Table of Contents

Part One: Outlining the Study
Prologue
1. Theocratic Democracy and Cultural Conflicts
2. Religion, Politics and Haredim in Israel
3. Methodology: How Information Was Collected
4. The Printed Media: Making News - Constructing Realities
Part Two: Haredi Non-Conformity and Deviance
5. Illustrative Events and Affairs
6. Theocratic Underground Groups
7. Themes of Deviance and Unconventionality
Part Three: Culture Conflict in the Media
8. Life as It Should Be, The Right of the People Not to Know and Conspiracies of Silence
9. Examining 50 Years of Haredi Deviance
Part Four: Discussion and Conclusions
10. Discussion: The Doctrine of Mutual Responsibility, Nonconformity and Deviance vs. Cultural Change and Stability
11. Concluding Summary and some Global Observations

About the Author

Nachman Ben-Yehuda is a Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and a former Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Reviews

"Theocratic Democracy is an excellent and deeply researched study of dissident religious subcultures, focusing on Israel's growing communities of ultra-Orthodox Jews. The book is hugely significant for understanding the future of the state of Israel, and of Judaism more generally. It also tells us much about the politics of religion and the nature of religious violence. This is a really impressive achievement."--Philip Jenkins, Edwin Erle Sparks
Professor of Humanities, Pennsylvania State University
"No one who reads this book will come away with an unchanged impression of Israel and its future. Theocratic Democracy provokes as it dissects Israel's ultraorthodox communities--their authoritarianism, deviant lifestyles, riotous violence, and, above all, political influence. The tension of religious-secular coexistence is now managed by a combination of police control and negotiation, but the orthodox population and its sway grow rapidly.
Ben-Yehuda's analysis confronts the reader with a momentous question: will Israel's religious zealots dominate, fall, accommodate, or settle into perpetual conflict with secular society? For anyone concerned with the
clash of tradition and modernity, whether inside or outside Israel, this brilliant book is a must-read."--Barry Schwartz, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University of Georgia
"With consummate skill, Ben-Yehuda excavates the secular and Haredi press to expose what the self-righteous do in the name of the Almighty. Contemptuous of Israel's laws, the ultra-orthodox follow their own code; secretive, they cover up their crimes and protect their own. Ben-Yehuda offers a fascinating, wide-ranging tour through a bewildering array of Haredi wrongdoing. I recommend this book to anyone intrigued by how a tiny democracy in the Middle East
juggles the demands of its many factions, cults, sects, and interest groups. The answer is, not well--but effectively enough. Reading Theocratic Democracy is an eye-opening experience."--Erich Goode,
Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Stony Brook University, SUNY
"Theocratic Democracy charts significant and enduring patterns of ultra-orthodox religious violence in Israel. Ben-Yehuda thereby opens the door to a broad cultural and organizational analysis of religious in supposedly secular societies, even as he shows that the mainstream press constructs a religious minority as the "Other" that secular society must control and suppress." --John R. Hall, Professor of Sociology, University of California, Davis
"Ben-Yehuda examines 50 years of verbal and nonverbal violence, from intimidation to arson, as the Haredi push for a more theocratic state." --University of Chicago Magazine