groups. In general terms, they provide a comprehensive picture of the dynamics of Israeli citizenship and the dilemmas that emerge at the collective, group and individual levels
Introduction G.Ben-Porat Israeli Flags Flying Alongside Belfast's Apartheid Walls: A New Era ... more Introduction G.Ben-Porat Israeli Flags Flying Alongside Belfast's Apartheid Walls: A New Era of Comparisons and Connections A.Guelke PART 1: STRUCTURAL EXPLANATIONS The State-to-Nation Balance: A Key to Explaining Difficulties in Implementing Peace - The Israeli-Palestinian Case B.Miller Consociational Theory and Peace Agreements in Pluri-National Places: Northern Ireland and Other Cases J.McGarry & B.O'Leary Ending Apartheid: The Relevance of Consociationalism R.Taylor Realism, Liberalism and the Collapse of the Oslo Process: Inherently Flawed or Flawed Implementation? J.Rynhold PART 2: THE DYNAMICS OF PEACE Sponsors or Spoilers: Diasporas and Peace Processes in the Homeland R.Schwartz People's Diplomacy and People's Vigilantism: Israeli Grassroots Activism 1993-2003 T.Hermann Passive Reconciliation in the Context of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict R.Nets-Zehngut Identity Shift in Settlement Processes: The Northern Ireland Case J.Todd PART 3: SUCCESS AND FAILURE Oslo: Liberalization and De-Colonization Y.Peled Mandela in Palestine: Peacemaking in Divided Societies H.Adam Conclusion G.Ben-Porat
The Ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) community is one of the poorest sectors in Israel but because of the ... more The Ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) community is one of the poorest sectors in Israel but because of the large families in the community, often more than eight children, the sector is an important target for food and other retail companies. Retailers’ efforts to reach the Haredi communities included special chain stores with strict levels of Kashrut (Jewish dietary laws), low cost products, large packages for big families and dress codes of store staff that promise a comfortable, modest atmosphere for the religious consumers. The competition between retailers over the Haredi market, however, has given the community new power it could use either for economic bargaining or for the enforcement of religious rules. Thus, retailers have at times to maintain strict religious rules not only vis-a-vis the Haredi sector but also in other operations in Israel.
ABSTRACT Minority groups striving for integration may support representation in state institution... more ABSTRACT Minority groups striving for integration may support representation in state institutions as well as recognition measures not as ends in themselves but only insofar as they believe that these reforms can advance their full integration into mainstream society. We illustrate this argument by focusing on perceptions about police reforms among Israeli Jews of Ethiopian descent, a racial minority. Drawing on data from public opinion surveys, focus groups, and interviews with community activists, our analysis indicates that Ethiopian Israelis support recruitment of co-ethnic officers (representation) and cultural sensitivity training of police officers (recognition) because they believe it could change police’s attitudes and behaviors. However, they are also conscious of the downsides of these reforms as they might perpetuate their stigmatization as a distinct group that requires special accommodation. This paper suggests that successful integration strategies need to take into account how minority groups view their status within the state’s citizenship regime.
Economic and demographic changes associated with globalization significantly alter the relations ... more Economic and demographic changes associated with globalization significantly alter the relations between religion, state and society. This workshop proposes a comparative study of globalization's impact on religious change and the evolution of new identities, struggles and political arrangements. The chief theme is globalization because the economic changes it carries are often associated with a process of sustained secularization, unleashing market forces that are said significantly to undermine previous arrangements involving religion, state and society. Recent accounts of secularization open the way for more nuanced and empirical research of the declining role of religion in society vis-à-vis other systems (political and economic), the role of religion in individual lives (beliefs, practices and values) and the re-assertion of religion in political life. Accordingly, this workshop will engage with different accounts of religious belief and secularization as they relate to economic and demographic changes, associated with globalization, and the way they are translated into political agendas, in the overall context of deepening globalization. Specifically, papers in this workshop will focus on: (a) Effects of globalization-including, economic, demographic, political and cultural ramifications that affect on religious institutions and belief systems; (b) secular struggles related to globalization that affect religion's status in state and society; (c) religious struggles within and against globalization and associated attempts to reassert religion's status in society; and, (d) new political arrangements involving religion, society and state.
