Social identity conflict in Druzes living in Carmel and Golan

This thesis analyzes the complexity of social identity in two groups of Druze living in separate territories in Israel: Mount Carmel in the North West of the country, and Golan heights in the North East, at the border with Syria. The two groups, belonging to the same religious minority, are different from an historical, political, and social point of view. Druze, Arab, Israeli, and Syrian identities play different roles in the two groups – hence the complexity. These different identities may be in conflict with each other. The main hypotheses are that this identity conflict is significantly different in Carmel than in the Golan; and that it may be related in different ways to psychological dimensions such as optimism, collective self-esteem, and experiences of guilt and shame. The theoretical background of this thesis is based on three central theories: optimal distinctiveness (Brewer, 1991); social identity complexity (Roccas and Brewer, 2002); and bicultural identity integration (Benet-Martinez, 2002). The advantage of these theories is that they explain a large proportion of the complexity of social identity; however, these theories emerge in research as limited in conflictual contexts such as the Arab –Israeli conflict. The main effect in multiple identification process is the relation between oppositional and compatible social identification. As a consequence, individuals aim to construct a "third" social identity defined by the integration between both original identities: e.g. Druze/Arabic or Druze/Israeli or Druze/Syrian. This process involves values and cultural aspects. The thesis uses the above theories to explain the complexity of the "third" identity of the Druze. Furthermore, it investigates the ways in which the political conflict between Israel and Arab countries influences the "third' identity of the Druze. In a first step the thesis reconstruct the ecological contest: the historic, economic, religious, cultural factors characterizing the two groups of Druzes. The research develop in two phases: A first explorative inquiry with interviews to key persons in Carmel and in Golan with the aim of a depth knowledge of the topic. On this basis in the second phase the research applied 7 scales to a balanced sample of 196 subjects : 102 in Golan, 94 in Carmel; 46% male, 54% female. The methodology is a mixed one – qualitative and quantitative – on the idea that the argument of thesis, with his multi faced dimensions, requires non only quantitative data but both analysis of discourses and statistics. From the categorial content analysis of the transcription of interviews three principal groups of categories emerges: specific of Golan, specific of Carmel and common to both groups. For the Golani subjects the main topics are the separation from Syria with the consequent discontinuations, loss of Syrian culture and tradition and lack of citizenship. For the Carmeli subjects the main topics are military service law, feeling of treason and social assimilation. In addition, there are a common topics that emerge from both group as historical aspects, cultural invention economical aspect and uncertainly future. The most important results of the quantitative research demonstrate first of all that in both groups the Druze identities remain the strongest one. In Golan emerge as salient a Druze/Syrian as third identity . In Carmel emerge with the same relevance the Druze/Arabic and Druze/Israeli identity: as consequence , in Carmel emerge more relevant conflict between these "third" identities. In addition , the results demonstrate the positive correlation between the social identity conflict and lack of optimism, sense of guilt and shame. Consequently , these psychological dimensions are more problematic in Carmel than in Golan. The psychological well being, highlighted from the explored psychological dimensions, emerge as better in Golan even if the conditions of life are worse. In addition, the integration of Carmel Druzes in Israel underline the contradiction between economic benefits and the social identity conflict