U Ben-Shalom
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 52570 |
|---|---|
| NOME | U Ben-Shalom |
| PRENOMES | U |
| SOBRENOME | Ben-Shalom |
| ASSINATURA | BEN-SHALOM U |
| AFILIAÇÕES | Ariel University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1988-0744 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 45 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 91 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 45 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2003 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 4 |
Religious Affiliation and Military Service in the United States
Those who serve in the armed forces are shaped not only by incentives and opportunity structures but also by institutions that cultivate norms of duty, authority, and collective obligation. This study argues that religious institutions function as such socializing agents and play a measurable role in military enlistment in the United States. Complementing existing research that focuses on denomination or belief as key indicators, we introduce an …
Keeping their powder dry
This article examines the gendered practices through which Jewish women in Israel experience and negotiate personal handgun ownership in everyday life. Drawing on interviews, participant observation in gun‐related spaces, and analysis of women‐only online forums, we explore the expanding participation of Jewish women in civilian gun ownership, and more specifically why these women are so invested in concealing their personal handguns despite the …
Lived hybridity and armed citizenship
This article develops the concept of lived hybridity to theorize civilian gun culture in Israel as a form of agency enacted within contradictory structures of power, legality, and identity. Based on three and a half years of ethnographic fieldwork and 36 interviews, we show how Israeli gun owners navigate the conflicting logics of state-conferred privilege and liberal individual right. Rather than reflecting pure state militarism, civilian gun ow…
From Both Sides of the Iron Door – Sensemaking of Military Leaders During Hostage Rescue Operations
This study examines military leaders’ sensemaking processes during the October 7th, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, focusing on civilian-military interactions in an unprecedented crisis. Using Karl Weick's sensemaking theory, the research analyzes semi-structured interviews with military leaders to explore how officers interpreted and responded to extreme uncertainty. The study highlights three key sensemaking strategies: social interactio…
Locked, loaded, and online”
This article examines how armed Israeli women use social media to engage with male-dominated securitization practices in Israel. With a systematic discursive analysis of over 1,000 posts on a closed WhatsApp group for armed Israeli women, we demonstrate, how these women are able to critique the traditionally masculine framing of Israeli security culture and reimagine their roles as protectors in both family and public spheres. Theoretically we ar…
Split materialism
The Role of Physical Appearance Comparison, Self-Esteem, and Emotional Control in the Association Between Social Media Addiction and Masculine Depression
Social media has become an integral part of daily life, shaping behaviors, self-perception, and emotional well-being. However, its addictive use raises concerns about its potential to aggravate psychological challenges, particularly in the context of societal expectations of masculinity. The current report presents a study exploring the pathways through which social media addiction contributes to masculine depression, specifically examining the r…
Gender on the Front Line
The role of female soldiers in armed conflicts has garnered significant attention. In Ukraine’s Armed Forces many women serve both on the frontlines and in support roles, facing hardships while striving to maintain a sense of femininity. Social media platforms provide a crucial space for expressing their complex identities: strong yet fragile, modern yet respectful of traditions, courageous warriors yet tender wives and mothers. Through content a…
You Can't Always Run Away
This article explores the interplay between the nation-state, gender, and security by exploring embodied experiences of Israeli women gun owners. Growing skepticism toward Israel's historically state-centric security model has driven a significant increase in women's personal handgun ownership, disrupting and reconfiguring traditional gender identities. As the state's monopoly on public security erodes, armed women increasingly take on the role o…
Wassach
This article focuses on the 'enchanted' materiality of state militarism by offering an anthropological analysis of 'gun culture' within the reservist ranks of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Through primarily ethnographic observations of one reserve combat unit over the span of a decade, we will argue that the ways in which firearms are handled by individual soldiers symbolically mirrors much broader strategic and political tensions between two …
Shadows of identity
This article delves into the study of Jewish identity within the Ukrainian army, providing a detailed exploration of the experiences of soldiers with Jewish backgrounds fighting at the front lines of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Considering the historical complexities and contemporary challenges faced by the Jewish community in Ukraine, the study investigates how military service transforms the national and ethnic self-identification of Jewish sold…
The Oral History of “Pandemic Time”
This article offers a reflective account of student memories of the first years of the COVID-19 pandemic in both the Czech Republic and Israel. By comparing the narratives of students from these nations, we introduce the notion of "pandemic time" to describe the ways in which personal experiences of time rest betwixt and between objective historical events and individual meaning-making. In this way, we argue that university students narrated the …
