[Download] "An Investigation of Jewish Ethnic Identity and Jewish Affiliation for American Jews (Report)" by North American Journal of Psychology " eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: An Investigation of Jewish Ethnic Identity and Jewish Affiliation for American Jews (Report)
- Author : North American Journal of Psychology
- Release Date : January 01, 2011
- Genre: Education,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 229 KB
Description
Previous studies suggest that Jews have been left out of discussion in textbooks on multicultural counseling (Weinrach, 2002), professional psychological journals (Foley, 2007; Robbins, 2000), and multiculturalism in general (Langman, 1995; 1999; Schlosser, 2006). Some possible reasons for these omissions include the designation of Jews as just a religious group, the perception of Jews as just mainstream White Americans, and the perceived high economic status of Jews (Langman, 1999; 1995). However, such assumptions ignore important aspects of being Jewish in America. The label "White" implies a shared set of values, a common history, and the same sense of privilege among all members of the group. Unfortunately though, this kind of categorization may confuse race with culture and/or ethnicity, perpetuating thinking that marginalizes entire groups of people. Over the years, the Jewish people have become so assimilated into the American culture that their unique issues and concerns have been overlooked. This study attempts to address some of the unique concerns of this group by investigating the relationships among Jewish ethnic identity, Jewish affiliation, and well-being for American Jews. Jews do not constitute a race because being Jewish is not a biological distinction (Casas, 1984). There are Jews of many different races in the world (Langman, 1999). Jews are best defined as an ethnic group because they share a common history, a language, a religion, a nation, and a culture (Casas, 1984). Whereas ethnic identity refers to a person's sense of belonging to a group, self-identification or affiliation is related to participation in activities of the group (Phinney, 1992). Most previous research intending to examine Jewish identity may actually be focused on Jewish affiliation (Himmelfarb, 1980). The current study makes a distiction between these two concepts.