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Book Review: KIBBUTZ: VENTURE IN UTOPIA   Term Paper ID:27263 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Summarizes the research in Melford Spiro's book KIBBUTZ: VENTURE IN UTOPIA, focusing in particular on Spiro's descriptions of family structure & family life within the Kibbutz system.... More...

6 Pages / 1350 Words 1 sources, 19 Citations, APA Format $24.00 Return to List of Papers

Paper Abstract: Summarizes the research in Melford Spiro's book KIBBUTZ: VENTURE IN UTOPIA, focusing in particular on Spiro's descriptions of family structure & family life within the Kibbutz system. Paper Introduction: Melford E. Spiro's book, Kibbutz: Venture in Utopia, is a "case study in the possibilities of social cooperation" (ix). Spiro spent eleven months in the early 1950's living among the residents of a place he refers to by the fictitious name Kiryat Yedidim, a kibbutz, or collective, in Israel, founded by a group of young Polish-Jewish immigrants in the early 20th century. The book examines the history of the kibbutz as well as presenting the current occupants' daily lives and philosophies in great detail. This research will summarize Spiro's book, focusing in particular on family structures and family life within the kibbutz system. Kibbutzim (the plural of kibbutz) are cooperative agricultural villages. The word "cooperative" here is meant quite literally--in these communities, all property, with minor excep Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. . . Because children are not reared by their parents, many of the rolesplayed by parents in traditional families--spiritual guardian,disciplinarian, and teacher, among others, are assumed by the community-assigned childcare providers, the nurses and teachers. (197 ). Family life, such as it was, also remained essentially intact in theyears between Spiro's initial visit and his return in 197 . E. .of great importance for [a child's] emotional development" (133). Thegranting of this housing is equivalent to community recognition of thepair's status as a couple, and for all intents and purposes, they areconsidered married (113). Spiro reports that rather than weakening ties between parents andchildren, the kibbutz system of communal child-rearing actually seems tostrengthen the parent-child bond (124). Because parents only see theirchildren for a few hours per day, those hours are precious and thereforedevoted entirely to the children. . Kibbutz: Venture in Utopia. The only money chaverimreceive, in fact, is a small annual vacation allowance which will allowthem to pay for goods or services they might wish to purchase on theirstays outside the kibbutz (2 ). The word "cooperative" here is meant quite literally--in thesecommunities, all property, with minor exceptions, such as personal gifts,is community owned. Although thesepeople are not intended to replace the parents, there can be little doubtthat the children look up to them as surrogate parents in many ways, andSpiro acknowledges that they are "psychologically significant persons . For the sake of hisresearch, he was allowed to pay for some of his expenses and work forothers; when he was forced to cut his work hours further, he discovered hewas able to do even less work on his research because his feelings of guiltwere so strong (18). The overall effect of modernization and development on family lifeand attitudes toward marriage and family, therefore, is minimal; kibbutzparents love their children--and kibbutz children love their parents--asmuch and as deeply as parents and children in more traditional families. Inhis original visit, Spiro noted that there were few couples among high-school students, and adultery was almost unheard of; in addition, dirtyjokes were rarely if ever heard, even among same-sex groups (112-117). In response to . The author tells how he helda meeting with a chaver who was a member of the Israeli Parliament--despitehis political power and importance in the outside world, within theconfines of the kibbutz, he worked in the cemetery, and his wife labored inthe dairy (25). The remainder of this discussion willfocus on family life and child-rearing within the kibbutz community. Melford E. Reference Spiro, M. This research will summarize Spiro's book, focusing in particularon family structures and family life within the kibbutz system. The kibbutz was notwithout its problems, but Spiro says that in spite of them "the kibbutzcontinues . He does notethat parents, due to lack of necessity, fail to acquire most of theabilities essential to traditional parenting, and that they are incapableof spending more time with their children than the two hours per day thesystem allows (276). problems, the kibbutz ischanging, but it is changing within the framework of its original charter.That is, despite the changes, the kibbutz very much remains a kibbutz"(291). Kibbutzim (the plural of kibbutz) are cooperative agriculturalvillages. By raising children in this way, parents are not directlyresponsible for their own children economically or socially, and thiseliminates the power relationship that is found in most traditionalfamilies, where the father controls everything. Nevertheless, parents have strongattachments to their children and, Spiro reports, chaverim refer to theirspouses and children as their mishpacha, "family" (123). Kibbutzphilosophy stresses the importance of the group over the individual;therefore an outsider might at first assume that children are drenched inthis philosophy and perhaps adversely affected by it. Traditionalweddings no longer exist within the community, but men and women pair offand, if they desire, are allowed to apply for housing as a couple. By197 , high-school romances occurred, though they were