Studying Jewish Identity

This chapter discusses what Jewish identity means in the context of the broader nature of collective identities. The social sciences have suggested several alternative theories of the meanings and contents of collective identities. Among these, Social identity theory, Self-categorization theory, Identity theory, and Stages theory. The chapter presents a thorough review of the main approaches and trends in the study of US Jewish identification. It explores fundamental questions such as: What are the best methodologies apt to catch the systemic character of Jewish identification rather than its specific components? Are identification processes in the major contemporary Jewish communities similar or different, converging, going parallel, or diverging? When investigators suggest certain concepts and notions they deem clearly understood and shared, do ordinary people really perceive those notions in the same sense or do they attribute them different meanings? The last part of the chapter focuses on Similarity Structure Analysis (SSA) – a particular theory and method of data processing extensively used throughout this volume.