The sociology of Jewry involves the application of

sociological theory A sociological theory is a that intends to consider, analyze, and/or explain objects of social reality from a sociological perspective,Macionis, John and Linda M. Gerber. 2010. ''Sociology'' (7th Canadian ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson E ...

and method to the study of the

Jewish people Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

and the

Jewish religion Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the M ...

Sociologists This is a list of sociologists. It is intended to cover those who have made substantive contributions to social theory and research, including any sociological subfield. Scientists in other fields and philosophers are not included, unless at least ...

are concerned with the social patterns within Jewish groups and communities;

American Jewry American Jews or Jewish Americans are Americans, American citizens who are Jews, Jewish, whether by culture, ethnicity, nationality, or Judaism, religion. Today the Jewish community in the United States consists primarily of Ashkenazi Jews, who ...

Israeli Jews Israeli Jews or Jewish Israelis ( he, יהודים ישראלים, translit=Yehudim Yisraelim) are Israeli citizens and nationals who are Jewish through either their Jewish ethnicity and/or their adherence to Judaism. The term also includes ...

and Jewish life in the

diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...

. Sociological studies of the Jewish religion include religious membership, ritual and denominational patterns. Notable journals include ''

Jewish Social Studies Jewish Social Studies is a quarterly U.S. based journal. It was established in 1939, by the Conference on Jewish Relations, later known as the Conference on Jewish Social Studies. Its editor was the American philosopher Morris Raphael Cohen. In ...

'', '' The Jewish Journal of Sociology'' and ''

Contemporary Jewry ''Contemporary Jewry'' is a peer reviewed academic journal published by the Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry since 1977. The journal mostly publishes articles on the subject of the sociology of Jewry The sociology of Jewry i ...

''.

Emergence of the discipline

Beginnings: 1930s-1950s

Sociology of Jewry initially emerged in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in the 1930s beginning with the 1938 publication of ''

'', sponsored by the

Conference on Jewish Relations The Conference on Jewish Social Studies was established in 1933 as the Conference on Jewish Relations by Salo W. Baron and Morris Raphael Cohen. Baron was chairman from 1933 till 1988. The immediate issue was facing rapidly spreading Nazi world p ...

. The Journal's mission was "to promote, by means of scientific research, a better understanding of the position of Jews in the modern world." And the later publication of ''The Jewish Journal of Sociology'' in 1958 was due to the "few opportunities... for publishing academic and scientific studies of the sociology of Jews."Heilman, Samuel C. "The sociology of American Jewry: The last ten years." ''Annual Review of Sociology'' 8, no. 1 (1982): 135-160.

Growth and development: 1950s-present

In 1955, sociologist

Seymour Lipset Seymour Martin Lipset ( ; March 18, 1922 – December 31, 2006) was an American sociologist and political scientist (President of the American Political Science Association). His major work was in the fields of political sociology, trade union o ...

noted that the discipline was underdeveloped, stating that there were far more "Jewish sociologists" than "sociologists of Jews". However, the subfield began to grow in the late 1960s and 1970s. A professional organization was formed, namely the

Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry The Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry (ASSJ) is a cross-disciplinary organization of individuals whose research concerns the Jewish people throughout the world founded in 1971. Purpose The ASSJ comprises primarily academics, but ...

(ASSJ). In 1975, a new academic journal was founded as well, ''

''. Contributing to this growth was the work of

Marshall Sklare Marshall Sklare (1921–1992) was an American sociologist whose work focused on American Jews and the American Jewish Community. Sklare was the Klutznick Family Professor of Contemporary Jewish Studies and Sociology at Brandeis University. Becau ...

, now considered one of the founding figures in the sociology of Jewry. Marshall Sklare and Joseph Greenblum’s 1967 study of Jewish identity in “Lakeville” is considered one of the most notable works of its kind. The sociological study of intergroup relations and the theories proposed by

Nathan Glazer Nathan Glazer (February 25, 1923 – January 19, 2019) was an American sociologist who taught at the University of California, Berkeley, and for several decades at Harvard University. He was a co-editor of the now-defunct policy journal ''The Pu ...

and

Daniel P. Moynihan Daniel Patrick Moynihan (March 16, 1927 – March 26, 2003) was an American politician, diplomat and sociologist. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented New York in the United States Senate from 1977 until 2001 and served as an ...

is also thought to have contributed to the growth of the sociology of Jewry.