International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Jun 11, 2018
PurposeReligious minority groups often enjoy strong support systems and high levels of trust, pro... more PurposeReligious minority groups often enjoy strong support systems and high levels of trust, providing for volunteering within the community, but under what conditions are members of these groups likely to volunteer outside their community? Or, would they prefer the security, intimacy and commitment to their own communities. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approachTo answer this question, the authors examine the motivations of ultra-Orthodox young men who volunteered for National Civil Service in Israel, and compare the choices of volunteer frameworks: separatist-religious volunteering within the community compared to volunteering in secular institutions outside the community.FindingsThe authors associate the interest and motivations with different types of social capital, “bonding” and “bridging.”Research limitations/implicationsResearch based on one case study.Practical implicationsGuidelines for encouraging volunteering among closed groups.Social implicationsUnderstanding of motivations and concerns among religious groups.Originality/valueAn original study of a relatively new phenomenon.
A thriving, yet small, liberal component in Israeli society has frequently taken issue with the c... more A thriving, yet small, liberal component in Israeli society has frequently taken issue with the constraints imposed by religious orthodoxy, largely with limited success. However, Guy Ben-Porat suggests, in recent years, in part because of demographic changes and in part because of the influence of an increasingly consumer-oriented society, dramatic changes have occurred in secularization of significant parts of public and private lives. Even though these fissures often have more to do with lifestyle choices and economics than with political or religious ideology, the demands and choices of a secular public and a burgeoning religious presence in the government are becoming ever more difficult to reconcile. The evidence, which the author has accrued from numerous interviews and a detailed survey, is nowhere more telling than in areas that demand religious sanction such as marriage, burial, the sale of pork, and the operation of businesses on the Sabbath.
Religion has played an important part in Israeli politics, and religious-secular contentions are ... more Religion has played an important part in Israeli politics, and religious-secular contentions are likely to remain part of the political landscape. In the early years of Israel’s statehood religious politics was contained by common goals; secular ambivalence toward religion; and a political leadership able to create agreements, both formal and informal, known as the status quo. Beginning in the 1990s, however, economic, demographic, and sociocultural changes undermined the agreements, and religious questions became politicized. Israeli governments were unable to mediate between new demands of secular and religious groups, so subpolitics—political actions outside the formal political sphere—combined with traditional politics to become a way for Israelis to struggle for and against religious authority.
Citizenship is a legal status conferring privileges of membership in a particular political commu... more Citizenship is a legal status conferring privileges of membership in a particular political community and thereby creating processes of social inclusion and exclusion. Inclusion provides members with social status, social rights and the right to take part in collective decision making. As such, citizenship is often a contested ground for individual and group rights, and over the very definition of the political community. Social and political struggles over the boundaries of citizenship and the meaning of citizenship are central to contemporary Israeli politics. These diverse struggles – religious, national, gender, economic and ethnic – are, on the one hand, about equality, recognition and re- defining the collective and, on the other hand, about the practical needs of everyday life. This collected volume engages with contemporary questions about citizenship in Israel as they pertain to particular group demands and to the dynamics of political life in the public arena. Contributors to this volume examine different aspects of citizenship primarily through the needs, demands and struggles of minority groups. In general terms, they provide a comprehensive picture of the dynamics of Israeli citizenship and the dilemmas that emerge at the collective, group and individual levels
