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While student attrition constitutes a major institutional concern at the undergraduate level, this topic is overlooked at the master’s level. Dropout rates have been documented, but no solid predic...

Affirmative action policies are oftentimes pitted against the need of universities to maintain meritocratic standards in enrollment. The current study tackles this institutional dilemma against the standard of student attrition. It does so by analyzing records of 41,483 undergraduate students who attended the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2003–2015). Approximately 5% of the students were marked eligible by an affirmative action policy that is unique to Israel. Specifically, a non-governmental organization oversees the Israeli indirect affirmative action policy and grants applicants with the status largely based on class. Descriptive statistics reveal no significant differences in dropout rates between affirmative action students and their normative peers. To verify those patterns, we test hierarchical logistic models alongside advanced decision tree models. The findings show the superiority of first-year grade point average and other academic indicators in predicting dropouts. They also confirm that students who are eligible for affirmative action depart at virtually the same rates as normative students and other risk groups. We conclude by suggesting that under certain conditions, universities do not pay any price by admitting students through the backdoor of affirmative action. Therefore, universities can and should open their gates wider.

Scientists often surmise that scientific thought is a universal faculty akin to Kant’s description of “pure reason.” The conventional view insists that science should censor the passions and bar the intrusion of emotional and subconscious motives into scientific work. This article challenges this truism by showing that the split between reason and emotions is rather culturally mediated. Using interviews with 125 Israeli scientists who had collaborated with German colleagues, the study allowed respondents to compare their scientific practices and intellectual styles with those of their German compatriots. The results suggest that in contrast to their sober and uber-rational German colleagues, Israeli scientists’ intellectual style can be described as fiery, enflamed, and passionate. Indeed, they often spoke of “love” and “desire” as central elements that drive innovation and creativity in scientific discovery. Their minds, they implied, function through emotional reason.

Studies found that students from low socioeconomic backgrounds have higher odds of dropping out from higher education. Academic hardships were also identified as predictors. The current study utili...

Research into ethnic inequality in Israel indicates continuing gaps in education and employment between Israelis whose ethnic origin lies in Muslim countries and those with roots in Christian count...

Is science culturally determined? If so, in what aspects and how? Using evidence from three studies of German and Israeli science, this paper shows that the contexts of scientific discovery in those countries are highly distinct. Respondents from each study embraced a universalist position by holding the belief that ‘science is science,’ suggesting that they share similar understandings about the context of scientific justification. However, respondents also agreed that the deep cultural codes of hierarchy (in Germany) and symmetry (in Israel) constitute the actual contexts of scientific discovery on utterly different trajectories. Specifically, they claimed that deep cultural codes determine the organization of labs; that they set the ground rules for the relations between senior and junior scientists; that they determine concrete research practices; and that they even constitute intellectual styles. By adding ‘national culture’ as an important factor in science studies, this paper suggests that it is the task of science and technology studies to employ broader approaches of cultural analysis. Such approaches would bring to light national particularities in socialization towards the universal Temple of Science; they also would facilitate greater appreciation for the multiple cultural ways of doing science.

This chapter describes the failure of Current Research Information Systems (CRIS) to modernize routine managerial tasks involved in academic administration. It argues that most universities maintain traditional decision-making procedures in regards to hiring, promotions, preparation of annual reports, and submission of portfolios for accreditation and assessment. I argue that developers of CRIS programs failed to appreciate the tasks of academic management. At the same time, management teams seem reluctant to change traditional academic practices. I discuss reasons for this disconnect and suggest ways to close the gap so as to modernize academic decision-making in universities.

