- The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mandel-Scholion Research Center, Department Memberadd
- Sociology, Social Theory, Sex Work, Sex Industry and Workers, Sociology of the Middle Classes, Race, and 13 moreClass, Sex and Gender, Sociology of Sexuality, Heterosexuality, Gender, Sociology of Culture, Food Culture, Cosmopolitanism, Sociology & Anthropology, Methodology and Didactics of Foreign Language Teaching, Second Language Teacher Education, Climate Change, and Enviromental Studiesedit
- Faculty Memberedit
מאמר זה בוחן כיצד ייצוגים של יופי גופני בתרבות הפופולרית מסמנים הון אנושי, או במינוח מקובל אחר, מסוגלות תעסוקתית עתידית (employability) בתנאים של אי-ודאות. זאת באמצעות ניתוח הצילומים בספר אומנותי בשם Girls Israeli ושכל כולו עוסק ביופי... more
מאמר זה בוחן כיצד ייצוגים של יופי גופני בתרבות הפופולרית מסמנים הון אנושי, או
במינוח מקובל אחר, מסוגלות תעסוקתית עתידית (employability) בתנאים של אי-ודאות. זאת באמצעות ניתוח הצילומים בספר אומנותי בשם Girls Israeli ושכל כולו עוסק ביופי ובנראות ניאו-ליברלית. טענתי היא כי צילומים מסוגננים אלה מבטאים מתח האופייני למצב הניאו-ליברלי בין שני הגיונות טמפורליים: התקיימות בהווה ומכוונות לעתיד. במוקד המאמר עומדת השאלה כיצד צילומי הספר מבטאים את המתח שבין ערכה בהווה של זהות עצמית לבין ערך מתהווה, וכיצד התמרון בין הדרישה הכפולה להיות בד בבד 'מי שאת' וגם 'מי שעוד תוכלי להיות' נחרת בפני המצולמות. המאמר בוחן כיצד התרבות הפופולרית מציגה 'יזמות אסתטית' וכיצד בכוחה לנסח באופן חזותי את הזיקה שבין יופי לבין ערך תעסוקתי.
במינוח מקובל אחר, מסוגלות תעסוקתית עתידית (employability) בתנאים של אי-ודאות. זאת באמצעות ניתוח הצילומים בספר אומנותי בשם Girls Israeli ושכל כולו עוסק ביופי ובנראות ניאו-ליברלית. טענתי היא כי צילומים מסוגננים אלה מבטאים מתח האופייני למצב הניאו-ליברלי בין שני הגיונות טמפורליים: התקיימות בהווה ומכוונות לעתיד. במוקד המאמר עומדת השאלה כיצד צילומי הספר מבטאים את המתח שבין ערכה בהווה של זהות עצמית לבין ערך מתהווה, וכיצד התמרון בין הדרישה הכפולה להיות בד בבד 'מי שאת' וגם 'מי שעוד תוכלי להיות' נחרת בפני המצולמות. המאמר בוחן כיצד התרבות הפופולרית מציגה 'יזמות אסתטית' וכיצד בכוחה לנסח באופן חזותי את הזיקה שבין יופי לבין ערך תעסוקתי.
What is Sexual Capital? sets up an ambitious query and offers bold, illuminating answers. With historical evidence and incisive theoretical logic, Dana Kaplan and Eva Illouz uncover the intricate neoliberal mingling of sexuality, economic... more
What is Sexual Capital? sets up an ambitious query and offers bold, illuminating answers. With historical evidence and incisive theoretical logic, Dana Kaplan and Eva Illouz uncover the intricate neoliberal mingling of sexuality, economic worth, and social inequality. A compelling book that will inspire future research." VIVIANA A. ZELIZER, Princeton University This book does to sex what other sociologists did to culture: it shows that sex, no longer defined by religion, now plays a role in the economy and can yield tangible benefits in the realms of money, status, and occupation. How do people accumulate sexual capital, and what are the returns for investing money, time, knowledge, and energy in establishing and enhancing our sexual selves?