Introduction G.Ben-Porat Israeli Flags Flying Alongside Belfast's Apartheid Walls: A New Era ... more Introduction G.Ben-Porat Israeli Flags Flying Alongside Belfast's Apartheid Walls: A New Era of Comparisons and Connections A.Guelke PART 1: STRUCTURAL EXPLANATIONS The State-to-Nation Balance: A Key to Explaining Difficulties in Implementing Peace - The Israeli-Palestinian Case B.Miller Consociational Theory and Peace Agreements in Pluri-National Places: Northern Ireland and Other Cases J.McGarry & B.O'Leary Ending Apartheid: The Relevance of Consociationalism R.Taylor Realism, Liberalism and the Collapse of the Oslo Process: Inherently Flawed or Flawed Implementation? J.Rynhold PART 2: THE DYNAMICS OF PEACE Sponsors or Spoilers: Diasporas and Peace Processes in the Homeland R.Schwartz People's Diplomacy and People's Vigilantism: Israeli Grassroots Activism 1993-2003 T.Hermann Passive Reconciliation in the Context of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict R.Nets-Zehngut Identity Shift in Settlement Processes: The Northern Ireland Case J.Todd PART 3: SUCCESS AND FAILURE Oslo: Liberalization and De-Colonization Y.Peled Mandela in Palestine: Peacemaking in Divided Societies H.Adam Conclusion G.Ben-Porat
The Ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) community is one of the poorest sectors in Israel but because of the ... more The Ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) community is one of the poorest sectors in Israel but because of the large families in the community, often more than eight children, the sector is an important target for food and other retail companies. Retailers’ efforts to reach the Haredi communities included special chain stores with strict levels of Kashrut (Jewish dietary laws), low cost products, large packages for big families and dress codes of store staff that promise a comfortable, modest atmosphere for the religious consumers. The competition between retailers over the Haredi market, however, has given the community new power it could use either for economic bargaining or for the enforcement of religious rules. Thus, retailers have at times to maintain strict religious rules not only vis-a-vis the Haredi sector but also in other operations in Israel.
ABSTRACT Minority groups striving for integration may support representation in state institution... more ABSTRACT Minority groups striving for integration may support representation in state institutions as well as recognition measures not as ends in themselves but only insofar as they believe that these reforms can advance their full integration into mainstream society. We illustrate this argument by focusing on perceptions about police reforms among Israeli Jews of Ethiopian descent, a racial minority. Drawing on data from public opinion surveys, focus groups, and interviews with community activists, our analysis indicates that Ethiopian Israelis support recruitment of co-ethnic officers (representation) and cultural sensitivity training of police officers (recognition) because they believe it could change police’s attitudes and behaviors. However, they are also conscious of the downsides of these reforms as they might perpetuate their stigmatization as a distinct group that requires special accommodation. This paper suggests that successful integration strategies need to take into account how minority groups view their status within the state’s citizenship regime.
Economic and demographic changes associated with globalization significantly alter the relations ... more Economic and demographic changes associated with globalization significantly alter the relations between religion, state and society. This workshop proposes a comparative study of globalization's impact on religious change and the evolution of new identities, struggles and political arrangements. The chief theme is globalization because the economic changes it carries are often associated with a process of sustained secularization, unleashing market forces that are said significantly to undermine previous arrangements involving religion, state and society. Recent accounts of secularization open the way for more nuanced and empirical research of the declining role of religion in society vis-à-vis other systems (political and economic), the role of religion in individual lives (beliefs, practices and values) and the re-assertion of religion in political life. Accordingly, this workshop will engage with different accounts of religious belief and secularization as they relate to economic and demographic changes, associated with globalization, and the way they are translated into political agendas, in the overall context of deepening globalization. Specifically, papers in this workshop will focus on: (a) Effects of globalization-including, economic, demographic, political and cultural ramifications that affect on religious institutions and belief systems; (b) secular struggles related to globalization that affect religion's status in state and society; (c) religious struggles within and against globalization and associated attempts to reassert religion's status in society; and, (d) new political arrangements involving religion, society and state.
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Papers by Guy Ben-Porat