jpr / report No. 4 1997
The social attitudes of unmarried young Jews in contemporary Britain
This new research is based on a sub-sample of
unmarried respondents, aged between 22 and 39, taken from the comprehensive JPR Survey of the Social and Political Attitudes of British Jews. Two key findings emerge:
- Young unmarried Jews in Britain today form a very diverse group socio-economically, politically, attitudinally and in religious outlook.
- Gender is not predictive of behaviour, attitude or religious outlook, but friendship networks are.
Jacqueline Goldberg and Barry A. Kosmin
Demographic profile of the sub-sample
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This report is based on a sample of 193 young unmarried adults, between 22-39 years of age, extracted from 2,194 respondents to a self-completed questionnaire obtained during a postal survey of British Jews between July and October 1995.
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The demographic profile of the respondents revealed an uneven proportion of males (55 per cent) to females (45 per cent) with 10 omitting information about their gender. There was also a slight bias towards older respondents.
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Sixty-eight per cent of the sample lived in Inner or Outer London.
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The sample was highly educated: 55 per cent had an undergraduate degree.
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Eighty per cent were in paid employment.
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Religious outlook: 34 per cent of the sample regarded themselves as 'Non-practising (secular) Jews', 27 per cent were 'Just Jewish', 9 per cent were Progressive, 24 per cent were Traditional and 6 per cent were 'Strictly Orthodox'.
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Based on the findings of qualitative research carried out on behalf of Jewish Continuity, the sample was divided into three 'types' of Jewish young adults, a typology known as 'Jewish social network': close, halfway and distant. The close group included individuals whose close friends were mostly or all Jewish. About half of the halfway group's close friends were Jewish, and few or none of the distant group's close friends were Jewish. There was a strong correlation between the Jewish social network groups and religious outlook.
General attitudes
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There was an overall consensus on the importance of increasing the allocation of tax revenue for the National Health Service and education, and the relative unimportance of funding the military (on the latter, the distant and halfway groups were noticeably more negative than the close group). Preference was also shown for the funding of programmes to protect the environment over culture and the arts.
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About one-third of the sample felt that, generally speaking, there is more racial prejudice in Britain now than there was five years ago, with only 24 per cent thinking that there is more antisemitism.
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Despite strong ideological views, the sample did not appear to be overly enthusiastic about party politics. Although 72 per cent stated that they were closer to one party than another, 30 per cent of the sample declined to name the party.
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A breakdown of the sample's television viewing patterns showed that the vast majority watched both national and international news indicating a high level of interest in current affairs.
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Choice of daily newspaper was well distributed across the spectrum of broadsheets. The general distaste for the tabloids reflects the educational and social profile of the sample. Sixty-one per cent of respondents read the Jewish press regularly but this varied according to the Jewish social network group.
Jewish identity
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Religious upbringing during childhood was found to be strongly related to an individual's adult Jewish social network group.
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Eighty-six per cent of the sample received some form of formal Jewish education. Participation in Jewish education and attendance at Jewish youth clubs were both significantly related to Jewish social network groups with close respondents being more likely to attend than distant respondents. It is likely that Jewish education is more indicative of parental attitudes and Jewish identity while Jewish youth club attendance demonstrates an individual's expression of their own identity and social preferences.
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Religious outlook, Jewish identity, Jewish social network group and awareness of being Jewish are closely related social variables. Patterns of agreement and disagreement across the whole range of Jewish beliefs and experiences were revealed; the majority agreed that it was impor-tant that the Jews survive as a people and that an unbreakable bond unites Jews all over the world.
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There were significant links between social network groups and both synagogue membership and attendance: 29 per cent of the halfways, 60 per cent of the distants and even 10 per cent of the close respondents did not attend synagogue at all over the past year; and only one-third of the close group attended once a month or more. This suggests that there is little religious content to the Jewish identity of even the close group; the majority of all the respondents were uncertain whether or not they could feel at ease expressing their spirituality in a synagogue. While only a minority was currently a member of a synagogue, attendance was more common.
