Constructing Boundaries: Jewish and Arab Workers in Mandatory Palestine (SUNY series in Israeli Studies)

Deborah S. Bernstein

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0791445402 ISBN 13: 9780791445402

Publisher: State University of New York Press, 2000

Constructing Boundaries examines the competition, interaction, and impact among Jewish and Arab workers in the labor market of Mandatory Palestine. It is both a labor market study, based on the Split Labor Market Theory, and a case study of the labor market of Haifa, the center of economic development in Mandatory Palestine. Bernstein demonstrates the impact of the pervasive national conflict on the relations between the workers of the two nationalities and between their labor movements. She analyzes the attempts of Jewish workers to construct boundaries between themselves and the Arab workers, and also highlights cases of cooperation between Jewish and Arab workers and of joint class struggle.

Review:

..".an important contribution ... " -- Jewish Book World

"This is an exceptionally well-written book, very readable even while making a significant contribution to two literatures--both Split Labor Market theorizing and the Israeli historiography debate." -- Joya Misra, University of Massachusetts-Amherst

"Bernstein has drawn on studies from a number of different disciplines--history, political science, economics, and geography, and she weaves them together into a compelling story of workers' lives and interactions in Haifa." -- Donna Robinson Divine, Smith College

Synopsis:

Bernstein (U. of Haifa) examines the competition and interaction between Jewish and Arab workers, and the impact of both on the labor market of the British Mandate of Palestine during the 1920s and 1930s. Combining a labor market study based on the Split Labor Market Theory and a case study of the l