Emergent Veteran Identity
Israeli society has seen a gradual decrease in the proportion of compulsory and reserve soldiers amid growing criticism of the military from those who have previously served. This criticism is connected to a willingness on their part to organize collective action for postservice benefits and influence other postservice-related issues. We argue that a new theoretical concept of an 'emergent veteran identity' could explain this new social phenomeno…
Female violence in terror attacks
Online Temporary Learning Groups in Higher Education – Interactions, Compensation, and Maximisation of Achievements in an Israeli Case Study
Thesis. This article provides an analysis of online social interactions in two online Temporary Learning Groups (TLG) and their correlates with both pre-admissions scores and academic achievements. Concept. The function of Social Networking Systems (SNS) use on academic achievements is most often indirectly assessed through surveying attitudes of students and teachers. Contrary to this approach, we directly assessed the content on a TLG and paire…
A Lifetime of Play
Play is fundamental to a person’s well-being. However, cultural norms and ageism have negatively impacted this practice among older adults. This study explored to what extent medical clowning promotes play among older adults. Qualitative data were collected in weekly group sessions of medical clowning in an Israeli retirement home. Group medical clowning offered participants a new sort of playground, which combined body play, cognitive play, and …
The Influence of the Health Belief Model on the Decision to Get the Covid-19 Vaccine
To better prepare for a potential future pandemic, it is important to investigate factors that influenced responses to the recent COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the present study was to investigate factors that influenced the decision to get the COVID-19 vaccine. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected almost everyone throughout the world. Vaccines are a significant factor in managing a pandemic. As vaccines are developed, governments develop vaccine r…
Dropout Intentions of Soldiers in Mixed-Gender Combat Units
Israeli Border Police Commanders’ Perspectives on Leading Ad Hoc Teams during Routine and Emergency Operations
This study asks the question, How do police commanders view leadership in ad hoc formations during assigned operations? In the era of a post-heroic society, security organizations have adopted the negation of risk and the avoidance of violence as important principles. These principles are reflected in the perceptions of those leading ad hoc teams. This article presents an analysis of thirteen in-depth interviews with experienced members of the Is…
Medical clowning’s contribution to the well-being of older adults in a residential home
Medical clowning is a familiar practice in residential homes worldwide. While previous studies focused on medical clowning interventions with individual dementia patients, this study explores medical clowning group sessions with independent older adults in a residential home in Israel. Data were collected through observations in 10 weekly sessions in two groups and 28 semi-structured interviews. Combining medical clowning and psychodrama techniqu…
Experiences, Identity, and Adaptation Among Children of Migrant Laborers in Compulsory Military Service in the Israel Defense Forces
Habituation of Fear—Israeli-Jewish Population during Protracted Belligerence
The identification of demographic factors of vulnerability and resilience in communities facing belligerent conflicts is increasingly relevant today. This representative study aims to examine the effect of protracted violence on the level of fear of the overall Israeli-Jewish population, and the role of the conflict on the connection between socio-economic factors and fears. Sixty-six representative samples were identified and surveyed from 2001 …
The Chain of Hebrew Soldiers”
This article presents an ethnographic analysis of the educational and religious tensions that emerged during a five-day biblical seminar run by the Israel Defense Forces’ Identity and Jewish Consciousness Unit. We argue that despite the official focus on professionalization as a pedagogical parameter, the seminar participants themselves reacted to biblical narratives in ways that indicate a distinct kind of personal and individualized discourse. …
Perceptions of Security and Civic Services among the Arab Minority Youth in Israel
In this study, perceptions of security and civic services were measured among the Israeli-Arab minority youth. Three hundred participants completed a questionnaire assessing their propensity to enrol in security and civic services. Both types of national service were correlated with life satisfaction in Israel and three temporal attraction and repulsion factors that occurred in 2020–2021: the IDF assisting local municipalities during the COVID-19…
Tunnel Operations in the Israel Defense Forces
This study presents an empirically grounded account of tunnel combat operations in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) within the context of 'post-heroic' warfare. Current scholarship on 'post-heroism' has viewed the technological and professional standards of contemporary military conflicts as distancing the individual combatant from the modern battlefield. Little attention has been given however to the ways in which soldiers themselves experience a…
Cohesion during Military Operations
Military leaders and social scientists often regard unit cohesion as the key element in combat motivation and fighting resilience. However, a close look at today's battlefield calls for rethinking this assumption. This study is based on observations of combat units during the current Arab-Israeli conflict (the 'Al-Aqsa Intifada'). In contrast to the usual depiction found in the scholarly literature, these units were characterized by some rather u…