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The close and halfway groups felt that the Jewish beliefs, experiences and rituals outlined in the questionnaire were more important to them than they were to the distant group. Thus distant respondents were more likely to celebrate Christmas than the other groups.
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The men and women in the sample were found to differ over what constituted the salient aspects of Jewish life, with involvement in Jewish home life and a loyalty to Jewish heritage emerging as more important for women than men.
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The majority of the sample (76 per cent) had visited Israel in the past ten years, with significantly more females than males having done so. Among the three social network groups, the close group was the most likely to have visited Israel several times, to have friends and relatives there and to exhibit a strong attachment to the Jewish state.
Attitudes to marriage and interpersonal relationships
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The majority of the sample (65 per cent) did not think that marriage is an outdated institution. Interestingly, all three groups rated adultery as 'more wrong' than homosexual sex.
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There was consensus among men and women in all three social network groups on attitudes to marriage and divorce.
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Gender was not found to be a source of division in attitudes to gender roles at home and at work, and a wide range of opinions were represented.
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Twenty-three per cent of the sample were actively seeking a partner at the time of completing the questionnaire.
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Just over one-third of the sample appeared to approve of intermarriage in theory while 40 per cent disapproved of it. In fact 68 per cent of the sample had previously been in a relationship with a non-Jewish person. This was differentiated across the social network groups with the close group members being less likely to have had an inter-faith relationship. Nevertheless half of the close group respondents had been in a relationship with a non-Jew as compared with 78 per cent of the halfway and 81 per cent of the distant groups. Close group members were more likely to believe that it was important for their partner to be Jewish than either of the other groups, although half of the overall sample believed that it was difficult to find a suitable Jewish partner.
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Over half of the sample agreed that rabbis should be more helpful in welcoming non-Jewish partners into the community.
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The question of inter-faith relationships was found to have significance for the respondents in and of itself, and not only when there was a question of having children.
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The three social network groups were quite distinct when it came to the religious outlook of people with whom they felt most comfortable. The close group were more likely to say they felt most comfortable with other Jews, and these Jews tended to be either Orthodox or Traditional in their outlook. In contrast, none of the distant group felt comfortable with Orthodox Jews.
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The majority of respondents believed that an emphasis on the family was more common amongst Jews than in the population at large, as were the traits of ambition and ostentatiousness.
The association of unmarried people with the community
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Only one in six respondents considered the Jewish community more welcoming to single people than society in general.
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The Jewish social network typology works well for predicting ties to the community. For example, when choosing the most important charitable cause from a list containing general British charities, charities providing overseas aid for the poor, Jewish charities in Britain and Israeli charities, the choice of British Jewish charities decreased uniformly from the close to the distant groups as did, to a lesser extent, the choice of Israeli charities. On the other hand, support for overseas aid for the poor and general British charities increased from the close to the distant groups.
Discussion
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The life choices of unmarried young adults are crucial to the future of the British Jewish community. The population described in this report is a highly diverse group of people in terms of their tastes, lifestyles and attitudes. There can be no single provision that will satisfy all members of the group.
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A useful theoretical and practical approach, consistent with the categorization by the three social network groups, is the 'stage theory'. Accordingly, individuals within the close, halfway and distant groups are perceived as existing on a dynamic continuum along which they may move 'forwards' as well as 'backwards'. Generalized interventions are therefore inappropriate, and the needs and attitudes related to each segment along the continuum need to be taken into consideration separately. This requires, however, a change in attitude in the community and its leaders: the goal is not the total involvement of individuals in communal life but rather the step-by-step movement of individuals along the continuum towards the 'more involved' end of the spectrum.
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Respondents enjoyed taking part in the survey and in Jewish Continuity's qualitative research because it offered them a chance to reflect on and discuss the way they lived their lives and what it meant to be Jewish. 'Reflexivity' encourages the belief that life can be different than it is, that habits and attitudes are open to revision. The Jewish community needs to make it clear that the label 'Jewish' encompasses a range of practices, beliefs and indeed cultures.
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The qualitative research suggested that all three social network groups found out about events and social activities mainly by word of mouth.
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The social network group typology not only identifies different types of Jews, but it can also identify the means by which they can be reached. Effective communication specifically targeted to different audiences is an important first step for community outreach to the unmarried population.
