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

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.