Cultural identity and adaptation in an assimilative setting
Acculturation Orientations
This study applies facet theory to validate Berry's bidimensional conceptualization and measurement of acculturation attitudes and its extension by Horenczyk to include acculturation expectations. Three components of facet theory (mapping sentence, confirmatory SSA [smallest space analysis], and SSA with external variables) are proposed as valuable tools for the purpose of cross-cultural validation and theory building. In total, 526 Israeli immig…
Organizational processes and gender integration in operational military units
This study examines collective action by men and women in operational military units deployed on Israel's borders. Gender integration is generally perceived by soldiers and commanders in these units as a trivial matter rather than an issue for discussion or a disadvantage. The integration results from organizational qualities, which include military leadership with accumulated experience in gender integration; division of labour between men and w…
A Time of War’
This paper explores the construction of combat motivation in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), arguing that although Israeli society at large is in a ‘Post Heroic’ era, the ‘Heroic Spirit’ is revealed during emergencies. A total of 1535 questionnaires were administered among combat soldiers during large-scale operations fought during national emergency and during small-scale routine operations. The results reveal differences in the construction of…
Coping Styles and Combat Motivation During Operations
The characteristic challenges of combat lead military personnel to develop adaptive coping styles that are different from coping styles used in routine life. This contention is explored using data collected from Israel Defense Forces conscript and reserve soldiers during intense military operations. The results of this study support this claim, in particular concerning faith. Coping styles were also correlated with combat motivations and measures…
Tunnel Operations in the Israel Defense Forces
This study presents an empirically grounded account of tunnel combat operations in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) within the context of 'post-heroic' warfare. Current scholarship on 'post-heroism' has viewed the technological and professional standards of contemporary military conflicts as distancing the individual combatant from the modern battlefield. Little attention has been given however to the ways in which soldiers themselves experience a…
Introduction
Military Psychology in the Israel Defense Forces
The current article describes the development of military psychology in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Based on mixed methodology, including in-depth interviews and secondary analyses, continuities and discontinuities in the work of military psychologists are presented. Four phases of development are identified: 'establishment of the military' (1947-1966), 'decentralization' (1967-1982), 'the small wars era' (1982-1999), and 'expanded scope' (2…
Wassach
This article focuses on the 'enchanted' materiality of state militarism by offering an anthropological analysis of 'gun culture' within the reservist ranks of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Through primarily ethnographic observations of one reserve combat unit over the span of a decade, we will argue that the ways in which firearms are handled by individual soldiers symbolically mirrors much broader strategic and political tensions between two …
Confessions and Tweets
This article explores the social media postings of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers on two different and unofficial Facebook groups. While scholars of armed forces and society have noted the growing importance that militaries have placed on digital media, there is little data regarding the unofficial uses and meanings that regular soldiers themselves make of social networking sites. With an anthropological focus on everyday experiences, we ar…
Soldiers and Scholars
This article explores how the practice of Jewish rabbinic law within the combat ranks of the Israel Defense Forces can be used as an ethnographic medium through which anthropologists may better contextualize the social and political tensions that characterize Jewish religious nationalism in Israel. We argue that national religious combat soldiers rarely turn to rabbinic legal tracts, or to the overlapping levels of military and civilian rabbinic …
From internet swear words to stadium violence in football (soccer) games - An Israeli case study
This study explored the relevancy of internet discourse among football fans and real-life stadium violence. Our hypothesis implies that there are positive correlations between violent utterances in fans' social networks prior to games and football stadium violence. The study sample included 6 football clubs who participated in the Israeli Premier League in the 2015-2016 season. The traffic in the social networks was automatically collected into t…
Elements of unacceptable risk taking in combat units
Shadows of identity
This article delves into the study of Jewish identity within the Ukrainian army, providing a detailed exploration of the experiences of soldiers with Jewish backgrounds fighting at the front lines of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Considering the historical complexities and contemporary challenges faced by the Jewish community in Ukraine, the study investigates how military service transforms the national and ethnic self-identification of Jewish sold…
Emergent Veteran Identity
Israeli society has seen a gradual decrease in the proportion of compulsory and reserve soldiers amid growing criticism of the military from those who have previously served. This criticism is connected to a willingness on their part to organize collective action for postservice benefits and influence other postservice-related issues. We argue that a new theoretical concept of an 'emergent veteran identity' could explain this new social phenomeno…
