What is it about?
The article explains the decline of communal democratic and egalitarian kibbutz cultures by the vanishing of high-moral leaders. Ethnographic studies of four kibbutzim (pl. of kibbutz) and inter-kibbutz organizations found that kibbutzim's cultures declined and lost creativity required to maintain egalitarianism and democracy amid growth and success as veteran leaders entrenched for good by using advantages of heading undemocratic inter-kibbutz organizations.
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Why is it important?
The kibbutz society is the world's most successful communal society; success was explained by the terms limits norm of kibbutz managers, only 2-5 years. This ignored the real power held veteran ex-managers of kibbutzim as heads of inter-kibbutz organizations, controlling behind and before the scenes greenhorn kibbutz managers. The initial success vanished as the formers entrenched and their conservatism ruined kibbutzim's creativity. All formal studies missed this etiology, proving the decisiveness of ethnographic studies of social fields.
Perspectives
The findings of this study contradicted all the voluminous kibbutz literature, causing all established kibbutz scholars to boycott my works in order to defend their reputation. As anonymous reviewers they rejected my articles, convinced respectful publishers to boycott my book manuscripts, but despite their efforts I managed to published four books and numerous articles, the present one was just the first one. Recently Routledge published my 'Mismanagement, "Jumpers," and Morality' (230 pp.).
Dr Reuven Shapira
Western Galilee Academic College
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Communal Decline: The Vanishing of High-Moral Servant Leaders and the Decay of Democratic, High-Trust Kibbutz Cultures, Sociological Inquiry, January 2001, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-682x.2001.tb00926.x.
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