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women and the emerging family on the Israeli kibbutz
Author(s) -
PARKER SEYMOUR,
PARKER HILDA
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
american ethnologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.875
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1548-1425
pISSN - 0094-0496
DOI - 10.1525/ae.1981.8.4.02a00060
Subject(s) - phenomenon , socialization , context (archaeology) , collectivism , meaning (existential) , sociology , period (music) , gender studies , social psychology , psychology , individualism , history , political science , epistemology , law , philosophy , physics , archaeology , acoustics , psychotherapist
Considerable speculation and controversy have arisen in the recent literature about the changing role of women and family on the Israeli kibbutz. A prevailing view is that the emerging family and the decline of a collectivist system of child socialization constitute an index of the kibbutz woman's “retreat” to a more conventional feminine role. The authors of this paper lived in a kibbutz for a period of about four months, during which time they were able to utilize questionnaire and participant‐observation methods to learn more about the underlying meaning of recent changes in the family and the role of the kibbutz woman. Our data indicate that emerging familism is not exclusively a female phenomenon; both sexes are involved. Furthermore, viewed in the context of kibbutz life, this phenomenon does not indicate a reversion to a traditional Western female role, [women's studies, Israeli kibbutz, gender status, collective communities]