Background

Distinctions in social class and their implications for social cohesion have periodically emerged among American Jews, but they largely receded in the last quarter of the 20th century as most Jews reached middle and upper class status. The connections between them have received little attention since then.

Purpose

We revisit the relationship between social class and social cohesion among American Jews. Though American Jews have been disproportionately located in the middle and upper social classes for many decades, they are nonetheless still stratified internally by social class distinctions. Our research asks: are the social class distinctions that continue to stratify American Jews related to their social cohesion?

Methods

We use data from 27 local Jewish community studies pooled into one data file with 24,733 cases. We measure social class with a bi-directional index composed of income and education, and we measure social cohesion with a question on feeling part of the local Jewish community. We analyze these data using generalized linear mixed models that adjust for clustering by community and specify a cumulative logit link for ordinal outcomes. Our models include other predictors of social cohesion and interaction terms between social class and the other predictors. We also calculate model-based probabilities for dependent variable outcomes.

Results

Modest, positive relationships are found between social class and social cohesion. As social class status increases, so too do felt connections to the local Jewish community. Social class also variably interacts with every other predictor, strengthening the relationship between social class and social cohesion among certain subsegments of the population and reducing it among others.

Conclusions and implications

Even as American Jews are disproportionately located in the middle and upper social classes, social class continues to stratify them, to modestly reduce the group’s overall social cohesion, and to concentrate social cohesion among those with higher social class status. The relationship between social class and social cohesion has implications for social class bias in the processes and dynamics of the organized Jewish community that warrant further research.

中文翻译：

---

美国犹太人的社会阶层和社会凝聚力

背景

社会阶层的差异及其对社会凝聚力的影响在美国犹太人中时有出现，但在 20 世纪最后 25 年，随着大多数犹太人达到中上阶层地位，这种差异在很大程度上消退了。从那时起，他们之间的联系就很少受到关注。

目的

我们重新审视了美国犹太人的社会阶层和社会凝聚力之间的关系。尽管几十年来美国犹太人不成比例地位于中上层社会阶层，但他们仍然在内部按社会阶层差异进行分层。我们的研究问：继续对美国犹太人进行分层的社会阶级差异是否与他们的社会凝聚力有关？

方法

我们使用来自 27 个当地犹太社区研究的数据，这些数据汇集到一个包含 24,733 个案例的数据文件中。我们用收入和教育组成的双向指数来衡量社会阶层，我们用一个关于感觉自己是当地犹太社区的一部分的问题来衡量社会凝聚力。我们使用广义线性混合模型分析这些数据，该模型根据社区聚类进行调整，并为序数结果指定累积 logit 链接。我们的模型包括社会凝聚力的其他预测因素以及社会阶层与其他预测因素之间的交互项。我们还计算因变量结果的基于模型的概率。

结果

在社会阶层和社会凝聚力之间发现了适度的、积极的关系。随着社会阶层地位的提高，与当地犹太社区的联系也在增加。社会阶层也与其他所有预测变量相互作用，加强了社会阶层与某些人口亚群之间的社会凝聚力之间的关系，并减少了其他因素之间的关系。

结论和影响

即使美国犹太人不成比例地位于中上层社会阶层，社会阶层仍在继续对他们进行分层，适度降低群体的整体社会凝聚力，并将社会凝聚力集中在社会地位较高的人群中。社会阶级和社会凝聚力之间的关系对有组织的犹太社区的过程和动态中的社会阶级偏见有影响，值得进一步研究。