Formation of the ASSJ

The idea for the formation of a professional organization for scholars specializing in the sociology of Jewry first surfaced in 1966; the concept was discussed by Werner J. Cahnman and Norman L. Friedman at an American Sociological Association (ASA) conference. The association was informally launched by Norman Friedman and Bernard Lazerwitz in 1970; the event, titled "The Sociological Study of Jewry" took place at the ASA annual conference. Sociologists

Solomon Poll Solomon (; , ),, ; ar, سُلَيْمَان, ', , ; el, Σολομών, ; la, Salomon also called Jedidiah ( Hebrew: , Modern: , Tiberian: ''Yăḏīḏăyāh'', "beloved of Yah"), was a monarch of ancient Israel The history of ...

Mervin Verbit Mervin Feldman Verbit (born November 24, 1936) is an American sociologist whose work focuses on sociology of religion, American Jews and the American Jewish community. He is currently the chair of the Sociology Department at Touro College. Acad ...

and

Arnold Dashevsky Arnold Dashefsky, born in 1942, is a professor at the University of Connecticut who has written several books on the topics relating to Jewish ethnicity, culture, ideologies, among others. Dashefsky is currently director of the North American J ...

submitted a motion to establish a formal group; the motion was voted upon and accepted. The new group, the

(ASSJ or ASSSJ) was launched and formally met the following year. The group has since organized annual conferences, established the academic journal ''Contemporary Jewry'', founded the ''ASSJ Newsletter'' and honors exceptional scholars in the field with the

Marshall Sklare Award The Marshall Sklare Award is an annual honor of the Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry (ASSJ). The ASSJ seeks to recognize "a senior scholar who has made a significant scholarly contribution to the social scientific study of Jewry. ...

.Waxman, Chaim I
The Professional Dilemma of Jewish Social Scientists: The Case of the ASSJ
" ''The Social Scientific Study of Jewry: Sources, Approaches, Debates''. Ed. Uzi Rebhun. Oxford University Press. Accessed May 9, 2014.Blasi, Anthony
''Sociology of Religion in America: A History of a Secular Fascination with Religion''
BRILL. (2014): 206-207. Accessed May 9, 2014. While the ASSJ and ''Contemporary Jewry'' are dominated by sociologists and sociological studies - all but one of the organization's presidents earned a doctorate in sociology, the other received a doctorate in psychology - the focus has not been restricted to sociology alone. Studies involving other social sciences and history are included as well, and professionals from those disciplines have joined as members, contributors and honorees.

General theories

American Jewry

According to sociologist

Samuel Heilman Samuel C. Heilman is a professor of Sociology at Queens College of the City University of New York who focuses on social ethnography of contemporary Jewish Orthodox movements. Personal Heilman was born in May, 1946, to Henry and Lucia Heilman, ...

, there are three major theoretical approaches in studying the sociology of American Jewry in particular: *''Uniqueness of Judaism'' and ''Particularism vs. Universalism'' - a popular theoretical approach towards understanding contemporary American Jewry has been the notion that more than anything else Judaism as a religion accounts for the social situation of U.S. Jews today. The current social and political decisions of the Jewish community are rooted in the response to the inevitable conflict between Jewish religious values on one hand, and secular American life on the other. Others, such as

Milton Himmelfarb Milton Himmelfarb (October 21, 1918 – January 4, 2006) was an American sociographer of the American Jewish community. Himmelfarb worked for four decades at the American Jewish Committee where he was director of information and research se ...

, focus less on the Jewish religion per se and focus on the tension produced by balancing the particularism of the Jewish tradition vs. the universalism of American modernity. *''Marginal culture'' - in the 1940s and 1950s, some scholars, such as Milton M. Goldberg, saw Jewish life in America as a successful "marginal culture," following the "

marginal man theory Marginal man or marginal man theory is a sociological concept first developed by sociologists Robert Ezra Park (1864–1944) and Everett Stonequist (1901–1979) to explain how an individual suspended between two cultural realities may struggle to ...

