Theocratic democracy : the social construction of religious and secular extremism
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Theocratic democracy : the social construction of religious and secular extremism
Oxford University Press, 2010
Available at 2 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
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  United States of America
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Library, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization図
MEIS||321.7||T117570540
Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
The state of Israel was established in 1948 as a Jewish democracy without a legal separation between religion and the state. This state-religion tension has been a central political, social, and moral issue in Israel, resulting in a theocracy-democracy cultural conflict between secular Jews and the fundamentalist ultra-orthodox-Haredi-counter-cultural community in Israel. And one of the major arenas where such conflicts are played out is the media.
An expert on the construction of social and moral problems, Nachman Ben-Yehuda examines more than 50 years of media-reported unconventional and deviant behavior by the Haredi community. He finds that not only have they increased over the years, but their most salient feature is violence. This violence is not random or precipitated by some situational emotional rage-it is planned and aims to achieve political goals. Using verbal and non-verbal violence in the forms of curses, intimidations,
threats, setting fires, throwing stones, beatings, staging mass violations and more, Haredi activists try to drive Israel towards a more theocratic society. Most of the struggle is focused on feuds around the state-religion status quo and the public arena. Driven by a theological notion that stipulates
that all Jews are mutually responsible and accountable to the Almighty, these activists believe that the sins of the few are paid by the many. Making Israel a theocracy will, they believe, reduce the risk of transcendental penalties. Like other democracies, Israel has had to face significant theocratic and secular pressures. The political structure that accommodates these contradicting pressures is effectively a theocratic democracy. Characterized by chronic negotiations, tensions, and
accommodations, it is by nature an unstable structure. However, it allows citizens with different worldviews to live under one umbrella of a nation state without tearing the social fabric apart.
Table of Contents
Part One: Outlining the Study
Prologue
1. Theocratic Democracy and Cultural Conflicts
2. Religion, Politics and Haredim in Israel
3. Methodology: How Information Was Collected
4. The Printed Media: Making News - Constructing Realities
Part Two: Haredi Non-Conformity and Deviance
5. Illustrative Events and Affairs
6. Theocratic Underground Groups
7. Themes of Deviance and Unconventionality
Part Three: Culture Conflict in the Media
8. Life as It Should Be, The Right of the People Not to Know and Conspiracies of Silence
9. Examining 50 Years of Haredi Deviance
Part Four: Discussion and Conclusions
10. Discussion: The Doctrine of Mutual Responsibility, Nonconformity and Deviance vs. Cultural Change and Stability
11. Concluding Summary and some Global Observations
by "Nielsen BookData"