Off-campus UMass Amherst users: To download dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your UMass Amherst user name and password.
Non-UMass Amherst users, please click the view more button below to purchase a copy of this dissertation from Proquest.
(Some titles may also be available free of charge in our Open Access Dissertation Collection, so please check there first.)
PROCESSES OF JEWISH AMERICAN IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT: PERCEPTIONS OF CONSERVATIVE JEWISH WOMEN
Abstract
The purpose of this study was an exploration of the process(es) of Jewish American Identity Development in Conservative Jewish women. It sought to explore the development of Jewish identity among women of the Conservative sect. Since there were no known studies on the process of Jewish American identity development, this study was considered exploratory research in this area. Therefore, instead of specific hypothesis testing, the present study sought answers to a set of general research questions: How do women describe their Jewish experience? Do or did Jewish women try to hide their Jewishness? How do women resolve the fact that they are Jewish? What precipitated the decision to accept/reject their Jewishness? Are there any specific patterns and/or sequential stages of development that appear with regard to the Jewish identity development process for this sample? Methodology. A qualitative research method was used since this was an exploratory study aimed at generating a theory of the process of Jewish American identity development. As its methodological framework, the study utilized the work of Glaser and Strauss (1968) in The Discovery of Grounded Theory. Twelve Conservative (second or third generation Ashkenazim) Jewish women made up the sample. Results and Conclusions. Findings from this study did not reveal a sequential model of Jewish American identity development within this population. What did emerge was a picture of a continuum of responses related to racial identity development issues. Further analysis also seemed to indicate that exposure to diversity increased the likelihood of a different pattern of responses than if one remains closely and consistently associated and identified with members of one's own group. This pattern of response was typified by a higher degree of acceptance of people who are different, an awareness of the oppression of one's own group, a realization that one's oppression connects with the oppression of other groups and there appeared a certain level of political consciousness.
Subject Area
Bilingual education|Multicultural education|Womens studies
Recommended Citation
KANDEL, ANDREA CAROL, "PROCESSES OF JEWISH AMERICAN IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT: PERCEPTIONS OF CONSERVATIVE JEWISH WOMEN" (1986). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI8612053.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI8612053