Abstract
Issues of demography and identification among Jews in the United States stand at the crossroads of at least two different complementary research perspectives. The first, directly focuses on the observed trends among American Jews and is concerned with description and interpretation of these trends and their possible implications for the longer term continuity and viability of the American Jewish community. The second, more theoretical perspective, considers Jews in the United States as a casestudy which may contribute in a broader effort to conceptualization of the definition, meaning and significance of religious and other types of socio-cultural groups in contemporary societies. The materials presented in this paper relate directly to the first of these two approaches. The data presented are our own new, and so far, unpublished processings of the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey, sponsored by the Council of Jewish Federations in New York, and directed by Profs. Sidney Goldstein of Brown University and Barry A. Kosmin of The Graduate School and University Center, CUNY and the North American Jewish Data Bank (NAJDB), with the support of a National Technical Advisory Committee. It is hoped, though, that the paper will stimulate discussion of a broader scope about the sociology of contemporary Judaism, particularly in North America, and about the socio-demographic development of religious groups more generally.
Similar content being viewed by others
Bibliograhy
ALBA, R.D. (1985)Italian Americans: into the Twilight of Ethnicity. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.
COHEN, S.M. (1986) “Vitality and Resilience in the American Jewish Family.” In S.M. Cohen and P.E. Hyman (eds.)The Jewish Family; Myths and Reality. New York: Homes & Meier, pp. 221–229.
COHEN, S.M. and BERGER, G. (1991) “Understanding and Misunderstanding the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey.” Paper presented at Consultation on the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey, Waltham, Mass., Brandeis University.
COHEN, S.M., and LIEBMAN, C.S. (1987)The Quality of American Jewish Life—Two Views. New York: The American Jewish Committee, Jewish Sociology Papers.
DELLAPERGOLA, S. (1980) “Patterns of American Jewish Fertility”Demography, 17 (3): 261–273.
— (1989) “Marriage, Conversion, Children and Jewish Continuity: Some Demographic Aspects of ‘Who is a Jew?’ ” In W. Frankel and A. Lerman (eds.)Survey of Jewish Affairs 1989. Oxford: Basil Blackwell for the Institute of Jewish Affairs, pp. 171–187.
DELLAPERGOLA, S., REBHUN, U., and SAGI, D. (1991) “Second Census of Jewish Education in the Diaspora 1987/90.” Paper presented at Consultation on Jewish Education in the Diaspora. Jerusalem: The Pincus Fund. (Hebrew).
DELLAPERGOLA, S., and SCHMELZ, U.O. (1989) “Demographic Transformations of American Jewry: Marriage and Mixed Marriage in the 1980s.” In P.Y. Medding (ed.)Studies in Contemporary Jewry: An Annual, 5. New York: Oxford Univeristy Press, pp. 169–200.
GLAZER, N. (1987)New Perspectives in American Jewish Sociology. New York: The American Jewish Committee, Jewish Sociology Papers.
GOLDSCHEIDER, C. (1986)Jewish Continuity and Change: Emerging Patterns in America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
— (1989) “American Jewish Marriages: Erosion or Transformation?” In P.Y. Medding (ed.)Studies in Contemporary Jewry: An Annual, 5. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 201–208.
GOLDSCHEIDER, C., and ZUCKERMAN, AS. (1984)The Transformation of the Jews. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
GOLDSTEIN, S. (1988)A 1990 National Jewish Population Study: Why and How. Jerusalem: The Hebrew University, The Institute of Contemporary Jewry, Occasional Paper 1988–04.
— (1989) “American Jewish Demography: Inconsistencies that Challenge.” In U.O. Schmelz and S. DellaPergola (eds.)Papers in Jewish Demography 1985. Jerusalem: The Hebrew University, Jewish Population Studies No. 19:23–42.
GOLDSTEIN, S., and KOSMIN, B. (1991) “Religion and Ethnic Self-Identification in the United States, 1989–90: A Case Study of the Jewish Population.” Paper presented at the Population Association of America annual meeting, Washington, DC.
GORDON, M.M. (1964)Assimilation in American Life: The Role of Race, Religion and National Origins. New York: Oxford University Press.
