Danny Kaplan

Prof. Danny Kaplan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Bar-Ilan University, Israel, and co-directs the Bar-Ilan Center for Cultural Sociology. His research bridges political sociology, gender studies, and digital culture, focusing on how friendship and public intimacy inform national solidarity. A leading scholar in masculinity ideologies and cultural models of fathering, he has held visiting positions at Columbia University and Yale University’s Center for Cultural Sociology.

His research on social club sociability (e.g., Freemasonry, military rituals, reality TV) reveals how institutions transform strangers into symbolic friends, fostering collective loyalty. Recent work explores digital media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter) as platforms for mediated relationships and mass solidarity. Kaplan’s empirical studies in consumer masculinity and male body ideologies have been supported by an ISF grant, yielding tools like the Consumer Masculinity Inventory (CMI) and New Masculinity Inventory (NMI).

Scientific awards include:

• ISF grant for research on involved fatherhood

His articles span topics from nationalism as homosocial bonding to digital intimacy, with methodological emphasis on ethnography, media analysis, and quantitative models. As director of the Men’s Studies track in Bar-Ilan’s Gender Studies program, he mentors future scholars in gender dynamics and social movements.