Suchergebnisse

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.

A questionnaire, prepared in Hebrew & Arabic, on the S's' own readiness for SR with members of the other nat'l group & the readiness attributed to the other group, was admin'ed to several samples of Arab & Jewish HSch seniors & followed by feedback sessions with several class groups (N=213 Arabs, 238 Jews). During feedback sessions the S's were presented with summaries of the data, asked to help in their interpretation, & encouraged to volunteer for committees to probe the problem of Arab-Jewish relations in their Sch. It was found that those Arab & Jewish HSch seniors who were taking Coll-preparatory courses in Northern Israel, showed the minimum condition for SR between the 2 peoples in Israel; a large % of those students affirmed the desirability & possibility of SR in general. However, where readiness concerns more exacting forms of behavior, Arabs more often than Jews claimed to be fostering relations with their opposites, to do nothing to avoid them, & even to find the outlook of life in Israel unsatisfactory without them. The Israli Jew was judged positive by both Arabs & Jews; but the Israeli Arab was a positive concept to Arabs & a neutral & undiff'iated one to Jews. In the feedback sessions, over 50% of the larger Arab sample felt free to claim that young Arabs have no future in Israel. In general, Jews seem to be misconstruing Arab intentions or rationalizi ng their own reluctance to advocate relations more vigorously. Data support the contention that the behavior of Israeli Arabs is more contingent on that of Israeli Jews than the other way around. Jews may not get the message or may choose not to get it that Arabs are ready for SR with them. Arabs may in time tire of their groping for fuller contact. There is a danger that each group may then lapse into its own monologue with whatever the ultimate consequences. 4 Tables; Appendix: questionnaire. M. Maxfield.