Abstract
In Israel, the “start-up nation”, entrepreneurial discourse is broadly used within the national education system. The global entrepreneurial discourse highlights personal autonomy while promoting individualistic and neoliberal values. The manifestation of the entrepreneurial discourse in Israeli public education which echoes ethno-nationalistic and collectivist discourses presents a paradox.This paradox has been magnified in recent years as the Israeli education system promotes unified ethno-nationalistic values. We followed the entrepreneurial discourse in a multi-focal qualitative study among policymakers and in public schools, examining how this paradox is resolved in the context of Israeli education. The study shows how the Zionist high-tech professional is presented within national education as an ideal of a hybrid nationalistic-entrepreneurial self.Through this ideal, the entrepreneurial spirit and the Zionist narrative are weaved together in a way that complements both and makes them accessible. The local entrepreneurial discourse is a unique conjunction in which ethno-nationalistic values are recruited to strengthen the entrepreneurial ethos, while neo liberal values and narratives are used to strengthen an ethno-nationalistic identity. Thus, in the Israeli context, entrepreneurial language challenges the binary distinction between the individual and the collective and reflects the dialectics between neoliberalism and nationalism..
Translated title of the contribution | “Being a Light unto the Nations in Entrepreneurship”: The Ideal of the Zionist High-Tech Professional in Israeli Public Education |
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Original language | Hebrew |
Pages (from-to) | 108-127 |
Number of pages | 20 |
Journal | סוציולוגיה ישראלית: כתב-עת לחקר החברה הישראלית |
Volume | 22 |
Issue number | 2 |
State | Published - 2021 |
IHP Publications
- ihp
- Discourse analysis
- Education
- Education -- Israel
- Entrepreneurship
- Moral education
- Nationalism
- Neoliberalism
- Schools
- Zionism
- Zionism -- Study and teaching