Intermarriages Between Western Women and Palestinian Men: Multidirectional Adaptation Processes

This article addresses cultural adaptation of Western‐Palestinian intermarried couples. Using in‐depth interviews, information was gathered from 16 participants, 7 Western women and 9 Palestinian men, living in Palestinian cities in the West Bank. Adaptation strategies are typified by the extent to which each spouse embraces the partner's culture. The data suggest that intermarriage engenders a multidirectional adaptation process. Patriarchy and East‐West power relations affect mainly the women, having to face marginalization on the basis of their gender and their foreignness. The men undergo a double process of cultural adaptation: to the Western culture and to their native culture after their return. Both the husbands’ extended family and the Israeli‐Palestinian conflict were found to affect both partners’ adaptation.     

Gender,class, and network: social structure and migration patterns among transnational Israelis

A growing body of research and theorising explores the experience of groups who maintain ties to multiple nations. However, this research often overemphasizes the fluidity and freedom available to migrants and neglects the differential access to networks available to co‐nationals who vary in their class, ethnic, gender and affiliational characteristics. Drawing on fieldwork and in‐depth interviews with Israeli migrants in the USA and Britain, and returnees in Israel, this study considers how social characteristics and settlement contexts shape access to the networks through which migrants acquire resources and information. Findings suggest that highly educated Israelis of European origins often maintain distinct social networks from their less educated and Middle Eastern or North African co‐nationals. Further, middle‐class Israelis have greater legal and economic access to migration and return than those with less human and financial capital. Israeli men and single women often prefer life abroad, while married women, especially those with children, wish to return. Finally, destinations influence migrants’ relations with the country of origin: Los Angeles fosters greater assimilation than London. In conclusion, because Israeli migrants are a diverse population, they maintain multiple networks and exhibit dissimilar patterns of connection to both the country of origin and places of destination.     

Spousal Abuse Among Immigrants From Ethiopia in Israel

This ethnographic study obtains first‐hand information on spousal abuse from Ethiopian immigrants in Israel. Data include 23 interviews with male and female immigrants of various ages and 10 professionals who worked with this community as well as observations and documents. The findings, verified by participants, show that during cultural transition, the immigrants’ code of honor, traditional conflict‐solving institutions, and family role distribution disintegrate. This situation, exacerbated by economic distress, proved conducive to women’s abuse. Lack of cultural sensitivity displayed by social services actually encouraged women to behave abusively toward their husbands and destroy their families. Discussion focuses on communication failures in spousal‐abuse discourse between immigrants from Ethiopia and absorbing society, originating in differences in values, behavior, social representations, and insensitive culture theories.     

The transnational effect of multicultural policies on migrants' identification: the case of the Israeli diaspora in the USA

While it is difficult to gauge the effect of multicultural policies within countries, it is even more difficult to measure them across countries. In this article, I use fundamental multicultural changes that have occurred in Israeli society in recent decades as a case study, and track their effect on how Israelis who reside in the USA identify with Israel. Analysing the US census and the American Community Survey, I have focused my research on three groups of Israeli‐born migrants in the USA – Israeli Arabs, ultra‐Orthodox Jews and the Jewish majority. Findings indicate that originating from a minority community in the homeland predicts not only a different rate, but also different longitudinal trends of Israeli identification. I offer several possible explanations for these variations, but an in‐depth analysis of the Israeli case indicates that the transnational effect of the changing multicultural agenda in Israel is the leading mechanism at play.     

The Mother-in-Law Mystique: A Tale of Conflict,Criticism and Resistance

While women have been described in various disciplines as the kin keepers of family relationships, empirical data show that the greatest rivalry in newly constructed heterosexual families exists between two women: the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law. Numerous rituals are employed across cultures in order to ease the expected tension between these two rival women. Yet, the topic seems to have been overlooked by feminist and family therapy research alike. Inspired by Bowen's (1978) concept of differentiation of self and Linn's (1998) and Gilligan's (Linn & Gilligan, 1990) ideas of the resisting self, the present study examines these female rivals as moral critics in the war zone of the family. The study sample consists of 14 mothers-in-law, daughters-in-law, and sons/husbands, belonging to five Israeli families of diverse cultural origin. Gilligan's Listening Guide was used to assess how participants saw the dilemmas of their situation, adopted a critical distance, and formed an authoritative moral voice.     

Marital violence: comparing women in violent and nonviolent unions.

