The Jew Within

Self, Family, and Community in America

Bibliographic Data

ID19944827
AuthorsArnold M Eisen, Steven Cohen (corresponding author), Steven M Cohen (0000-0002-6633-8173)
Year2000
Pages242
Publication date2000-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueThe Jew Within (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherIndiana University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2979/2125.0
OpenAlexW4409480108
Open LibraryOL9417436M
ISBN9780253337825
LanguageEN
Citations received25

Based on quantitative data from national statistical surveys and qualitative data teased out from 45 in-depth interviews, social scientists Cohen and Eisen present the most up-to-date analysis of what being Jewish means to moderately affiliated American Jews, who comprise approximately 50-60 percent of the US Jewish population. The authors conclude that these Jews are engaged in a journey whose guidepost is individual autonomy, whose basic thrust is the quest for a personalized, family-centered, nontheological spirituality, and whose fundamental mode of expression is selective ritual behavior. But the interviewees are inconsistent; notwithstanding their smug, self-satisfied affirmation of total independence, they nevertheless seem desperate to envelop themselves somehow with a sense of Jewish family, past and present, and to link themselves to the tribe. The authors explore both the similarities and discontinuities in Jewish identity between this generation of Jews and those of prior decades, and between the identity formation of these Jews and contemporary US Christians; they ruminate about the implications of these Jewish self-definitions for the Jewish future. Furnishing the survey's questionnaire and the interviewers' personal questions, this book constitutes an intelligent, learned, and engaging start for what is sure to be the next generation of assessments of American Jewish identity. All collections

Art · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Jewish Identity and Society · Ethnic Studies - General · Familie · Gemeenschap (sociologie) · Identität · Individu · Interviews · Jewish families · Jewish studies · Jewish way of life · Jews · Jews In The U.S · Judaism · Judaism - General · Judaism - History · Judaism - Rituals & Practice · Jüdische Gemeinde · Religion · Religion - Judaism · Religious life · united states · USA

Tools

Open DOILibgen