Entertainment and Stereotype: Representation of the Palestinian Arab Citizens of Israel in Reality Shows on Israeli Television

The present study aims to gain an understanding of the patterns of representation and appearances of Palestinian citizens of Israel in the genre of reality shows in Israel. This genre has become extremely dominant in the television-broadcasting schedule. The mere fact that Arab people are visually present in TV entertainment, and in reality shows more specifically, should not lead us to conclude that Israeli TV is witnessing a move toward pluralism. It is important to examine the precise mode of representation of the “others.” That is to say: we must look at the visibility of Arab participants in those reality shows in which they appear (research question 1); how Arabs are represented in such programs (research question 2), and at the types of interaction between Arabs and other, Jewish-majority, participants in the program (research question 3). Content analyses were conducted for all reality shows broadcast on Israel's commercial TV channels between 2003 and 2007 that included Arab participants. Results show the reality show genre is still firmly ruled by a Jewish hegemony that represents the Palestinian Arab as the “other” and that the overwhelming majority of spectators are Jewish.     

Using human figure drawing as a tool for examining self-perception and emotional attitudes among Jewish and Arab children in Israel

The study examined ingroup and outgroup perceptions among Jewish and Arab children in Israel. The sample comprised 191 children aged 10–12, 131 Jewish and 60 Arab participants who live in a mixed city. The main instrument used to examine the children's perceptions was a multidimensional analysis of Jewish and Arab figures drawn by the participants, as well as a questionnaire relating to the drawn figures. The findings revealed that, even though they lived in a mixed city and studied in the same classes, the Jewish children differentiated between the figures and overwhelmingly preferred Jewish figures to Arab figures. Moreover, they revealed negative stereotypes and expressed aggression in drawings of Arab figures. In contrast, among the Arab participants, the findings were inconsistent. In most of the variables, they did not distinguish between the various figures. However, in the quality variables, they tended to prefer figures of their own nationality and rejected Jewish figures. The findings are discussed in relation to the context of the residential environment (a mixed city), majority-minority status, and the Israeli-Arab conflict.     

Exploring the other side of cultural boundary-crossing teaching in the polarized Israeli society: Jewish teachers from the majority group who teach at the Arab minority's schools

One of the methods of multicultural societies for advancing a shared society is cross-cultural teaching. Commonly, teachers from the majority group apply to teaching at the majority's schools through the acculturation process. The current study, however, illuminates the understudied situation, in which teachers of the Jewish majority group in Israel teach at the Arab minority's schools. Our findings indicate that these Jewish teachers are mostly motivated by their ideology and moral values, mainly a yearning to bridge between two hostile societies. These teachers' integration into the minority's schools is challenging due to cultural differences, lack of familiarity with Arabic, and difficulties introducing informal pedagogy, that is not common in Arab schools, discipline problems among students, and a challenging national-political discourse.     

Between survival and vision: Boundary-crossing Arab teachers in Jewish schools and Arab teachers in their community

This mixed-methods study examined the experiences of belonging/otherness among Arab teachers in Israel. A group of boundary-crossing teachers: Arab teachers in Jewish schools (AJ; N = 57) was compared with Arab teachers teaching in their own community (AA; N = 103). We found that the AJ group had a multicultural orientation, unlike the AA group, who were community-orientated. These orientations are reflected in different otherness sources, different motivations for selecting a workplace, and differences in identity ratings. While professional and social sources promoted teachers’ sense of belonging in the two groups, the source of AJs' sense of otherness was the national divide as opposed to community-oriented aspects in AAs. Selfefficacy ratings were high in both groups with a significant advantage for AJs, an unanticipated finding given that most of them were women, had attended teacher training colleges rather than universities, and were rarely homeroom teachers. Arab teachers' involvement in Jewish schools was partial with a low proportion of classroom educators or teachers in managerial roles. AJs tend to leave their national identity outside the school, and are not involved in political discourse or in the staffroom power relations. The phenomenon of integrating AJs is relatively new, and within a segregated education system that limits the opportunities for Jews and Arabs to meet, it can provide a viable, albeit limited, tool to inhibit prejudice and antagonism between Jews and Arabs.     

