Organizational Efficiency and Egalitarian Democracy in an Intentional Communal Society: The Kibbutz

Kibbutzim differ from one another in democratic and egalitarian practice and in equality itself. We explore hypotheses in 49 kibbutzim that attempt to explain these differences by the opposing effects of a technological imperative that implies a rational striving for economic efiiciency and an ideological imperative that implies a commitment by members to traditional kibbutz values. Cross sectional data were obtained from economic records of the kibbutz federations and from four survey research studies in kibbutzim. They suggest, with some significant exceptions, opposing effects of the two imperatives on democratic and egalitarian practices although not necessarily of one imperative on the other. Implications are discussed for theories about the inconsistency between technological progress and communality. This research explores hypotheses regarding the conflict between the striving for organizational efiiciency and the values of equality and direct democracy in the kibbutz. The kibbutz was conceived as an egalitarian society based on the principle, from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs. Ultimate decision making power in the governance of the kibbutz resides formally with an assembly that meets weekly and all members can participate in the decisions of this assembly. Thus, the kibbutz, in principle, is an unusually egalitarian and democratic society, although whether it is as egalitarian and democratic as its ideology and formal procedures of governance imply has been a subject of controversy. Change in the kibbutz since its early years from a simple agrarian settlement to a modern, industrialized society implies increased emphasis on a 'technological rationality' that a number of authors argue is inconsistent with the traditional, egalitarian ideology of the kibbutz. Kibbutzim, in fact, differ from one another in the extent to which they meet their traditional ideals. We explore hypotheses that attempt The British Journal of Sociology Volume XXXVIII Number 4 522 Menachem Rosner and Arnold S. Tannenbaum to explain these differences by the opposing effects of a technological imperative on the one hand that implies a rational striving for economic efficiency, and an ideological imperative on the other hand that implies a commitment by members to traditional kibbutz values.