Crisis and Transformation: The Kibbutz at Century's End

Examines kibbutz life following the Israeli economic crisis of 1985, focusing on the kibbutz's dramatic transformation from a well-defined social structure to a collective identified principally by its cultural preoccupations.This book examines kibbutz life following the Israeli economic crisis of 1985, focusing on the kibbutz's dramatic transformation from a well-defined social structure to a collective identified principally by its cultural preoccupations. It centers on the contradictions endemic to kibbutz identity. Ben-Rafael shows how the crisis brought together a general pro-change Zeitgeist with the interests of the kibbutz's stronger social segments and individuals to produce widespread changes and the fragmentation of kibbutz reality as a whole. The book's findings are based on a large-scale research investigation (1991-1994) headed up by Ben-Rafael that included twenty research studies and involved the participation of researchers from diverse social science disciplines. The book also provides a statistical abstract and a comprehensive kibbutz bibliography.In the field of kibbutz studies, this will be the most important book of the decade. Anyone with a general interest in Israel is likely to be interested in reading this book as well. The family, gender, education, economy, and polity are handled with a remarkable degree of competence and thoroughness. There are few scholars who could handle so much diverse material as well. -- Raymond Russell, University of California, RiversideAn important contribution to the study of the kibbutz. -- Menachem Rosner, Institute for Research on the Kibbutz and the Cooperative Idea, University of Haifa