The Emergence of a Resistant Discourse: The Case of Ultra-Orthodox Media in Israel

• In Event: Innovative International Media Research

Abstract

In an attempt to examine how alternative discourses are constructed in a conservative society, this article presents four discursive strategies used by an Israeli ultra-orthodox Jewish magazine to subvert hegemonic rabbinical authority and to speak in an alternative voice within a highly conservative society. These strategies are: cushioning, discursive hybrids, explicit provocation and trivializing. Based on the qualitative content analysis of 229 articles published in the weekly magazine, Mishpacha (Family), the study seeks to contribute to the existing literature on alternative media by exposing the complex and heterogeneous nature of discursive resistance and practices. Furthermore, the paper offers a glimpse into the ways that a social group within a religious society resists authority though without shattering its ideological basis.

Authors

• Varda Wasserman, Open U of Israel

• Ines Gabel, Open U of Israel