The relationship between multiple commitments and organizational citizenship behavior in Arab and Jewish culture

This study examined the relation between multiple commitments (organizational commitment, occupational commitment, job involvement, and group commitment), ethnicity, and cultural values (individualism/collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity/femininity) with organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) and in-role performance. Two ethnic groups of Israeli teachers, Jews and Arabs, were examined. Of the 880 questionnaires that were distributed in 18 schools in northern Israel, 569 usable questionnaires were returned, a response rate of 65%. The findings showed substantial differences between the two groups in the four cultural dimensions and in two commitment forms. Ethnicity and the four cultural values related strongly to in-role performance and organizational OCB. The results showed 16 significant interactions of multiple commitments with ethnicity and with cultural dimensions in relation to OCB and in-role performance. Implications of the findings for research on commitment and culture are discussed.     

Cultural Aid and Jewish Identity in Post-Communist Hungary

This paper is based on current research which is concerned with the revival of religious and ethnic identity among Jews in Hungary after the collapse of communism. Several non-governmental institutions, groups and individuals from various countries, but especially Israel, the UK and the USA, are involved in the revitalization and transformation of Jewish life in the areas of education, ethnicity, religion and social welfare. I examine the complex relationship between emigre donors, often from an Hungarian background, and local Hungarian Jews, to show how cultural aid is accepted, transformed and sometimes resisted. Such aid is not uni-directional from donor to recipient. Rather, it may require the donors to modify their goals; to realize that their assessment of Hungarian needs may be based on anachronistic attitudes. The impact of the recipients on the donors is such that reciprocal change occurs between the two parties.     

Changing patterns of political participation of citizens of immigrant origin in the Brussels capital region: The October 2000 elections

The October 2000 elections did constitute a landmark for the political participation of immigrant origin citizens in the Brussels Capital Region. There was a remarkable increase of elected Belgian politicians of non-EU–mainly Moroccan–origin. In this contribution we want to discuss the changing patterns of political participation of immigrant origin citizens in the Brussels Capital Region as seen in the most recent local elections. We contextualize the electoral success of Turkish and (mainly) Moroccan politicians and the poor involvement of EU citizens in the recent elections. To this purpose, we also discuss the political situation in the bilingual region of Brussels, Belgian citizenship law and regulations for political participation of foreign residents.     

Towards an anthropology of doubt: the case of religious reproduction in Orthodox Judaism

As Israel’s Orthodox Jews struggle to live up to high fertility norms rooted in religious and Zionist ideals, an obscured model of stratified critique has emerged. Based on an ethnography of Israel’s reproductive landscape, I demonstrate how critique of high fertility standards is based on particular social and cultural capital only available to the religious elite. While well-established, knowledgeable and assertive religious members find private ways to bypass the almost unachievable levels of fertility, a veil of secrecy leaves less privileged groups, particularly ba`aley teshuva (returnees) to carry most of the fertility load. Whereas scholars of religious transformation have demonstrated how religious elites act as actors and leaders of resistance, my findings illustrate an opposite pattern. Instead of disseminating this critique publicly, religious elites engage in private strategies of secrecy and creative performances of failure that enable these individuals to diverge from norms without publicly contesting them. I argue that not only is stratified critique based on social and cultural capital, it also reproduces social inequalities. By focusing on doubt, struggles, and failures engendered in “everyday Judaism,” these findings require us to refocus our inquiry on power structures within different sub-groups of Israel’s Orthodox Jews. Further, this unique case study highlights how stratified reproduction takes new shape as social and religious convictions gain and lose their force at a particular moment in history.     

Assimilation and ethnic boundaries: Israeli students' altitudes toward soviet immigrants

The attitudes of Israeli students toward new immigrants from the former Soviet Union were examined against the theoretical framework of the sociology of ethnicity and sociology of education. The main research question explored was which ethnic relationship model (assimilation, pluralism, or separation) best described the attitudes and self-reported behavior of Israeli youth toward the new immigrants. Israeli students' changing attitudes toward their immigrant counterparts were also investigated, as well as actual Israeli educational practices (not only declared policies) regarding Soviet immigrants. The study was conducted in grades 4-11 at schools in northern Israel. The results indicated positive attitudes and openness of relations by the Israelis toward the new immigrant students in the first year following their immigration. However, the attitudes were less positive in the second year. Although the Israeli students manifested positive attitudes toward immigration and to the immigrants themselves, these views were largely assimilatory; Israeli cultural capital was obviously dominant, and it was expected to be accepted as such by the newcomers. The findings point to Israeli assimilatory educational practice; immigrants are expected to blend in, abandoning their past heritage and culture.     

