ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the attitudes of high school age youth toward immigrants from the Soviet republics and their absorption process in Israel. It focuses on an exploratory study which was designed to assess the extent of social cohesion and conflict being expressed by two groups of young people with different educational status yet with similar socio-economic background characteristics, including ethnic origin. The chapter shows that a dual perspective of ethnic conflict and social cohesion tends to exist among high school youth enrolled in general and vocational studies. Youth with the same socio-economic background characteristics, but different educational status, have different attitudes toward immigrants. Israel is a nation with limited resources which is experiencing a period marked by economic and social constraints. In both the United States and Israel, the influx of immigrants willing to work long hours for low wages has most affected young people who are least skilled and have the lowest levels of educational attainment.