This study examined marital violence among Israeli Jews. Data were obtained from a sample of 161 women who gave birth at Soroka Medical Center in the Negev region of Israel in 1992. The literature reveals that Jewish families tolerate domestic violence if an "evil" woman refuses housework or shows no respect for her husband. It is believed that Jews do not beat their wives. This study explored the degree to which women accept as legitimate the gender division of authority and use of power. It is posited that women in violent marriages (VMs) tend to accept the traditional division of labor and authority and hold more tolerant attitudes toward VMs. It is posited that VMs may be less egalitarian and democratic. VMs may be maintained if women are emotionally dependent on husbands, have a lower self-image, and perceive their husbands more positively. The questionnaire asked about social background and resources, attitudes toward marital power and violence, power relations, self-image, conflict solving, and women's emotional dependency. 18% had 1 domestic violent episode. 8 factors explained 56% of the difference between VMs and non-VMs and 90% of the cases. Husbands tried to avoid conflict. Wives fought for their interests and used external resources when conflict occurred. Husbands were reluctant to share power. There were 2 distinct patterns: the battered women syndrome and the struggle for power. Marital conflict was associated, as in the American literature, with economic hardship, lack of collectiveness in the dyad, and the form of conflict solving tactics used by both spouses. Women in VMs had different attitudes toward husband control and were emotionally dependent on their husbands.     

Identifying and Distinguishing Value Profiles in American and Israeli Adolescents

Although research has examined how values are correlated with behavior, little has examined how the system of values predicts behavior. In a cross‐cultural sample of American (109 European American; 216 African American) and Israeli (318 Arab Israeli; 216 Jewish Israeli) adolescents, the present study used latent profile analysis to identify groups which reflected the theoretical structure of values across both cultures. Four profiles were found: self‐focused, anxiety‐free, other‐focused, and undifferentiated. Results indicated that Self‐Focused adolescents were the most aggressive and viewed as leaders by their peers compared to the other groups. Self‐Focused and anxiety‐free youth reported more delinquency than their peers. Few differences between cultural groups emerged, suggesting that this approach is a promising avenue for understanding heterogeneity in behavior.     

Rejoinder to Roberto Bachi's article on The Population of Israel

This article is a response by authors Friedlander and Goldscheider to a review article about their book written by Roberto Bachi. They maintain that he has misunderstood their analysis. In order to convey the gist of their analysis, a brief outline is presented of the objectives of their book, The Population of Israel. According to the authors, Israel provides an interesting case study of the relationship between population processes and policies which may have more far-reaching implications. The focus on Bachi's criticisms is on the analysis of immigration patterns and policies, especially an evaluation of Israeli natality policies. Mainly, he was critical of the immigration model, where the use of absolute numbers of immigrants rather than rates of immigration was preferred. The authors did compare immigration rates and volume of immigration for the periods 1924-26 and 1933-36 and these waves of migration were analyzed. Bachi has claimed that the main reason for the decline in immigration to Israel is due to the progressive exhaustion of Jewish population outside Israel; clearly the appropriate explanation is otherwise. Bachi should be able to see how immigration to Israel has responded in ways similar to the socioeconomic and political forces of other international migrations. The authors cite Bachi on 2 points and show how he wrote a biased and distorted review in order to defend his ideological position. Kibbutz fertility and birth rates as influenced by abortion are the 2 issues discussed. The 2 authors claim that since abortion in Israel is connected to socioeconomic and ethnic subgroups, a policy which restricts abortions would reinforce ethnic stratification and discrimination. Other criticisms by Bachi are refuted as well. The authors feel that it is necessary to question the assumptions underlying policies, to evaluate critically their efficacy, and to search out the relative costs and benefits of alternative investments. In analyzing population policies and patterns in Israel, Friedlander and Goldscheider argue for the central importance of population factors in the continuing evaluation of Israeli society. New population polcies must take into account the errors and weaknesses of previous policies in order that they not be repeated.     