Psychological Distress among Immigrant Adolescents: Culture-specific Factors in the Case of Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union

Studies investigating the effects of immigration on the psychological wellbeing of adolescents have produced variable and inconclusive results: some identify immigrant adolescents as a group of risk whereas others fail to demonstrate higher psychological distress in this group of adolescents. It is suggested in the present paper that cultural factors active in specific ethnic groups of immigrants may in part account for this inconsistency. The present study explores the psychological distress of immigrant adolescents from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) in Israel. The respondents were 560 university students (250 females and 310 males) who had immigrated to Israel from the FSU since 1989. The present report relates to one of the instruments applied in the study: the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). Mean BSI scores of the respondents were significantly higher than those of Israeli adolescents and in some categories higher than the American norms. A high percent of the immigrant respondents have reported severely troubling symptoms; however no significant differences were found between the BSI scores of FSU immigrants in Israel and their peers in the FSU. The findings are discussed in light of some sociocultural characteristics of society in the FSU.     

The sense of entitlement in romantic relationships: ethnic and religious aspects

One’s sense of entitlement is activated and influences one’s interactions and attitudes in a wide range of contexts, but it rather seems especially relevant in the context of the romantic relationship, as this particular type of relationship serves as a unique meeting point between needs, wishes, and expectations. While a number of studies have indicated that both exaggerated and restricted forms of sense of entitlement in couple relationships seem to be maladaptive and put people at risk for emotional problems, the core question of the current study dealt with the possible contribution of ethnic and religious aspects. As expected, ethnicity was shown to be a predictor of relational entitlement. Israeli Arabs were higher on inflated and restricted senses of entitlement than Israeli Jews were. Findings also indicated that among the Jewish sector, young religious Jews were higher on restricted sense of entitlement and lower on assertive sense of entitlement than were young secular Jews. Findings were discussed in terms of the unique situation of the Arab minority in Israel as well as the role of religious values in shaping the sense of relational entitlement in couple relationships.     

Immigrant intelligentsia and its second generation: Cultural segregation as a road to social integration?

This article deals with the recent wave of migration from the former USSR to Israel, analyses immigrant intelligentsias strategies of action in the public sphere. The authors argument is that by adopting a seemingly separatist course of action and founding educational, cultural, scientific, and political institutions inspired by traditions brought from the country of origin, what the immigrants actually do is try to integrate themselves into the host society as its distinctive but equal members. Thus it is the strategy of cultural segregation that enables the immigrant intelligentsia to occupy its own place in the multicultural mosaic of contemporary Israeli society.     

Fundamentalism

We should never assume that moral outrage provoked by the violation of traditional religious values is a mere reflection of secular grievances of some kind, but we should recognize that such outrage is often meshed with nationalistic and social grievances. If we take the religious Zionist militancy of some Israeli settlers (who do not see themselves as settlers), their political activities have focussed primarily on settling, and opposing the withdrawal from, the territories that Israel occupied in 1967 rather than on moral issues like abortion, homosexuality and pornography. Militant Islamic movements often stress their opposition to Western domination as much moral issues concerning personal conduct. The Shas movement in Israel is fueled in part by the resentment of Israeli Jews of Middle Eastern origin (the Mizrahim or Sephardim) towards Jews of European origin. All these movements can be said to have a ‘fundamentalist’ dimension insofar as they insist on strict conformity to sacred texts and on a moral code based on them, but focus exclusively or even primarily on this dimension of these movements is to ignore some of the crucial sources of their political appeal. With respect to the much discussed issue of bias in the comparative study of ‘fundamentalism’, it is important to avoid idealization as well as demonization. While it is important to correct popular stereotypes about religious conservatives, it is also important not to gloss over the very real problems associated with movements that demand that civil law be based on sacred law.     

