The Marriage Habitus of Remarried Israeli War and Terror Widows and the Reproduction of Male Symbolic Capital

Abstract

This article demonstrates social mechanisms that contribute to the expropriation of remarried war widows' symbolic capital in Israeli society. Its main arguments are based on an interpretation of the marriage habitus of remarried Israeli war widows. Twenty-eight people (15 war widows, 12 husbands, and one matchmaker who “specializes’ in helping widows remarry) were interviewed. Using Bourdieusian analytical theory, I analyze the marriage habitus of the remarried war widows. These women manage to convert their symbolic capital into social capital and remarry high-status never-married men. This marriage habitus constitutes a major mechanism that deflects their symbolic capital and facilitates its transmission to their second husbands. Once a widow has remarried, she loses a large part of the symbolic capital because of the accepted notion that remarriage contributes significantly to her family's rehabilitation. This article provides some insights into the gender norms that contribute to the expropriation of the widow's symbolic capital and preserving gender inequalities through the reproduction of male symbolic capital in the Zionist state.