Retired and Making a Fresh Start: Older Russian Immigrants Discuss their Adjustment in Israel

Social research on immigrants has usually centred on working age groups or youth, while studies on retired immigrants were typically driven by the social work, geriatric, or nursing agendas, centring on the issues of health, stress, social, and medical services. Trying to explore migration in old age from a broader sociological perspective, this qualitative study addressed different aspects of the socio‐cultural adjustment of older Russian immigrants of the 1990s in Israel. Drawing on group discussions and in‐depth interviews conducted in two major urban centres, the study covers senior immigrants' attitudes toward the host Israeli society; material privations and coping tools; intergenerational families; patterns of social organization, communication, and cultural consumption; ties with places of origin in the former Soviet Union (FSU); and the perceived sum total of losses and gains from migration. The findings indicate that older immigrants have developed multiple ways for meaningful identification with Israel and generally perceived their resettlement experience as difficult but positive. As their social networks were limited to the Russian immigrant community, most elders did not see their poor knowledge of Hebrew as a major integration obstacle. The main reported difficulties were in the areas of housing, low income, and weakening ties with younger family members.     

Marriage and the Motherhood Wage Penalty Among African Americans,Hispanics, and Whites

This study draws on data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (N = 5,929) to analyze the moderating effects of race and marriage on the motherhood wage penalty. Fixed‐effects models reveal that for Hispanic women, motherhood is not associated with a wage penalty. For African Americans, only married mothers with more than 2 children pay a wage penalty. For Whites, all married mothers pay a wage penalty, as do all never‐married mothers and divorced mothers with 1 or 2 children. These findings imply that racial differences in the motherhood wage penalty persist even for women with similar marital statuses, and they suggest that patterns of racial stratification shape women’s family experiences and labor market outcomes.     

Implicit Nativist Attitudes,Social Desirability,and Immigration Policy Preferences

While previous research on immigration attitudes among the American public has focused on factors such as economic threat, social context, and racial prejudice, fewer studies have examined the psychological determinants of immigration policy preferences. This study analyzes the results of an implicit association test (IAT) procedure that measures automatic nativist preferences for a traditional American culture versus a Latino‐American culture (i.e., implicit nativist attitudes). In brief, this study demonstrates that implicit nativist attitudes are fairly common, that they are an independent predictor of immigration policy attitudes, and that they affect those who are not explicitly nativist but who still hold restrictionist policy views.     

Family roles and work values: Processes of selection and change

This study focuses on whether marriage and parenthood influence work values after taking into account the influence of work values on family formation. In a recent panel of young adults (N= 709), stronger extrinsic and weaker intrinsic work values during adolescence predicted marriage and parenthood 9 years out of high school. Controlling these relationships, wives, but not husbands, came to attach less importance to extrinsic rewards, and both husbands and wives attached less importance to intrinsic rewards, compared to single men and women. Fathers came to place greater importance on extrinsic rewards than men who had not become parents. The effect of motherhood on extrinsic values depended upon marital status, with positive effects only evident among single mothers. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for models of work‐family relationships and understanding the meaning of contemporary family roles, especially motherhood and fatherhood.     

Reinterpreting the relation between motherhood and paid work: second‐generation immigrant women in Norway

A pertinent question in contemporary Europe is whether the children of immigrants will reproduce the gender‐complementary practices and ideals of the immigrant generation, which often include strong expectations that women should prioritize family obligations over the pursuit of paid work. This article analyses the cultural and moral understandings at stake in second‐generation women's reflections on and practices of combining motherhood and paid work, and explores the space for negotiating such understandings in the family. The study is based on in‐depth interviews with second‐generation women of Pakistani descent in Norway, and interviews with some of their husbands. The findings show that the moral understandings and practices of the parent generation are not merely passed on to the second generation; rather they are challenged and reinterpreted in ways that support mothers' participation in paid work. The article argues that this change is facilitated by the cultural and institutional context that the Norwegian welfare state represents.     

The Role of Social Networks in the Immigration Decision-making Process: The Case of North American Immigration to Israel

This study focuses on the role of social networks in the decision-making process in migration which occurs between developed countries, specifically in immigration from North America to Israel. The central declared motives for immigration were religious; nevertheless, “materialistic” issues were also mentioned. The decision-making process was long, usually taking from 2 to 10 years. Information was gathered via personal contacts from social networks, during visits to Israel, and from Jewish organisations. The Internet also played a major role in this process. Networks that were set up by Israeli and Jewish organisations were found to be especially effective in organising immigration because they connected non-numerous dispersed individuals, who were thinking about Aliyah, and needed various kinds of support.     

