Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry

Last updated

The Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry (ASSJ) is a cross-disciplinary organization of individuals whose research concerns the Jewish people throughout the world, founded in 1971. [1]

Contents

Purpose

The ASSJ comprises primarily academics, but also policy analysts, communal professionals, and activists whose research concerns the Jewish people throughout the world. Social scientific disciplines represented include sociology, social psychology, social anthropology, demography, contemporary history, social work, political science, economics, and Jewish education. Members work throughout the world but primarily in North America, Israel, and Europe. [2]

The ASSJ encourages and facilitates contact among researchers, supports the dissemination of research, and assists in the cultivation of younger scholars. [2]

Past presidents

Past vice presidents

Past treasurers

Past secretaries

Past at-large members of the board

Past student representatives to the board

Contemporary Jewry Journal

The organization publishes a journal, Contemporary Jewry , several times a year with research articles that draw on a range of social scientific fields and methodologies. [2]

Editor-in-chief: Harriet Hartman
Associate editor: Adina Bankier-Karp
Book Review Editor: Ephraim Tabory
Research Editor: Ira Sheskin

Book series

Studies of Jews in Society Published in concert with Springer Nature, Studies of Jews in Society takes a broad perspective on social science to include anthropology, communications, demography, economics, education, ethnography, geography, history, politics, population, social psychology, and sociology. Books may rely on quantitative methods, qualitative methods, or both.

The series is directed to social scientists and general scholars in Jewish studies as well as those generally interested in religion and ethnicity; academics who teach Jewish studies; undergraduates and graduate students in Jewish studies, sociologists interested in religion and ethnicity; and communal professionals and lay leaders who work in Jewish organizations and individuals. The style, while rigorous scientifically, is accessible to a general audience.

Editor: Chaim Waxman

Awards

The Marshall Sklare Award The Marshall Sklare Award is an annual honor of the Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry (ASSJ). The ASSJ seeks to recognize "a senior scholar who has made a significant scholarly contribution to the social scientific study of Jewry." In most cases, the recipient has given a scholarly address. In recent years, the honored scholar has presented the address at the annual meeting of the Association for Jewish Studies. The award is named after sociologist Marshall Sklare.

Mandell L. Berman Service Award The ASSJ presents the Mandell L. Berman Service Award periodically to communal, civic and business leaders, applied and academic researchers, and philanthropists, for distinguished commitment to the social scientific study of Jews through service or financial support.

Distinguished Early Career Award The ASSJ Distinguished Early Career Award will be given periodically to a recent PhD (within the past ten years) whose work reflects excellence in the application of social science theories and methods to the study of contemporary Jewry.

Graduate Student Paper Award This award recognizes outstanding research on contemporary Jewry by graduate students.

Related Research Articles

At the end of 2023, the world's Jewish population was estimated at 15.7 million, which is approximately 0.2% of the 8 billion worldwide population. Israel hosts the largest Jewish population in the world, with 7.1 million, followed by the United States with 6.3 million. Other countries with core Jewries above 100,000 include France (440,000), Canada (398,000), the United Kingdom (312,000), Argentina (171,000), Russia (132,000), Germany (125,000), Australia (117,000) and Brazil (107,000). The number of Jews worldwide rises to 18 million with the addition of the "connected" Jewish population, including those who say they are partly Jewish or that have Jewish backgrounds from at least one Jewish parent, and rises again to 21 million with the addition of the "enlarged" Jewish population, including those who say they have Jewish backgrounds but no Jewish parents and all non-Jewish household members who live with Jews. Counting all those who are eligible for Israeli citizenship under Israel's Law of Return, in addition to Israeli Jews, raised the total to 25.5 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elihu Katz</span> American and Israeli sociologist (1926–2021)

Elihu Katz was an American-Israeli sociologist and communication scientist whose expertise was uses and gratifications theory. He authored over 20 books and 175 articles and book chapters during his lifetime and is acknowledged as one of "the founding fathers of regular television broadcasts in Israel."

