Attitudes Gaps to Jewish Out-Group and Arab In-Group as an Expression of the Self-Identity of the Arab Minority in Israel

Abstract

The objective of this study is to examine the practice of members of an in-group giving preference to the in-group rather than the out-group in any society, thereby providing its members with status, prestige and a positive social identity. This study examines the gap in the emotional attitude of the in-group and the out-group. The out-group in this study is the Jewish majority and the in-group is the Arab minority in Israel. This gap has been researched in large part, in research in laboratory conditions. Research has been done less on actual groups. The purpose of this study is to examine the degree of emotional identification of the Arab minority with the suffering and sorrow related to an unfortunate tragic event that occurs to another member of their group and to one that occurs to a member of the Jewish out-group. It is also to find how the attitude gaps relate to the traditionalism level of the in-group and to the region where the subjects live. To begin, a questionnaire was composed that included details about events that provoke feelings of grief and sadness. Subjects were asked in the pilot study to respond emotionally to these events. The hypothesis was that the Arab minority would identify emotionally with their group and less with the Jewish out-group and that a gap would be found that is related to the residential region and society's level of traditionalism. The findings show a bias of emotional attitude to the Arab side. The gaps that were discovered in the attitude to both groups were related to the society's level of traditionalism and partially to the residential region.