Modes of victim blaming in a case of stabbing: Victim and offender ethnicity and observer ethnicity and religious affiliation

This study examined the effects of ethnicity on victim-blaming in a case of stabbing by addressing victim and offender ethnicity as well as observer ethnicity and religion. Jewish (n = 285), Muslim Arab (n = 249), and Christian Arab (n = 51) students from Israeli universities and colleges read a single stabbing scenario, in which we manipulated victim (Arab/Jewish) and offender ethnicity (African/Arab/Jewish). The results showed that participants blamed a Jewish victim more than an Arab victim. Also, our findings indicated that Christian Arabs expressed significantly higher victim-blaming than Jews. However, victim-blaming among Christian Arabs did not significantly differ from victim-blaming among Muslim Arabs, and victim-blaming among Muslim Arabs did not significantly differ from victim-blaming among Jews. Furthermore, the interactions between observer and victim ethnicity and between observer and offender ethnicity were significant. The discussion addresses the findings in the context of prejudice against members of African and Arab communities, the black sheep effect, and defensive attribution. In addition, the discussion suggests that observer ethnic and religious background may be related to blame-attribution mode: fixed (not affected by victim and offender ethnicity) or modular (affected by victim and offender ethnicity). From the practical standpoint, our findings suggest a need for further education on prejudice against minorities and promoting ethnic diversity among practitioners assisting and treating victims.     

Criminal activity among Jewish and Arab youth in Israel

This study examines data deriving from the self-reported criminal activities of Israeli Jewish and Arab street corner youth and junior and senior high-school students in Israel. Differences were found between the groups as regards type and levels of criminal activity. The findings indicate that (a) street corner youth committed more crimes than did students; (b) Arab juveniles committed more crimes than did Jewish juveniles; and (c) Arab street corner youth committed more crimes than did members of the other groups. The data are analyzed to determine if the differences revealed between the two ethnic groups reflect (a) possible discrimination against Arab juveniles by the criminal justice system in Israel, and (b) the influence of Arab-Jewish tensions in the region. Special attention is given to the types of juvenile crime typically committed during the current disorders in the occupied territories.     

Cross-cultural differences in attitudes towards disabled persons: A study of Jewish and Arab youth in Israel

Cultural values may be seen as the primary determinants of altitudes towards deviant or exceptional persons. The present study deals with the attitudes of Jewish and Arab youth in Israel towards the disabled as a function of cultural identity, existence of contact with a disabled person, and type of disability (blindness, amputation, facial disfigurement, or confinement to a wheelchair).A sample of 510 Jews and 655 Arabs filled out the Yuker Altitudes Towards Disabled Persons Scale (ATDP). The results indicated that overall, Jews were more positive towards the disabled than Arabs. Furthermore, the existence of previous contact with a disabled person was a positive factor in the formation of the Jews' attitudes, and a negative factor for the Arabs. In their ranking of different types of disability, Jews and Arabs differed significantly.The results are interpreted in the context of modern versus traditional cultures, whereby the Jewish youths' more tolerant Western approach seems to engender a more positive attitude than the Arab youths' conservative values.     