The American Jewish Year Book (AJYB) has been published since 1899. Publication was initiated by the Jewish Publication Society (JPS). In 1908, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) assumed responsibility for compilation and editing while JPS remained the publisher. From 1950 through 1993, the two organizations were co-publishers, and from 1994 to 2008 AJC became the sole publisher. From 2012 to the present, Springer has published the Year Book as an academic publication. The book is published in cooperation with the Berman Jewish DataBank and the Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Sarna</span> American historian

Jonathan D. Sarna is the Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History in the department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and director of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Samuel C. Heilman is a professor of Sociology at Queens College, City University of New York, who focuses on social ethnography of contemporary Jewish Orthodox movements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sergio Della Pergola</span> Israeli demographer and statistician

Sergio Della Pergola is an Italian-Israeli demographer and statistician. He is a professor and demographic expert, specifically in demography and statistics related to the Jewish population.

Charles S. Liebman was an American political scientist and prolific author on Jewish life and Israel. A professor at Bar-Ilan University, he previously served on university faculties in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture</span> Sociological research institute at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, USA

The Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture (ISSSC) is located at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. ISSSC was established in 2005 to advance the understanding of the role of secular values and the process of secularization in contemporary society and culture. Designed to be multidisciplinary and nonpartisan, the Institute conducts research, lectures and public events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mandell Berman</span> American businessman and philanthropist

Mandell "Bill" Berman (1917–2016) was the businessman and philanthropist behind the Mandell L. and Madeleine H. Berman Foundation, which supports Jewish education, and research and study of the contemporary American Jewish community. His philanthropic focus was on the storage, dissemination, and preservation of Jewish data, as well as Jewish education and special education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven M. Cohen</span> American sociologist

Steven M. Cohen is an American sociologist whose work focuses on the American Jewish Community. He served as a Research Professor of Jewish Social Policy at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and as Director of the Berman Jewish Policy Archive at Stanford University before his July 2018 resignation stemming from allegations of sexual harassment.

Mervin Feldman Verbit is an American sociologist whose work focuses on sociology of religion, American Jews and the American Jewish community. He is currently the chair of the Sociology Department at Touro College.

Marshall Sklare (1921–1992) was an American sociologist whose work focused on American Jews and the American Jewish Community. Sklare was the Klutznick Family Professor of Contemporary Jewish Studies and Sociology at Brandeis University. Because of his contributions to the social scientific study of Jewry, Sklare is known as the "father of American Jewish sociology".

Chaim Isaac Waxman is an American sociologist now living in Israel. He is the Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Jewish Studies at Rutgers University and a Senior Fellow at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute.

Leonard Saxe is an American social psychologist whose work focuses on sociology of religion, American Jews and the American Jewish community. He is currently the director of the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sociology of Jewry</span>

The sociology of Jewry involves the application of sociological theory and method to the study of the Jewish people and the Jewish religion. Sociologists are concerned with the social patterns within Jewish groups and communities; American Jewry, Israeli Jews and Jewish life in the diaspora. Sociological studies of the Jewish religion include religious membership, ritual and denominational patterns. Notable journals include Jewish Social Studies, The Jewish Journal of Sociology and Contemporary Jewry.

Contemporary Jewry is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry since 1977.

Norman Friedman is an American sociologist and the former chairman of the Department of Sociology at California State University, Los Angeles.

Sylvia Barack Fishman is an American feminist sociologist and author. She is the Joseph and Esther Foster Professor of Judaic Studies at Brandeis University, Co-Director of the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, and a board member of JOFA, the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance. She writes about Jewish life in America.

Charles Garfiel Kadushin was an American psychologist and emeritus professor of psychology at the City University of New York. He was an expert in the field of social network analysis.

Debra Renee Kaufman is an American sociologist whose work focuses on feminist methodologies in the fields of the sociology of Jewry and Jewish history. Kaufman was the founder and former director of the Women’s Studies and Jewish Studies programs at Northeastern University.

References

  1. Arnold Dashefsky; Ira M. Sheskin (2 July 2020). American Jewish Year Book 2019: The Annual Record of the North American Jewish Communities Since 1899. Springer Nature. p. 716. ISBN   978-3-030-40371-3.
  2. 1 2 3 "Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry" . Retrieved 24 December 2010.
  3. "Content Pages of the Encyclopedia of Religion and Social Science". Archived from the original on 2013-10-11. Retrieved 2013-12-21.
  4. "Volume 1 Number 1 ASSJ Newsletter" (PDF). www.contemporaryjewry.org.
  5. "Join/Renew - Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry".