This article explores how economic socialization serves as a bridge between individual economic behaviors and the broader social and cultural contexts that shape them. Drawing on a post-functionalist approach to socialization, the study examines the ultra-Orthodox Jewish (Haredi) community in Israel, where distinct gender roles, cultural norms and patterns of economic participation create a unique context for investigating divergent economic socialization pathways. Comparing four groups within the Haredi community—average/below-average and high-income women, men with work experience, and men who study at religious seminaries (Yeshiva/Kollel)—analysis of an original survey study reveals how differential exposure to economic life leads to significant variations in financial risk-taking, loss-aversion, financial literacy and competitiveness. The findings problematize explanations attributing economic gender gaps to innate differences, instead highlighting the profound impact of the cultural framing of gender roles vis-à-vis economic integration. By foregrounding economic socialization as a sociological phenomenon, the study contributes to discourses on culture’s role in economic behavior and opens new avenues for examining how individuals acquire economic dispositions through socialization pathways shaped by structural constraints and power relations.

This paper employs a critical theoretical framework to examine the emergence and perpetuation of chaos and disorder in urban spaces. Specifically, we examine the dynamics of chaos during urban transformations, focusing on how it manifests itself in the redevelopment of religious enclaves and its implications for the daily lives of urban residents in two Haredi neighbourhoods in Jerusalem. We have coined the term ‘constant urban chaos’ to characterize this space as both the source and the desired outcome. These spaces of chaos reveal how neighbourhoods are shaped by individual and collective initiatives to preserve the communal ways of life through spatial patterns. Our findings suggest that chaos serves a specific purpose in urban development, providing desirable patterns that sustain city intricacies and delicate networks. Using this mutually beneficial arrangement, the municipality and communities meet the housing needs of specific demographic groups characterized by high fertility rates and non-conventional housing needs while minimizing socio-spatial conflicts. In examining the intricate interplay between urban chaos, community dynamics, and municipal involvement, this study challenges conventional notions of disorder and highlights the strategic utilization of chaos for urban development.

This ethnographic project explores how inherent discursive and social tensions are expressed and worked out within obesity care at a weight-loss surgical (WLS) clinic. First, complicated doctor and patient encounters occur because WLS follows a medical logic of intervention and is presented as a “biomagical” procedure that miraculously alters the body. Surgeons, however, explain that the surgery’s success depends on patients’ long and hard work. Second, the clinic’s interdisciplinary approach adds more complexity. While expanding the scope of treatment, it blurs the division of labor among professionals and the distinction between body and mind. It also diffuses the responsibility for patients’ lifestyles and recovery among professionals. Third, alongside notions about patients’ autonomy and free choice, their wishes and bodies are constantly channeled, problematized, and negotiated with various family and peer support. While crucial for the surgery’s success, such interconnectedness raises questions about how decision making and social pressures affect the patients’ journey. Thus, WLS is refracted among webs of multiple actors and contradictory perspectives. This complexity invites a reflection on how such tensions and paradoxes destabilize medical power in modifying the body, challenge personal responsibility assumptions, and impact the quality of care.

This paper investigates the impact of ethnicity within founding teams of high-tech ventures and asks whether such diversity confers advantages or disadvantages. Drawing on theories of human and social capital, we aim to illuminate the potential benefits of ethnic diversity in founding teams, with a particular focus on the roles played by ethnic and industry contexts. Our analysis encompasses data from 1,217 Israeli high-tech ventures operating between 1996 and 2015, spanning two key industries: life sciences (LS) and information technology (IT). We systematically evaluate the characteristics of these ventures across various dimensions of human and social capital, comparing those with ethnically diversity founding teams—including both Jewish and Arab members—with those characterized by ethnically homogeneous teams. Our findings indicate that ventures with diversity teams generally achieve higher values across most measured variables, particularly within the LS industry. However, ventures with exclusively Jewish founding teams maintain an edge in variables related to fundraising across both industries. Our study concludes that ethnically diverse founding teams benefit significantly from the bonding and bridging knowledge networks they establish, which are particularly enhanced by higher education within the life sciences sector. Additionally, founders’ human and social capital contribute to the development of expansive networks that foster knowledge, capabilities, and expertise across diverse domains. We discuss the implications of these findings and suggest directions for future research in this evolving field.

In this paper, we perceive boredom as a potential resource for creativity in qualitative research. We present three main arguments. First, boredom is often an inevitable stage on the way to research excitement and can even serve as an important clue leading to analytic surprises. Second, there is a methodological need to reflect on boredom in order to understand the researcher’s perception of meaningfulness and meaninglessness. Particularly, we show how the ‘interview society’, characterized by the dominance of the therapeutic discourse, shapes researchers’ expectations regarding what is considered ‘interesting’ or ‘boring.’ Finally, the researcher’s experience of boredom may provide insights into the very phenomenon under investigation. We flesh out these arguments by showing how the researcher’s boredom during interviews reflects the interviewees’ emotional style, expected of (women) managers in the neoliberal culture: emotional restraint and a façade of rationality and objectivity.

