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Haim Hazan

Haim Hazan is an Israeli anthropologist and sociologist at Tel Aviv University who studies old age as a social and cultural phenomenon.

born 1947Anthropological research on old ageThe book The Limbo PeopleEditing the journal Israeli Sociology

Occupation: anthropologist, university teacher, sociologist
Education: Tel Aviv University, University College, Oxford

Haim Hazan was born in 1947 in Jerusalem

Haim Hazan was born in Jerusalem in 1947. When he was 10, his parents moved to Givatayim, where he grew up. He is married to Marcia, and they have 3 children.

From 1967 to 1972 he earned a B.A. and an M.A. at Tel Aviv University, studying sociology, anthropology and literature. His thesis dealt with life in retirement homes. From 1973 to 1976 he did his Ph.D. at University College London under Professor Michael Gilsenan, and the thinking of anthropologist Mary Douglas shaped his early work.

He became a lecturer at Tel Aviv University in 1976 and a full professor in 1994. He directed the Institute for Social Research, the Horowitz Institute and the Herczeg Institute on Aging there. Since 2008 he has edited the journal Israeli Sociology.

His research separates the aging body from old age as a role shaped by society and culture. His first book, The Limbo People, came out in English in 1980 and in Hebrew in 2002, and A Paradoxical Community followed in 1990. He also advised the Center for Educational Technology and chaired a Ministry of Education committee on the social anthropology curriculum.