Contested Homes

Professionals possess an authoritative and monopolistic position that rests on their exclusive knowledge and is reinforced by their normative ideology. However, in hegemonic processes professionals often serve also as “traditional intellectuals,” or agents who preserve the interests of those in power. This article focuses on a critical moment in which a threat is posed to both the professional status of architects and the established hegemonic order. By examining the professional architects’ reaction to this double threat, this article will show that the professionals attempted to protect the old social structure and hegemonic ideology, while neglecting their exclusive knowledge and tools as professionals and diminishing their professional status. This process will be examined by analyzing the conduct of discourse of Israeli architects in reaction to the partial privatization of urban planning and the freedom given to individuals to design their own homes during the 1980s.