Jewish People: Race, Religion or Ethnic Group

1
Jewish People Race, Religion or Ethnic Group?

• Jews are a subordinate group
• Unequal treatment
• Share a cultural history that distinguishes them
  from the dominant group
• Ascribed status or involuntary status
• Group solidarity
• In-group marriage

2
Jewish People Race, Religion or Ethnic Group?

• Jewish identity among Jews is based on a shared
  culture - thus Jews are best classified as an
  ethnic minority
• The trend in the United States among Jews has
  been toward Judaization -lessening of the
  significance of religion and an increase in
  culture as the bond among Jews

3
Immigration of Jews to the United States

• First Jewish migration occurred around 1654 from
  Spain and Portugal (Refugees)
• Largest Jewish migration occurred around the
  turn of nineteenth century
• Immigration Act of 1920 reduced Jewish
  immigration
• Recent immigration has been from Israel, Soviet
  Union and Iran

4
Figure 14-3 Intergroup Relations Continuum
5
Anti-Semitism Past and Present

• Origins of anti-Semitism
• Blamed for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ
• Formation of negative stereotypes over the years
• Fringe-of-values theory by Gordon Allport (1979)
  and the formation of negative stereotypes
• Jewish group identity as a means of adapting to a
  hostile environment and in-group virtues becoming
  out-group vices
• Discrimination as a source of anti-Semitism

6
Holocaust

• Holocaust - state-sponsored systematic
  extermination of European Jews by Nazi Germany
• German policy and the restriction of the rights
  of Jews
• Between 1933 - 1945 two-thirds of Europe's Jewish
  population were killed

7
Unites States Anti-Semitism Past

• Colonial America and anti-Semitism
• Peter Stuyvesants attempt to expel Jews from
  what is New York city today
• The 1920s and 1930s saw an increase in anti-
  Semitism
• Perpetuation of false propaganda - In the forged
  documents Protocols of the Elders of Zion
• The publications of the Protocols and
  anti-Semitism

8
Differences Between Anti-Semitism in the United
States and Europe

• First - United States government never promoted
  anti-Semitic policies
• Second - anti-Semitism was not institutionalized
  in the United States
• Third - Jews did not develop a defensive ideology
  in order to survive

9
Contemporary Anti-Semitism

• Anti-Defamation League
• Monitors anti-Semitic incidents
• Rise in numbers in 1990s and 2001
• American Jews and the relationship with Israel
• Source of unity and identity
• Zionism - and anti-Semitism
• African Americans and Anti-Semitism
• Fewer anti-Semitic and more anti-White
  institutions

10
Figure 14-4 Anti-Semitic Incidents, 1980-2002
11
Position of Jewish Americans

• Declining discrimination in the business world
• Jewish MBAs and job opportunities
• Rising rapidly up the corporate hierarchy
• Higher salaries
• Declining poverty and the invisible poor

12
Education

• Judaic religion and the emphasis on formal
  schooling
• Emphasis on education
• Higher educational attainment
• Prejudice at school

13
Organizational Activity

• United Jewish Appeal - founded in (1939) raises
  funds for humanitarian causes
• American Jewish Committee - founded in (1906) to
  improve Jewish-Gentile relations
• American Jewish Congress - founded in (1918) to
  improve Jewish-Gentile relations
• Bnai Brith - founded in (1843) to promote
  cultural programs (ADL)

14
Political Activity

• Jewish voters and the Democratic party
• Political offices
• Politics and the New Left
• Politics and Israel

15
Religious Life

• Orthodox
• Conservative
• Reconstructionist
• Reform
• Just Jewish

• 7
• 29
• 2
• 29
• 33

16
(No Transcript)
17
The Orthodox Tradition

• Orthodox tradition
• Torah
• Life is conducted according to tradition and
  rituals
• Kashrut - food

18
The Reform Tradition

• Very religious
• Changed traditions to reflect social changes
• Conservative Judaism in between Orthodox and
  Reform

19
Jewish Identity

• Yiddishkait - Jewish Americans and a sense of
  peoplehood (Jewishness)
• Jewish women and Jewish identity
• Halakha

20
Family

• Delayed marriage
• Single life has become increasingly more
  acceptable
• Declining birth rate, acceptability of
  childlessness and rising divorce rate
• Decline in intergenerational roles in the family
• Decline in Jewishness in daily live

21
Figure 14-5 Generational Patterns by Denomination
22
Role of Religion

• Judaism and religious diversity
• Traditional Jewish Law
• Religion and marginality
• The role of culture
• Maintaining a sense of peoplehood