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Individualistic vs. collectivistic study motives: the case of Israeli kibbutz students

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Abstract

Most students of motivation for adult education in general, and post-secondary and higher education in particular, are preoccupied with motives from the standpoint of the individual learner. This article comprises an attempt to examine study motivations from the standpoint of societal expectations. The question raised is: to what degree do post-secondary and higher students take into consideration the collective needs (or ‘functional imperatives’) of their community, instead of, or rather in addition to, their individual aspirations? The question is examined by means of a multi-year statistical follow-up of post-secondary and higher Israeli kibbutz students and a pilot study of their study motives in a random sample. The findings tend to indicate that in micro-social community settings such as that of the kibbutz, individual aspirations in the sphere of post-secondary and higher education may be reconciled to a certain degree with societal needs and expectations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Study of the Kibbutz and the Cooperative Idea, University of Haifa, 31999, Mount Carmel, Israel

    Shimon Shur

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  1. Shimon Shur
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The author is indebted to Prof. Menachem Rosner (University of Haifa, The Institute for Research of the Kibbutz and the Cooperative Idea) and to anonymous referees for their valuable comments on earlier versions of this paper. The author is also grateful to Mrs. Angela Greenson for typing the article.

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Shur, S. Individualistic vs. collectivistic study motives: the case of Israeli kibbutz students. High Educ 18, 309–320 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00138186

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