‘Religious-lite’: a phenomenon and its relevance to the debate on identity

This article presents a qualitative study of Israeli Jewish youth who self-identify as
‘religious-lite'
intended to uncover the reasons youth choose to define
themselves using a non-institutionalized, somewhat dissonant identity label.
Eighteen participants aged 22
29 were administered in-depth interviews regarding
their deliberations as to preferred identity. Analysis reveals that participants
rejected major aspects of the modern identity project yet paradoxically adopt an
identity label they view as enabling them to benefit from aspects of relational and
intra-psychic coherence that it nevertheless provides. Furthermore, ‘religious-lite'
was seen as a temporary identity fitting their specific life-stage of emerging
adulthood, though not inferior to consonant identities they envisioned they
would adopt in adulthood. We discuss this phenomenon in the context of recent
debates on identity's psychological structural change during the now extended
transition to adulthood, and the debate on emerging adulthood as a developmental
stage.