Family Welfare Effort,Total Fertility,and In Vitro Fertilization: Explaining the Israeli Anomaly

The theory of family welfare effort is a leading macro‐sociological explanation of variation in human fertility. It holds that states which provide universally available, inexpensive, high‐quality day care, generous parental leave, and flexible work schedules lower the opportunity cost of motherhood. They thus enable women, especially those in lower socioeconomic strata, to have the number of babies they want. A considerable body of research supports this theory. However, it is based almost exclusively on analyses of Western European and North American countries. This paper examines the Israeli case because Israel's total fertility rate is anomalously high given its family welfare effort. Based on a review of the relevant literature and a reanalysis of data from various published sources, it explains the country's unusually high total fertility rate as the product of (1) religious and nationalistic sentiment that is heightened by the Jewish population's perception of a demographic threat in the form of a burgeoning Palestinian population and (2) the state's resulting support for pro‐natal policies, including the world's most extensive in vitro fertilization (IVF) system. The paper also suggests that Israel's IVF policy may not be in harmony with the interests of many women insofar as even women with an extremely low likelihood of becoming pregnant are encouraged to undergo the often lengthy, emotionally and physically painful, and risky process of IVF.     

Immigrant Gateways and Hispanic Migration to New Destinations1

Our understanding of the underlying demographic components of population change in new Hispanic destinations is limited. In this paper, we (1) compare Hispanic migration patterns in traditional settlement areas with new growth in emerging Hispanic destinations; (2) examine the role of immigration vis‐à‐vis domestic migration in spurring Hispanic population redistribution; and (3) document patterns of migrant selectivity, distinguishing between in‐migrants and non‐migrant Hispanics at both the origin and destination. We use several recent datasets, including the 1990 and 2000 Public Use Microdata Samples (which include new regional geocodes), and the 2005 and 2006 files of the American Community Survey. Our results document the widespread dispersion of the Hispanic population over the 1990–2006 period from established Hispanic gateways into new Hispanic areas and other parts of the country. Nearly one‐half of Hispanic net migration in new destinations comes from domestic gains. In contrast, both established and other Hispanic areas depend entirely on immigration, with each losing domestic migrants to high growth areas. Migrant flows also are highly differentiated by education, citizenship, and nativity. To fully understand the spatial diffusion of Hispanics requires a new appreciation of the complex interplay among immigration, internal domestic migration, and fertility.     

Battling for Survival, Battling for Moral Clarity: "Illegality" and Illness in the Everyday Struggles of Undocumented HIV+ Women Migrant Workers in Tel Aviv

Undocumented migrant workers living with HIV/AIDS in Israel, like their counterparts elsewhere, are doubly abject due to their lack of legal status on one hand and their ill health on the other. Unlike Israeli citizens living with HIV/AIDS, who can access an array of state funded treatments and support services, undocumented migrant workers living with HIV/AIDS are marginalized both by the state's exclusive immigration regime and by its efforts to shake off responsibility for their health needs. At the same time, HIV treatment and care are generally unavailable in migrants' countries of origin. Despite the state's exclusionary orientation and in contradiction of official policies, certain forms of HIV treatment are available to undocumented migrants through the day‐to‐day efforts of a small array of activist Israeli NGOs, (state‐employed) doctors, and state officials. The tension between these simultaneous, oppositional processes of exclusion and inclusion generate a “gray area”— a zone of competing values, claims and interests‐ in which undocumented migrants living with HIV/AIDS and these other stakeholders search for new options and possibilities while continually taking pains to protect their own varied, and often competing, interests. Actors thus constantly bargain with laws, health policies, and one another in a collective battle not only over migrants' chances of survival, but also over the rationality and the morality underlying the state's “and their own” decisions and choices. Anchored within this complex, indeterminate zone, the present article draws upon ethnographic field research conducted among undocumented HIV+ migrant women in Tel Aviv to explore some of the stakes, mechanisms, and outcomes of these complicated, high stakes negotiation processes.     

Return Migrations of African‐Americans to the South: Reclaiming a Land of Promise,Going Home,or Both?*

Abstract Using samples of census data from the University of Minnesota Population Center's “Integrated Public Use Microdata Series” (IPUMS), we describe trends in African‐American migration to the South across recent decades, and explore the applicability of the concept of “return migration” to various demographic patterns. Our findings suggest that the return movement contains multiple migration streams involving African‐Americans of higher socio‐economic status (compared with both origin and destination populations) moving to both urban and rural destinations. These patterns represent clear differences from the earlier 20^th century's “Great Migration” of African‐Americans from South to North. The recent return migration streams suggest that the South may be replacing the North as a “land of promise” for some upwardly mobile African‐Americans, and may also reflect what Carol Stack (1996) has termed a “call to home” as a motivating factor shaping recent African‐American migration to the rural South.