Yuval Feinstein

University of Haifa | haifa · Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Theories of intense national emotions have focused on affection for the home nation and antagonism for national others but overlooked antagonism for fellow nationals. The article introduces a comprehensive theory of intense national emotions. It first discusses the sources of the potential energy stored in national identities, pointing to a combina...

A remarkable progress has been made in integrating emotions into studies of various aspects of social life, but sociological theories of emotions, which center on group membership and meaning-making, have not been applied to the study of political attitudes and behavior. In order to demonstrate the utility of integrating sociological theories of em...

Political scientists have acknowledged the importance of ethno-nationalism as a constitutive element of radical-right politics, but have typically empirically reduced the phenomenon to its downstream attitudinal correlates. Sociologists, on the other hand, have extensively studied nationalism, but have rarely weighed in on debates about institution...

While scholars have long studied the relationship between nationalist beliefs and anti-immigrant attitudes, such work has proceeded largely independently from research on collective memory, which explores how nationalist narratives are created, maintained, and contested. In this paper, we bring these literatures together by asking how, at the indiv...

Most survey research treats the refusal to embrace any ethnic/racial label as “missing information” or includes such responses in a general “other ethnicity/race” category. This article discusses the conceptual and theoretical problems involved in dismissing the refusal to embrace an ethnic/racial identity, and raises the possibility that in some c...

This study examines how emotion management is linked to subjective identity among members of ethnic minority groups in ethnically mixed workplaces. Data were drawn from interviews with Arab/Palestinian citizen residents of Israel. The results reveal three distinct strategies of emotion management: (1) Arab/Palestinians, regardless of their subjecti...

Illiberal democracies that include ultra-nationalist elements have become more common across the globe, and often go hand-in-hand with conflict and war. Most prior studies have proposed a single direction of causality such that insecurity and violence lead to the spread of illiberal political culture and the rise of illiberal political elements. In...

In the past several decades, many scholars of public opinion in the United States have argued that American women are less likely than American men to endorse military action as a means to deal with international problems. Evidence for this “gender gap” has been found in studies of public opinion during major international conflicts (Bendyna et al....

Many studies have reported that US presidents often become more popular at the onset of wars and other security crises. Research on this “rally-round-the-flag” phenomenon has focused on either rational calculation of success, chances of military actions, popular perceptions of security threats, or the role of opinion leaders. This paper proposes a...

Previous studies of public opinion in the United States have reported positive associations between national hubris and support for military actions. This article argues that in addition to its stable aspect, national hubris has a contextual aspect: under perceived symbolic threats to the nation, national hubris increases and boosts support for mil...

This study explores how US veterans who suffer from mental health problems navigate between two primary statuses: national hero and mental patient. The analysis reveals a more nuanced understanding than previous research, which has focused on a simple negative association between positive veteran identity and stigma. Qualitative evidence collected...

This study explores how US veterans who suffer from mental health problems navigate between two primary statuses: national hero and mental patient. The analysis reveals a more nuanced understanding than previous research, which has focused on a simple negative association between positive veteran identity and stigma. Qualitative evidence collected...

Why did the nation-state proliferate across the world over the past 200 years, replacing empires, kingdoms, city-states, and the like? Using a new dataset with information on 145 of today's states from 1816 to the year they achieved nation-statehood, we test key aspects of modernization, world polity, and historical institutionalist theories. Event...

This article takes issue with the “weak state” and “hollowing out of the state” theses, which appear in recent literatures dealing with globalization. In order to analyze the nation state’s contention with various actors concerning human rights and other issues, a conceptual distinction is suggested between state autonomy and capacity—defined as th...

This manuscript addresses the issue of 'radicalism vs. pragmatism' in the activities of social movements and points to wars as a context in which the dilemma becomes sharper. Two modes of grassroots activities are analyzed, both against the decision of the Israeli government to construct a separation barrier in the occupied Palestinian territories...

During the Second Intifada, Israel started to construct a separation barrier, officially aimed at preventing Palestinian terrorists from penetrating into its territory. Previous Palestinian attacks caused the death and injury of many innocent civilians, and raised a sense of indignation toward the incompetence of the Israeli government and security...