ABSTRACT
This chapter deviates from the general framework of this book in that the profile that is sketched here summarizes not merely the period before 1948, but extends much beyond it. It would appear that, although the socio-demographic profile of the Right underwent a profound transformation in the years following the establishment of the State, its basic system of symbols and attitudes has remained unchanged — a surprising continuity in a movement that in the course of more than 60 years has been faced with so many upheavals! This is why it seems important to try and draw a general outline of the movement and its members, in the form of a ‘collective profile’ spanning its development over half a century, rather than consider the year 1948 as a crossroads or turning point in terms of its views and behaviour. This chapter therefore belongs to the present, first volume of this study, as much as to the second volume.
