Chapter 7: In Transition To Modernity: Druze Students Choose an Image of the Druze Woman

Globalization processes effect intergroup practices and bring about cultural changes in societies (Armenta et al., 2022). The phenomenon of societies in transition describes the cultural transformations traditional minority societies go through while being continuously and inherently exposed to the western modern majorities around them, in the contexts of their living environments, working places, and educational systems (e.g., Earnest & Treagust, 2006). Such transformations may sometimes damage community cohesiveness and solidarity, and challenge the younger members (Scrimin et al., 2014; Sue & Sue, 2003). During the last decades, the Israeli Druze minority became a society in transition, due to members’ exposure to the modern Israeli society, which resulted in social, economic, and educational changes as well as modernization in their community (Hassan, 2011), rendering differences in lifestyle, values, and attitudes compared to the past (Danah, 2000; Yonay et al., 2015).