Fundamentalism

We should never assume that moral outrage provoked by the violation of traditional religious values is a mere reflection of secular grievances of some kind, but we should recognize that such outrage is often meshed with nationalistic and social grievances. If we take the religious Zionist militancy of some Israeli settlers (who do not see themselves as settlers), their political activities have focussed primarily on settling, and opposing the withdrawal from, the territories that Israel occupied in 1967 rather than on moral issues like abortion, homosexuality and pornography. Militant Islamic movements often stress their opposition to Western domination as much moral issues concerning personal conduct. The Shas movement in Israel is fueled in part by the resentment of Israeli Jews of Middle Eastern origin (the Mizrahim or Sephardim) towards Jews of European origin. All these movements can be said to have a ‘fundamentalist’ dimension insofar as they insist on strict conformity to sacred texts and on a moral code based on them, but focus exclusively or even primarily on this dimension of these movements is to ignore some of the crucial sources of their political appeal. With respect to the much discussed issue of bias in the comparative study of ‘fundamentalism’, it is important to avoid idealization as well as demonization. While it is important to correct popular stereotypes about religious conservatives, it is also important not to gloss over the very real problems associated with movements that demand that civil law be based on sacred law.     

The epidemiology of suicide in Israel: international and intranational comparisons

A comparison of overall rates of completed suicide is made between Israel and selected European and North American countries. Rates for Israel are generally lower. A second comparison is made among different national-religious groups in Israel. Rates are higher for Jews than for the Muslim minority. An explanation is attempted for both sets of findings.     

Culture,religion, ethnicity and the meaning of work: Jews and Muslims in the Israeli context

The work values of Arabs in general, and of Muslims in particular, have not yet been studied in Israel. This study examines the meaning of work (MOW) of 1201 Jews and 219 Muslims, who work in the Israeli labour market. The findings reveal significant differences in the MOW dimensions and demonstrate different perceptions and internalisation of work values between the two ethno-religious groups. While the Jews have a higher economic and intrinsic orientation and a higher need for interpersonal relations than the Muslims, the Muslims have higher work centrality. The findings attributed to cultural differences, ethnic conflict, occupational discrimination and high degree of segregation.     

Between Israel and Germany from the “Alien Asiatic People” to the new German Jewry

How have Jews in Germany, stranded or returned there after World War II, related to Israel and to Germany, and how have their attitudes evolved since then? For decades, most Jews had no plans to stay in Germany, and their identification with and commitment to Israel, certainly in the first two decades, was extraordinary. However, over time their distance and even hostility to the German environment began to lessen, especially as West Germany developed ever closer ties with Israel. To a considerable degree, Germans themselves first reinitiated contacts with Jews and Jewish issues via Israel. In recent years, coinciding with the influx of Russian Jews and the policies of the Netanyahu and Sharon governments, there has been renewed emphasis on Diaspora and its values and a more positive reappraisal of the history of Jews in Germany. Nonetheless, basic ambivalences remain in place.     

OF MESSIAHS AND SULTANS: SHABBATAI ZEVI AND EARLY MODERNITY IN MOROCCO

Moroccan Jews became “modern” through a complex process of cultural and legal changes resulting in large part from their close encounter with imperial Europe. Institutions like the Alliance Israélite Universelle and the protégé system had an undeniable influence on the transformation of Moroccan Jewish identity and expectations during this period. In order to fully historicize Moroccan Jewish modernity, however—to locate its beginnings as well as its ending (not to mention its myriad meanings)—this article argues for broadening our inquiry to encompass earlier time periods, alternative geographies, and deeper registers of change than those imposed by an exclusive focus on a European impact followed by a local response. To that end, it analyses a cataclysmic event in Jewish history during the period prior to colonial penetration: the rise and fall of the messianic movement known as Sabbateanism, so-named after its founder, Shabbatai Zevi the “false Messiah” [1626–1676] of Izmir. Inspired by current trends in Ottoman history, this article attempts to locate Sabbateanism within contemporary social and political developments in Morocco during a formative period that witnessed both the integration of the Sephardim and the rise of the Alawi state. Such a contextualization begins sketching the parameters of an early modern period in Moroccan Jewish history at the same time as it compels us to recognize the consistencies in Moroccan Jewish society that survived the subsequent colonial period in North Africa, when seemingly everything changed.     

