Social Mobility in Yeshiva High Schools in the 1980s: The Importance of Habitus and Religious Zionist Socialization

Abstract

This article addresses the mobile experience of Mizrahi graduates of yeshiva high schools in the late 1980s. The research findings showed that the graduates attributed a central role to yeshiva high school in their process of social mobility. The yeshiva high school functioned as an elite educational institution and assisted students in the cultivation of a habitus that enabled social mobility. In addition, the students also experienced “sectoral mobility” as a result of their studies; their time in yeshiva high school was key to their integration into Israeli religious Zionist society. In conclusion, the study emphasizes the importance of habitus as a condition for mobility, with a particular focus on the religious Zionist socialization processes that took place in yeshiva high school in the 1980s.