Using the tools of science, philosophy and the social sciences, this book explores the numerous facets of what we understand reality to mean. It focuses on the human side, especially on the individual experience of reality as manifested through personality, cognitive power, self-consciousness, and rationalistic and communicative endowments.
These essays address Jewish identity, Jewish survival, and Jewish continuity. The authors account for and analyze trends in Jewish identification and the reciprocal effects of the relationship between the Diaspora and Israel at the end of the twentieth century. Jewish identification in contemporary society is a complex phenomenon. Since the emancipation of Jews in Europe and the major historic events of the Holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israel, there have been substantial changes in the collective Jewish identity. As a result, Jewish identity and the Jewish process of identification had to confront the new realities of an open society, its economic globalization, and the impacts of cultural pluralism. The trends in Jewish identification are toward fewer and weaker points of attachment: fewer Jews who hold religious beliefs with such beliefs held less strongly; less religious ritual observance; attachment to Zionism and Israel becoming diluted; and ethnic communal bonds weakening. Jews are also more involved in the wider society in the Diaspora due to fewer barriers and less overt anti-Semitism. This opens up possibilities for cultural integration and assimilation. In Israel, too, there are signs of greater interest in the modern world culture. The major questions addressed by this volume is whether Jewish civilization will continue to provide the basic social framework and values that will lead Jews into the twenty-first century and ensure their survival as a specific social entity. The book contains special contributions by Professor Julius Gould and Professor Irving Louis Horowitz and chapters on "Sociological Analysis of Jewish Identity"; "Jewish Community Boundaries"; and "Factual Accounts from the Diaspora and Israel.
This is the first volume of the publication series of the Israel Sociological Society. The best of Israeli social science is scattered in a very large variety of international journals. The object of this publishing venture is to identify the major themes which occupy social research in Israel and collate published materials which are relevant to each theme. Each volume is introduced by integrative essays. The contents of this first volume focus on the theme of migration, ethnicity, and community, seeking out the dynamics of conflict and integration in a new society. Topics include the reso-cialization of immigrants, the conflicts arising from ethnic disparities, and the problems of development towns. A special feature of the volume is a comprehensive bibliography of published materials on Israeli society, covering the ten-year period from the late 1960s. Contents and Contributors: S.N. EISENSTADT Introduction: Some Reflections on the Study of Ethnicity; ALEX WEIN-GROD The State of the Art: A Review and Overview; RIVKA BAR-YOSEF Desocialization and Resocialization: The Adjustment Process of Immigrants; NINA TOREN Return to Zion: Characteristics and Motivations of Returning Emigrants; VIVIAN Z. KLAFF Residence and Integration in Israel: A Mosaic of Segregated Groups; NORMAN BERDICHEVSKY The Persistence of the Yemeni Quarter in an Israeli Town; MOSHE SHOKEID Immigration and Factionalism: An Analysis of Factions in Rural Israeli Communities of Immigrants; SHLOMO DESHEN Political Ethnicity and Cultural Ethnicity in Israel during the 1960s; ERIK COHEN The Black Panthers and Israeli Society; SAMMY SMOOHA and YOCHANAN PERES The Dynamics of Ethnic Inequalities: The Case of Israel; SHULAMIT CARMI and HENRY ROSENFELD The Origins of the Process of Proletarianization and Urbanization of Arab Peasants in Palestine; SEYMOUR SPILERMAN and JACK HABIB Development Towns in Israel: The Role of Community in Creating Ethnic Disparities in Labor Force Characteristics; EVA ETZIONI-HALEVY Patterns of Conflict Generation and Conflict 'Absorption' : The Cases of Israeli Labor and Ethnic Conflicts
Jrgen Habermas, speaking of postmodern society, remarked that extension of the means of communication not only allows a wide range of information, but it also encourages permanent connections between different peoples, cultures, and social discourses. It thus facilitates better general understanding, a clarifying of real or apparent contradictions. But this process becomes truly positive only when it is performed between equal members. Globalization of information does not minimize the possibility of conflict or terrorism, if fundamental social problems are not resolved or at least approached in an active way. This volume examines the major upheavals of the twentieth century and views within the framework of these events and challenges implications for the future. "Values and Cultural Changes in the Postmodern World," by Zygmunt Bauman explores the changing meaning of space in the globalizing environment; S.N. Eisenstadt analyzes the destructive components of modernity; and Irving Louis Horowitz draws attention to the classical values of the common universal culture. "Social Development and Policies in Contemporary Society," by Michael M. Cernea, examines the importance of the applied and policy-orientated research, especially in the developing countries, and David Marsland stresses the positive role of sociology in pointing to the possibilities of improving healthcare in modern society. "Societies in Transition-Eastern Europe," emphasizes transitions that have occurred in Eastern Europe. Rozalina Rjyvkina and Leonid Kosals provide an incisive study of the situation in Russia, while Jerzy J. Wiatr presents a comparative analysis of postcommunist societies, with special reference to Poland. "The Jewish World: Pre- and Post-Holocaust," by Regina Azria, discusses the identity problems in the Diaspora confronting modernity; Eva Etzioni-Halevi considers the newly developed Israeli society from the point of view of the exercise and distribution of power; and a most interesting contribution by Annette Wieviorka concerns the material and spiritual effects of the Holocaust on the Jews of France. Social historians and students of Judaica, as well as a general public interested in cultural pluralism will find this well-developed volume essential reading.
