Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Ethno-Religious Hierarchy in Educational Achievement and Socioeconomic Status in Israel: A Historical Perspective

  • Chapter
Socioeconomic Inequality in Israel

Abstract

Israel is a society characterized by high and increasing levels of socioeconomic inequality compared with most OECD countries (Kimhy 2010). In addition, Israel is a multiethnic and religiously heterogeneous society that has experienced dramatic changes in population composition and structure since the time of the foundation of the State in 1948. The combination of high and increasing social inequality with salient ethno-religious heterogeneity raises many social and political concerns. Moreover, we suggest that much of the socioeconomic inequality can be understood as inequality among ethno-religious groups— between Arabs and Jews, Muslim and Christian Arabs, and European-origin and Asian-African Jews—in educational characteristics, which are transmitted intergenerationally.

We acknowledge the financial support of the Israel Science Foundations (grant 798.03). We thank the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, and the Israel Ministry of Education for providing the main sources of data. We acknowledge the Israel Social Sciences Data Archive for providing access to additional data. We are also grateful to Einat Aviv and Lilach Lion Elmakias for research assistance, and to the late Gad Nathan for his helpful comments.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Addi-Raccah, A. and H. Ayalon. 2008. “From High School to Higher Education: Curricular Policy and Postsecondary Enrollment in Israel.” Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 30(1): 31–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Al-Haj, M. 1995. Education, Empowerment and Control: The Case of the Arabs in Israel. New York: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allison, P. 1999. Logistic Regression Using SAS: Theory and Application. Cary, NC: SAS Institute Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ayalon, H. 1994. “Monopolizing Knowledge? The Ethnic Composition and Curriculum of Israeli High Schools.” Sociology of Education 67(4): 264–278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ayalon, H. and A. Yogev. 2005. “Field of Study and Students’ Stratification in an Expanded System of Higher Education: The Case of Israel.” European Sociological Review 21(3): 227–241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ayalon, H. and Y. Shavit. 2004. “Educational Reforms and Inequalities in Israel: The MMI Hypothesis Revisited.” Sociology of Education 77: 103–120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blake, J. 1989. Family Size and Achievement. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blass, N. 2014. “Changes in the Educational System” in Dan Ben-David (ed.) State of the Nation Report—Society, Economy, and Policy 2014. Jerusalem: Taub Center (in Hebrew), pp. 305–329.

    Google Scholar 

  • Breen, R. and J. Jonsson. 2005. “Inequality of Opportunity in Comparative Perspective.” Annual Review of Sociology 31: 223–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, M. 1997. “Integration in Education” in Kashti et al.(eds.) Teaching and Education: An Israeli Lexicon. Tel Aviv: Ramot Publishers (in Hebrew), pp. 37–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, Y. and Y. Haberfeld. 1998. “Second Generation Jewish Immigrants in Israel: Have the Ethnic Gaps in Schooling and Earnings Declined?” Ethnic and Racial Studies 21: 507–528.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Courbage, Y. and P. Fargues. 1997. Christians and Jews under Islam. Translated by Judy Mabro. London: I.B. Tauris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dahan, M., E. Dvir, N. Mironichev and S. Shye. 2003. “Have the Gaps in Education Narrowed?” Israel Economic Review Vol 1(2): 37–69.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dar, Y. and N. Resh. 1996. “Exploring the Persistence of Academic Achievement Gaps: Social Differentials in Family Resource Returns in Israel” in Pallas, A. M. (ed.), Research in Sociology of Education and Socialization (Vol. 11). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedlander, Dov and Calvin Goldscheider. 1979. The Population of Israel. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedlander, Dov, Zvi Eisenbach, Eliahu Ben-Moshe, Dan Ben-Hur, Shlomit Lunievski, Ahmad Hleihel, and Lilach Lion Elmakias. 2002. Changes in Educational Attainments in Israel since the 1950s: the Effects of Religion, Ethnicity and Family Characteristics. Jerusalem: Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, Research Monographs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedlander, Dov, Barbara S. Okun, Zvi Eisenbach, and Lilach Lion Elmakias. 2002. “Immigration, Social Change and Assimilation: Educational Attainment among Birth Cohorts of Jewish Ethnic Groups in Israel, 1925–29 to 1965–69.” Population Studies 56(2): 135–150. See also Erratum, 2004 Population Studies 58(1): 125–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friedlander, D. E. Aviv, and L. Leon-Elmakias et al. 2006. “The Analysis of Matriculation Results 1991–2000: Effects of Religion, Ethnicity, Socio-Economic Status of Individuals and the Family, School Quality and the Socio-Economic Characteristics of Neighborhood.” Report to Israel Science Foundation (in Hebrew).

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedlander, Dov, Barbara S. Okun, Eliahu Ben-Moshe, and Ahmad Hliehel. 2010. “Stalls, Resistance and Classic Patterns in Demographic Transition: Variations among Major Population Groups in Israel.” Paper presented at the 2010 Quetelet Seminar, November 2010, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gabay-Egozi, L, Y. Shavit, and M. Yaish. 2010. “Curricular Choice: A Test of the Rational Choice Model of Education.” European Sociological Review 26(4): 447–463.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldscheider, Calvin. 1996. Israel’s Changing Society: Population, Ethnicity, and Development. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldstein, H. 1995. Multilevel Statistical Models, 2nd edition. London: Arnold.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gronau, R. (ed.). 2001. Inequality in Israel. Jerusalem: The Israel Democracy Institute (in Hebrew).

