INDIVIDUAL STRATEGIES OF ADOPTING COLLECTIVE IDENTITIES - THE ISRAELICASE

This paper combines several sociological perspectives in order to exam ine the relative importance of different social identity components in Jewish Israeli society. Several theoretical and methodological innova tions are made towards using identity as a key concept in understandin g how diverse understandings of social order can exist simultaneously within a single societal entity. Analysing a sample of 1200 Jewish Isr aelis we find that family identity is the most salient in Israel today . The major collectivistic identities, which in this case are Jewish a nd Israeli identities, are ranked second and third. Moreover, each soc ial identity entails a different attitudinal and demographic profile. Respondents often ranked more than one major identity, so that differe nt combinations of identities were formed, representing alternative pe rceptions of social order. The ideological inconsistencies formed with in incongruous combinations lead to a moderation of political beliefs.