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Abstract Despite a legion of studies on the omnivorous consumption patterns of the new middle class, the actual tastes of omnivores in particular social settings remain understudied. In this article, I differentiate three types of food... more
Abstract Despite a legion of studies on the omnivorous consumption patterns of the new middle class, the actual tastes of omnivores in particular social settings remain understudied. In this article, I differentiate three types of food omnivorousness (diversity, experientialism and knowledge), before identifying the classificatory schemes of omnivores in Israel through food at weddings, perceived not as individual lifestyle practices but as a locus of class distinctions, where class tastes are formed, manifested and reproduced. The culinary choices made by both the new middle class consumers and producers I interviewed were governed by what I term the “simple taste.” My respondents invoked simplicity mainly, though not exclusively, through a close-to-nature rhetoric. I show that the “simple taste” enables the new middle class to mitigate the conflicting cultural strategies of elitism and pluralism, and in so doing, bridge between obligations to one's self and others. I conclude that the “simple taste” is part of a new, classed taste regime premised on personal authenticity.
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What does ‘doing family while poor’ teach us about agency, resilience and care under COVID-19? Set against a dual backdrop of increasing economic hardships and expanding inequalities, and in light of a shifting perspective in poverty and... more
What does ‘doing family while poor’ teach us about agency, resilience and care under COVID-19? Set against a dual backdrop of increasing economic hardships and expanding inequalities, and in light of a shifting perspective in poverty and family studies, we employ David Morgan’s family practices approach to study the lived realities of family life through the perspective of everyday relationships. Our research, led by a team comprised of academics and activists who themselves endure poverty, is set to allow people experiencing poverty to document their everyday lives. In their journals we identify a form of social awareness to the politics of poverty, which consist of negative emotions emanating from one’s daily struggles against the harsh reality of inequality, yet do not lead to paralysis and inaction. We dub this state agentic hopelessness.
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This article addresses the ambivalence of city officials and residents of Eilat, a resort city in southern Israel, towards porn tourism, focusing on the ways in which urban regeneration discourses ...
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This article asks why middle-class Israeli seculars have recently begun to engage with Jewish religiosity. We use the case of the Jewish New Age (JNA) as an example of the middle class’s turn from a nationalised to a spiritualised version... more
This article asks why middle-class Israeli seculars have recently begun to engage with Jewish religiosity. We use the case of the Jewish New Age (JNA) as an example of the middle class’s turn from a nationalised to a spiritualised version of Judaism. We show, by bringing together the sociology of religion’s interest in emerging spiritualities and cultural sociology’s interest in social class, how after Judaism was deemed socially significant in identity-based struggles for recognition, Israeli New Agers started culturalising and individualising Jewish religiosity by constructing it in a spiritual, eclectic, emotional and experiential manner. We thus propose that what may be seen as cultural and religious pluralism is, in fact, part of a broader system of class reproduction.
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Sexual freedom embodies self-realization in modern western societies. Viewing it as capital allows to recognize the alienation of women’s sexual capacities in the economy. In late modernity, it is also the capacity, unequally distributed,... more
Sexual freedom embodies self-realization in modern western societies. Viewing it as capital allows to recognize the alienation of women’s sexual capacities in the economy. In late modernity, it is also the capacity, unequally distributed, of individuals to gain self-confidence.
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Sexual freedom embodies self-realization in modern western societies. Viewing it as capital allows to recognize the alienation of women’s sexual capacities in the economy. In late modernity, it is also the capacity, unequally distributed,... more
Sexual freedom embodies self-realization in modern western societies. Viewing it as capital allows to recognize the alienation of women’s sexual capacities in the economy. In late modernity, it is also the capacity, unequally distributed, of individuals to gain self-confidence.
This article addresses the ambivalence of city officials and residents of Eilat, a resort city in southern Israel, towards porn tourism, focusing on the ways in which urban regeneration discourses and middle-class sensibilities shape the... more
This article addresses the ambivalence of city officials and residents of Eilat, a resort city in southern Israel, towards porn tourism, focusing on the ways in which urban regeneration discourses and middle-class sensibilities shape the emplacement of porn tourism in the city. Considering the contribution of (mainly) domestic porn tourism to the city’s economy, I seek to explain the prohibition of lap-dancing clubs and the consequent relocation of porn tourism (in the form of stag parties) into privately-owned, Airbnb villas. Based on an analysis of policy documents, media reporting and interviews with various stakeholders, I propose that, counter-intuitively, the gradual entrance of porn tourism to residential areas potentially contributes to the scenic appeal of these neighbourhoods and that this fits with the broader urban renewal initiative of Eilat.