These essays address Jewish identity, Jewish survival, and Jewish continuity. The authors account for and analyze trends in Jewish identification and the reciprocal effects of the relationship between the Diaspora and Israel at the end of the twentieth century.Jewish identification in contemporary society is a complex phenomenon. Since the emancipation of Jews in Europe and the major historic events of the Holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israel, there have been substantial changes in the collective Jewish identity. As a result, Jewish identity and the Jewish process of identification had to confront the new realities of an open society, its economic globalization, and the impacts of cultural pluralism. The trends in Jewish identification are toward fewer and weaker points of attachment: fewer Jews who hold religious beliefs with such beliefs held less strongly; less religious ritual observance; attachment to Zionism and Israel becoming diluted; and ethnic communal bonds weakening. Jews are also more involved in the wider society in the Diaspora due to fewer barriers and less overt anti-Semitism. This opens up possibilities for cultural integration and assimilation. In Israel, too, there are signs of greater interest in the modern world culture. The major questions addressed by this volume is whether Jewish civilization will continue to provide the basic social framework and values that will lead Jews into the twenty-first century and ensure their survival as a specific social entity.The book contains special contributions by Professor Julius Gould and Professor Irving Louis Horowitz and chapters on "Sociological Analysis of Jewish Identity"; "Jewish Community Boundaries"; and "Factual Accounts from the Diaspora and Israel.
This series of the Israeli Sociological Society, whose object is to identify and clarify the major themes that occupy social research in Israel today, gathers together the best of Israeli social science investigation that was previously scattered in a large variety of international journals. Each book in the series is introduced by integrative essays. Each volume focuses on a particular topic; the first volume seeks out the dynamics of conflict and integration in a new society; the second volume is concerned with the sociology of a unique Israeli social institution—the kibbutz. The third volume presents sociological perspectives on political life and culture in Israel. Articles by leading scholars deal with: historical development; political culture and ideology; political institutions and behavior; the social basis of politics; and social change. Volume III also includes a select bibliography. Contributors to Volume III (tentative): Karl W. Deutsch, Yonathan Shapiro, Dan Horowitz, Moshe Lissak, Daniel Elazar, Asher Arian, Charles Liebman, Erik Cohen, Yoram Peri, Ephraim Yaar, S. Smooha.
This series of the Israel Sociological Association, whose object is to identify and clarify the major themes that occupy social research in Israel today, gathers together the best of Israeli social science investigation that was previously scattered in a wide variety of international journals. Each book in the series focuses on a particular topic and is introduced by integrative essays, making the volumes thorough and self-contained. Israel is at the crossroads of many worlds: Africa, Asia, Europe, and has strong ties to the Anglo-American style of scholarship. In this, the fourth volume of Studies of Israeli Society, we have a perfect illustration of how vital these geographic linkages are in the sociological study of education in cross-cultural contexts. The volume, edited by the distinguished Anglo-Israeli scholar, and now rector of Bar-Han University, Ernest Krausz, adds a new dimension to this series, and no less, to the global understanding of the dual process of education and learning. The scope and depth of Israeli scholarship in the sociology of education will be manifest from the opening new essay by Eliahu Katz honoring the late Joseph Ben-David, to the closing comprehensive bibliography by David Glanz. Contents (partial): Eliahu Katz, "Ben David in Memory"; James Coleman, Ozer Schild, Chaim Adler,' "Israeli Education Addressing Dilemmas Caused by Pluralism: Rachel Elboim-Dror, "Conflict and Consensus in Educational Policymaking in Israel"; Reuven Kahane and Laura Starr, "The Impact of Rapid Social Change on Technological Education"; Ernest Krausz and Mordechai Bar-Lev, "Varieties of Orthodox Religious Behavior"; Sami Khalil Mar'i, "Arab Education in Israel"; Victor Azarya, "Civil Education in the Israeli Armed Forces"; Joseph Ben-David, "Universities in Israel"; Abraham Yogev, "Determinants of Early Educational Careers in Israel"; Yehezkel Dar and Nura Resh, "Classroom Intellectual Composition and Academic Achievement"; Yossi Shavit, "Tracking and Ethnicity in Israeli Secondary Education"; Abraham Yogev and Hanna Ayalokn, "High School Attendance in a Sponsored Multi-Ethnic System"; Joseph Schwarzwald and Yehuda Amir, "Interethnic Relations and Education"; Jeff Halper, Moshe Shokeid and Alex Weingrod, "Communities, Schools and Integration"; Arnold Lewis, "Minority Education in Sharona, Israel and Stockton, California"; Ephraim Yaar and Moshe Semyonov, "Ethnic Inequality in Israeli Schools and Sports"; Judith T. Shuval and Israel Adler, "The Role of Models in Professional Socialization"; Walter Ackerman and David Gordon, "Role Function and Myth in Israeli Secondary Schools"; Mordechai Arieli, "Students' Supportive Attitudes Toward their Schools"; Jo-Ann Harrison and Rivkah Glaueman, "Open Education in Three Societies"; Lea Shamgar-Handelman and Don Handelman, "Holiday Celebrations in Israeli Kindergartens"; David Glanz and Grace Hollander, "Selected Comprehensive Bibliography.