The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual international competition held by the European Broadcasting Union. The present article provides an updated review of the academic literature devoted to the study of the Eurovision Song Contest which in the past two decades developed into a serious and rich academic field with four main areas: (1) studies of imagining a unified Europe – wherein I review research devoted to cosmopolitan European visions and nation branding; (2) studies focusing on gender and what is often referenced as gay or ‘camp’ features in the Eurovision Song Contest; (3) studies of Euro-Divisions which focus on political bloc voting and cultural alliances – exposing consistent and persistent rifts and coalitions in the celebration of European unity; and (4) studies making use of Eurovision data as a cultural seismograph for explaining external phenomenon like economic trade and political conflicts. Two decades of study of the Eurovision reveal that the ideal of unity is persistently challenged by national and cultural commitments. While commentators often deem the Eurovision Song Contest to be a silly kitsch show of musical mediocrity, this review proves it to be an appealing and productive area for the serious study of European civilization and its discontents.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to refute See and Gorard’s paper published in this journal in 2015 which argues that parent-based interventions for school readiness are ineffective. Design/methodology/approach Methods and results from 107 studies that were cited in See and Gorard (2015a) and associated reports were reviewed. Evaluations were made based on comparing the original studies with the summaries of those studies in the publication. Findings In this rebuttal, the authors show how See and Gorard erred to correctly report methods, sample sizes, outcomes measured, and the actual results of prior research. Practical implications The authors suggest that See and Gorard do not provide solid evidence within their article to back up their claims about parent intervention programs. This rigorous review of See and Gorard’s primary sources reveals that the empirical evidence stands contrary to the claims being made. See and Gorard inaccurately reviewed publications which contradict their conclusions, and they relied on a vast amount of unpublished papers by students to support their claims. Originality/value The authors demonstrate how See and Gorard misapplied their own standards of evaluation; the authors claim that their source materials contradict the “finding” they purport to present; and the authors argue that they chose lesser known studies when more reputable ones were available.

The present paper extends Lotka's theorem--which we rename as "the law of limited excellence"--while empirically modelling the scientific productivity of 46 Israel Prize laureates in the life and exact sciences--a group best described as `Star Scientists'. By focusing on this highly selective group we expose unequal scientific productivity even amongst Israel's most prolific scientists. Specifically, we test the invariance of Lotka's law by focusing attention on the extreme tail of publication distributions while empirically exploring the non-linearity of its seemingly "flat" tail. By exposing the rarity of excellence even in this extreme end of publication productivity we extend the generality of Lotka's theorem and expose that--like a fractal--the tail of excellence behaves as the entire distribution. We end this empirical contribution by suggesting a few implications for research and policy.

While economic investments and organizational reforms may support Germany’s scientific ambitions, its culture remains a significant influence on how those ambitions work themselves out. The study relied on interviews with 125 Israeli scientists and on responses of nineteen of their German collaborators to a questionnaire. Data analysis found four cultural priorities that – in the context of comparisons with Israeli scientific culture – respondents suggest cut short the potential of German science: privileging technology over meaning and insight, privileging hierarchy over creativity, privileging cosmos over chaos, and privileging German over English. Respondents suggest that these cultural priorities silence alternative points of view and censor young scientists, limit motivation and stifle imagination, preordain problem-solving orientations, and restrict communication flows. As they consider policy targets for 2020 and beyond, the new German government, foundation leaders, and scientists need to discuss those cultural challenges. The study calls for scholars in science and technology studies to pay more attention to national cultures as decisive factors in framing the limits and possibilities of science.

This article reports results from a qualitative study of Israelis living in Germany, focusing on their traumatized national habitus. The study is based on 80 in-depth interviews and on replies of more than 100 respondents to an online questionnaire. The present article focuses on one specific aspect of the Israeli traumatized habitus: ‘the wounded eye and the scratched ear’. Specifically, it explores the ways by which the trauma of the Holocaust is inscribed in Israeli senses. It details how respondents’ eyes, ears and thoughts are activated by German mundane episodes, linking day-to-day experiences to the trauma of the Holocaust. Trains, suspect on-boarding Israelis, might end up in Auschwitz; snow brings up associations of the death marches; old people are perceived as Gestapo officers; and contemporary child-rearing practices ‘explain’ to Israelis the obedience and collaboration of ordinary Germans with the Third Reich. Using thick description from the interviews I expose the suspicious Israeli habitus – which always looks for ‘signs’ that might explain what happened in Germany 80 years ago.

