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From Apparatus to Populus: The Political Sociology of Yonathan Shapiro Uri Ram Yonathan Shapiro, The Formative Years of the Israeli Labor Party: The Organization of Power 1918-1930. London: Sage, 1976. (In Hebrew, Ahdut HaAvoda HaHistorit, Tel Aviv: Am Yonathan Shapiro, An Elite Without Successors: Generations of Political Leadership in Israel (In Hebrew, Elit Llo Mamshichim). Tel Aviv: Sifriyat Poalim, 1984. Yonathan Shapiro, The Road to Power: Herut Party in Israel. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1991 (In Hebrew: LaShilton Bechartanu. Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1989.) athan Shapiro occupies a special place in Israeli :iology. Until his emergence in the field in the early 1970s the sociological discourse in Israel was totally dominated by one school, the functionalist, or modernization school, which was based at the Department of Sociology of the Hebrew University. This department was directed for Oved, 1975.) Yonathan Shapiro, Democracy in Israel (In Hebrew, HaDemocratya Be-Israel). Ramat Gan: Massada, 1977. C^a) 137 From Apparatus to Populus: The Political Sociology of Yonathan Shapiro Uri Ram Yonathan Shapiro, The Fonnative Years of the Israeli Labor Party: The Organization ofPower 1918-1930. London: Sage, 1976. (In Hebrew, Ahdut HaAvoda HaHistorit, Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1975.) Yonathan Shapiro, Democracy in Israel (In Hebrew, HaDemocratya Be-Israel). Ramat Gan: Massada, 1977. Yonathan Shapiro, An Elite Without Successors: Generations of Political Leadership in Israel (In Hebrew, Elit Llo Mamshichim). Tel Aviv: Sifriyat Poalim, 1984. Yonathan Shapiro, The Road to Power: Herut Party in Israel. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1991 (In Hebrew: LaShilton Bechartanu. Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1989.) ~athanShapiro occupies a special place in Israeli '-l{ ~:~iOlOgy. Until his emergence in the field in the early 1970s the sociological discourse in Israel was totally dominated by one school, the functionalist, or modernization school, which was based at the Department of Sociology of the Hebrew University. This department was directed for 137 Uri Ram 138 almost two full decades by S. N. Eisenstadt, and under his influence Israeli society was interpreted as a highly coordinated and adaptive social system based on a value consensus guided by the nation-building elite of the Labor Movement.1 Shapiro was the first academic sociologist to pose a comprehensive challenge to this dominant "paradigm " and to offer an overall alternative to it. His own point of departure was the sociology of conflict. Shapiro's life work is dedicated to an historical-sociological analysis of the construction and transformation of the Israeli political elite. This project has so far yielded a series of studies which covers the history of the Israeli political elite from its very beginning to the present time. Four major stages in the formation and transformation of the elite can be discerned in his work: 1. The formation of Ahdut HaAvoda and the articulation of its winning strategy, its rise to domination in the Jewish community, and the molding of the basic parameters of this community's polity (Shapiro 1976). 2. The consolidation of the dominant party under changing conditions of social expansion and the eventual gain of sovereignty (Shapiro 1977). 3. The withdrawal of the generation of founders from the party's leadership and the entailed inheritance crisis with the take-over by the second generation (Shapiro 1984). 4. The rise of the right-wing Likud party and its leader Menachem Begin, and their eventual assumption of governmental power in 1977 (Shapiro 1989). This chapter reconstructs and interprets the work of Shapiro in the five following respects: (1) it explains the circumstances of the emergence of the conflict perspective, exemplified by Shapiro, in Israeli sociology; (2) it highlights the theoretical assumptions of Shapiro's work; (3) it reconstructs his major theses; (4) it explicates the ideological underpinnings of his work; and (5) finally it offers an overall evaluation of it. 138 Uri Ram almost two full decades by S. ]'J. Eisenstadt, and under his influence Israeli society was interpreted as a highJy coordinated and adaptive social system based on a value consensus guided by the 11ation-building elite of the Labor Movement. 1 Shapiro was the first academic sociologist to pose a comprehensive challerlge to this dominant "paradigm " and to offer an overall alternative to it. His own point of departure was the sociology of conflict. Shapiro's life work is dedicated to an historical-sociological analysis of the construction arId transformation of the Israeli political elite. This project has so far yielded a series of studies which covers the l1istory of the Israeli...

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