This book deals comprehensively with different aspects of collective victimhood in contemporary Israel, but also with the wider implications of this important concept for many other societies, including the Palestinian one. The eight highly-diverse, scholarly chapters included in this volume offer analysis of the politics of victimhood (viewing it as increasingly dominant within contemporary Israel), assess victimhood as a focal point of the Jewish historical legacy, trace the evolution and changes of Zionist thought as it relates to a sense of national victimhood, study the possibility of the political transformation of victimhood through changing perceptions and policies by top Israeli leaders, focus on important events that have contributed to the evolvement of the victimhood discourse in Israel and beyond (e.g. the 1967 Six-Day and 1973 Yom Kippur wars in the Middle East), examine the politics and ideology of victimhood within the Palestinian national movement, and offer new ways of progressing beyond national victimhood and toward a better future for people in the Middle East and beyond. The insights of the eight authors and their conceptualization of Israeli victimhood are of immediate relevance for numerous other national groups, as well as for a variety of disciplines in the humanities and the social sciences. This volume has been inspired by the universality of victimhood among humans, reflected in King Lear's words ("I am a man more sinned against than sinning"), as well as by the words of the late Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, telling the Knesset in Jerusalem: "No longer is it true that the whole world is against us". While the book sums up the state of the field in regard to collective victimhood, it invites the readers to engage in contemplating the far-reaching implications of this important concept for our lives.

This book deals comprehensively with different aspects of collective victimhood in contemporary Israel, but also with the wider implications of this important concept for many other societies, including the Palestinian one. The eight highly-diverse, scholarly chapters included in this volume offer analysis of the politics of victimhood (viewing it as increasingly dominant within contemporary Israel), assess victimhood as a focal point of the Jewish historical legacy, trace the evolution and changes of Zionist thought as it relates to a sense of national victimhood, study the possibility of the political transformation of victimhood through changing perceptions and policies by top Israeli leaders, focus on important events that have contributed to the evolvement of the victimhood discourse in Israel and beyond (e.g. the 1967 Six-Day and 1973 Yom Kippur wars in the Middle East), examine the politics and ideology of victimhood within the Palestinian national movement, and offer new ways of progressing beyond national victimhood and toward a better future for people in the Middle East and beyond. The insights of the eight authors and their conceptualization of Israeli victimhood are of immediate relevance for numerous other national groups, as well as for a variety of disciplines in the humanities and the social sciences. This volume has been inspired by the universality of victimhood among humans, reflected in King Lear's words ("I am a man more sinned against than sinning"), as well as by the words of the late Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, telling the Knesset in Jerusalem: "No longer is it true that the whole world is against us". While the book sums up the state of the field in regard to collective victimhood, it invites the readers to engage in contemplating the far-reaching implications of this important concept for our lives.

Self Change: Social Psychological and Clinical Perspectives examines cognitive and motivational factors affecting the intention to seek change, processes involved in the initiation and maintenance of change, the role of social networks as facilitators or inhibitors of change, and measurement and assessment of personal change. At any given moment millions of people are contemplating changing various aspects of themselves; a general theory on volitional change is sorely needed. This book, which is of interest to social psychologists, clinical psychologists and psychotherapists, to researchers and practitioners, is a significant contribution to a more thorough understanding of self change.

Large Group Awareness Training: An Historical Context Groups associated with the human potential movement have been a controversial feature of American life during the last three decades. In the 1950's and 1960's, the movement was dominated by various types of small groups (SGs), which included sensitivity training groups, encounter groups, as well as several others (see Lieberman, Yalom, & Miles, 1973). Some people viewed SGs as an effective means for attaining personal and organizational growth, and Carl Rogers, one of the founders of this movement, labeled small groups as . . the most rapidly spreading social invention of the century, and probably the most potent" (Rogers, 1970). In contrast, others attacked SGs as "the most extreme exhibition thus far of man's talent for reducing, distorting, evading, and vulgarizing his own reality" (Koch, 1973, p. 639). Nevertheless, SGs generally became an accepted tool for personal development and were incorporated into university curricula and mana gerial training programs. During the 1970's the prevalence and appeal of SGs declined (cf. Back, 1978), and at about the same time, large group awareness training programs (LGATs) appeared. ' LGATs are offered to the general public by profit-making or ganizations and examine philosophical, psychological and ethical issues concern ing personal effectiveness, decision-making, personal responsibility and commit ment After addressing these topics, participants are encouraged to apply their recently attained insights to their lives."