דמוקרטיה או מרד: על עבודת משמעות וכינונו של משבר

Translated title of the contribution: Democracy or Rebellion: On Meaning Work and the Construction of a Crisis

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

What has turned bills on issues as dull as judge selection procedures into a cause for constitutional crisis, unprecedented protest, and an erosion of the legitimacy of the Israeli government? The fact that the government bills eventuallyturned into a dramatic event, a rupture in time, is far from trivial. This achievementresulted from three meaning-work moves of the protest movement: Associatingthe concrete bills with the sacred abstract value of “democracy”; conceptualizingdemocracy in binary terms and the government bills as crossing the boundarybetween democracy and dictatorship; and associating the abstract notion ofdictatorship with various dystopias. The democracy-dictatorship boundarycrossing narrative fostered an unprecedented protest. Yet, since democracy is apolysemic concept, this narrative has exposed the protest to criticism, highlightingthe democratic deficit of the protest (and of the republican citizenship discourseit utilized) in terms of alternative conceptualizations of democracy (adopted bythe government). Furthermore, this binary construction alienated groups that find it difficult to see contemporary Israel as a full democracy. Thus, the meaningwork that contributed to the protest’s success also undermined it by limitingits demographics, fixing its conservatism, and even bolstering the justification mechanisms of the populist right.
Translated title of the contributionDemocracy or Rebellion: On Meaning Work and the Construction of a Crisis
Original languageHebrew
Pages (from-to)192-205
Number of pages14
Journalסוציולוגיה ישראלית: כתב-עת לחקר החברה הישראלית
Volume24
Issue number2
StatePublished - 2023

IHP Publications

  • ihp
  • Bills, Legislative
  • Democracy
  • Israel -- Social conditions
  • Law reform
  • Protest movements -- Israel -- History -- 21st century
  • Social stratification

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Democracy or Rebellion: On Meaning Work and the Construction of a Crisis'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this