Critical Sociology and the End of Ideology in Israel

Publication Date: January 1997

Publisher: Jewish People Policy Planning Institute

Author(s): Chaim I. Waxman

Research Area: Government; Social conditions

Keywords: Theory; Zionism; History; Israeli Jews

Type: Brief

Coverage: Israel

Abstract:

The author explores the sources of the emergence of critical sociology and post-Zionism among social scientists in Israel. He contrasts the work of various Israeli sociologists and finds that only a small number are critical or post-Zionist; however, they are a very visible and influential group. He finds three ideologies of post-Zionism: (1) anti-Zionism and a hostile rejection of Israel as a racist nation begotten in sin; (2) a trend within the discipline of sociology as a whole to move away from empiricism to an examination of large-scale problems; and (3) ideology involving basic questions about Jews, Jewish nationalism, and Judaism.