Reform Through Community: Resocializing Offenders in the Kibbutz (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780313279317)

This book recounts a successful effort to resocialize criminal offenders placed in Kibbutzim. Social scientist Michael Fischer and educational philosopher Brenda Geiger describe the events and experiences that unfolded when a Kibbutz adopted an Israeli ex-convict as a temporary member of its collective. They conclude that resocialization is achievable: that a world of hard work, interdependence, and self-denial can successfully compete against the temptations for adventure and diversion in an offender's past and present.

Fischer and Geiger reconstruct the subjective experiences of the Israeli ex-convicts who were invited to live and work as members on separate Kibbutzim. They detail how a protective environment, daily routines, egalitarianism, peer group support, acceptance, and trust yielded involvement, commitment, and higher self-esteem on the part of the offenders. Relating the kibbutz experience to theories of social psychology and criminology, Fischer and Geiger offer a model for resocialization combining group dynamics with social learning in a context of meaningful work and acceptance. This study is valuable to students and scholars of social psychology, criminology, and Judaic Studies.

Author: Michael Fischer,Brenda Geiger
ISBN-10: 0313279314
ISBN-13: 9780313279317
Publisher: Praeger
Language: English
Published: 07/30/1991
Pages: 248
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.19lbs
Size: 9.58h x 6.40w x 0.88d