This article applies the theory of “key educational experiences” to argue that while German memorials and documentation centers provide visitors with ample information about the Third Reich, their tone of neutral objectivity and their strategies of identity dissociation prevent German visitors from identifying with the German past. The sites’ declared educational goals are thus undermined. The author concludes that a post-traumatic pedagogy of repression and evasion is unlikely to create key experiences that will have long-term effects on visitors’ identities.

The present paper extends recent studies of national character – suggesting that the Israeli case revolves around a set of deep cultural codes which constitute various empirical manifestations. Broadening on this re-emerging paradigm, the study provides a specific case study of a major trait of Israeli national character, namely existential anxiety and fear of annihilation. It does so while advancing the idea that cultural trauma sets a context for Israeli national character. The analysis shows that Israelis constantly reference persistent and endemic existential fears of annihilation. They do so while tying together four levels: the mythological predicament, historical evidence, contemporary threats and future risks.

This paper analyses the affinity between the writings of Pope Benedict XVI and the position of German critical theorists in their critiques of instrumental reason, thereby exposing common theological motives that constitute German critical theory. Based on a thorough analysis of his critical reflections about instrumental reason I advance two propositions: on the one hand, that Pope Benedict XVI is a critical theorist; on the other hand, that critical theorists embed theological assumptions in their expositions of modernity and instrumental reason. Both parties rely on common cultural tools that speak through the myth of Faust, and they share the same narrative of doom and fall in their analyses of modernity and instrumental reason.

This study provides insights about attitudes toward heroes and role models in German and Israel. We expected German and Israeli school textbooks and teachers to provide varying renditions for the traumatic effects of World War II and the Holocaust, and for students to express different attitudes about the role of heroes in their lives. In contrast, the study found that German and Israeli adolescents share perceptions about heroes and role models, suggesting that either there are no such models today or that heroes and role models are overblown and dangerous for democracy. In doing so they reflect a broader consensus among their teachers and the school textbooks they use.

Summary Israeli politicians are diplomatic agents provocateurs. Presidents, prime ministers and foreign office executives craft diplomatic scenes that betray diplomatic protocol. This article exposes the deep cultural codes that explain the unique behaviour of Israeli diplomacy. It documents different occasions of Israeli exceptional diplomacy and suggests that they reflect the cultural traumas that underlie Israeli culture. The analyses apply a new theoretical framework that dwells on the cultural codes of ‘Israeliness’ while suggesting that the unique style of Israeli diplomacy reflects four such codes: existential anxiety; upright defiance; a dugri (frank) speech culture and a fear of seeming to be a sucker (‘fraier’). By interpreting prominent cases with a cultural lens, the authors provide new insights into Israeli unilateralism, its seeming ‘paranoid’ character, and the reason for Israeli ignorance of international diplomatic codes. Essentially, they suggest that: (a) there is a cultural mismatch between diplomatic protocol and the Israeli national habitus; (b) the more that Israel’s strategic interests are threatened, the more locked it becomes to its post-traumatic habitus and the further its politicians move away from protocol. Israel’s persistent cultural trauma is thus likely to maintain the deviation of Israeli diplomacy from diplomatic protocol.

Aims: The present study exposes that meaningful learning experiences in Israeli schools take place in noisy and highly active classrooms. In contrast to common assumptions, we show that significant learning takes place in “active” classrooms, where “activity” reflects students' enthusiasm, curiosity and interest. Place and Duration of Study: The study took place in Israel and collected evidence along three years. Study Design: The study used a convenience sample of adults who reported about their strongest educational experiences in life. The sample proved representative of Israeli high school populations. The present article is based on the analysis of 483 retrospective key educational experiences that adults had during their school days. Methodology: We used interpretive methods to analyze major themes and patterns but also coded experiences in order to assess the quantitative ecology of "noisy" experiences in school. Results: A thematic qualitative analysis of the episodes shows that key educational experiences occurred when the content of instruction was authentic, relevant and challenging. Key experiences also reflected teachers' use of competitions, instructional

