This paper tells a story of Israeli male high schoolers who spend their adolescent years preparing for service in elite military units in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). They dream of serving in special units and begin training at 15 or 16 years old. After years of taxing preparations, at the age of 17 they arrive at the grueling military exams.…

This study deals with perceptions of 'proper intimacy' disseminated through digital parent-teacher communication in early-childhood education and the implications for parents' reflexive projects of self. The article brings sociological understandings about perceptions of proper parenting and intimacy together with research on digital…

The education field favors innovations, but innovative schools tend to fade after an initial 'golden age.' According to the new institutional theory, this happens due to the innovative school's need to achieve institutional legitimacy, which encounters several difficulties. This study aims to explore the journey to attaining legitimacy in one…

This article examines two key questions: How do coaches working in professional soccer clubs with high socioeconomic class (SES) high-school student define their role? Do the coaches' definitions of the role affect the reproduction of privilege, and how so? Drawing on qualitative interviews with 15 coaches operating in professional soccer clubs in…

This article discusses how three other articles have employed E.P. Thompson's concept of the moral economy to analyse movements of resistance to higher education (HE) marketisation processes. Two of the studies relate to the English HE sector while one is a study of the Israeli system. The articles were selected because they are indicative of one…

Arab teachers in Jewish schools (AJ) constitute a unique case of minority teachers. This mixed-methods study set out to examine the school experience of AJ (N = 101) in comparison with two groups: Arab teachers in Arab schools (AA; N = 76) and Jewish teachers in Jewish schools (JJ; N = 99). The questionnaire measured three aspects of the teachers'…

Gendered moral rationalities (GMRs) have been proposed as a means of grounding mothers' employment-related choices in the structural, policy, and social support contexts of their maternal routines. This article analyzes a form of GMR that is anchored in the class-ethno-national position of mothers and comprises a manifestation of their maternal…

Focusing on the intergenerational educational association alone obscures discussions of downward and upward mobility and immobility patterns, which entail different life experiences and their potential consequences. Utilizing data on Israelis aged 25-32 years old over three periods, the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, during which tertiary education…

Over the past few years, the civics curriculum for Israeli high-schools has become the centre of a heated political debate. Following this debate, in May 2016 a revised official textbook was introduced. This paper draws on an in-depth analysis of the revised official textbook, comparing it to the previous official textbook published in 2000. The…

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between a school's design and architecture and its educational practices, in light of critical theories regarding place, space and education. The study was based on 63 observations during the school daily activities and 75 semi-structured interviews with students, teachers and other staff,…

This paper investigates patterns of social reproduction of science education outcomes for high school students in Israel, specifically by examining the relationship between one aspect of science capital -- as measured by having a scientist in the family -- and SES with three measures of science education success: interest in science; science…

In this essay we develop the concept of 'cosmopolitan nationalism', offering a working definition and suggesting ways sociologists of education might draw on it in their future work. We show how it is a useful analytical lens through which to examine contemporary policies and practices that navigate global processes (ranking systems, mobility of…

This study explores mechanisms underlying processes of educational policy formation. Previous studies have given much attention to processes of diffusion when accounting for educational policy formation. Less account has been given to the day-to-day institutional dynamics through which educational policies develop and change. Building on extensive…

This article focuses on middle-class parent activism in the Israeli policy-making arena. In recent decades, public education governance in Israel has been moving gradually from a quasi-social democratic mode to a neoliberal one. Two e-mobilizations of middle-class parents are studied: the 'Strollers Protest' of 2011 and the 'Sardines Protest' of…

This article makes an empirical contribution to the study of the global middle class (GMC), and sheds light on the complex relationships that are constructed and sustained by these families with their 'home nation' through their educational strategies. Drawing on an inductive analysis of 20 in-depth interviews with Israeli migrant mothers in the…