Empowering peripheral communities by using place-identity: Israeli student villages as a platform for a servant creative class

Miriam Billig and Asaf Lebovitz

Community Development, 2014, vol. 45, issue 4, 368-386

Abstract: This study attempts to examine the conditions under which place-identity creates a sense of ideological commitment towards the community, among young people belonging to the creative class. Using a narrative analysis of the experiences and attitudes of "student village" members in Israel, the study proposes a linear-chronological model, which presents the conditions for creating ideology-rooted place-identity among students. This place-identity is promoted by social associations that provide this class with suitable conditions in order to make living in student villages satisfying and attractive from a material, social, and personal point of view. Ideology-rooted place-identity is accomplished by helping the students develop an ideological commitment towards the population via volunteer-work with and integration into the community. In this way, the study suggests a unique model that encourages the development of a "servant creative class" whose members may be recruited, not just to live in peripheral towns, but also to be committed to the community as a whole. In addition, this model may also develop better relations between young creative class newcomers and disadvantaged local communities.

Date: 2014
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:comdev:v:45:y:2014:i:4:p:368-386

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DOI: 10.1080/15575330.2014.930058

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