Counting on Whiteness: Religion, race, ethnicity, and the politics of Jewish demography

Abstract

Abstract American Jews have long been an anomaly for scholars concerned with understanding how they fit into extant social scientific or historical categories. Sometimes they seem best described as an ethnic group, other times as a religious one. This ambiguity has also vexed Jewish communal leaders whose desire to comprehend their communities has largely been underwritten by their intention to protect it. This intersection of sociological methods and schema and Jewish communal concerns has resulted in decisive omissions regarding how best to account for the racial and ethnic diversity of American Jews. An analysis of survey instruments used in 175 American Jewish population studies and community portraits conducted since 1970 reveals a focus on questions of religious practice and an avoidance of those about race and ethnicity, resulting in a “religio‐racial formation” of American Jews as White. This approach to studying American Jewish life has marginalized or excluded non‐White Jews while ensuring ongoing Jewish communal access to Whiteness without having to claim it explicitly.

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