Treating law as an essential cultural component in a nation-building project, this book offers a ... more Treating law as an essential cultural component in a nation-building project, this book offers a socio-historical analysis of a community-based system of justice under colonial rule. It traces the attempts of Jewish jurists–nationalists to establish a non-religious system of Hebrew Courts in British-ruled Palestine. This book analyzes the secular, national and anti-colonial ideology of the Hebrew Law of Peace and shows that Jewish religious groups, secular lawyers and leading Zionist institutions undermined the Hebrew Law project. The book develops the concept of 'dual colonialism' to analyze the complex relations between Jewish settlers and British colonizers, and explores the reluctance of leading Zionists to allow a process of nation-building from below that would have allowed communities, rather than organized quasi-state institutions, to define the trajectory of Jewish nationalism.
Taking its cue from earlier studies of electrification in Europe and the U.S., the book moves the... more Taking its cue from earlier studies of electrification in Europe and the U.S., the book moves the inquiry to the colonial setting of 1920s Palestine. The book follows electric wires as they extend to new contact points and asks about the social significance of being permanently attached to an electrical network ('the grid'). By looking at the process of electrification it offers a novel material and market-based explanation to the emergence of ethno-national separatism between Arabs and Jews, discusses the assembly of distinct 'Jewish' and 'Arab' economies, and traces processes of urban segregation in Palestine. The argument is that the construction of an electric grid was a process that created social distinctions, new subjectivities, distinct geographical areas, and new social classifications and categories (types of 'electric consumers'). The method of inquiry adopts some insights of actor-network-theory, accounting for social processes in terms of the associations of human actors and non-human entities. The historical case is means for exploring broader implications for sociological theory in general and for the future direction of the sociology of infrastructures in particular.
Airports provide an essential infrastructure for the production of airspace by facilitating netwo... more Airports provide an essential infrastructure for the production of airspace by facilitating networks of aero mobility. This study considers the case of Lydda airport in Mandatory Palestine. Promoted in the 1930's as a hub for British civil aviation on its India route, Lydda airport is largely absent from the inter-war history of civil aviation although the site would become the location of the present-day Ben-Gurion International Airport. The study finds that while British decision-makers initially trumped the attempts of Jewish settlers to locate the country's inter-continental airport in Tel-Aviv rather than at Lydda, sustained pressure and an anti-colonial Arab Revolt compromised that decision. The tension between imperial trans-continental priorities and domestic ambitions were translated in Palestine into two separate and partially competing neighbouring airports.
This study looks at infrastructures as sites of contest between empire and settler-colonialists. ... more This study looks at infrastructures as sites of contest between empire and settler-colonialists. It analyses the construction of Mandate Palestine's Haifa seaport and Lydda Airport as imperial projects and traces the techno-political networks that allowed Jewish settlers to build their own competing seaport and airport in Tel-Aviv during the anti-colonial Arab Revolt (1936–1939). It identifies a dialectical relationship between colonisers and empire: Jewish settlers welcomed Palestine’s intended role as an arena of imperial development but soon developed their own stakes in securing access to sea and skies. The study contributes to the scant knowledge about infrastructures in colonial settings and specifically to the little-known role of British consultant engineers in facilitating them. All in all the article de-centres the Arab-Jewish conflict as a major historical focus and instead considers Palestine through the lens of the British empire’s conception of the Middle East.
Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews, 2015
Whether buried underfoot or strung overhead, electrical lines are omnipresent. Not only are most ... more Whether buried underfoot or strung overhead, electrical lines are omnipresent. Not only are most societies dependent on electrical infrastructure, but this infrastructure actively shapes electrified society. From the wires, poles, and generators themselves to the entrepreneurs, engineers, politicians, and advisors who determine the process of electrification, our electrical grids can create power-and politics-just as they transmit it. Current Flow examines the history of electrification of British-ruled Palestine in the 1920s, as it marked, affirmed, and produced social, political, and economic difference between Arabs and Jews. Considering the interplay of British colonial interests, the Jewish-Zionist leanings of a commissioned electric company, and Arab opposition within the case of the Jaffa Power House, Ronen Shamir reveals how electrification was central in assembling a material infrastructure of ethno-national separation in Palestine long before "political partition plans" had ever been envisioned. Ultimately, Current Flow sheds new light on the history of Jewish-Arab relations and offers broader sociological insights into what happens when people are transformed from users into elements of networks.
