Identity and intergroup perception in Israel

Abstract

Several studies done in Israel during the past 10 to 15 years on identity and intergroup perception are reviewed with a view towards relating these two areas of research. Problems of methodology are discussed. The methodology of concept differentiation supplemented the more common questionnaire approach. The groups that served as objects of scrutiny were religiously observant, traditionalist, and nonobservant Jews: members of the Oriental and European Jewish communities; Christian and Moslem Arabs; and Arabs and Jews in Israel, in general. The dimensions of evaluation, symmetry, and differentiation were applied to seemingly heterogeneous content and yielded three hypotheses: (1) group membership is positively related to evaluation; (2) status differential between groups is inversely related to symmetry of evaluations; and (3) identity/ intergroup perception evolves through stages of differentiation, ambivalence, and integration. The hypotheses fit the data, especially when changes in self and mutual evaluations are taken into account.