Bargaining with the system: A mixed-methods study of Arab teachers in Israel

Research on minority-majority relations usually focuses on the impact of the hegemony on everyday life. In this study we chose to focus on the way minority teachers bargain with the power relations within their work environment as a microcosm of their strategies in the social arena in general. 163 Arab-Israeli secondary-school teachers completed an online questionnaire and were matched with 163 Jewish teachers according to demographic variables. 25 of the 163 teachers completed the optional open-ended question that comprised the data for the qualitative analysis. In the quantitative analysis, we found that Arab teachers showed less knowledge of the Ministry of Education guidelines regarding teachers’ freedom of speech, conducted fewer discussions of Controversial Public Issues (CPI) and rated the importance of their role as promoting active citizenship lower than their Jewish counterparts. In the qualitative analysis, three main strategies Arab teachers use emerged: ‘evasion’, ‘toning down’ and ‘promoting a shared society’. Arab teachers negotiate between their needs for self-preservation, and their national and professional identities in an implicit cost-benefit assessment. This analysis coincides with Kandiyoti’s (1988) model of women’s bargaining with the patriarchy, corresponding to Arab teachers as a governed minority group that negotiates with the hegemony. In each strategy, there is a different balance between the personal benefits, the risks involved, and the community interests one has in mind. The research sheds light on the precarious position of Arab teachers in Israel, and the flexibility that they are pressed to employ in order to muddle through.     

Intramarriage and intermarriage: young Iranians in Los Angeles

This study examines the attitudes of young Muslim Iranians and young Jewish Iranians regarding intramarriage and intermarriage, and identifies reasons for differences between these two groups. It also examines differences between male and female Iranians in choosing a prospective spouse. The results indicate that Muslim Iranians attitudes regarding mate selection are more liberal (Americanized) than are those of Jewish Iranians. Regardless of religion, male Iranians attitudes regarding mate selection are more Americanized than are those of female Iranians. The findings indicate that cultural, religious, sex role attitudes, and dating patterns are factors in young Iranians attitudes regarding mate selection.     

Ethnic origin and social control: Jewish and Arab delinquents in IsraelLos delincuentes Arabes y Judios en IsraelL'origine ethinque et le contrôle social: délinquants Juifs et Arabes en Israël

A review of the literature reveals that minorities often receive relatively severe dispositions by the various law enforcement agencies (police, probation, and the courts). This discrimination is usually explained by the prejudices of officers of these agencies. A study of the official statistics of juvenile delinquency in Israel reveals a similar pattern: Arab juveniles are overrepresented among recipients of severe recommendations and decisions. This overrepresentation is mostly due to the harsher recommendations Arab juveniles receive from their probation officers. However, since these officers are Arabs, prejudice cannot be the explanation. An attitudes and opinions survey reveals that Arab probation officers are more concerned with the community's welfare than the Jewish ones. This fact seems to be the cause of the difference in the pattern of recommendations.     

Spheres of citizenship: The role of distinct perceived threats in legitimizing allocation of political, welfare and cultural rights in Israel

The question of who is excluded from full citizenship stands at the heart of the political and scholarly debate. This issue is highly relevant considering the gap between those whose substantive citizenship is taken for granted and various “strangers”. This paper addresses the issue by exploring the motivations that shape patterns of exclusion from full citizenship. The aim is to understand the attitudes of the dominant group regarding allocation of different kinds of rights to minorities under the impact of intergroup hostility and threat perception. Looking at dominant group perceptions makes it possible to explore the role of economic, symbolic and security threat perceptions as antecedents of exclusionist attitudes towards welfare, cultural and political rights for three dissimilar minorities in Israel: Palestinian citizens of Israel, non-Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union and ultra-Orthodox Jews. Analysis has indicated that regardless of the dissimilarity between the three minority groups there is a clear pattern of hierarchy of attitudes toward rights allocation. However, only the symbolic threat plays an identical role in shaping these attitudes toward the three groups. These findings emphasize the significance of the cultural dimension of citizenship.     

Reward and punishment: Patterns in Arab and Jewish school children

To test conflicting hypotheses regarding differences between Christian Arabs, Moslem Arabs, and Jews in reported critical incidents of reward and punishment. 1,440 children, grades 2–12 from Israel and the West Bank, were interviewed on critical incidents of reward and punishment. The groups in Israel represented: Christians, Moslems, non-Orthodox Jews, and Orthodox Jews; on the West Bank: Christians and Moslems. Results show support for Dennis in that the Arab groups were homogeneous and reflected traditional Arab values and strong family orientation. The Jewish groups, while also relatively homogeneous, were significantly different from the Arab groups and reflected values more away from the family and toward the pattern shown by American children.     

