Individualism and Collectivism in Israeli Society: Comparing Religious and Secular High-School Students

Triandis' theoretical framework, concerningcultural patterns labeled individualism andcollectivism, is probed with regard to the religiousmarker in the Israeli Jewish society. Three methods areused to examine collectivism-individualismconstructs in 185 religious and 956 secular high schoolstudents: value items, interest in different domains ofhistory, and attitudes toward political issues. A common collective basis of mutual value consensus wasfound in the two groups; however, as predicted, therewere differences between secular and religious studentson the three kinds of items, since the religious scored higher than the secular students onitems emphasizing collectivist orientation. Thedifferences, however, do not fit the common theoreticalframework of collectivism-individualism, but rather tend to reflect the distinction between in-group anduniversal collectivism.