Under the influence of science, modern civilization has adopted the view that only things that can be verified empirically or arrived at rationally are true. Modern people tend to regard themselves as mechanisms, without any subjective aspects to their nature. In this insightful and passionately concerned book, British educationist and man of letters David Holbrook retorts persuasively that this reductive view of human nature is profoundly false. Man's inner, subjective life is essential to his nature, what happens to his consciousness is the most important thing in his life, and his greatest need is to find meaning.Holbrook also warns that reductionism has pernicious, even lethal, cultural, social, and political consequences. The logical result is nihilism: if human beings and existence are but physical mechanisms, it necessarily follows that consciousness does not exist, life is meaningless, our concern with moral values is pointless, and so are our lives and actions. Life itself reduces to nothing but self-indulgence and self-assertion. A culture informed by this perspective is necessarily full of expressions of hate and meaninglessness, which coarsens and demoralizes the majority of the population and worsens the mental pathologies of unstable persons. "Egoistical nihilism" becomes ever more widespread, and a decent society becomes impossible.Holbrook advances a keenly insightful and eloquent critique of the radical individualism of Max Stirner's famous tract The Ego and His Own. Stirner's worldview, he argues, is grounded in psychopathology and takes the nihilist assumptions of modernity to their logical conclusion: "the unique one" totally detached from society and reducing others to mere means to his ends, fair game for exploitation unfettered by ethical considerations. Ominously, he notes, the Stirnerean attitude toward existence is becoming increasingly common. Against the reductive perspective of positivism, Holbrook argues that scientific investigations establish the reality of meaning and of values rooted in love. He calls for a reaffirmation of both.Originally published in 1977, Education, Nihilism, and Survival speaks prophetically and even more urgently to us today. The worsening coarseness, nihilism, and brutality of our culture, the partisan fanaticisms and widespread alienation and apathy of our politics, and horrors such as school shootings reveal the consequences of radical individualism.Education, Nihilism, and Survival will be of interest to well-educated general readers concerned at the state of culture and society; educators alarmed at harmful approaches in education; and psychologists and philosophers concerned about existentialism, Stirner's egoist philosophy, and the need for meaningful, philosophical anthropology.
Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction Postmodernism and The Cunning of Reason -- Part 1 Values and Cultural Changes in the Postmodern World -- 1. Space in the Globalizing World -- 2. Barbarism and Modernity: The Destructive Components of Modernity-The Perennial Challenge -- 3. Social Science as Cultural Formation: A View from America -- Part 2 Social Development and Policies in Contemporary Society -- 4. Development of Applied Social Science-The World Bank Experience -- 5. Progressing Health and Healthcare: A Positive Role for Sociology? -- Part 3 Societies in Transition-Eastern Europe -- 6. Socialist and Capitalist Experiments in the Twentieth Century-The Case of Russia -- 7. Post-Communist Societies: Ten Years After -- Part 4 The Jewish World: Pre- and Post-Holocaust -- 8. Jewish Identities and the Diaspora-The Diaspora Paradigm Confronting Modernity -- 9. The Jews of Independent Poland-Linguistic and Cultural Changes -- 10. Who Rules Israel? -- 11. Despoliation, Reparation, Compensation: The Case of the Jews in France -- Contributors -- Index
This text examines some of the major changes of the twentieth century, and provides insights into possible future trends. Eleven papers, contributed by fourteen international social scientists, cover the areas of values and cultural changes in the postmodern world, contemporary social development and policies, transitional changes in the societies of Eastern Europe, and particular aspects of the pre- and post-Holocaust Jewish world, including Israel. For social historians and students of Judaica, as well as the general public interested in cultural pluralism. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
This series of the Israeli Sociological Society, whose object is to identify and clarify the major themes that occupy social research in Israel today, gathers together the best of Israeli social science investigation that was previously scattered in a large variety of international journals. Each book in the series is introduced by integrative essays. Each volume focuses on a particular topic; the first volume seeks out the dynamics of conflict and integration in a new society; the second volume is concerned with the sociology of a unique Israeli social institution—the kibbutz. The third volume presents sociological perspectives on political life and culture in Israel. Articles by leading scholars deal with: historical development; political culture and ideology; political institutions and behavior; the social basis of politics; and social change. Volume III also includes a select bibliography. Contributors to Volume III (tentative): Karl W. Deutsch, Yonathan Shapiro, Dan Horowitz, Moshe Lissak, Daniel Elazar, Asher Arian, Charles Liebman, Erik Cohen, Yoram Peri, Ephraim Yaar, S. Smooha.
