The Structure of Jewish Identification in the United States: 2001 Revisited

This paper reviews the basic underlying structure of group identification among Jews in the US as well as differences and similarities between selected sub-groups within the Jewish population. Data were derived from the 2001 NJPS – a large national representative sample of US Jewry. The paper focuses on three issues: the major thrust of trends possibly strengthening or weakening a shared Jewish identification over time; the nature of Jewish identification differentials within the US Jewish population by denomination and organizational membership; and the similarity or difference of American Jewish identification patterns versus other Jewish communities worldwide. This study mostly relies on the conceptual foundations of Facet Theory and the findings are exemplified through Similarity Structure Analysis (SSA).