still uncommon;furthermore, Spiro writes, by 197 , "chaverim do tell dirty jokes . He suggests, unfortunately without elaboration, thatthe system somehow deprives parents, particularly mothers, of somethingessential, saying of mothers that "perhaps they . Because money is not a factor in kibbutz society and food and housingare provided on the basis of need and/or seniority in the community, thereis little emphasis placed on occupation, and no stigma is attached to jobswhich are often considered menial in the outside world, such as cleaninglavatories. The concept of personal freedom is also a solid part of the kibbutzphilosophy, and the chaverim are against rigid systems of authority.Toward that end, when the community became so large that it was necessaryto appoint members to various offices, tenure was restricted to a maximumof three years, and the prestige attached to the positions was no greaterthan that associated with other occupations. Spiro spent elevenmonths in the early 195 's living among the residents of a place he refersto by the fictitious name Kiryat Yedidim, a kibbutz, or collective, inIsrael, founded by a group of young Polish-Jewish immigrants in the early2 th century. Cambridge:Harvard University Press. The emphasis placedon the importance of physical labor is so strong that chaverim are subjectto excessive feelings of guilt when they do not work, even if their absenceis due to sickness or some other reasonable cause (16). are ambivalent andsomewhat confused--accepting the system, but not getting a great deal ofemotional satisfaction from it" (277). . Furthermore, because parents arerelieved of most of the difficult duties of child-rearing, such asdisciplining their children, they can and do indulge them during theirvisits. . . Inpractice, however, this has not been totally successful. Rearing children communally not only prevents the father from assuminga position of authority, it also frees the mother--not only from her ownposition of subordination to her husband, but also from the responsibilityof being a full-time caretaker and housekeeper, her traditional roles.Freed of these responsibilities, she is able to pursue her own interestsand "become the equal of men" (122). In an epilogue written in 197 , Spiro examines the effects wars,modernization, and development had on Kiryat Yedidim family life. Because material goods, housing, and food are owned by the communityand distributed equally among the chaverim, money is unnecessary, andchaverim do not receive wages for their labor. The abolition of the notion of family, however, has been moresuccessful, at least in the traditional sense. Spiro's book, Kibbutz: Venture in Utopia, is a "case studyin the possibilities of social cooperation" (ix). .they do look at Playboy center folds, and they do look over a pretty faceor body," though he concedes that such behavior is tolerated, notencouraged (272). Althoughthe general marriage patterns Spiro observed two decades earlier persisted,he noticed that the general attitudes toward sex were much more open. In a community where individuals own nothing, have no money to acquireanything, live not where they choose but where they are assigned housing--what is the status of the family, and how are children reared? The book examines the history of the kibbutz as well aspresenting the current occupants' daily lives and philosophies in greatdetail. . Spiro writes: "This is adeliberate policy, the aim of which is to prevent the child from feelingeconomically dependent upon the father which, according to kibbutzanalysis, is the greatest source of the father's authority in bourgeoissociety" (121). . The conclusion one reaches from Spiro's book, a conclusion Spirohimself reaches, is that the principles on which Kiryat Yedidim was foundedsurvived intact for many years, although over time the actual practices ofthe community were gradually modified--the evolution in the assignment ofclothing mentioned earlier serves as one example. The bond between parents and children begins to weaken only whenthe children enter high school, although Spiro remarks only that theweakening is not symmetrical--children apparently break away much to theparents' regret; he promises further discussion of this phenomenon in "aforthcoming volume" (126). Spiro even reportsthat he, as an outsider, fell prey to this philosophy. Spiro discovered,however, that although the concept of "family" in the traditional sensedoes not necessarily exist within kibbutzim, children are considered themost valuable assets in the community, and they are raised with anabundance of love and affection. The original intention of the founders of Kiryat Yedidim was tocompletely abolish traditional notions of marriage and family (11 ). Children are not raised bytheir parents; rather, they are raised communally in the care of nurses andteachers. flourishing. In fact, contrary to practice in the outside world, wherescholars and professionals hold high-prestige positions, in the kibbutzsystem, physical labor is highly valued--in fact, "the further removed fromphysical labor, the less prestige a job confers" (16). This means that even the clothes the chavarim(residents; singular chaver) wear do not belong to them as individuals.Early in the history of the settlement, in fact, this philosophy was takento such an extreme that after laundering, clothes were redistributed byhaving each chaver take whatever was on the top of the pile, even thoughthis usually meant that the clothes were too large or too small (21).Although this particular situation has since been rectified by assigningparticular items of clothing to each chaver, the clothing is merelyconsidered his or her personal responsibility, not personal property. 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