Introduction
The period between the completion of education and the settling down
into married life was regarded by earlier generations as the 'single years'.
The length and timing of this period in people's lives have varied this
century as the number of years spent in education has lengthened and the
age of marriage has fluctuated. For the poor immigrant majority of British
Jews and their children in about 1900, education was usually completed at
12 years of age and marriage was often already entered into by the age of
18 or 20. The teenage years were then the 'single years' and they were frequently
spent in gruelling work six days a week and in residence at the parental
home. Today most British Jews are privileged members of the middle classes
and attend institutions of higher education until about the age of 22. They
are less likely than earlier generations to marry, and if they do it is
generally at a later age, often in their thirties. Alternative lifestyles,
including cohabitation and same-sex relationships, are also much more common
nowadays. For most contemporary British Jews the 'single years' are the
late twenties or early thirties; by the age of 40 the majority are married.
These new patterns require new responses.
Decisions about whether or not to marry, or whether or not to marry somebody
Jewish, affect the overall demographic structure and composition of the
Jewish population. Moreover, since the next generation is for the most part
composed of the offspring of permanent heterosexual unions, 'Jewish continuity'-in
both the biological and social sense-is totally dependent on the aggregate
of the individual decisions taken by young adults. In order to plan for
the collective Jewish future, it is therefore of crucial importance to know
and to understand the attitudes and opinions of this section of the population.
As a person brought up in a traditional Jewish home, it is now up to me to carry this on for when I settle down and have children. I feel that Jewish life is dwindling and I cannot find the happy medium in myself in keeping my Judaism and traditions going. This questionnaire has made me realize that it is left in the hands of our generation to keep the importance of Judaism alive (thirty-five-year-old male living in Outer London).
This report aims to inform community leaders and organizations about the
views and behaviours of unmarried young Jewish adults so that policies and
strategies can be designed and implemented effectively. The assumption that
'young Jewish singles' constitute a homogeneous group is no longer tenable.
And the term 'single' itself has now a number of different meanings for
young adults, including unmarried, currently unattached, engaged to be married
as well as separated, divorced and widowed.
The authors are grateful to JIA/Jewish Continuity for contributing to the
costs of carrying out the analyses, and preparing the report. They are especially
grateful to Keith Harris and Robert Rabinowitz for their expert advice on
the text and for writing the discussion section (see section 5).
About the survey and the sub-sample
In 1995-in an attempt to fill some of the important gaps in Anglo-Jewry's
understanding of itself-JPR carried out the first survey of the social and
political attitudes of British Jews. A summary of the initial findings (published
as JPR Report no. 1) made it clear that the Anglo-Jewish population is heterogeneous
in terms of religiosity and geographical location, as well as gender, age
group and marital status.
Those findings were based on 2,194 self-completed questionnaires obtained
through a postal survey of British Jews between July and October 1995. The
methodology for the original survey was designed to generate a random sample
of self-identifying Jews using three sampling strategies. The first strategy
was implemented in areas of high Jewish population density-where the Jewish
population constitutes more than 15 per cent of the general population-and
involved sending questionnaires to approximately every thirtieth household,
anticipating that a given proportion would reach Jewish households. In areas
of low Jewish population density-less than 15 per cent of the general population-households
were randomly targeted based on a selection of distinctive Jewish names
on the electoral register. The third strategy was designed to compensate
for the fact that the second strategy would tend to overlook intermarried
Jewish women: a snowball sample-wherein respondents found by adverts in
newspapers are invited to pass the questionnaire along to others-was implemented
in the low Jewish population density areas and aimed at intermarried Jewish
women. The overall response rate was approximately 60 per cent which compares
well with other questionnaire-based surveys.
In January 1996, Jewish Continuity commissioned two organizations to conduct
qualitative research into the lifestyles and attitudes of single Jewish
young adults. This study produced a number of interesting insights and hypotheses
which could, in turn, be tested out by quantitative research on the unmarried
sub-sample which is the subject of this report. This sub-sample of unmarried
young Jewish adults was isolated out of those responding to the postal survey.
