What is conceptually special about a sociology of jewry

Some methodological issues in the sociology of Jewry are discussed, focusing on conceptual specification, the definition of the field, the measurement of religious Jewishness, the periodization of Jewish history, & the relation of the sociology of Jewry to the humanistic study of Judaism. It is argued that Jewry might be defined by acting rather than being Jewish, leading to an image of several Jewries. Periodization of history should follow the progress of events internal to each Jewry, & cultural distinctions among these Jewries should be considered in rules for measurement of religiousness. It is further argued that the sociology of Jewry should promote its intellectual ties with the humanistic study of Jewry in order to contribute to social policy development. In Theoretical Issues in the Sociology of Contemporary Jewries: Comments on "What is Conceptually Special about a Sociology of Jewry," Calvin Goldscheider (Brown U, Providence, RI) argues that Klausner fails to specify theoretical guidelines for examining historical & comparative analytic themes in the study of modern Jews. It is suggested that the sociology of Jewry should be concerned with the impact of modernization processes on the Jews, not with all historical change. In Examples of What Klausner Calls "Good," "Mature" Sociology of Jewry, J. Alan Winter (Connecticut Coll, New London) cites Stephen Steinberg's study of the Reform movement ("Reform Judaism: Origin and Evolution of a Church Movement," Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 1965, 5, 117-129) as an example of "mature" sociology of Jewry, since it develops a general sociological concern. Will Herberg's analysis of US religions (Protestant, Catholic, Jew, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1960) is discussed as a "good" study because it invokes ideas based on Jewish experience that are applicable to non-Jews as well. In The Conceptually Separate: The Need for a Dynamic Relationship between Comparative Science and Particularist Scholarship: A Response to Klausner, Walter P. Zenner (State U of New York, Albany) focuses on the difficulty of using "native" categories while maintaining a cross-cultural perspective in comparative studies & suggests cultural anthropological methodologies (eg, life histories, text analysis, direct observation) that could supplement questionnaire & census data in the sociological study of Jewry. 29 References. Modified HA