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This article explores New Age Judaism (NAJ) in Israel as a case study demonstrating the reorganization of the religious field and the emergence of new hybrid religious forms in a post-secular age. Whereas most studies on this issue employ... more
This article explores New Age Judaism (NAJ) in Israel as a case study
demonstrating the reorganization of the religious field and the emergence of new hybrid religious forms in a post-secular age. Whereas most studies on this issue employ a perspective that emphasizes the political and/or ethnic dimensions of such emerging religious forms, we propose a class perspective on the practices of Jewish renewal and focuses on new patterns of distinction that are based on cultural
eclecticism and omnivorousness, as well as on the engagement in immersive spiritual experiences – both of which produce a sense of personal authenticity. We show that the participants articulate their activities in terms of practices of ‘spiritual openness’
performed through a) the selective appropriation of non-Jewish and Jewish spiritual techniques, and b) the reconstruction the Jewish ritual, which provides the participants with a sense of personal and collective belonging to the Jewish tradition. Combined, the two practices delineate symbolic class boundaries between the NAJ participants and those who are perceived as religiously parochial and passive.
demonstrating the reorganization of the religious field and the emergence of new hybrid religious forms in a post-secular age. Whereas most studies on this issue employ a perspective that emphasizes the political and/or ethnic dimensions of such emerging religious forms, we propose a class perspective on the practices of Jewish renewal and focuses on new patterns of distinction that are based on cultural
eclecticism and omnivorousness, as well as on the engagement in immersive spiritual experiences – both of which produce a sense of personal authenticity. We show that the participants articulate their activities in terms of practices of ‘spiritual openness’
performed through a) the selective appropriation of non-Jewish and Jewish spiritual techniques, and b) the reconstruction the Jewish ritual, which provides the participants with a sense of personal and collective belonging to the Jewish tradition. Combined, the two practices delineate symbolic class boundaries between the NAJ participants and those who are perceived as religiously parochial and passive.
Research Interests:
Despite a legion of studies on the omnivorous consumption patterns of the new middle class, the actual tastes of omnivores in particular social settings remain understudied. In this article, I differentiate three types of food... more
Despite a legion of studies on the omnivorous consumption patterns of the new middle class, the actual tastes of omnivores in particular social settings remain understudied. In this article, I differentiate three types of food omnivorousness (diversity, experientialism and knowledge), before identifying the classificatory schemes of omnivores in Israel through food at weddings, perceived not as individual lifestyle practices but as a locus of class distinctions, where class tastes are formed, manifested and reproduced. The culinary choices made by both the new middle class consumers and producers I interviewed were governed by what I term the “simple taste.“ My respondents invoked simplicity mainly, though not exclusively, through a close-to-nature rhetoric. I show that the “simple taste“ enables the new middle class to mitigate the conflicting cultural strategies of elitism and pluralism, and in so doing, bridge between obligations to one's self and others. I conclude that the “simple taste“ is part of a new, classed taste regime premised on personal authenticity
Research Interests:
This paper is about transformations from knowing to not-knowing and from doing to becoming. The paper’s focus is an ongoing research project on a new Doctorate program in Modern Languages studies (DML) and the process that the students in... more
This paper is about transformations from knowing to not-knowing and from doing to becoming. The paper’s focus is an ongoing research project on a new Doctorate program in Modern Languages studies (DML) and the process that the students in this program undergo when transitioning from being practitioners to becoming novice scholars. This program is part of a conscious effort to create an academic field whereby scholarly and professional types of knowledge are organically co-produced and this interlaced knowledge is expected to fertilize practitioners’ professional practices. The program’s graduate students are mostly in their mid-career and are motivated to pursue their DML studies for multiple reasons. The necessity of developing a study plan that can foster their transition from practitioners to scholars and help them develop a researcher identity became evident early on. Students were expected to quickly re-adjust their self-image as future theorizers who could carry out independen...