Practitioner Research on Critical Multicultural Pedagogy: Challenging Heterosexism in a Public School

This article examines a sample of educational source materials meant to be used to foster the inclusion of Arab American components in multicultural curriculum. Even though the materials examined can be thought of as good sources (in that they did not provide outright biased misinformation), the authors identify three general areas of concern: (a) conflating, (b) essentializing, and (c) normalizing. Conclusions and recommendations include the need for more focused source material on limited subject areas, focused curriculum development on particular cultural groups, and the use of multicultural materials to promote cultural self-reflection rather than emphasizing the objectification of other groups. Although the focus of this article is on Arab American source materials, our findings can be generalized to source materials on other cultural and ethnic groups.     

Acculturation,religious identity,and psychological well-being among Palestinians in Israel

This study examined relationships between Palestinian ethnic identity, Israeli identity, religious identity, and psychological well-being among 520 indigenous Muslim Palestinians (36% males and 64% females) in Israel. The sample ranged in age between 17 and 38 years, with a mean of 24.18 (S.D. = 4.23). Analyses revealed that participants’ immersion in their Palestinian ethnicity and their immersion in Israeli society were negatively correlated to a statistically significant degree. This finding disconfirms Berry's (1997) hypothesis of independence between minority individuals’ identification with their minority group and their identification as members of the majority group within the Israeli Palestinian context. Participants were statistically significantly more immersed in their Palestinian ethnicity than in Israeli society. Additionally, increased degrees of religious identification among participants contributed statistically significantly positively to their Palestinian ethnic identification and negatively to their identification as Israeli. Analyses revealed that while participants’ Palestinian ethnic identification and religious identity contributed statistically significantly to their psychological well-being, an Israeli identification made no such contribution.     

Ragged Houses and Candlelight. The Romance of the Jewish Past and Memory Work in the Last Decade of the Communist Rule in Kraków,Poland

It has often been proposed that the Jewish past of Poland had been largely forgotten and that first popular commemorations of the destroyed minority took place after the fall of Communism in 1989. Challenging this chronology the present article examines the commemorations in Kraków, the cultural capital of Poland, in the 1980s. It analyses the work of local Jewish museum and preservation projects developed during the decade and establishes that the Jewish past had been remembered in the city since at least 1980. It demonstrates that local, mid-ranking officials, a group situated mid-way in the polar opposites of the government and the society, were responsible for this rediscovery of the Jewish past. In particular, this article points towards the heritage preservationists and comments on their importance for urban memory work.     

Can cultural values eliminate ostracism distress?

Ostracism has negative psychological and behavioral outcomes, thus making it crucial to better understand how these effects can be mitigated. Two experiments tested whether cultural values can moderate immediate as well as delayed reactions to ostracism in two populations with very different values concerning interactions with the opposite sex. The Ultra-Orthodox population in Israel constitutes a specific subculture whose values differ considerably from those of secular Jews in Israel. In particular, Ultra-Orthodox Jews adhere to strict separation between genders, which is enforced by Ultra-Orthodox men. It was hypothesized that being ostracized by the opposite gender on a computer game would be less distressing in particular for Ultra-Orthodox men than for secular men and women who cultural values have no such prohibition. In both experiments, Jewish secular and Ultra-Orthodox men and women played Cyberball, a virtual ball-toss game against two ostensible players (half same gender, half opposite, but all with their in-groups). The findings showed that whereas secular men and women were more distressed when ostracized by a member of the opposite sex, Ultra-Orthodox males reported lower distress on both the needs satisfaction and mood measures after they were ostracized by ostensible Ultra-Orthodox female players than when receiving fewer ball tosses from ostensible Ultra-Orthodox male players. It is argued that when cultural values provide a rationale for ostracism, this can eliminate ostracism distress. The discussion centers on ways cultural and other embedded values can mitigate the negative outcomes of ostracism.     

