Dangerous vulnerability

Simultaneous prohibition and coercion in Palestinian-Israeli single mothers' relationships with men

Bibliographic Data

ID2932987
AuthorsEinat Lavee (0000-0001-7668-6641, University of Haifa, corresponding author), T Meler (0000-0001-5725-5993, Zefat Academic College), Madlen Shamshoum (University of Haifa)
Year2022
Volume39
Issue4
Pages953-973
Publication date2022-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Social and Personal Relationships (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0265-4075 • E-ISSN: 1460-3608
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/02654075211051409
OpenAlexW3208409479
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited31

The objective of this study is to broaden understanding of how vulnerability is shaped more by social, cultural, and religious institutions than by individual life circumstances, exploring the case of Palestinian-Israeli single mothers' relationships with men. Research often determines the vulnerability of a group, such as women migrants from an ethnic minority, by specific demographic characteristics. This common assumption has been challenged by calls to understand vulnerability as social processes intersecting with the action of the state and other social institutions. The study provides a nuanced examination of the social processes through which Palestinian-Israeli single mothers are simultaneously forbidden from and coerced into having relationships with men, drawing on a systematic analysis of data from semi-structured, in-depth interviews of 36 Palestinian-Israeli single mothers. The analysis exposed several mechanisms which forbid single mothers from having relationships with men, alongside mechanisms that permit, often even coerce, such relationships. These mechanisms are embedded in interrelated structural factors-massive differences in gender power relations, vast gender economic disparities, inability of most single mothers to support their families independently, and state policy of non-intervention in domestic affairs of ethnic minorities, and create a state of "dangerous vulnerability

Coercion (linguistics · Computer security · Criminology · Ethnic group · Intervention (counseling · Political science · Power (physics · Social vulnerability · Sociology · State (computer science · Vulnerability (computing · Gender Studies · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Middle East Politics and Society · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Psychology · Social Psychology

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access