Dropout Intentions of Soldiers in Mixed-Gender Combat Units
Perceptions of Security and Civic Services among the Arab Minority Youth in Israel
In this study, perceptions of security and civic services were measured among the Israeli-Arab minority youth. Three hundred participants completed a questionnaire assessing their propensity to enrol in security and civic services. Both types of national service were correlated with life satisfaction in Israel and three temporal attraction and repulsion factors that occurred in 2020–2021: the IDF assisting local municipalities during the COVID-19…
Micro-Sociology and New Wars
This study explores the “black box” of face-to-face violence during terror attacks. It is based upon visual analysis of a representative sample of terror attacks that occurred in Israel during 2015–2016, a period which is labeled “The Intifada of Individuals.” We offer a new method for this purpose by using available materials that military sociologists can retrieve and employ when they use the “macro”-level framework in their study of “micro”-le…
Acculturation Orientations
This study applies facet theory to validate Berry's bidimensional conceptualization and measurement of acculturation attitudes and its extension by Horenczyk to include acculturation expectations. Three components of facet theory (mapping sentence, confirmatory SSA [smallest space analysis], and SSA with external variables) are proposed as valuable tools for the purpose of cross-cultural validation and theory building. In total, 526 Israeli immig…
Elements of unacceptable risk taking in combat units
Cultural identity and adaptation in an assimilative setting
Cohesion during Military Operations
Military leaders and social scientists often regard unit cohesion as the key element in combat motivation and fighting resilience. However, a close look at today's battlefield calls for rethinking this assumption. This study is based on observations of combat units during the current Arab-Israeli conflict (the 'Al-Aqsa Intifada'). In contrast to the usual depiction found in the scholarly literature, these units were characterized by some rather u…
Military Psychology in the Israel Defense Forces
The current article describes the development of military psychology in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Based on mixed methodology, including in-depth interviews and secondary analyses, continuities and discontinuities in the work of military psychologists are presented. Four phases of development are identified: 'establishment of the military' (1947-1966), 'decentralization' (1967-1982), 'the small wars era' (1982-1999), and 'expanded scope' (2…
Rethinking Contemporary Warfare
Coping Styles and Combat Motivation During Operations
The characteristic challenges of combat lead military personnel to develop adaptive coping styles that are different from coping styles used in routine life. This contention is explored using data collected from Israel Defense Forces conscript and reserve soldiers during intense military operations. The results of this study support this claim, in particular concerning faith. Coping styles were also correlated with combat motivations and measures…
Scripts of service culture and joint operations of air and ground forces
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) face continuing challenges concerning joint operations of military services (e.g. air and ground forces) since, as in other militaries, the existence of separate service cultures creates operational difficulties. This article analyses in-depth interviews with commanders from the IDF’s air and ground forces. Its findings reinforce the ‘polarisation assumption’ of ‘us’ (the in-group) and ‘them’ (the out-group) that c…
Introduction
Organizational processes and gender integration in operational military units
This study examines collective action by men and women in operational military units deployed on Israel's borders. Gender integration is generally perceived by soldiers and commanders in these units as a trivial matter rather than an issue for discussion or a disadvantage. The integration results from organizational qualities, which include military leadership with accumulated experience in gender integration; division of labour between men and w…
A Time of War’
This paper explores the construction of combat motivation in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), arguing that although Israeli society at large is in a ‘Post Heroic’ era, the ‘Heroic Spirit’ is revealed during emergencies. A total of 1535 questionnaires were administered among combat soldiers during large-scale operations fought during national emergency and during small-scale routine operations. The results reveal differences in the construction of…
From internet swear words to stadium violence in football (soccer) games - An Israeli case study
This study explored the relevancy of internet discourse among football fans and real-life stadium violence. Our hypothesis implies that there are positive correlations between violent utterances in fans' social networks prior to games and football stadium violence. The study sample included 6 football clubs who participated in the Israeli Premier League in the 2015-2016 season. The traffic in the social networks was automatically collected into t…
Sensemaking of Military Leaders in Combat and Its Aftermath
This paper describes the sensemaking processes engaged in by leaders during close combat and its aftermath. The data were collected by interviewing ten commanders who took part in two different combat events. The phenomenological method revealed cognitive, emotional, and social processes, which are the focus of sensemaking in close combat. We also found that sensemaking was performed both during and after combat. In combat, commanders’ sensemak…