Ethnographic observations at an early-detection centre for cancer serve as a basis for theorising... more Ethnographic observations at an early-detection centre for cancer serve as a basis for theorising the spatiality of preventive medicine. Based on insights from both the sociology of health and the sociology of space, the article outlines a re-spatialisation of health by articulating the concept of osmotic-spatiality: spatial-temporal arrangements which transform health into a personal task and an individual achievement, producing the subjectivity of ‘healthy patients’.
The career of corporate social responsibility (CSR) indicates that it evolved into a field of pri... more The career of corporate social responsibility (CSR) indicates that it evolved into a field of private and self-regulation that bears all the hallmarks of new governance. Accordingly, this review offers an analysis of CSR as a reflection on the governance turn in sociolegal studies. It relies on the literature to show (a) that socially responsible corporate practices developed in response to public critique of corporate powers and (b) that the emergent field of CSR shows capitalism's ability to transform critique into commercial and managerial assets. Devoting specific attention to the role of academic research and theory in consolidating the framework of new governance, the review reflects upon the trajectory of law in latter-day capitalism and theorizes governance as the privatization of the sources and instruments of authority.
... The perceived legitimacy of the Palestinian residents is not studied here.2 This study examin... more ... The perceived legitimacy of the Palestinian residents is not studied here.2 This study examines the response of Israeli public opinion leaders, the mass media, political elites, and the academics to policy issues processed by the court. ...
... CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: A CASE OF HEGEMONY AND COUNTER-HEGEMONY Ronen Shamir ... cou... more ... CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: A CASE OF HEGEMONY AND COUNTER-HEGEMONY Ronen Shamir ... countries by transnational corporations had become intolerable."Counter-hegemonic efforts ... safeguard the flexibility needed" to address the diversity of European ...
Treating law as an essential cultural component in a nation-building project, this book offers a ... more Treating law as an essential cultural component in a nation-building project, this book offers a socio-historical analysis of a community-based system of justice under colonial rule. It traces the attempts of Jewish jurists–nationalists to establish a non-religious system of Hebrew Courts in British-ruled Palestine. This book analyzes the secular, national and anti-colonial ideology of the Hebrew Law of Peace and shows that Jewish religious groups, secular lawyers and leading Zionist institutions undermined the Hebrew Law project. The book develops the concept of 'dual colonialism' to analyze the complex relations between Jewish settlers and British colonizers, and explores the reluctance of leading Zionists to allow a process of nation-building from below that would have allowed communities, rather than organized quasi-state institutions, to define the trajectory of Jewish nationalism.
Taking its cue from earlier studies of electrification in Europe and the U.S., the book moves the... more Taking its cue from earlier studies of electrification in Europe and the U.S., the book moves the inquiry to the colonial setting of 1920s Palestine. The book follows electric wires as they extend to new contact points and asks about the social significance of being permanently attached to an electrical network ('the grid'). By looking at the process of electrification it offers a novel material and market-based explanation to the emergence of ethno-national separatism between Arabs and Jews, discusses the assembly of distinct 'Jewish' and 'Arab' economies, and traces processes of urban segregation in Palestine. The argument is that the construction of an electric grid was a process that created social distinctions, new subjectivities, distinct geographical areas, and new social classifications and categories (types of 'electric consumers'). The method of inquiry adopts some insights of actor-network-theory, accounting for social processes in terms of the associations of human actors and non-human entities. The historical case is means for exploring broader implications for sociological theory in general and for the future direction of the sociology of infrastructures in particular.
Airports provide an essential infrastructure for the production of airspace by facilitating netwo... more Airports provide an essential infrastructure for the production of airspace by facilitating networks of aero mobility. This study considers the case of Lydda airport in Mandatory Palestine. Promoted in the 1930's as a hub for British civil aviation on its India route, Lydda airport is largely absent from the inter-war history of civil aviation although the site would become the location of the present-day Ben-Gurion International Airport. The study finds that while British decision-makers initially trumped the attempts of Jewish settlers to locate the country's inter-continental airport in Tel-Aviv rather than at Lydda, sustained pressure and an anti-colonial Arab Revolt compromised that decision. The tension between imperial trans-continental priorities and domestic ambitions were translated in Palestine into two separate and partially competing neighbouring airports.
