Women, Men and Ethnicity : Essays on the Structure and Thought of American Jewry

This collection of essays works around the topic of ethnicity, exploring how it helps a group of people sustain a sense of purpose and identity. Jews, not having been exposed as blacks were to enslavement, had more self-confidence in the moral force and cultural authority of their tradition. But as with Africans, the secular culture of modern Europe and America denigrated their religion and the peasant culture through which it had been conveyed. To maintain the moral force of the religious traditions in the modern world required the fabrication of a new culture, both religious and secular. This book is divided into two sections: 'Ideology and Method in American Jewish History,' and 'Men and Women and the Making of an Ethnic Community,' which dwells upon the evolutions of cultural institutions such as sex roles, marriage, B'nai B'rith, the Ku Klux Klan and advertising. The author has focused his research on individual families and on changes and participation in secular institutions. Co-published with the American Jewish Archives.

This collection of essays works around the topic of ethnicity, exploring how it helps a group of people sustain a sense of purpose and identity. Jews, not having been exposed as blacks were to enslavement, had more self-confidence in the moral force and cultural authority of their tradition. But as with Africans, the secular culture of modern Europe and America denigrated their religion and the peasant culture through which it had been conveyed. To maintain the moral force of the religious traditions in the modern world required the fabrication of a new culture, both religious and secular. This book is divided into two sections: ''Ideology and Method in American Jewish History,'' and ''Men and Women and the Making of an Ethnic Community,'' which dwells upon the evolutions of cultural institutions such as sex roles, marriage, B''nai B''rith, the Ku Klux Klan and advertising. The author has focused his research on individual families and on changes and participation in secular institutions. Co-published with the American Jewish Archives.