ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to investigate how the consolidation of civic identity can be enhanced in a religious, particularistic, socialization setting. The literature distinguishes between “civics” in the formal curriculum, which deals with the transmission of democratic rules and procedures, and “civic education,” which concentrates on democratic values. Pinson (2007b) asserts that civic education in Israel acts as a space for both nation building and state formation. According to Ichilov (2003), civic education relates to the transmission of universalistic and democratic values, such as tolerance, equality, and freedom, along with particularistic, national values (e.g., Jewish values, Islamic values, etc.). Since its inception, Israeli society has been grappling with the question of whether Israel is a Jewish state or a democratic state. Pedahzur and Perliger (2004, 73) claim that “civic education in Israel has turned the confl ict about its content into a political confl ict between two political approaches that see the future of the state in a contradictory way.”
