https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6038-186X
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ABSTRACT
This paper investigates how different perceptions of STEM are related to the anticipated levels of discrimination in STEM-related fields for minority high-school students in Israel. Regression analyses of questionnaire data (N = 380) from Arab-Palestinian (minority) and Jewish (majority) high-school students are conducted. The results suggest that for all students, perceiving STEM as cooperative is associated with reduced anticipated discrimination. Perceiving STEM as global and international is also associated with reduced anticipated discrimination, but only for minority students with the highest levels of social distance from mainstream society. The paper argues that for students who experience high levels of social distance, perceiving STEM as global or international creates a ‘global space’ wherein the salience of the local-national context – which typically facilitates discrimination – is reduced. Accordingly, the paper addresses larger debates regarding the conditions under which the globalisation of education may be empowering and/or threatening for minority students.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the Truman Research Institute, PresenTense Israel and the Center for the Study of Multiculturalism and Diversity for continued support throughout the duration of this research. Aurel H. Diamond is grateful to the Israel Institute and the Federmann School of Public Policy for scholarships that supported his PhD studies while working on this manuscript.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Supplementary material
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.
Notes
1. The remaining 3% are classified as ‘others’, and include primarily Christian and Muslim citizens who do not speak Arabic at home.