Abstract
About one third of each age cohort of high school graduates in the Israeli kibbutz opt for a year of community service before enlistment into the military. The motives that underlie this volunteering were explored from the perspective of kibbutz youth's prolonged transition to adulthood. The analysis revealed a blend of individualistic and collectivistic orientations linked with expectations of satisfying instrumental as well as explorative and expressive needs within a context of moratorial and liminal experience. Particular combinations of motives were also found to vary by the intended field of activity during this year.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allard, E. (1988). The current context of youth in economy, politics, and social development: The new subjectivism. In Kuczynski, J.,et al. (eds.),Perspectives on Contemporary Youth. The United Nations University, Tokyo.
Avrahami, A. (1992). A year of community work: A stride towards maturity for kibbutz youth. Ph.D. Thesis, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. (In Hebrew.)
Blos, P. (1979).The Adolescent Passage: Developmental Issues. International Universities Press, New York.
Bockneck, G. (1980).The Young Adult. Brooks/Cole, Monterey, CA.
Brake, M. (1985).Youth Culture. Tavistock, London.
Cochavi, R. (1981). The year of service in a personal view. InAdolescence in the Kibbutz. (Mimeo). Tel-Aviv: Ichud Hakvutzot ve Hakibutzim. (In Hebrew).
Cohen, J. (1977).Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences. Academic Press, New York.
Dar, Y. (1993). Youth in the kibbutz: The prolonged transition to adulthood.Isr. Social Sci. J., 8: 122–146.
Dar, Y., and Gilad, T. (1991). Changing paths in the life course of kibbutz youth: 1957–1987.Shorashim 7. (In Hebrew),
de Tocqueville, A. (1945).Democracy in America (2 Vols.). Knopf, New York. (Originally published 1835).
Erikson, E. H. (1968).Identity: Youth and Crisis. Norton, New York.
Gilligan, C. (1984).In a Different Voice. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Guttman, L. (1968). A general non-metric technique for finding the smallest coordinate space of coordination of points.Psychometrica 33: 469–506.
Hogan, H. J. (1981). Philosophical issues in voluntarism.J. Volunt. Action Res. 10: 90–102.
Kahane, R. (1975). Informal youth organizations: A general model.Social. Inquiry 45: 17–28.
Kahane, R. (1988). Multicode organizations: A conceptual framework for the analysis of boarding schools.Social. Educat. 61: 211–223.
Kauffman, F. F. (1963). Youth and the Peace Corps. In Erikson, E. (ed.),Youth, Change and Challenge. Basic Books, New York.
Keniston, K. (1970). Youth as a stage of life.Am. Scholar 39: 631–654.
Lamdan, E. (1991). The “Year Off”: A chapter in the maturation process of kibbutz-born youth. M.A. thesis. School of Education, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. (In Hebrew.)
Marcia, J. E. (1980). Identity in adolescence. In Adelson, J. (ed.),Handbook of Adolescent Psychology, New York.
Mittelberg, D. (1988). Volunteers in the kibbutz: Their motives, integration process and social consequences. Ph.D. thesis, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Palgi, M. (ed.). (1983).Gender Equality: The Israel Kibbutz Tests the Theories. Norwood, Philadelphia, PA.
Rutter, R., and Newmann, F. M. (1989). The potential of community service to enhance civic responsibility.Social Educat. 53: 371–374.
Ochberg, R. I. (1986). College dropouts: The developmental logic of psychological moratoria.J. Youth Adolesc. 15: 287–302.
Serow, R. C. (1991). Students and voluntarism: Looking into the motives of community service participants.Amer. Educat. Res. J. 28: 543–556.
Sills, D. L. (1968). Voluntary associations: Sociological aspects. InInternational Encyclopedia of Social Sciences (Vol. 16). MacMillan, New York.
Smith, D. H. (1981). Altruism, volunteers, and volunteering.J. Volunt. Action Res. 10: 21–36.
Turner, V. (1969).The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. Aldine, Chicago.
Warriner, C. R., and Prather, J. E. (1965). Four types of voluntary associations.Social. Inquiry 35: 138–148.
Waterman, A. S. (1984).The Psychology of Individualism. Praeger, New York.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Received Ph.D. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Research interests in sociology of youth and sociology of kibbutz education.
Received Ph.D. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Research interests in sociology of schools and youth in Israel, and in the sociology of kibbutz society and education.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Avrahami, A., Dar, Y. Collectivistic and individualistic motives among kibbutz youth volunteering for community service. J Youth Adolescence 22, 697–714 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01537138
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01537138