The Others Within Us: Constructing Jewish-Israeli Identity

Dan Bar-On’s psychosocial approach sees identity as dynamic, constructed in contra-distinction to various “Others.” Drawing parallels to other societies, he looks most closely at identity formation among Israelis, or more precisely, among the largely secular Jews from European lands who formed the hegemonic backbone of Israeli society. The Others in question, Diaspora Jews, Jews from Muslim countries, and Arabs, represent repressed aspects of the collective self. Case studies and analysis d...