This paper examines the social identity of Arabs and Jews in Israel and its relationship to the readiness for establishing and maintaining intergroup contact. Social identity is defined in terms of self-esteem and the national, civic, religious, familial, residential, and vocational subidentities. The structural coherence of the indentity system was demonstrated for both Jews and Arabs, but while subidentities among Jewish subjects tend to be positively interrelated, there is strain within the Arab system, revealed by a negative correlation between the national and civic subidentities, among others. Readiness for relations with members of the other group is higher for Arabs than for Jews and also more clearly related to several subidentities. Jewish readiness for social relations with Arabs is weakly related to the identity system. Identity variables may be promising mediators between situational antecedents and intergroup attitudes, but mainly for members of the minority.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ALSHEICH, S. Druze identity. Unpublished M. A. thesis, University of Tel Aviv, 1978.
2.
BILLIG, M.Social psychology and intergroup relations. London: Academic Press, 1976.
3.
BURNS, R. B.Attitudes to self and to three categories of others in a student group. Educational Studies, 1975, 1, 181-189.
4.
BURNS, R. B.The self concept. London: Longman, 1979.
5.
COWEN, E.The negative self concept as a personality measure. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 1954, 18, 138-142.
6.
CRONBACH, L.Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 1951, 16, 297-334.
7.
ERIKSON, E. H.Identity, youth, and crisis. New York: Norton, 1968.
8.
FARAGO, U.Stability and change in the Jewish identity of Israeli youth, 1965-1974. The Hebrew University, Levi Eshkol Institute, 1977. (In Hebrew)
9.
FENDRICH, J. M.A study of the association among verbal attitudes, commitment, and overt behavior in different experimental situations. Social Forces, 1967, 45, 347-355.
10.
FISHMAN, J. A.Bilingual attitudes and behavior. Language Sciences, 1969, 5, 5-11.
11.
GUTTMAN, L.A basis for scaling qualitative data. American Sociological Review, 1944, 9, 139-150.
12.
HENSLEY, W. E., & ROBERTS, M. K.Dimensions fo Rosenberg's self-esteem scale. Psychological Reports, 1967, 38, 583-584.
13.
HERMAN, S. N.Israelis and Jews: The continuity of an identity. New York: Random House, 1970.
14.
HERMAN, S. N.Jewish identity: A social psychological perspective. Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage, 1977.
15.
HOFMAN, J. E.The meaning of being a Jew in Israel: An analysis of ethnic identity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1970, 15, 196-202.
16.
HOFMAN, J. E.Readiness for social relations between Arabs and Jews in Israel. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 1972, 16, 241-252.
17.
HOFMAN, J. E.National stereotypes of Arab youth in Israel and on the West Bank. Megamot, 1974, 20, 316-324. (In Hebrew)
18.
HOFMAN, J. E.Identity and intergroup perception in Israel. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 1977, 1, 79-102.
19.
HOFMAN, J. E., & ROUHANA, N.Some aspects of a conflicted social identity. Journal of Social Psychology, 1976, 99, 75-86.
20.
HOFMAN, J. E., & BEIT-HALLAHMI, B.The Palestinian identity and Israel's Arabs. Peace Research, 1977, 9, 13-22.
21.
KRAMER, R. Intergroup contact between Jews and Arabs in an Israeli high school. Unpublished M.A. thesis, University of Tel Aviv, 1978.
22.
LAZAROWITZ, R., HOFMAN, J. E., BEIT-HALLAHMI, B., & ROUHANA, N.Identity and the educational environment. University of Haifa: Center for Arab Education and Development, 1978. (In Hebrew)
23.
LAZAROWITZ, R., ROUHANA, N., HOFMAN, J. E., & BEIT-HALLAHMI, B.Curricular influences on identity formation in Jewish and Arab high school students. Studies in Education, 1978, 19, 153-158. (In Hebrew)
24.
LEVITA, D. J.The concept of identity. New York: Basic Books, 1967.
25.
LEWIN, K.Field theory in social science. New York: Harper & Row, 1951.
26.
LIEBKIND, K.The social psychology of minority identity. University of Helsinki: Department of Social Psychology Research Reports, 1979.
27.
MEAD, G. H.Mind, self, and Society: From the standpoint of a behaviorist. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1934.
28.
MILLER, D. R.The study of social relationships: Situation, identity, and social interaction. In S. Koch (Ed.), Psychology: A study of a science (Vol. 5). New York: McGraw-Hill, 1963.
29.
NIE, N. H., HULL, C. H., JENKINS, J. G., STEINBRENNER, K., & BENT, D. H.SPSS: Statistical package program for the social sciences (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975.
30.
PELEG, R., & BENJAMIN, A.Occupational aspirations of Arab high school pupils and their social significance. Megamot, 1979, 512-531. (In Hebrew)
31.
PERES, Y., EHRLICH, E., & YUVAL-DAVIS, N.National education of Arab youth. Megamot, 1968, 15, 26-36.
32.
Peres, Y., & Yuval-Davis, N.Some observations on the national identity of Israeli Arabs. Human Relations, 1969, 22, 219-233.
33.
PETTIGREW, T. F.Regional differences in anti-Negro prejudice. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1959, 59, 28-36.
34.
ROGERS, C. R.A theory of therapy, personality, and interpersonal relationships as developed in the client-centered framework. In S. Koch (Ed.), Psychology: A study of a science (Vol. 3). New York: McGraw-Hill, 1959.
35.
ROSENBERG, M.Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1965.
36.
SHERIF, M.Group conflict and cooperation: Their social psychology. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1966.
37.
SHERIF, M., & SHERIF, C. W.Attitude, ego-involvement and change. New York: Wiley, 1967.
38.
Smocha, S.A general national survey of the Arab minority. Research Report, Department of Sociology, University of Haifa, 1979.
39.
TAJFEL, H.The social psychology of minorities. London: Minority Rights Group, 1978.
40.
TESSLER, M.Israel's Arabs and the Palestinian problem. The Middle East Journal, 1977, 31, 313-329.
41.
TRENT, R. D.The relationship between expressed self acceptance and expressed attitudes to negroes and whites among negro children. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 1957, 91, 25-31.
42.
TRIANDIS, H. C.Attitude and attitude change. New York: Wiley, 1971.
43.
WYLIE, R. C.The selfconcept. revised edition (Vol. 2). Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 1979.
44.
ZAK, I.Arab-Israeli identity and readiness for social relations among young Arabs in Israel. University of Tel Aviv: Report to the Ford Foundation, 1975.
45.
ZAK, I.Structure of ethnic identity of Arab-Israeli students. Psychological Reports, 1976, 38, 329-346.
