Manheim, Bilhah

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MANHEIM, BILHAH

MANHEIM, BILHAH (1929– ), Israeli sociologist specializing in the sociology of work and considered one of the leading scholars in the field. At the Industrial Engineering Faculty of the Technion she taught many executives how to manage human resources. Manheim was born in Germany and immigrated to Israel with her family in 1936. She received her B.Sc. from the University of Kansas in 1951. In 1953 she completed her M.A. and in 1957 her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. From 1957 she taught sociology at the Technion and from 1959 to 1969 she lectured at Haifa University. In 1980 she became a professor at the Technion. From 1981 until her retirement in 1997 she directed the Yigal Allon Chair for Human Sciences in Work. During these years she was visiting professor at universities in the U.S. and Australia. She was also a member of several academic societies and associations as well as public bodies. She published many articles and a number of books, such as The Influence of Reference Groups and Membership Groups on the Self-Image (1957) and The Human Factorin Work (co-author, 1965). In 2003 she was awarded the Israel Prize in sociology.

[Shaked Gilboa (2nd ed.)]