" of

Robert E. Park Robert Ezra Park (February 14, 1864 – February 7, 1944) was an American urban sociologist who is considered to be one of the most influential figures in early U.S. sociology. Park was a pioneer in the field of sociology, changing it from a pas ...

and

Everett Stonequist Everett Verner Stonequist (October 5, 1901 – March 26, 1979) was an American Sociologist perhaps best known for his 1937 book, ''The Marginal Man'' Life & Work Stonequist was born in Worcester, Mass. and received his A.B. degree in History an ...

popular at the time *''Community and organizations'' - a third approach stems from the work of political scientist

Daniel J. Elazar Daniel Judah Elazar (August 25, 1934 – December 2, 1999) was a political scientist known for his seminal studies of political culture of the US states. He was professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University in Israel and Temple University ...

and focuses and the underlying dynamics behind the decision making within Jewish community organizations. While other theoretical approaches have been advanced they have not majorly impacted the discipline's research agenda.

Applied sociology

Samuel Klausner, a former president of the ASSJ, noted that the sociology of Jewry is more an applied social science than a theoretical one. For Klausner, theories developed in sociology may help explain any society, not just a Jewish one. The contribution of the sociology of Jewry therefore is the application of the science, such as its methodology. Others, however, stress that the subfield is a part of general

comparative sociology Comparative sociology involves comparison of the social processes between nation states, or across different types of society (for example capitalist and socialist). There are two main approaches to comparative sociology: some seek similarity acr ...

Syllabi collections

1946 syllabus

In 1946, Kurt H. Wolff, a student of

Karl Mannheim Karl Mannheim (born Károly Manheim, 27 March 1893 – 9 January 1947) was an influential Hungarian sociologist during the first half of the 20th century. He is a key figure in classical sociology, as well as one of the founders of the sociolo ...

, published “An Elementary Syllabus in the Sociology of the Jews” in ''

Social Forces ''Social Forces'' (formerly ''The Journal of Social Forces'') is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal of social science published by Oxford University Press for the Department of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. ...

'', a notable sociology journal. Wolff's aim was to provide an aid to including material on Jews in courses on race relations, social disorganization, minorities, and/or introductory sociology. Wolff's syllabus focused on three topics: *Demographic changes following the aftermath of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

*The " ethnic identifiability" of Jews *

Antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

Later scholars have noted that Wolff's syllabus on the Sociology of Jewry sought to study external structures but ignored the internal dynamics of the Jewish community.Burstein, Paul.
The Sociology of Jewry: Syllabi and Instructional Materials.
''ASA Resource Materials For Teaching''. American Sociological Association. Washington, DC. 2007. Accessed May 8, 2014.

1992 ASA syllabi collection

In 1992, Rabbi Jack Nusan Porter edited the first syllabus collection and curriculum guide on the Sociology of Jewry. The collection was published by the

American Sociological Association The American Sociological Association (ASA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology. Founded in December 1905 as the American Sociological Society at Johns Hopkins University by a group of fif ...

(ASA). The collection included individual syllabi on the sociology of Jews from 34 colleges and universities. However, Porter found that many of the syllabi focused exclusively on Jewish life in America. And only 10 out of 34 syllabi were from sociology departments.Porter, Jack N. 1998. The Sociology of Jewry: A Curriculum Guide. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: American Sociological Association.

2007 ASA syllabi collection

Paul Burstein of the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

compiled an updated collection of syllabi on the sociology of Jewry. This collection was published by the

(ASA) in 2007. In his work, Burstein focuses on the following themes: *Comparative historical approach, examining changing and evolving patterns of Jewish life in the last few hundred years *Jewish life in North America, though focusing mostly on the United States *Jewish life in Israel *The

Burstein notes gaps in specific areas. For example, while Black-Jewish relations in the U.S. is covered in the syllabi, relations between Jews and other groups is not. Also, there are few areas covered outside of American and Israeli Jewry.

References

{{Sociology2 Cultural studies

Sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

Jewish society

Jewry Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...