Adolescence in an intercultural conflict Situation. Israel as a precarious socialization area

• Applicant: Privatdozent Dr. Boris Zizek
• Subject Area: Education Systems and Educational Institutions
• Term: from 2013 to 2014
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 253367044

The planned research visit at Harvard University must be seen in relation to the research project and habilitation treatise >>Adolescence in an intercultural conflict situation. Israel as a precarious socialization area<< which focuses on the process of adolescence in an extreme environment that is socially, politically and culturally precarious. Adolescence is understood as the phase of life which extends the transition from youth to adulthood in the sense of a psychosocial moratorium (Erikson 1973). It evolved along with modernity (vgl. King 2002, Zizek 2012a,b) and can take up the whole third decade of life (vgl. Arnett 2004). Adolescence is a space of opportunities, which is, on the one hand, possible because of an environment which is structured socially and generationally, and on the other hand, the result of dealing with social reality in a creative and leisured way (Zizek 2012b). In that sense, adolescence is also considered as being the central generator of the new (Oevermann 2004, King 2002, Zizek 2012a,b).To this day, Israel is in a complex situation of conflict which is rather exacerbating. As a precarious environment for socialization it is an insightful object of study for answering basic theoretical questions of adolescence. The example of moral development illustrates that growing up in Israel poses a particular challenge for overcoming adolescence: Because of adolescents being potentially able to break away from their embedding conditions with the age of 21 (Kohlberg1996, Garz 1996) this potential is in conflict with the intercultural situation of conflict which is repeatedly and one-sidedly demanding loyalty.With an eye to the theory of adolescence we expect to find among the adolescents in Israel especially elaborated solutions (bridge builder, intellectualizer) as well as coping strategies which are backward from the viewpoint of developmental theory. For the former, the precarious situation has been therefore particularly stimulating for development whereas for the latter these challenges constituted obstacles for development. Thus, of central importance to this project will be how adolescents deal with the precarious situation of intercultural conflict. By reconstructing present strategies of coping the research project promises to give general information on the transition into adulthood in a situation of intercultural conflict.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: USA
• Host: Professor Dr. Robert Selman