Military service is one of the key milestones in Jewish Israelis’ transition to adulthood. Given the dominant role of the military in Israeli society, an understanding of young adults’ attitude towards the importance of the military and the nature of their service is needed. Based on 44 group interviews with 132 Jewish Israeli high school students, the study follows the differential attitude of youths towards compulsory military service, along socioeconomic lines. It concludes that (a) despite changes in Israeli society, young people still consider soldiers as the ultimate models of heroism, and view military service as a necessary component of normative citizenship and (b) they negotiate the nature and content of their military service based on its expected contribution to future mobility opportunities. The findings indicate that within the shared cultural script of the military’s importance, alternative paths play out without directly challenging the dominant consensus within Israeli society.

No abstract

This study presents German and Israeli youth's heroes and role models. Two hundred twenty‐six students from 22 high schools took part in small group interviews. Despite differences in the normative place of the family in the two cultures, the comparison reveals significant similarities between their views and what attributes the subjects assign to their families. Three main models of family members as hero arise from the data: The Self‐made Person; sacrifice and pro‐social action; and contending with everyday reality. The results point to a) the fading of traditional heroes from the imagination of youth in post‐industrial societies; b) the substantive place the family holds in young people's lives. I suggest that the rise of uncertainty and risk in the current socio‐historical constellation, contributes to adolescents' choice of figures from their immediate environments that embody safety and a moral framework.

No abstract