Young Arabs in Israel: Some Aspects of a Conflicted Social Identity

Abstract

Summary The social identity of young Arabs in Israel was conceptualized as a set of subidentities which included the national (Arab), civic (Israeli), religious (Moslem, Christian, Druze), familial, and occupational subidentities. Forty male and female Arab high school and university students of three religious denominations were asked to express themselves on the extent to which each of those subidentities was important and attractive to them, and on the relative potency of some of them. The national and civic subidentities were found to be, respectively, most and least important and attractive. Students dealt with conflict between the national and civic subidentities by denial and differentiation. Signs of a conflicted and alienated social identity were a lack of involvement in the State, unrealistic and frustrated occupational aspirations, a declining interest in religion and family, and the beginning of estrangement from non-Israeli Arabs.