On 29 April 1956, Ro'i Rothberg was killed in an ambush in Nahal Oz, a Kibbutz located just outside the Gaza Strip. Moshe Dayan, Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, deliv-ered aneulogy, part of which contained the following: Early yesterday morning Ro'i was murdered. The quiet of the spring morning dazzled him and he did not see those waiting in ambush for him. Let us not cast the blame on the murderers today. Why should we declare their burning hatred for us? For eight years they have been sitting in the refugee camps in Gaza, and before their eyes we have been transforming the lands and the villages, where they and their fathers dwelt, into our estate. It is not among the Arabs in Gaza, but in our own midst that we must seek Roi's blood.' Dayan's implicit recognition of the legitimate grievances of the Palestinians in Gaza — griev-ances which arose from dispossession and colonial violence — offers a fascinating counterpoint to contemporary rhetoric. It also raises key questions, both sociological, moral, and normative: How and why do victims turn to violence in response to the perpetration of violence against them? What are the mechanisms of their mobilization? And is this violence legitimate?

This paper explores the rise of financial influencers (‘finfluencers’) on social media and their impact on shaping financial subjectivities. Employing the dual theoretical frameworks of economy-as-communication and financialization of everyday life, we uncover how finfluencers transform individuals’ understanding of and engagement with personal finance through digital storytelling, strategic use of syntax and symbols, participatory engagement and diverse representation. Finfluencers make financial topics more accessible, but in doing so they also accelerate the financialization of everyday life by normalizing finance and investing as mainstream preoccupations. As more individuals turn to social media for financial guidance, understanding the complex dynamics of finfluencer impact is crucial for navigating the evolving landscape of personal finance and financial education in the digital era. The paper emphasizes the need for ongoing research, critical reflection and efforts to promote digital and financial literacy to ensure the benefits of this new form of financial influence are distributed equitably while mitigating potential harms.

This chapter focuses on educational governance in Israel, charting events since the independence of the state that led to and cemented over the years its deep-rooted centralized governance. Furthermore, this chapter examines the hierarchical division of labor and the pandemic’s impact on the political culture of Israeli education. Ultimately, the historical moment created by the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed a cultural preference for centralized governance, which limits any pressure that the pandemic exerts toward decentralization.

As financial advice migrates online, “finfluencers” are democratizing access to financial knowledge, challenging the historically male-dominated advisory landscape. This mixed-methods study explores how gender shapes the creation and consumption of finfluencer content. Qualitative analysis reveals gendered advice patterns: Men emphasize quantitative aspects, whereas women incorporate narratives and personal stories. Experimental surveys uncover subconscious same-gender preferences in advice receptivity, contrasting with stated desires for gender-neutral guidance. These implicit affinities persist even when advice content is anonymized and gender-balanced. Paradoxically, finfluencers introduce diverse voices and challenge traditional norms yet also subtly cater to gendered perspectives. The research highlights the complex role of gender in the digital financial advice market, where expanding inclusivity coexists with enduring biases. Findings offer insights for developing more equitable and empowering financial education in the digital age while revealing the subconscious factors shaping the emerging finfluencer discourse.

This postscript addresses the findings of researchers examining the complex relationship between strict religious observance, gender dynamics, feminism, and state transformations. It underscores the importance of gender analysis within religious groups to enhance our theoretical frameworks. Highlighting religious movements' insights into contemporary practices, it considers global gender and sexuality norm shifts, from same-sex marriage legalization in Europe to the #MeToo movement’s impact. Stadler critically analyzes the papers in this Special Issue, and illustrates how these groups navigate changing moral and religious landscapes. This analysis provides sociologists and anthropologists with a crucial perspective on fundamentalist groups’ responses to modern gender, sexual, and identity challenges. Key themes include religious-state entwinements, tradition’s reconfigurations, gender, and feminist views on religious extremism. Stadler introduces case studies across Christian, Muslim, and Jewish contexts globally, highlighting how comparative analysis reveals fundamentalism, gender, and state interactions. By synthesizing the Special Issue’s contributions, Stadler advances religious theory, illuminating the intricate ties between devout religion, gender dynamics, and the state. This postscript advocates for further research into these vital areas, emphasizing the need for a comprehensive understanding of religious beliefs and practices’ transformative effects on societal and individual levels.