One Country Two Realities: Work Values of Jews and Muslims in Israel

This study examines work values of 909 Jews and 219 Arab Muslims, (or Palestinians that have Israeli citizenship). It is a unique study since there are very few studies on cultural values and no studies on work values, which compare between different ethno religious groups who have been living in the same country/ land for more than century and shares a long ethnic conflict. The findings reveal a significant difference between the two ethno religious groups regards the importance of all life domains and in most of the preferred work goals and the regression analysis of the main demographic variables cannot explain these differences. The MDS of Jews and Muslims also demonstrate different perceptions and internalization of work values among the two ethno religious groups. The value gaps can be explained by the cultural differences (individualistic Jewish culture vs. collectivistic Arab culture), by high degree of segregation, by the employment discrimination and primarily by the Israeli- Arab/Palestinian conflict.