Public university students’ preferences for restrictionist or lenient immigration policies

Few attempts have been made to examine the effects of perceived threats that immigrants pose to host society on young people’s preferences for restrictionist or lenient immigration policies. Moreover, the existing literature is scarce on whether such perceived threats mediate the relationship between previously identified demographic antecedents such as gender, race or age and preferences for certain immigration policies. To address these gaps, this study examines direct and mediating effects of perceived economic, cultural and security threats on preferences for lenient or restrictionist immigration policies. Using a sample college students' survey data (N = 604) on their attitudes towards immigration, our findings of logistic regression analysis show that the three dimensions of perceived threat were all positively associated with preference for hardline immigration policies. In addition, regardless of inclusion of perceived threats in the logistic model, being Republican was a consistent positive predictor of the hardline immigration agenda, while female was a consistent negative one. Finally, the results of path analysis of Structural Equation Modeling indicate mediating effects of cultural threat on the relationships between political affiliation (Republican and Independent) and race (Latino) and support for hardline immigration policies.     

Israeli Arabs’ acculturation patterns and attitudes toward honor killings

Many studies on honor killings have been conducted in Arab and Muslim countries, but few have addressed the issue in relation to Arab and Muslim populations living in Western countries, who are influenced by the values of two cultures: their traditional-patriarchal culture of origin and modern-liberal Western culture. The purpose of the present study was to examine the connection between acculturation patterns and attitudes of Israeli Arabs toward honor killings. A structured quantitative questionnaire was administered to a sample of 409 Arab Israeli, 179 men and 230 women, with a mean age of 34.1 (SD = 12.04). The findings show that 44% of study participants adopted a pattern of separation from Israeli society, 37.7% a pattern of integration, 9.5% a pattern of assimilation, and 8.8% a pattern of marginalization. A two-way ANOVA test found an interaction between acculturation patterns and gender in relation to attitudes toward honor killings. The attitudes of women who adopted the assimilation pattern toward honor killings were more negative, whereas men who adopted this pattern showed more positive attitudes toward honor killings. The importance of the study for research and its educational-preventive aspects are described.     

International assignments: The role of social support and personal initiative

This study adapts components of Fay and Frese's nomological network of personal initiative (2001) and Caligiuri and Lazarova's model (2002) for the influence of social support on adjustment. Based thereon, a model for the relationship between personal initiative, social support and work adjustment was developed and tested. One-hundred twenty-seven expatriates answered an online questionnaire during and after their foreign sojourn. Results suggest that personal initiative of the expatriates and social support received from supervisors - but not from their co-workers - predicted job satisfaction, job stress and job performance of the expatriates. Social support and personal initiative have a strong relationship with successful work adjustment. Personal initiative moderates the relationship between social support from co-workers and job performance. There are practical implications for companies that send their staff on international assignments. Implications for the concept of personal initiative in expatriate adjustment research are discussed.     

Ostrich Eggs and Peacock Feathers: Sacred Objects as Cultural Exchange between Christianity and Islam

This article uses the wide dispersal of ostrich eggs and peacock feathers among the different cultural contexts of the Mediterranean – and beyond into the Indian Ocean world – to explore the nature and limits of cultural inheritance and exchange between Christianity and Islam. These avian materials previously possessed symbolic meaning and material value as early as the pre-dynastic period in Egypt, as well as amid the early cultures of Mesopotamia and Crete. The main early cultural associations of the eggs and feathers were with death/resurrection and kingship respectively, a symbolism that was passed on into early Christian and Muslim usage. Mercantile, religious and political links across the premodern Mediterranean meant that these items found parallel employment all around the Mediterranean littoral, and beyond it, in Arabia, South Asia and Africa. As an essay in the uses of material culture in mapping cultural exchange and charting the eclectic qualities of popular religiosity, the article provides a wide-ranging survey of the presence of these objects, from their visual appearance in Renaissance paintings to their hanging in the shrines of Indo-Muslim saints. A final section draws conclusions on the relationship between shared objects, cultural boundaries and the writing of history.