Power Elites’ Interests and Biased Social Science: 64 Years of Telling Kibbutz Half Truths

39 Pages Posted: 19 Aug 2015

Date Written: July 17, 2015

Abstract

Critics find that major social scientists comply with domination by power elites. However, kibbutz research is a unique case: initial compliance was benign, aimed at helping a progressive social movement in crisis while missing/ignoring leaders’ pernicious self-perpetuation and their suppression of well-intended critical research. Uncritical functionalism became hegemonic and helped leaders’ autocratic self-perpetuation by a fake image of democracy and egalitarianism, evading members’ interest in exposing reality. In return, power elites helped functionalists’ academic success. The findings support above critics, pointing to the need for measures that will minimize self-serving selectiveness of survey researchers and chances of co-optation, as well as measures that will maximize chances for exposing such scientific failures.

Keywords: Biased social research, academic freedom, co-opted scientists, kibbutz, inter-kibbutz organizations, functionalist research

JEL Classification: N25, P31, P32

Suggested Citation

Shapira, Reuven, Power Elites’ Interests and Biased Social Science: 64 Years of Telling Kibbutz Half Truths (July 17, 2015). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2644687 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2644687

Reuven Shapira (Contact Author)

Western Galilee College ( email )

P.O. Box 2125
Gan Shmuel, Mobile Post Hefer
Acre, North 24121
Israel
972542209003 (Phone)
97246320327 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.transformingkibbutz.com

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