New immigrants as a special group in the Israeli armed forces

Victor Azarya, Baruch Kimmerling

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Most armed forces in the world, like many other large-scale organizations, are quite heterogeneous in terms of the social background of their man power whether they be all volunteers or conscript types. They are composed of various subgroups on the basis of ethnicity, religion, education, socio economic background, etc., some of which are ‘special groups’ in the sense that, because of some clear differentiation from the rest of the manpower, they are expected to behave differently within the organization and are offered special treatment in it, or at least are thought to be entitled to such treatment. Special groups may be thought to possess superior qualities to the rest of the population and could be asked to assume special responsibilities or they might be regarded as groups who do not measure up to the standard requirements of the organization but should be given special consideration because of their ‘justifiable’ special characteristics. The term ‘special group’ does not in itself denote a judgement on the level of performance. It should be noted that special groups generally form small minorities within the organization’s manpower, and they are most likely (though not necessarily) to be formed around some primordial characteristics, such as ethno-cultural background, racial or gender differences.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationIsraeli Society and Its Defense Establishment
Subtitle of host publicationThe Social and Political Impact of a Protracted Violent Conflict
PublisherTaylor and Francis
Pages128-148
Number of pages21
ISBN (Electronic)9781135171780
ISBN (Print)9780714632353
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2013

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 1984 Frank Cass & Co. Ltd.

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