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Collective Identity

Changes in American Jewish Identities: From Normative Constructions to Aesthetic Understandings

Changes in American Jewish Identities: From Normative Constructions to Aesthetic Understandings

March 16, 2008 | Steven M. Cohen
Over the past several decades, Jews in the United States have been reshaping their Jewish identities in line with geographic dispersion, cultural changes, and generational shifts. Of special note is that Jews have fewer Jewish spouses, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and formal ties to other Jews. They feel less attached to both Jewish peoplehood and Israel, amounting to a decline in Jewish collective identity.