Under the influence of science, modern civilization has adopted the view that only things that can be verified empirically or arrived at rationally are true. Modern people tend to regard themselves as mechanisms, without any subjective aspects to their nature. In this insightful and passionately concerned book, British educationist and man of letters David Holbrook retorts persuasively that this reductive view of human nature is profoundly false. Man's inner, subjective life is essential to his nature, what happens to his consciousness is the most important thing in his life, and his greatest need is to find meaning.Holbrook also warns that reductionism has pernicious, even lethal, cultural, social, and political consequences. The logical result is nihilism: if human beings and existence are but physical mechanisms, it necessarily follows that consciousness does not exist, life is meaningless, our concern with moral values is pointless, and so are our lives and actions. Life itself reduces to nothing but self-indulgence and self-assertion. A culture informed by this perspective is necessarily full of expressions of hate and meaninglessness, which coarsens and demoralizes the majority of the population and worsens the mental pathologies of unstable persons. "Egoistical nihilism" becomes ever more widespread, and a decent society becomes impossible.Holbrook advances a keenly insightful and eloquent critique of the radical individualism of Max Stirner's famous tract The Ego and His Own. Stirner's worldview, he argues, is grounded in psychopathology and takes the nihilist assumptions of modernity to their logical conclusion: "the unique one" totally detached from society and reducing others to mere means to his ends, fair game for exploitation unfettered by ethical considerations. Ominously, he notes, the Stirnerean attitude toward existence is becoming increasingly common. Against the reductive perspective of positivism, Holbrook argues that scientific investigations establish the reality of meaning and of values rooted in love. He calls for a reaffirmation of both.Originally published in 1977, Education, Nihilism, and Survival speaks prophetically and even more urgently to us today. The worsening coarseness, nihilism, and brutality of our culture, the partisan fanaticisms and widespread alienation and apathy of our politics, and horrors such as school shootings reveal the consequences of radical individualism.Education, Nihilism, and Survival will be of interest to well-educated general readers concerned at the state of culture and society; educators alarmed at harmful approaches in education; and psychologists and philosophers concerned about existentialism, Stirner's egoist philosophy, and the need for meaningful, philosophical anthropology.
These essays address Jewish identity, Jewish survival, and Jewish continuity. The authors account for and analyze trends in Jewish identification and the reciprocal effects of the relationship between the Diaspora and Israel at the end of the twentieth century.Jewish identification in contemporary society is a complex phenomenon. Since the emancipation of Jews in Europe and the major historic events of the Holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israel, there have been substantial changes in the collective Jewish identity. As a result, Jewish identity and the Jewish process of identification had to confront the new realities of an open society, its economic globalization, and the impacts of cultural pluralism. The trends in Jewish identification are toward fewer and weaker points of attachment: fewer Jews who hold religious beliefs with such beliefs held less strongly; less religious ritual observance; attachment to Zionism and Israel becoming diluted; and ethnic communal bonds weakening. Jews are also more involved in the wider society in the Diaspora due to fewer barriers and less overt anti-Semitism. This opens up possibilities for cultural integration and assimilation. In Israel, too, there are signs of greater interest in the modern world culture. The major questions addressed by this volume is whether Jewish civilization will continue to provide the basic social framework and values that will lead Jews into the twenty-first century and ensure their survival as a specific social entity.The book contains special contributions by Professor Julius Gould and Professor Irving Louis Horowitz and chapters on "Sociological Analysis of Jewish Identity"; "Jewish Community Boundaries"; and "Factual Accounts from the Diaspora and Israel.
Using the tools of science, philosophy and the social sciences, this book explores the numerous facets of what we understand reality to mean. It focuses on the human side, especially on the individual experience of reality as manifested through personality, cognitive power, self-consciousness, and rationalistic and communicative endowments.
Extends the ideas of social constructivism to the philosophy of mathematics, developing a powerful critique of traditional absolutist conceptions of mathematics, and proposing a reconceptualization of the philosophy of mathematics.
Compares the problems and results in sociology in Britain to the United States to show how the issue is bound to take a different form in a country where intermittent labor governments stress the importance of planning.
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