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to illuminate Peter Drucker's management theory by exploring German theological concerns which constituted his unique approach in management theory.Design/methodology/approachTo uncover the secularized German theological roots in Drucker's work, the paper juxtaposes his writings from his 60‐year‐long career with prior cultural interpretations of German scholarship.FindingsThe analysis shows that German secularized theological concerns surrounding the fall of modernity influenced Drucker's oeuvre, leading him to advocate “the meaningful organization” as a pragmatic solution to the ills of modern society. While Drucker's ideas evolved over the years, the paper shows that his agenda to promote meaningful organizations in an otherwise totalitarian‐prone, alienated, rationalized and meaningless era remained consistent. This interpretation suggests that Drucker believed that management had moral duties in a Nietzschean godless world. The paper shows that these themes continued structuring Drucker's corpus in three domains: the information revolution, corporate social responsibility, and the role of organizations in the third sector.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper reveals that Drucker was driven by deep cultural codes that proscribed many of his observations and suggested remedies. Hence, it calls for similar unearthing of the historical roots of management theory and practice.Originality/valueIn this paper a novel interpretation of Drucker's work is introduced. Extending work highlighting Drucker's spiritual roots, the paper demonstrates that the German secularized theological conception of the downfall of modernity was a constant lens through which Drucker saw the world, and that this historical backdrop was the motivating spur in his attempt to save it from another catastrophe. Given the entrenchment of Drucker's ideas in today's management practices and theories, it is imperative to understand these German moral and theological predispositions.

This paper provides an empirical investigation of Israeli flight attendants in order to characterize the structural underpinnings of the liquid self, and their resultant phenomenological consequences on personal morality, conceptions of self and interpersonal relations. The study touched upon the motivations and behaviours of flight attendants, how they juggle family and personal commitments, and the internal persona they adopt vis-à-vis their own selves. By contextualizing their narratives through the structural elements of their jobs, the study exposes the attendants’ ambivalent and incoherent lives and the complex ways in which they manage their social networks across place and time. While flight attendants evince chameleon-like selves and fluid morality in their interpersonal relations – taking advantage of their ability to stage different selves in different ports of life – they maintain their multiple selves in functioning ways.

Introduction Although prior studies of road traffic accidents have found between-group differences in risk, little attention has been given to the encounter between drivers involved in severe collisions. Method The present study empirically evaluates two different possible causes of "social accidents," which are defined as collisions between two or more drivers where some faulty social interaction might be assumed, and which are the most prevalent cause of road injuries. The analyses use merged Israeli collision records from 1983 to 2004 with data from two national censuses, thus providing an unprecedented empirical basis to study the social foundations of car accidents. The data are used to adjudicate between two alternative hypotheses: the heterogeneity hypothesis (socially different drivers tend to collide) versus the homogeneity hypothesis (socially similar drivers tend to collide). Results Multivariate analyses provide preliminary support for the latter hypothesis. Given an accident, there are more collisions among drivers from the same broad educational group, and the factors that influence this correlation are independent of geography. The paper thus leads to the idea that severe collisions reflect a sociological or ecological process that is akin to acciphilia. Impact on Industry The preliminary findings suggest that variation between drivers may be preferable to similarity, since apparently there is a greater tendency toward collisions between similar drivers.

Key experiences are short and intense instructional episodes that students remember to have had a decisive effect on their lives and are usually equated with a sense of self‐direction and empowerment. This study analyzes gender differences in the narrations of key educational experiences of Palestinian Israeli students—an educated segment in Israeli‐Palestinian society. The results suggest that while female Palestinians in Israeli academic programs have attained more than equal gender representation, a significant number of respondents still express traditional gendered conceptions. Though academically successful, many female students hide motives of agency, while expressing their stories as traditional gendered narratives. These results imply that while gender equality has been formally attained amongst Palestinians in Israel, gender differences persist with regard to women's basic cultural habitus, even amongst educated students. It thus suggests that while efforts to achieve formal and institutional ge...

