Jewish Identification and Intellectuality: A Two Generation Analysis

Abstract

The sources of the high degree of intellectuality found among the Jewish people has long been an important question for students of Jewish life and for an understanding of the relationship between social structure, culture, and personality. The two main explanations offered have to do with the inseparable connection between piety and study within Judaism and with the Jews' marginal position within gentile culture. Neither of these explanations has been tested empirically within contemporary society. In fact, at the individual level, there is no firm evidence that involvement in Jewish life per se, here conceptualized as Jewish identification, is related to intellectuality. The present study provides evidence on this issue and also on how generational difference within the Jewish community affects this linkage. Data were collected through a mailed questionnaire distributed to all younger men, age 22 to 29, and to their fathers within the Jewish community of St. Paul. Approximately two-thirds of those in each category responded (“sons”: N = 183; “fathers”: N = 119). Jewish identification was measured by a fourteen item Likert-type scale; intellectuality was measured by the Thinking Introversion scale of the Omnibus Personality Inventory. A significant positive association between these two factors was found among the older generation respondents; no such association was found among the younger men in this study. Three additional factors—secular education, occupation, and Jewish education— were applied as controls using the stratified correlation technique. Secular education did not affect the correlation in either generation, while occupation affected the correlation in different ways between the two generations (low occupation respondents had the highest correlation in the older generation; high occupation respondents had the highest correlation in the younger generation). The third control variable, Jewish education, affected the correlation in the same way for both groups—those with higher levels of Jewish education manifested a stronger association between Jewish identification and intellectuality.