Tel Aviv Mizrah

Before immigrating to Israel, first-generation Iraqi Jews were deeply attached to their identity as Mizrahi Jews. Their mother tongue was Arabic and they had grown up in an oriental environment. Therefore, it was not easy for them to adopt the Euro-Israeli identity that the dominant Ashkenazi-European stratum in Israel compelled them to accept. Despite strong Westernizing tendencies in Israeli society, the first generation of Iraqi Jewish immigrants maintained strong links to the Iraqi customs and traditions they had acquired in Iraq, particularly with regard to the musical folklore and oriental cuisine. On the other hand, second-generation Iraqi Jews were more familiar with Israeli society than their parents; they grew up in Israel and learned Hebrew in Israeli schools along with Ashkenazi Jews and other ethnic groups. This paper establishes connections between the historical realities of Iraqi Jewish immigrants and the literary representation of their world in the trilogy Tel-Aviv Mizrah (Tel Aviv East) written in 2003 by the Iraqi Jewish author Shimon Ballas, through a comparison of Ballas's literary vision with the historical realities of Iraqi Jewish identity in Israel over the course of two generations.     

Disadvantage, Ethnic Niching or Pursuit of a Vision?

As immigrant groups grow older, host societies are faced with new challenges of integration. In a labor market that is structured by ethnicity and gender, the demand for culturally competent care provides immigrant women with the opportunity to become entrepreneurs within the care sector. This article analyzes 20 in-depth interviews with immigrant women from 13 countries who are entrepreneurs in home-help services for elderly people. The article analyzes the complex motives behind the women??s entrepreneurship. Ethnic entrepreneurship has mainly been approached as a way for immigrants to survive in the labor market??the disadvantage theory??or as a means to create job opportunities for co-ethnics within ethnic economies. Opposed to this, three main motives appear in the analysis: first, the processes of ethnic and gender sorting in the care sector; second, ethnic strategies in the labor market; and third, the wish to gain independence and improve the quality of care. Only in a few cases is ethnic entrepreneurship practiced within ethnic economies; instead, it is mainly found within cross-cultural economies, consisting of employees and customers of mixed origin who are embedded in a majority society. The women construct their ethnic identities to compete in the segmented Swedish labor market by creating ethnic identities of care that are adjusted to meet the needs of their customers in a cross-cultural society.     

Shifting Sexual Boundaries: Ethnicity and Pre-marital Sex in the Lives of South Asian American Women

Immigrants and their children engage in several forms of boundary making as a means of developing a sense of belonging in America. Second-generation Americans are at the crossroads between meeting their parents’ cultural expectations and selecting new ethnic options that may conflict with ancestral traditions. Women’s sexuality has often been a site for contesting and conforming to ethnic boundaries. This article examines a case study of second-generation South Asian American adult women’s pre-marital sexual behavior to understand how cultural expectations about sex shapes the ways in which they construct ethnic boundaries. Much of the literature on women’s sexuality in immigrant communities in America has focused on married women or constraints placed on women’s virginity. This study highlights a nuanced perspective for understanding how migration to the U.S. creates cultural shifts in ethnic communities by examining how the American born daughters of immigrants define their ethnicity through their pre-marital sexual encounters.     

Cultural Threat and Anti‐immigrant Prejudice: The Case of Protestants in Northern Ireland

Cultural threat has emerged as a consistent predictor of anti‐immigrant and anti‐minority attitudes across many different national contexts. We examine this issue in the context of Northern Ireland using representative survey data, suggesting that Protestant and unionist communities experience a higher level of cultural threat than Catholic and nationalist communities on account of the ‘parity of esteem’ principle that has informed changes in the province since the Belfast Agreement of 1998. Our analyses confirm that, although there is evidence for some level of anti‐immigrant sentiment across all groups, Protestants and unionists do indeed report relatively more negative attitudes towards a range of immigrant and ethnic target groups compared with Catholics, nationalists or respondents who do not identify with any political category. The analyses further suggest that their higher level of perceived cultural threat partially accounts for this difference. We argue that cultural threat can be interpreted as a response to changes in Northern Ireland that have challenged the dominant status enjoyed by Protestants and unionists in the past. More generally, we argue that a politicised characterisation of cultural threat needs to be elaborated through future work. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.