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.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
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