Israel Studies

Lissak, Moshe, 1928-
"Critical" Sociology and "Establishment" Sociology in the Israeli Academic Community: Ideological Struggles or Academic Discourse?
Israel Studies - Volume 1, Number 1, Spring 1996, pp. 247-294

Indiana University Press

Moshe Lissak - "Critical" Sociology and "Establishment" Sociology in the Israeli Academic Community: Ideological Struggles or Academic Discourse? - Israel Studies 1:1 Israel Studies 1.1 (1996) 247-294 "Critical" Sociology and "Establishment" Sociology in the Israeli Academic Community: Ideological Struggles or Academic Discourse? * Moshe Lissak [Figures] Introduction IN RECENT YEARS A SEVERE polemic has been raging within the Israeli academic community, echoes of which may also be heard among students of Israeli society abroad, between those who call themselves "critical sociologists" and those they refer to as "establishment sociologists." A similar debate is also taking place among the historians, but here the distinction between "new" historians and "old" historians is more accepted. In its early stages, it was possible not to relate to this argument too seriously. One could perhaps interpret it in terms of inter-generational rivalry within the academic community, or as a matter of passing fashion imported from abroad, primarily from the United States. Today, in the more advanced stages of the polemic, one must relate with utmost gravity both to its existence and what is being spoken and written about it, since it threatens the very foundations of Israeli social science and historiography. The dominance of one side or another is likely to have far-reaching impact on teaching and research in Israeli departments of sociology and anthropology, as well...