In: Semiotics Theory and Applications ISBN 978-1-61728-992-7
Editor: Steven C. Hamel © 2011 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Chapter 5
HOW ISRAELIS REPRESENT THE PROBLEM OF
VIOLENCE IN THEIR SCHOOLS:
A CASE STUDY OF A DISCURSIVE CONSTRUCTION
1
Douglas J. Glick
Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University
Binghamton, NY 13902-6000, USAABSTRACT
This paper analyzes how ̳the problem of school violence‘ is causally represented
in Israeli newspapers. Common propositions are uncovered about the causes for this
widespread social problem and, as such, they are understood to constitute a relative and
site-specific, but nonetheless empirically legitimate, representation of this particular
Israeli discursive construction. This approach is semiotically adopted in opposition to
many others that tend to speak of 'discursive constructions' in very general ways. In
contrast, regular causal attributions that constituted 'talking about Israeli school violence'
are documented based on their emergence from within a long term study of three Israeli
newspapers. They are then also explored as they are reflexively interrelated in Israeli
cultural terms. That is, they are considered in terms of how they are supported and/or
challenged by Israeli ideological beliefs. Reflexive relations of constraint, support
and opposition are then investigated by looking at the internal dynamics of the causal
propositions that constitute this construction in relation to others in Israel today. In
this way, the general link between regular linguistic practices and cultural ideology is
explored in this particular case study. It is proposed that this specific case study has
implications for the general cross-cultural study of discursive ideological constructs both
practically and methodologically. The study then documents a second-order, indexical(^1) I wish to thank Asif Agha and Stanton Wortham for organizing the panel at the 2002 Annual Meeting of American
Anthropological Association of which this paper was a part. I am also indebted to Judith Irvine for her
thoughtful comments on my paper as well as to my co-presenters for what turned out to be a very intellectually
rewarding experience. Their work in conjunction with the many discussions that followed the session, as well
as those from my various presentations of this material since that original date, have clearly improved the
quality of my analysis and I am grateful to all.
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