State, resistance, and class reproduction: the case of military service avoidance in Israel

Abstract

ABSTRACT Using the case of military service avoidance in Israel, this article compares patterns of individual resistance between members of different social classes. This comparison demonstrates that the resistance represented by non-compliance with mandatory military service embodies very different meanings and consequences for the different classes, which are influenced by their relationship with the state. For the privileged class, avoidance of military service is framed in terms of distancing oneself from the state, and thus manages to bypass militarism (i.e. to be perceived by its members as legitimate – a source of pride, even – as well as being relatively immune to social sanctions). Conversely, for the peripheral class, the same practice is framed as a protest against the military’s tracking policy, and is paradoxically linked to one’s desire to be recognized as part of the national collective. Hence, military service avoiders from the social periphery express feelings of insult and anger towards the state, or, alternatively, voice shame and regret for the action they have taken, and experience greater difficulty in coping with their act of resistance. These distinct patterns demonstrate the class hierarchy embedded in resistance to the power of the state and its participation in the process of social reproduction.