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This paper is about transformations from knowing to not-knowing and from doing to becoming. The paper's focus is an ongoing research project on a new Doctorate program in Modern Languages studies (DML) and the process that the students in... more
This paper is about transformations from knowing to not-knowing and from doing to becoming. The paper's focus is an ongoing research project on a new Doctorate program in Modern Languages studies (DML) and the process that the students in this program undergo when transitioning from being practitioners to becoming novice scholars. This program is part of a conscious effort to create an academic field whereby scholarly and professional types of knowledge are organically co-produced and this interlaced knowledge is expected to fertilize practitioners' professional practices. The program's graduate students are mostly in their mid-career and are motivated to pursue their DML studies for multiple reasons. The necessity of developing a study plan that can foster their transition from practitioners to scholars and help them develop a researcher identity became evident early on. Students were expected to quickly readjust their self-image as future theorizers who could carry out independent research and produce original scholarship. While the challenges mentioned above are not unique to this specific doctorate program and are well documented in the extensive scholarship on doctorate students' education, fewer studies have addressed the particular challenges faculty and students face as part of the latter's transition from practitioners to graduate students and novice researchers. Therefore, we ask, what accounts for a successful process of supporting language teachers in becoming novice researchers? Our aim is twofold: first, to detail our pedagogical rationale, dilemmas we faced, and the solutions we carved out; and secondly, to contribute to a nascent discussion on doctorate students' training and academic socialization in applied disciplines. Using Mezirow's adult learning theory of Transformative Learning, we describe the challenge of designing a process of academic socialization that can support adult learners' development and shift in perceptions, skills, and actions. During the first four cohorts of the program, in an introductory course, "Research Foundations," we faced dilemmas regarding reading materials and teaching activities, and collected students' reflections and communications with us, the course professors. Accordingly, the paper explicitly emphasizes our efforts to actively foster a culture of independent learning and a productive learning community by introducing new knowledge and skills. The paper can benefit instructors who design and lead graduate programs for practitioners in any field of practice.
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The paper deals with urban sexual atmospheres and the city's affective landscape under neoliberalism. It asks how recreational sexuality, as sociologists term the current interweaving of sexual and market relations, is created in space,... more
The paper deals with urban sexual atmospheres and the city's affective landscape under neoliberalism. It asks how recreational sexuality, as sociologists term the current interweaving of sexual and market relations, is created in space, through the ephemeral mood work of disparate passersby. Using textual and social semiotic methods, I analyze the mobile physical presence of advertisement for prostitution-"sex cards"-in Tel Aviv. In recent years municipal policies have been attempting to brand Tel Aviv a gay-friendly, creative and sexy city. Part of these processes involved the spatial rearrangement of sex work by adhering to harsh retributive means in tackling prostitution-related trots and offences, as well as cleaning-up street-walking and zoning sex-industries into designated areas. Commercial sex has moved indoors, wedging into cities' centres, residential areas and even the suburbs. In this respect, the cards are a local manifestation of an overarching and well-documented global urban trend. Many Western cities undergo various "urban regeneration" projects, attempting to appeal to creative-class gentrifiers. My aim in this paper is to consider some of the ways in which elements that belong with the world of prostitution may become a 'quality' or an experience that animate the urbanscape and contribute to its appeal. If the cards represent prostitution, dirty' fantasies and less-than glamorous urban scenes and places, then how does this render the urban atmosphere sexy and creative? I argue that although the cards belong to the illicit, abject sections of the sex industry and the urban underworld, they nevertheless constantly make visible recreational sexuality, by placing it within middle-class neighborhoods. In this way the cards facilitate a general emotional labour and help create a sexually charged and exciting urban atmosphere, and are conducive to neoliberal capitalism.
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This is a co-authored entry on 'Sexuality', from the Israeli version of Our Bodies, Ourselves (נשים לגופן: בריאות, גוף, מיניות, יחסים, בעריכת טל תמיר, מודן, 2011)
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... Working Bodies: Interactive Service Employment and Workplace Identities By Linda McDowell.Suzanne Reimer. Article first published online: 21 MAR 2011. ... More content like this. Find more content: like this article. Find more... more
... Working Bodies: Interactive Service Employment and Workplace Identities By Linda McDowell.Suzanne Reimer. Article first published online: 21 MAR 2011. ... More content like this. Find more content: like this article. Find more content written by: Suzanne Reimer. ...
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How is life in social isolation seen from the viewpoint of people who experience persistent poverty? Given the systemic denial of self-representational agency from those living in poverty and the neoliberalisation of the welfare state,... more
How is life in social isolation seen from the viewpoint of people who experience persistent poverty? Given the systemic denial of self-representational agency from those living in poverty and the neoliberalisation of the welfare state, this article turns to those who remained invisible to either the media or the state during the pandemic. In line with current tendencies to prioritise the voice and lived knowledge of people in poverty, we provided our interlocutors with a specifically designed diary tool to allow them to share their mundane experiences and thoughts at their own discretion. Using these diaries of women and men in poverty, and complementary interviews, this article unpacks the ways our participants deal with and understand their everyday relationships with the absent state, mostly welfare and education. Based on the themes that emerged from our interlocutors’ journals, our findings reveal the Janus-faced abandoning/monitoring state that they routinely confront. We then...