Living local: some remarks on the creation of social groups of young Jews in present- day London

Abstract

This article looks at the formation of social groups of young Jews in present-day London. In order to analyse the creation of these groups, the focus is on the level of voluntary grassroots groups, which allows for an in-depth analysis of the creation and maintenance of the groups, as well as an analysis of the membership. However, as important as who participated as a member of the groups is to understand, understanding which Jews did not participate in the groups is also important, as this gives an insight into the faultlines and cleavages of Jewish identities in the present. The findings indicate that young Jews in London gather along the lines of a shared inner-Jewish ethnic subgroup and within this subgroup with co-ethnics who share similar attitudes, values and motivations. Furthermore, the findings indicate that present-day London Jews live within a heavily nationalised if not localised framework, because the goals of the groups are mainly local with a few national features.