Israel’s Ground Forces in the Occupied Territories
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) routinely rotate ground forces in and out of the Occupied Territories in the West Bank. While these troops are trained for soldiering in high-intensity wars, in the Territories they have long had to carry out a variety of policing activities. These activities often exist in tension with their soldierly training and ethos, both of which center on violent encounters. IDF ground forces have adapted to this situation b…
The Israel-Lebanon conflict in war cinema
This article focuses on the organisational aspects of combat as represented in Israeli films about the Lebanon Wars. It analyzes four prominent films that relate to Israel’s engagement in Lebanon from the 1982 war to its operations in the southern security strip. The analysis is augmented by comparison to prominent Israeli war films on the 1973 Yom-Kippur War. These films reflect a common and coherent Military Habitus that originates in the organ…
Micro-Sociology and New Wars
This study explores the “black box” of face-to-face violence during terror attacks. It is based upon visual analysis of a representative sample of terror attacks that occurred in Israel during 2015–2016, a period which is labeled “The Intifada of Individuals.” We offer a new method for this purpose by using available materials that military sociologists can retrieve and employ when they use the “macro”-level framework in their study of “micro”-le…
Beyond faith and foxholes
This paper explores the vernacular roles that religious practices and experiences play within contemporary combat units of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). We argue for an anthropological perspective that highlights the modes through which rituals serve efficacious – as opposed to semiotic – ends. In this way, we seek to push back against what we term the ‘faith in a foxhole’ paradigm, where religion is primarily seen as a meaning-making system w…
Soldiers and Scholars
This article explores how the practice of Jewish rabbinic law within the combat ranks of the Israel Defense Forces can be used as an ethnographic medium through which anthropologists may better contextualize the social and political tensions that characterize Jewish religious nationalism in Israel. We argue that national religious combat soldiers rarely turn to rabbinic legal tracts, or to the overlapping levels of military and civilian rabbinic …
A phenomenological analysis of subterranean operations in the Israel Defense Forces
This article analyses the experiences of IDF soldiers involved in subterranean operations in Gaza. While tunnel warfare is a central element in warfare, few sociological studies have focused on this element of combat. In-depth interviews reveal the day-to-day experiences of the specialised combat engineering units tasked with subterranean operations during the past two decades. The themes identified are: ‘Operational activity in tunnels as an exp…
Confessions and Tweets
This article explores the social media postings of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers on two different and unofficial Facebook groups. While scholars of armed forces and society have noted the growing importance that militaries have placed on digital media, there is little data regarding the unofficial uses and meanings that regular soldiers themselves make of social networking sites. With an anthropological focus on everyday experiences, we ar…
Israeli Border Police Commanders’ Perspectives on Leading Ad Hoc Teams during Routine and Emergency Operations
This study asks the question, How do police commanders view leadership in ad hoc formations during assigned operations? In the era of a post-heroic society, security organizations have adopted the negation of risk and the avoidance of violence as important principles. These principles are reflected in the perceptions of those leading ad hoc teams. This article presents an analysis of thirteen in-depth interviews with experienced members of the Is…
Medical clowning’s contribution to the well-being of older adults in a residential home
Medical clowning is a familiar practice in residential homes worldwide. While previous studies focused on medical clowning interventions with individual dementia patients, this study explores medical clowning group sessions with independent older adults in a residential home in Israel. Data were collected through observations in 10 weekly sessions in two groups and 28 semi-structured interviews. Combining medical clowning and psychodrama techniqu…
Experiences, Identity, and Adaptation Among Children of Migrant Laborers in Compulsory Military Service in the Israel Defense Forces
Habituation of Fear—Israeli-Jewish Population during Protracted Belligerence
The identification of demographic factors of vulnerability and resilience in communities facing belligerent conflicts is increasingly relevant today. This representative study aims to examine the effect of protracted violence on the level of fear of the overall Israeli-Jewish population, and the role of the conflict on the connection between socio-economic factors and fears. Sixty-six representative samples were identified and surveyed from 2001 …
The Chain of Hebrew Soldiers”
This article presents an ethnographic analysis of the educational and religious tensions that emerged during a five-day biblical seminar run by the Israel Defense Forces’ Identity and Jewish Consciousness Unit. We argue that despite the official focus on professionalization as a pedagogical parameter, the seminar participants themselves reacted to biblical narratives in ways that indicate a distinct kind of personal and individualized discourse. …
Political science (27 obras) · Sociology (25 obras) · Psychology (24 obras) · Law (20 obras) · Social Psychology (19 obras) · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies (13 obras) · Criminology (12 obras) · Computer Science (11 obras) · Gender, Security, and Conflict (10 obras) · Law (10 obras)