Gad Yair

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Sociology & Anthropology, Faculty Member

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My research interests are centered on the role of cultural codes in social theory and the sociology of education, broadly speaking. My recent efforts were directed to the analysis of the Golem narrative in German social theory. I have recently completed a new manuscript on Pierre Bourdieu's French habitus - which I show to be intimately tied to the French Revolution.My next book effort gets back to German social thought. In the meantime I also work with a group of students on the deep codes of Israeli culture. I keep developing my work on Key Educational Experiences which boadens on current paradigms in the sociology of education.
Phone: 972-25883333

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Books by Gad Yair

Love is not Praktish: The Israeli Look at Germany

The Code of Israeliness: The Ten Commandments for the 21st Century

Collective Identities, States and Globalization

The crashing of two jet airplanes into the Twin Towers in New York is vividly remembered by most ... more The crashing of two jet airplanes into the Twin Towers in New York is vividly remembered by most people in the world today. Similar powerful images have come through videos of bombing in Kosovo, Moslem riots in Europe, brutal reprisals of protest in China, terrorist attacks in Israel, Kenya, Thailand, Turkey, Spain, India, Russia and England. These global events have challenged the beliefs of people in the Western world, and many have found themselves grappling with the perennial questions of modernity: Where is the world going? Are we attaining perpetual peace, or are we simply in the midst of ‘perpetual war’? How can we come to terms with seemingly opposing historical shifts, one pointing toward a globalizing and integrated world, the other toward tribalism and balkanization? This book celebrates S.N Eisenstaedt`s works in sociology while addressing these questions. It brings together highly qualified and esteemed scholars to revisit the questions above in a nuanced, comparative, and empirically supported manner

The Golem and German Social Theory

The Golem in German Social Theory provides an innovative and bold interpretation of German social... more The Golem in German Social Theory provides an innovative and bold interpretation of German social theory. Authors Yair and Soyer argue that German scholars have been continually preoccupied with ancient, religiously-based myths that criticize the ideals of the enlightenment, exemplified by the 16th-century narrative of the Golem rising over its master.

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Pierre Bourdieu: The Last Musketeer of the French Revolution

This book provides an innovative cultural analysis of Pierre Bourdieu's oeuvre. Surpassing prior ... more This book provides an innovative cultural analysis of Pierre Bourdieu's oeuvre. Surpassing prior introductory presentations and critical discussions of his work, the book keenly exposes Bourdieu's overarching political commitment to the French Revolution and to the ideals of the Enlightenment. It is a must read for those interested in Bourdieu and for those seeking an understanding of the interplay between culture and social theory.

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Papers by Gad Yair

The Germans: Cultural trauma and the Israeli habitus

This article reports results from a qualitative study of Israelis living in Germany, focusing on ... more This article reports results from a qualitative study of Israelis living in Germany, focusing on their traumatized national habitus. The study is based on 80 in-depth interviews and on replies of more than 100 respondents to an online questionnaire. The present article focuses on one specific aspect of the Israeli traumatized habitus: 'the wounded eye and the scratched ear'. Specifically, it explores the ways by which the trauma of the Holocaust is inscribed in Israeli senses. It details how respondents' eyes, ears and thoughts are activated by German mundane episodes, linking day-today experiences to the trauma of the Holocaust. Trains, suspect on-boarding Israelis, might end up in Auschwitz; snow brings up associations of the death marches; old people are perceived as Gestapo officers; and contemporary child-rearing practices 'explain' to Israelis the obedience and collaboration of ordinary Germans with the Third Reich. Using thick description from the interviews I expose the suspicious Israeli habitus – which always looks for 'signs' that might explain what happened in Germany 80 years ago.

format_quoteThe study shows cultural trauma influences sensory perception in Israelis, affecting their interpretation of German culture.format_quote

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ha-Dialeṭiḳah she-ben shiṿyon ḥevrati li-metsuyanut: terumat ḥa-reḳaʻ ha-ḥevrati shel horim le-heśegim limudiyim shel talmidim be-khitot formaliyot u-vilti-formaliyot: nituaḥ rav-ramati

The Persistent Structure of Hegemony: Politics and Culture in the Eurovision Song Contest

by Gad Yair and Daniel Maman

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Ambivalence

Implications of within school variability: An Israeli comparative study

Sociology in Jerusalem: The shadow of its history

The indice of entitlement–three paradoxes, and empirical analysis. Notes on educational policy in the nineties.”

Key experiences in informal education

Meritocracy

Servicing professional leadership: Outstanding education departments in the local authority

Quantifying Theory: Pierre Bourdieu by Karen Robson; Chris Sanders

Contemporary Sociology

Pope Benedict XVI on Instrumental Reason and the Hidden Theology of Critical Theory

Oxford German Studies, 2014

This paper analyses the affinity between the writings of Pope Benedict XVI and the position of Ge... more This paper analyses the affinity between the writings of Pope Benedict XVI and the position of German critical theorists in their critiques of instrumental reason, thereby exposing common theological motives that constitute German critical theory. Based on a thorough analysis of his critical reflections about instrumental reason I advance two propositions: on the one hand, that Pope Benedict XVI is a critical theorist; on the other hand, that critical theorists embed theological assumptions in their expositions of modernity and instrumental reason. Both parties rely on common cultural tools that speak through the myth of Faust, and they share the same narrative of doom and fall in their analyses of modernity and instrumental reason.

format_quoteBenedict XVI views Marxism as theology in disguise, critiquing sociology for trivializing religious beliefs and engaging in blasphemy.format_quote

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Alienation from Learning – Poor Ethiopian Children in Israel

Research in the Sociology of Education, 2006

Studies of families and inequality in education have focused on the family as a preparatory insti... more Studies of families and inequality in education have focused on the family as a preparatory institution for school. However, researchers have ignored the dynamic process of engaging with academic learning at home on a daily basis and minimized the importance of homework and instruction in this setting. Home observations of Ethiopian families who immigrated to Israel are used here as a case to describe three distracting factors which alienate children from learning at home in lower-class, poor immigrant households: deprived physical settings, sensory bombardment, and emotional stress.

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Heating Up the Aspirations of Israeli Arab Youth

by Nabil Khattab and Gad Yair

Research in the Sociology of Education, 2003

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emeral... more

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Learning, the Israeli Way: What Do Adults' Key Educational Experiences Tell about Classroom Instruction

Gad Yair

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