Children of the Movements: Differences Among American Jewish University Students Raised in Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Homes

Publication Date: October 2008

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Author(s): Mervin F. Verbit

Research Area: Culture and religion

Keywords: American Jews; Identity formation; Congregations

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

In Jewish Population Studies 19 (Papers in Jewish Demography, 1985), 345-356. Since the religious movements in American Judaism are perceived as being on a continuum regarding the demands they make on Jews, it is likely that their adherents' attitudes and practices will also form a continuum even on those issues on which the movements are officially in agreement. The purpose of the present paper is to examine this phenomenon further, and to suggest how people whose religious socialization took place in the three movements differ on a wide range of Jewish behaviors and attitudes. Data were gathered in a study of American Jewish university students in the mid-1970s.