Prior studies in the sociology of accidents have shown that different social groups have different rates of accident involvement. This study extends those studies by implementing Bourdieu's relational perspective of social space to systematically explore the homology between drivers' social characteristics and their involvement in specific types of motor vehicle accident. Using a large database that merges official Israeli road-accident records with socioeconomic data from two censuses, this research maps the social order of road accidents through multiple correspondence analysis. Extending prior studies, the results show that different social groups indeed tend to be involved in motor vehicle accidents of different types and severity. For example, we find that drivers from low socioeconomic backgrounds are overinvolved in severe accidents with fatal outcomes. The new findings reported here shed light on the social regularity of road accidents and expose new facets in the social organization of death.

This paper describes the parochial predicament of the social sciences by looking at world sociology in its Janus-like face: on the one hand we focus on the intellectual, political, and sometimes even ethical compromises that social scientists in European semiperipheral countries forgo in order to gain acceptance and recognition in world sociology. On the other hand we show how these compromises paradoxically impoverish intellectual potentialities in the major centers of academic excellence too. In the analyses we focus on different interrelated facets of scholarly work where these paradoxes take shape: problem setting and conceptualization, the hierarchy of scholarly publications, the definition of excellence through citation patterns, scientific conferences, and lastly, funding schemes for research. We argue that the social and the political organization of the World System of Science jeopardizes free access to multiple and plural perspectives of the social. A potential source of ideas, theories, and paradigms is hampered by the hierarchical division of labor between scientists in the centers of science and their peers in semiperipheral countries, whose knowledge remains unutilized and sidelined.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study gender differentials in scientific productivity while looking at academic discipline and advisor practices. The natural sciences and the liberal arts are shown to constitute two organisational cultures which affect the ability of women to attain excellence on a par with men.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical study is based on a sample of 660 doctoral students in two universities in Israel. Regression procedures were employed to predict productivity.FindingsThere is a slight gender gap in scientific productivity, but only in single‐authored papers. This suggests that publishing together with an advisor – which is the common practice in the natural sciences – is more conducive to gender parity. Students' reports suggest that their advisors evince little differential treatment of men versus women, thereby ruling out the possibility of overt advisor bias against women. Overall, the natural sciences appear to be more supportive of students' success while the liberal arts seem to challenge students to struggle on their own, putting women in greater jeopardy of suffering family‐work tensions.Practical implicationsUniversities need to appreciate the disciplinary differences within them and help students to get greater support in the “natural selection” mechanisms that are often unconsciously employed in higher education.Originality/valueThis paper adds an important angle in appreciating currently dominant approaches to work‐family balances while focusing on unintended exclusionary mechanisms embedded in the standards and culture of different scientific disciplines.

This paper argues that Pierre Bourdieu was motivated by the frustration of the French Revolution. His work continually criticized the gap between the ideological promise of the Enlightenment and the actual persistence of inequality in modern France. This paper exposes the centrality of the failed revolution in Bourdieu's oeuvre by visiting four topics he delved into: Education, gender, globalization and the role of social science. The analysis shows that the contrast between the ideals of equality and meritocracy and their poor implementation in schools and universities has motivated his sharp critique of the French system of education. Similarly, the failure of the State to support gender equality drove him to expose the deeply embodied cultural mechanisms that guarantee the advantages men have over women. The paper further shows that Bourdieu also extended this preoccupation with the failure of the Revolution to global politics. Specifically, his recent critique of globalization and global organizations suggests that capitalist Western elites betray the cosmopolitan vision of the Revolution while using international law and global companies to exploit third world countries. Finally, the paper shows that Bourdieu's preoccupation with the Revolution reappeared in the role he projected for social science and concludes that, for Bourdieu, the French Revolution is still to come. In that sense, Bourdieu was consistently preoccupied with the Revolution, and it is thus most fitting to see him, emphatically, as the last Musketeer to fight the betrayal of the French republic. The representatives of the French people, organized as a National Assembly, believing that the ignorance, neglect, or contempt of the rights of man are the sole cause of public calamities and of the corruption of governments, have determined to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, unalienable, and sacred rights of man, in order that this declaration, being constantly before all the members of the Social body, shall remind them continually of their rights and duties; in order that the acts of the legislative power, as well as those of the executive power, may be compared at any moment with the objects and purposes of all political institutions and may thus be more respected, and, lastly, in order that the grievances of the citizens, based hereafter upon simple and incontestable principles, shall tend to the maintenance of the constitution and redound to the happiness of all. (The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen

