Organizing Locally, Competing Globally: The Kibbutz Factory as Home and Work

Abstract

In this paper I examine one aspect of the organization of industrial production in the kibbutz that could advance our understanding of equitable economic development in local communities: the spatial unification of home and work within the kibbutz. This feature highlights the positive role of the spatial organization of production in preserving the social structure of the kibbutz. Specifically, the distinct spatial structure of the kibbutz facilitates the articulation of the kibbutz's ideological values and thereby provides an appropriate framework to contain the advancement both of the social and of the technical divisions of labor. I contend that the social and economic attributes of the kibbutz are embedded in a spatial configuration that unites work and home. The factory is part of the kibbutz home. In other words, there is both a spatial and a social unification of home and work. An understanding of the performance of kibbutz industry, and its commitment to the community, cannot be appreciated without recognizing the contributions both of the spatial and of the social structures.