Religious Zionist Singles

Caught Between 'Family Values' and 'Young Adulthood

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2287828
AutoresAri Engelberg (Department of Sociology and Anthropology Hebrew University of Jerusalem, autor correspondente)
Ano2016
Volume55
Fascículo2
Páginas349-364
Data de publicação2016-06-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal for the Scientific Study of Religion (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0021-8294 • E-ISSN: 1468-5906
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/jssr.12259
OpenAlexW2489232289
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas18
Referências citadas31

In current Religious Zionist society, marriage and family are considered sacred values that stand in opposition to the sexual liberalism that believers associate with secular society. Religious Zionists are encouraged to marry in their early 20s; those who fail to follow this societal script find themselves facing social and religious challenges. This article, based upon ethnographic research and in-depth interviews with RZ singles, examines the contexts of this phenomenon as well as the actual effect of prolonged singlehood upon the religiosity of singles. Singles' distance from traditional synagogue-based communities and their tendency to form closed networks of friends with other Religious Zionists (RZs), both of which are typical during young adulthood, were found to impact their religiosity. It was also found that many singles consider their religiosity to be flawed. This is explained as resulting from both the drawing force of Western youth culture and from feelings of loneliness and anomy experienced by singles. Their central strategy for dealing with the arising tension is compartmentalization-viewing singlehood as a period during which a moratorium from strict religious observance is acceptable

Loneliness · Opposition (politics) · Political science · Politics · Religiosity · Social science · Sociology · Sociology of religion · Gender Studies · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Jewish Identity and Society · Law · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Psychology · Social Psychology