The Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Tel Aviv University

The University of Tel Aviv  comprises nine faculties, 106 departments, and 90 research institutes. Its origins go back to 1956, when three small education units - The Tel Aviv School of Law and Economics, an Institute of Natural Sciences, and an Institute of Jewish Studies - joined together to form the University of Tel Aviv.

The Department of Sociology and Anthropology is a major center of teaching and research on Israeli society, and a leading sociology department in Israel. Currently, the department consists of about 30 faculty members, 40 scholars working towards a Ph.D., 200 M.A. students and 750 undergraduates. The department also provides post-doctoral supervision.

WebSite: http://spirit.tau.ac.il/socAnt

"Ethnic Divides. Social Inequality and Public Participation in Peace Movements in Israel", a research project directed by Dr. Nissim Mizrachi, senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, is the first systematic attempt to deal with the obvious yet un-scrutinized gap between leftist ideology and the people it aspires to represent - a gap that has hindered attempts to initiate fundamental change in Israel's political culture and has impeded the creation of an effective movement for peace.

The study explores the knowledge and cultural assumptions of three groups in Israeli society: Mizrahim or Jews of Middle Eastern origin, Ashkenazim or Jews from European and North American origin, and Arab Israelis or Palestinian citizens of Israel. The project has two major goals:

1. To expand the sociological perspective of social inequality by providing an elaborated “bottom-up” picture of working-class Mizrahi as well as Arab Israeli views on peace and social inequality;
2. To outline an intervention model that will provide grounded theoretical foundations for a new Palestinian-Mizrahi dialogue. Such a new social program is essential for counteracting the stagnation in Israeli-Palestinian dialogue.