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Studies on Ethnicity Walter F. Weiker Eliezer Ben-Rafael and Stephen Sharot, Ethnicity, Religion, and Class in Israeli Society, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Guy H. Haskell, "Components of Identity: The Jews of Bulgaria in Israel," Shofar, 8, no. 1, (Fall 1989), pp. 47-60. Vered Kraus and Robert W. Hodge, Promises in the Promised Land: Mobility and Inequality in Israel, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1990. Sammy Smooha, Social Research on Jewish Ethnicity in Israel 1948-1986, Haifa: University of Haifa Press (available in New York from the American Jewish Committee), 1987. Shlomo Swirski, Israel, The Oriental Majority, London and New Jersey: Zed Books Ltd., 1989. Walter F. Weiker, The Unseen Israelis: Jews from Turkey in Israel, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and University Press of America, 1988. Alex Weingrod, The Saint of Beersheba, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990. ooks on Israeli ethnicity (defined in reference to Israeli Jews in terms of one's country or region of origin) continue to appear, and its role in shaping Israeli 107 Studies on Ethnicity Walter F. Weiker Eliezer Ben-Rafael and Stephen Sharot, Ethnicity, Religion, and Class in Israeli Society, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Guy H. Haskell, "Components of Identity: The Jews of Bulgaria in Israel," Shofar, 8, no. 1, (Fall 1989), pp. 47-60. Vered Kraus and Robert W. Hodge, Promises in the Promised Land: Mobility and Inequality in Israel, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1990. Sammy Smooha, Social Research on Jewish Ethnicity in Israel 1948-1986, Haifa: University of Haifa Press (available in New York from the American Jewish Committee), 1987. Shlomo Swirski, Israel, The Oriental Majority, London and New Jersey: Zed Books Ltd., 1989. Walter F. Weiker, The Unseen Israelis: Jews from Turkey in Israel, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and University Press of America, 1988. Alex Weingrod, The Saint ofBeersheba, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990. f"""- ~ oaks on Israeli ethnicity (defined in reference to L)C) Israeli Jews in terms of one's country or region of origin) continue to appear, and its role in shaping Israeli 107 Walter F. Weiker 108 society continues to be a subject of debate. Interest has continued in part because ethnicity's possible connection to important social and political issues has come to public attention in visible ways such as the allegation that voting (at least since the 1977 election which brought down the Labor governments which had dominated Israel since independence), has had as one of its most significant dimensions the basic cleavage called variously Ashkenazi/Sephardi, Oriental/Occidental , and Asian-African/European-American. There is also considerable speculation about the role the large Russian aliyah may have, and there have been numerous comments in the press and elsewhere that one of its consequences will be to modify, if not reverse, the balance between those two major groupings in the population of Israel. Many questions which are important for both Israeli society and for the development of general and cross-national theories of ethnicity are raised in these studies. Those arising in Israel but which also have potential broader significance include: What are the interrelations between ethnicity and social class? What are trends associated with generational change? Are there parallels to what Herbert Gans in studies of the United States has labeled "symbolic ethnicity"? Is it possible that both ethnic and class cleavages could be superseded by a religious cleavage as the most salient one for many Israelis? In what ways may ethnicity be more or less disruptive of social harmony in Israel than it is in other countries in which there are also populations with multiple cultural heritages? How do the developments in Israel fit into various definitions of social "integration"? Three Approaches The debate is equally vigorous among scholars as it is in the media and the general public. A useful perspective in which to consider the studies reviewed in this chapter is Smooha's codification of three "approaches," which he calls cultural, class, and pluralist, and which are summed up succintly in the opening essay of his bibliography. 108 Walter F. Weiker society continues to be a subject of debate. Interest has continued in part because ethnicity's possible conIlection to important social and political issues has come to public attention in visible ways such as the allegation that voting (at least since tIle 1977 election w]~ich brought down the Labor governments which had dominated Israel since inder>endence), has had as one of its most sigllificant dimensions the basic cleavage...

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