    Google Scholar 

  • Haberfeld, Yitchak and Yinon Cohen. 2007. “Gender, Ethnic, and National Earnings Gaps in Israel: The Role of Rising Inequality.” Social Science Research 36: 654–672.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hauser, R. M. and D. L. Featherman. 1976. “Equality of Schooling: Trends and Prospects.” Sociology of Education 49(2): 99–120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heath, A. and Y. Brinbaum. (2007). “Explaining Ethnic Inequalities in Educational Attainment.” Ethnicities 7(3): 291–304.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 1962. Statistical Abstract 1961. Jerusalem.

    Google Scholar 

  • Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. Localities and Statistical Areas, Population and Households, Selected socio-economic characteristics from the Sample Enumeration, Publication 15 from 1983 Census of Population and Housing (in Hebrew).

    Google Scholar 

  • Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 1969. Publications of the Population and Housing Census 1961: Labour Force. Jerusalem.

    Google Scholar 

  • Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 2009. Statistical Abstract 2008. Jerusalem.

    Google Scholar 

  • Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 2011. Statistical Abstract 2010. Jerusalem.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kao, G. and J. Thompson. 2003. “Racial and Ethnic Stratification in Educational Achievement and Attainment.” Annual Review of Sociology 49: 417–442.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahan, S. and Y. Yellinik. 2000. “Discrimination against the Non-Jewish Sector in terms of Distribution of Educational Resources: Estimation and Consequences.” Unpublished manuscript (in Hebrew).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kashti, Y., M. Arieli, and S. Shlasky (eds.). 1997. Teaching and Education: An Israeli Lexicon Tel Aviv: Ramot Publishers (in Hebrew).

    Google Scholar 

  • Khazzoom, A. 2005. “Did the Israeli State Engineer Segregation? On the Placement of Jewish Immigrants in Development Towns in the 1950s.” Social Forces 84(1): 115–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kimhy, A. 2010. “Income Inequality in Israel” in Dan Ben-David (ed.) State of the Nation Report-Society, Economy, and Policy 2010. Jerusalem: Taub Center, pp. 113–151.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, Michelle, Jan Jonsson and Frida Rudolphi. 2012. “Ethnic Inequality in Choice-Driven Educational Systems: A Longitudinal Study of Performance and Choice in England and Sweden.” Sociology of Education 85(2): 158–178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ladd, H. and S. Loeb. 2013. “The Challenges of Measuring School Quality” in Danielle S. Allen and Rob Reich (eds.) Education, Justice and Democracy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 19–42.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lewin-Epstein, N. and M. Semyonov. 1993. The Arab Minorities in Israel’s Economy: Patterns of Ethnic Inequality. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Metzer, Jacob. 1998. The Divided Economy of Mandatory Palestine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Okun, Barbara S. 2013. “Fertility and Family Behavior in Israel: Diversity, Change and Stability.” Demographic Research 28: 457–504.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Okun, Barbara S. and Dov Friedlander. 2005. “Educational Stratification among Arabs and Jews in Israel: Historical Disadvantage, Discrimination and Opportunity.” Population Studies 59(2): 163–180.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Okun, Barbara S. and Orna Khait-Marelly. 2008. “Demographic Behaviour of Adults of Mixed Ethnic Ancestry: Jews in Israel.” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 31(8): 1357–1380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shwed, U. and Y. Shavit. 2006. “Occupational and Economic Attainments of College and University Graduates in Israel.” European Sociological Review 22(4): 431–442.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shwed, U. and Y. Shavit. 2006. “Occupational and Economic Attainments of College and University Graduates in Israel.” European Sociological Review 22(4): 431–442.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shavit, Y. 1990. “Segregation, Tracking and Educational Attainment of Minorities: Arabs and Oriental Jews in Israel.” American Sociological Review 55(1): 115–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shavit, Y. and H. P. Blossfeld (eds.). 1993. Persistent Inequalities: a Comparative Study of Educational Attainment in Thirteen Countries. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shavit, Y. and J. L. Pierce. 1991. “Sibship Size and Educational Attainment in Nuclear and Extended Families: Arabs and Jews in Israel.” American Sociological Review 56(3): 321–330.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yogev, A. and H. Ayalon. 1982. “The influence of sex and ethnicity on the future expectations of studying in higher educational institutions.” Megamot 23: 349–366 (in Hebrew).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Dov Friedlander
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Barbara S. Okun
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Calvin Goldscheider
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Nabil Khattab Sami Miaari Haya Stier

Copyright information

© 2016 Nabil Khattab, Sami Miaari, and Haya Stier

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Friedlander, D., Okun, B.S., Goldscheider, C. (2016). Ethno-Religious Hierarchy in Educational Achievement and Socioeconomic Status in Israel: A Historical Perspective. In: Khattab, N., Miaari, S., Stier, H. (eds) Socioeconomic Inequality in Israel. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137544810_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137544810_6

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-57288-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-54481-0

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation