Identity and Language: The Social Insertion of Soviet Jews in Israel

Abstract

This chapter focuses on Soviet Jews (SJs') insertion into Israeli society, with special reference to identity, language and community. It explores SJs' attitudes and perceptions of their collective identity in light of the new identities offered by the absorbing society. The chapter looks at the stratificational features of the immigrants and the dominant culture's attitudes toward them. It also focuses on the socio-cultural insertion of SJs, with reference to their relations with the absorbing population and among themselves, as well as to their linguistic activity. The chapter discusses immigrants' attitudes toward themselves, as compared with their attitudes toward the local population. It considers how and when by returning home, diasporas remain—or become through a new form—enduringly particular socio-cultural entities, that is, ethnic groups. The chapter evaluates how SJs effectively have started evolving in their new setting, both socially and culturally, and what indication they offer, from this standpoint, about their future place in their new setting.

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