Social dominnance, family system and deviance among immigrant youth in Israel

Two different migration waves entered Israel since the 1980s; the bigger one, fromthe former Soviet Union (FSU), and the lesser one from Ethiopia. These two ethnicgroups differ from each other both with regard to their relative size within Israeli societyand to the cultural perception and nature of the society from which they came. Anexamination of the characteristics of these two most recent mass migration groups inIsrael, in relation to the Israeli society indicates a three-tier social hierarchy: the dominantgroup - Israeli born, the middle group - immigrants from the FSU, and the bottom group- immigrants from Ethiopia. The basis for this assumption can be found in thecharacteristics unique to the entire immigrant population as well as in the different socialperceptions with regard to these two migration groups. The article examines this state ofaffairs, while analyzing the characteristics of each migration wave, the absorbingpopulation's policy and to the influences of these two factors on the immigrating youth.