Influential in its absence: The relationship between refusing to embrace sub-national ethnic identities and openness to inter-national coexistence among Jews and Arab/Palestinians in Israel

Abstract

Most survey research treats the refusal to embrace any ethnic/racial label as “missing information” or includes such responses in a general “other ethnicity/race” category. This article discusses the conceptual and theoretical problems involved in dismissing the refusal to embrace an ethnic/racial identity, and raises the possibility that in some contexts such a refusal actually represents a discursive challenge to the established system of classification and domination. The article then proposes a detailed approach to conceptualizing, measuring, and interpreting this type of claim, and illustrates this approach through an investigation of the link between ethnic/racial identity and attitudes among a sample Jewish Israelis. The results show that compared to Jewish Israelis who claim an ethnic label, Jewish Israelis who refuse to claim an ethnic label have more positive and inclusive views of Arab/Palestinians in Israel. More broadly, these findings highlight the need to treat refusals to choose an ethnic/racial label as a meaningful form of self-identification and to evaluate the social and political implications of the refusal to claim an ethnic label.