GREELEY, A.M. (1974)Ethnicity in the United States: A Preliminary Reconnaissance. New York: Wiley.
HERBERG, W. (1955)Protestant, Catholic, Jew: An Essay in American Religious Sociology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
KOSMIN, B., GOLDSTEIN, S., WAKSBERG, J., LERER, N., KEYSAR, A., and SCHECKNER, J. (1991)Highlights of the CJF 1990 National Jewish Population Survey. New York: Council of Jewish Federations.
LAZERWITZ, B. (1978) “An Estimate of A Rare Population Group: The U.S. Jewish Population”Demography, 15 (3): 389–394.
LIEBERSON, S., and WATERS, M.C. (1988)From Many Strands: Ethnic and Racial Groups in Contemporary America. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
LIEBMAN, C.S. (1990) “Ritual, Ceremony and the Reconstruction of Judaism in the United States.” In E. Mendelsohn and R.I. Cohen (eds.)Studies in Contemporary Jewry: An Annual, 6. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 272–283.
— (1991) “American Jews Confront Tradition.” Paper delivered at the Institute for Advanced Studies, Research Group on Society and Religion in Contemporary Judaism. Jerusalem: The Hebrew University.
MASSARIK, F. (1975) “National Jewish Population Study: A New United States Estimate”American Jewish Year Book, 75: 296–302.
— (1977) “The Boundary of Jewishness: Some Measures of Jewish Identity in the United States.” In U.O. Schmelz, P. Glikson, and S. DellaPergola (eds.)Papers in Jewish Demography 1973. Jerusalem: The Hebrew University, Jewish Population Studies No. 10: 117–139.
NEUSNER, J. (1987) “America, not Israel, Jews promised land ” Jewish Week, 199, May 1.
NOVAK, M. (1973)The Rise of the Unmeltable Ethnics. New York: Macmillan.
OLSHANSKY, B. (1991) “Consultation on Policy Implications of the 1990 CJF National Jewish Population Survey.” Paper presented at Consultation on the 1990 CJF National Jewish Population Survey. Waltham, Mass., Brandeis University.
SCHMELZ, U.O. (1981) “Jewish Survival: The Demographic Factors”American Jewish Year Book, 81: 61–117.
SCHMELZ, U.O. and DELLAPERGOLA, S. (1983) “The Demographic Consequences of U.S. Jewish Population Trends,”American Jewish Year Book, 83: 141–187.
— (1988)Basic Trends in American Jewish Demography. New York: The American Jewish Committee. Jewish Sociology Papers.
— (1991) “World Jewish Population. 1989”American Jewish Year Book, 91: 441–465.
SCHRAGE, B. (1991) “A Communal Response to the Challenges of the 1990 CJF Jewish Population Study: Toward a Jewish Life Worth Living.” Paper presented at Consultation on the 1990 CJF National Jewish Population Survey, Waltham, Mass., Brandeis University.
SILBERMAN, C.E. (1985)A Certain People: American Jews and Their Lives Today. New York: Summit.
SMITH, T.W. (1984) “Religious Mosaic” American Demographics, June, pp. 19–22.
TOBIN, G.A. (1989) “A Sociodemographic Profile of Jews in the United States in the 1980s.” In U.O. Schmelz and S. DellaPergola (eds.)Papers in Jewish Demography 1985. Jerusalem: The Hebrew University, Jewish Population Studies No. 19: 43–65.
TOBIN, G.A., and LIPSMAN, J.A. (1984) “A Compendium of Jewish Demographic Studies.” In S.M. Cohen, J.S. Woocher, and B.A. Phillips (eds.)Perspectives in Jewish Population Research. Boulder: Westview.
WATERS, M.C. (1990)Ethnic Options: Choosing Identities in America. Berkeley: University of California Press.
YANCEY, W., ERIKSEN, E., and JULIANI, R.N. (1976) “Emergent Ethnicity: A Review and Reformulation”American Sociological Review, 41: 391–403.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Paper delivered to the Institute for Advanced Studies Research Group on Society and Religion in Contemporary Judaism, Jerusalem, December 10, 1991.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Della Pergola, S. New data on demography and identification among Jews in the U.S.: Trends inconsistencies and disagreements. Cont Jewry 12, 67–97 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02965535
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02965535