De joden in Amsterdam

to the problem of recruiting, training, and providing continuous employment for the men and women who are to do the work. That issue cannot be shirked. A further practical question arises. Research into Jewish matters calls not only for sociological training but also for some sort of education in Jewish subjects. Let us not beat about the bush. The young people who offer themselves to „Jewish Sociology” are not likely to know enough about Jewish religion and history. We are, in fact, confronted by the same educational problems as faces scholar interested in the development of what our American collegues call „area studies”.

How do we combine a thorough sociological training with an adequate training in the background of the subjects to be investigated? What institution of higher Jewish learning in this country is capable of providing this sort of education in conjunction with sociology? And if it is capable, is it willing?

We have so far dealt with problems of recruitment and training. There is also the question of demand. This conference has been sponsored by an Israeli body. Does Anglo-Jewry itself want sociology? Our impression is that there is some indifference to it and, in places, resistance. That indifference is partly to be ascribed to a general un-intellectualism in organised Anglo-Jewry. The resistance comes to some extent from the feeling that a minority needs to be careful about what it exposes to the public view; if anything is to be said it must be flattering; sociology sounds like muck-raking. Moreover, some people want to maintain intact the image of a homogenous and unified community and fear lest impartial enquiry reveal a very different state of affairs”.

De Verenigde Staten blijken het gebied te zijn waar nog het meest sociaalwetenschappelijk onderzoek is verricht met betrekking tot de Joodse groep. Wie zich hierover wil oriënteren kan het beste het eerder aangehaalde werk van M. Sklare „The Jews”, 1957*, doornemen en zo een indruk krijgen van de variatie in het genre van studies die zich bezig hebben gehouden met de sociaalwetenschappelijke aspecten van de Amerikaanse Joden.

Om hiervan enig idee te geven volgt onderstaand de verkorte inhoudsopgave.

1.    The Historical Setting.

2.    Demographic Aspects and the Factor of Social Mobility.

3.    The Jewish Community: Institutions, Social Patterns, Status Structure, and

Levels of Integration.