This study looks at infrastructures as sites of contest between empire and settler-colonialists. ... more This study looks at infrastructures as sites of contest between empire and settler-colonialists. It analyses the construction of Mandate Palestine's Haifa seaport and Lydda Airport as imperial projects and traces the techno-political networks that allowed Jewish settlers to build their own competing seaport and airport in Tel-Aviv during the anti-colonial Arab Revolt (1936–1939). It identifies a dialectical relationship between colonisers and empire: Jewish settlers welcomed Palestine’s intended role as an arena of imperial development but soon developed their own stakes in securing access to sea and skies. The study contributes to the scant knowledge about infrastructures in colonial settings and specifically to the little-known role of British consultant engineers in facilitating them. All in all the article de-centres the Arab-Jewish conflict as a major historical focus and instead considers Palestine through the lens of the British empire’s conception of the Middle East.
Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews, 2015
Whether buried underfoot or strung overhead, electrical lines are omnipresent. Not only are most ... more Whether buried underfoot or strung overhead, electrical lines are omnipresent. Not only are most societies dependent on electrical infrastructure, but this infrastructure actively shapes electrified society. From the wires, poles, and generators themselves to the entrepreneurs, engineers, politicians, and advisors who determine the process of electrification, our electrical grids can create power-and politics-just as they transmit it. Current Flow examines the history of electrification of British-ruled Palestine in the 1920s, as it marked, affirmed, and produced social, political, and economic difference between Arabs and Jews. Considering the interplay of British colonial interests, the Jewish-Zionist leanings of a commissioned electric company, and Arab opposition within the case of the Jaffa Power House, Ronen Shamir reveals how electrification was central in assembling a material infrastructure of ethno-national separation in Palestine long before "political partition plans" had ever been envisioned. Ultimately, Current Flow sheds new light on the history of Jewish-Arab relations and offers broader sociological insights into what happens when people are transformed from users into elements of networks.
Ethnographic observations at an early-detection centre for cancer serve as a basis for theorising... more Ethnographic observations at an early-detection centre for cancer serve as a basis for theorising the spatiality of preventive medicine. Based on insights from both the sociology of health and the sociology of space, the article outlines a re-spatialisation of health by articulating the concept of osmotic-spatiality: spatial-temporal arrangements which transform health into a personal task and an individual achievement, producing the subjectivity of ‘healthy patients’.
The career of corporate social responsibility (CSR) indicates that it evolved into a field of pri... more The career of corporate social responsibility (CSR) indicates that it evolved into a field of private and self-regulation that bears all the hallmarks of new governance. Accordingly, this review offers an analysis of CSR as a reflection on the governance turn in sociolegal studies. It relies on the literature to show (a) that socially responsible corporate practices developed in response to public critique of corporate powers and (b) that the emergent field of CSR shows capitalism's ability to transform critique into commercial and managerial assets. Devoting specific attention to the role of academic research and theory in consolidating the framework of new governance, the review reflects upon the trajectory of law in latter-day capitalism and theorizes governance as the privatization of the sources and instruments of authority.
... The perceived legitimacy of the Palestinian residents is not studied here.2 This study examin... more ... The perceived legitimacy of the Palestinian residents is not studied here.2 This study examines the response of Israeli public opinion leaders, the mass media, political elites, and the academics to policy issues processed by the court. ...
... CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: A CASE OF HEGEMONY AND COUNTER-HEGEMONY Ronen Shamir ... cou... more ... CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: A CASE OF HEGEMONY AND COUNTER-HEGEMONY Ronen Shamir ... countries by transnational corporations had become intolerable."Counter-hegemonic efforts ... safeguard the flexibility needed" to address the diversity of European ...
This study situates the response of various segments of the bar to the New Deal era of administra... more This study situates the response of various segments of the bar to the New Deal era of administrative expansion in the context of contemporary theories of the legal profession. The A. focuses on the theoritical formulations of a market monopoly approach, a functionalist approach, and a systems approach to the study of professionalism and professional competition ; and draws attention to the strategic mechanisms that lawyers invoked in order to deal with the inter- and intraprofessional competition that accompanied the expansion of the regulatory state.
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