This paper argues that the French Revolution constituted the basic metaphor through which Pierre Bourdieu perceived and analyzed gender hierarchies; that the class structure of the ancien régime and the mechanisms of its legitimation were the major metaphors he used through his scathing critiques on the order of the sexes; and that the ideals of liberté, égalité and fraternité were always his reformatory aims for a just, gender-neutral society. The paper shows how this preoccupation with the Revolution of 1789 structured Bourdieu's analysis of gender relations and sexual identities in contemporary society. It exposes the ways in which he identified men with the nobility and women with the third estate; it presents his analyses of the role that traditional ideologies and state bureaucracies play in legitimating this arbitrary order of masculine domination; and it analyzes his proposals for a sexual revolution while exposing the counter-revolutionary forces that persistently negate attempts to reform gender hierarchies. Fundamentally, this new reading of Bourdieu's exegeses on gender suggests that he was working with a ready-made interpretive scheme, a model of society that he was inclined to see as always reproducing itself: the ancien régime.

This paper proposes to re-read Marx's oeuvre through the cultural narrative of the Golem. It suggests that this narrative reappeared in the writings of Karl Marx throughout his career. There are three typical parts in this narrative: (a) the will of men to be empowered; (b) the use of a non-human material instrument to garner this power; culminating in (c) the instrument developing an autonomous spirit, which fatefully makes it turn against its master, leading to personal alienation and social destruction. This paper shows that the three-part composition of the Golem reappears in Marx's writings while focusing on four major topics: the dialectical analysis of history; the historical development of capitalism and its expected eventual demise; the theory of alienation; and his conception of the fetishism of machines, money, and commodities.

James S. Coleman was the major proponent of rational choice theory. This article challenges the traditional reading of his work by showing that under the explicit theory of rational choice lay a latent non-rational theory of action. The article shows that instead of rationality, Coleman's psychological starting point was existential insecurity; that instead of the alleged mechanism of the maximization of utility, actors choose to conform to peer values and norms in order to alleviate insecurity; and that the optimal setting for action is provided by intimate and dense communities, rather than unregulated free markets. These three non-rational presuppositions are analyzed and it is suggested that they are crucial for understanding Coleman's assessment of modernity, social change and his call for the rational reconstruction of society.

This study investigates key educational experiences in higher education. Key experiences are short and intense instructional episodes that students remember to have had a decisive effect on their lives. Data comes from a sample of 3045 key educational experiences, focusing on the 11.6% that relate to higher education. The paper uses a qualitative analysis to describe different features of key experiences in higher education. The results suggest that key experiences involve a process of self-discovery where students find features about themselves they knew nothing of previously. They also help to characterize three main contexts for self-discovery in higher education. First, key experiences take place in academically challenging circumstances that get students to embark on identity adventures. Second, challenging circumstances also provided ripe ground for sage advice that professors provided their students with. These words of wisdom became leitmotifs for students’ lives henceforth. Finally, the results indicate the importance of second chance opportunities for self-discovery and identity rehabilitation in higher education.

This article provides a new reading of Coleman's rational choice paradigm. Coleman's overt assumptions about action depicted the latter to be purposive and rational, suggesting that action is taken in order to maximize long-term instrumental utility. This article shows that, in his empirical studies, Coleman relied on expressive assumptions about the motives of action, in particular self-related existential anxieties. Coleman argued that in response to their uncertainty, actors choose to emulate others because conformity allows them to secure their social position in the short term. The decisive motive which appears to drive action is not the maximization of instrumental utility, but rather the short-term reduction of existential uncertainty. According to the standards Coleman set for a pure rational choice model, this type of conformist rationality is not rational in the long run. Future studies may improve on prior efforts to utilize the rational choice program by appreciating that the most known figure in this school himself held two alternative conceptions of action: expressive and rational.

