Chapter 2 Man’s Best Friend? Dogs and Social Conflict in the Israeli Kibbutz
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Omri Senderowicz
Abstract
Nuisances caused by dogs are a recurrent topic of social conflict within the kibbutz, a collectivized commune in Israel that has undergone a gradual shift toward privatization and capitalism since the 1990s. This chapter analyzes disputes surrounding dogs as symptomatic of broader social dynamics in kibbutz communities. First, by analyzing the chronic nuisance of dogs in the kibbutz during the 1970s and 1980s, the chapter illuminates the challenges of sustaining a collectivized society that depends on dialogue and voluntary compliance rather than formal legal regulation. Then, drawing on a concrete ethnographic case study from a contemporary de-collectivized kibbutz in 2019, the chapter explores how dog-related conflicts are intertwined with a new cultural divide between urban newcomers and kibbutz natives. The case uncovers two levels of conflict that characterize kibbutz society in the present: a disagreement regarding concrete issues - how to raise dogs, in this case - and a “metadisagreement” about how conflicts should be managed within the community. The case also demonstrates how conflicts surrounding dogs reveal a deeper anxiety at the core of interpersonal conflict: the fear triggered by the perceived transgression of the “proper” distance between the self and the other.
Abstract
Nuisances caused by dogs are a recurrent topic of social conflict within the kibbutz, a collectivized commune in Israel that has undergone a gradual shift toward privatization and capitalism since the 1990s. This chapter analyzes disputes surrounding dogs as symptomatic of broader social dynamics in kibbutz communities. First, by analyzing the chronic nuisance of dogs in the kibbutz during the 1970s and 1980s, the chapter illuminates the challenges of sustaining a collectivized society that depends on dialogue and voluntary compliance rather than formal legal regulation. Then, drawing on a concrete ethnographic case study from a contemporary de-collectivized kibbutz in 2019, the chapter explores how dog-related conflicts are intertwined with a new cultural divide between urban newcomers and kibbutz natives. The case uncovers two levels of conflict that characterize kibbutz society in the present: a disagreement regarding concrete issues - how to raise dogs, in this case - and a “metadisagreement” about how conflicts should be managed within the community. The case also demonstrates how conflicts surrounding dogs reveal a deeper anxiety at the core of interpersonal conflict: the fear triggered by the perceived transgression of the “proper” distance between the self and the other.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Foreword V
- Contents VII
- An Overview of the Book and a Short Review of the Theoretical Framework 1
-
Part 1: Theory and research
- Chapter 1 Community Building Meets Conflict Transformation: An Integrated Approach 13
- Chapter 2 Man’s Best Friend? Dogs and Social Conflict in the Israeli Kibbutz 43
- Chapter 3 After all, we are one community: Conflicts between the kibbutz and its new extension neighborhood residents as a reflection of changes in the social field 61
- Chapter 4 Ideological conflicts and their resolution in the kibbutz movement 1948–1956 87
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Part 2: Practical approaches to conflict resolution in intentional communities
- Chapter 5 Consensus building in communities 109
- Chapter 6 Conflict Circles: Practical Experimentation with Derivations of Restorative Circles in U.S. Intentional Communities 125
- Chapter 7 Cultural Context and Conflict in Intentional Communities 139
- Chapter 8 Power-With Instead of Power-Over: Preventing and Addressing Conflict in Communities with Sociocracy 151
- Contributors 165
- Index 167
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Foreword V
- Contents VII
- An Overview of the Book and a Short Review of the Theoretical Framework 1
-
Part 1: Theory and research
- Chapter 1 Community Building Meets Conflict Transformation: An Integrated Approach 13
- Chapter 2 Man’s Best Friend? Dogs and Social Conflict in the Israeli Kibbutz 43
- Chapter 3 After all, we are one community: Conflicts between the kibbutz and its new extension neighborhood residents as a reflection of changes in the social field 61
- Chapter 4 Ideological conflicts and their resolution in the kibbutz movement 1948–1956 87
-
Part 2: Practical approaches to conflict resolution in intentional communities
- Chapter 5 Consensus building in communities 109
- Chapter 6 Conflict Circles: Practical Experimentation with Derivations of Restorative Circles in U.S. Intentional Communities 125
- Chapter 7 Cultural Context and Conflict in Intentional Communities 139
- Chapter 8 Power-With Instead of Power-Over: Preventing and Addressing Conflict in Communities with Sociocracy 151
- Contributors 165
- Index 167