Boyer’s call for the study of the “scholarship of teaching” has rekindled interest in outstanding teaching in higher education. However, most studies of teaching quality and student experiences in higher education have paid little attention to intense, meaningful key experiences and were limited in answering the pertinent question: Can universities administer excellent instruction? The current paper attempts to answer this question by providing exploratory evidence of key experiences in higher education. It is based on evidence from a large qualitative study of such episodes, using retrospective accounts provided by adults who speak about their best educational experiences in higher education. The results are grouped under three major thematic headings. The first describes the centrality of personalized student–teacher relations. The second focuses on the ways in which identification and integrity provided students with models to emulate; and the third tells of excellence in the skills of teaching. These results point that the administration of the scholarship of teaching is an intricate endeavor.

Jews have played a decisive role in the history of sociological theory. Paradoxically, Israeli sociologists – who came from similar Jewish social backgrounds, and shared the same intellectual traditions – have not left a mark on general sociological discourse. This study sets out to solve this paradox and explain why Israeli sociologists have had a negligible impact on the development of general sociological theories. Israeli sociologists have proved to play no significant role in the development of general sociological theory because they exhibited a specific mode of thought: (a) their theoretical questions were contextual; (b) their cognitive interest was to solve practical problems; (c) their theoretical perspective reflected national priorities; and (d) they exhibited a fragmented mode of thought.The article argues that the extreme local position of Israeli sociologists in the collective Zionist project propelled them to adopt the aforementioned intellectual features and therefore marginalized their contribution to general sociological theory.

PurposeWith growing decentralization, local education authorities (LEAs) face new tasks and responsibilities in providing schools with administrative services and resources. This study aims to use a multilevel framework to assess the extent to which LEAs differentially affect the provision of resources and administrative services to schools, and the differential extent to which organizational effectiveness and LEAs’ corporate social capital account for between‐LEA variation in these outcomes.Design/methodology/approachUsing an Israeli national sample of 464 schools in 76 LEAs, the study uses an HLM methodology to test which of the two theoretical models best fits the data.FindingsThe analysis reveals that background characteristics of a locale are not related to administrative services and resources that LEAs provide to schools in their jurisdiction. In contrast, LEAs do differentially affect these services and resources, with the variables of organizational effectiveness accounting for most of the observed inter‐LEA inequalities.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is based on cross‐sectional design, therefore precludes any causal definitive conclusions.Originality/valueThe study concludes by suggesting that inequalities in LEAs’ organizational capacities trickle down to the school level and LEAS are important organizational units in any attempt to curb inequality of service to students.

Many European countries have decentralised governance structures to local communities with the direct election of mayors by local residents. This article provides a case study from Israel to assess the interplay between education and local politics. It investigates election outcomes for 75 locales, with a focus on the unique tensions involved in the dual loyalties of mayors to local parents, on the one hand, and state officials, on the other. Mayors who developed conflict relationships with both the local parents and state officials were found most likely to leave office. Conflicts over education are a clear indicator of impending political defeat, but amicable relations with parents and state officials are no automatic guarantee for re-election.

This study analyses three recurrent themes in the presidential addresses read at the American Sociological Association (ASA) annual meetings, 1906-98. First, most ASA presidential addresses reflected a pride in democracy and equality - a spirit that positions America as leader of the world both socially and morally. The second theme was race conflict. ASA presidents frequently discussed the question of equal rights for `African-Americans', suggesting that racial and social barriers encouraged social fragility and instability. Ensuing racial riots and protests were referred to as indications of such social problems, which American society (and sociology) failed either to recognise or to solve. Finally, ASA presidents were preoccupied with the theme of social change and its unpredictability in America. Based on this analysis, we argue that the constitutional premises of American democracy have allowed for both protests and the enlargement of political arenas and boundaries, and have systematically dissolved political issues and metamorphosed them into social issues.