The defining criteria for inclusion were that the respondents were unmarried
(including those who had never married or were divorced, separated or widowed)
and that they were aged between 22-39 years of age. Those aged between 18
and 21 were excluded as they were very likely to be full-time students and
thus living in a unique social environment. Those aged 40 and above were
also excluded on generational grounds since the report concentrates on 'young'
adults.
Unless otherwise stated, the analyses which follow are all based on a sub-sample
of 193 unmarried young Jewish respondents. Comparisons are sometimes made
between these research findings and those of other surveys, in particular
the British Social Attitudes Survey (cited as BSA in the text and in the
tables) conducted by Social and Community Planning Research. A number of
the 193 respondents made use of the opportunity to express their concerns
in a space for comments provided at the end of the questionnaire. A selection
of quotations from these comments is cited throughout the report.
Two important ways in which the findings are limited should be noted at
the outset. Unmarried adults who are living independently are likely to
be over-represented as a sub-group in comparison to those living in groups
or with their parents. The reason for this skewing, observable in the results
(see Table 1), is that all households received only one questionnaire. In
multi-person households, the self-appointed head of household would generally
have completed the questionnaire; in the case of a young adult living with
parents, the respondent was unlikely to have been the son or the daughter.
Consequently, certain psychological and social types of individuals are
likely to be either under- or over-represented.
Table 1: Number of respondents by household type
The sub-sample is also skewed by gender with 100 males (55 per cent) and
83 (45 per cent) females. Indeed the fact that 10 respondents provided no
information about their gender simply underlines the fact that, in questionnaires
that are voluntarily completed, respondents are able to control their responses.
This limitation resulted in no gender information being available for 5
per cent of the sample.
Demographic profile of the sub-sample
Although the 193 unmarried young Jewish respondents to the questionnaire
should not be taken to be fully representative of the unmarried young Jewish
population in Britain as a whole, these findings constitute the only survey
data concerning this group of individuals currently available. Furthermore
the sample was found to have internal consistency, and the statistical findings
and relationships are therefore very reliable.
Gender
As Table 2 shows, there were more males than females which is unlikely to
be representative of the population for the reasons already mentioned. Care
should accordingly be taken when interpreting the data in light of gender
differences.
Table 2: Gender distribution of the sub-sample
Age group
Table 3 shows that there were fewer respondents aged between 22 and 29 than
between 30 and 39. The bias towards older subjects again probably reflects
the research design of the study.
Table 3: Age distribution of the sub-sample
Household type by age group
There were statistically significant age differences in the four household
groupings shown in Table 1, indicating that those who lived on their own
(averaging 32.6 years of age) or as a single parent family (33.4 years)
were older than those who either lived in group quarters (28 years) or with
their parents at home (26 years). These findings are not unexpected and
further support both the household category typology and the two age-span
categories in later analyses.
Table 4: Regional distribution of the sub-sample
Region
Participants were asked to provide their postal district and, from this
data, nine regional groupings were defined. Table 4 shows the regional distribution
of the respondents.
Due to the small sizes of most of the regional groupings, these categories
have not been used in the analyses.
Educational qualifications and employment status
The educational achievements of the sub-sample were high compared with the
overall sample and the general British population (BSA 13th Report, 1996)
as shown in Table 5. The differences between the sub-sample and the overall
JPR sample are not unexpected, reflecting the increase in educational opportunities
that has taken place over the past twenty years.
Table 5: Educational qualifications (percentages of respondents)
In terms of employment, 155 (80 per cent) were in paid employment while
38 (20 per cent) were not. Of those who were in paid employment, 91 per
cent worked full time and only 9 per cent were part time. Furthermore, of
those who were in paid employment, two-thirds were paid employees, while
one-third were self-employed. Of the 38 who reported that they were currently
unpaid, the majority were students (18) and most of the others were seeking
work (15).
Religious outlook
The questionnaire asked the respondents to choose one of five statements
that best represented their religious outlook. Table 6 compares how responses
were distributed amongst the five available choices between the sub-sample
and the weighted overall sample.
Table 6: Comparison of sample distributions across religious outlook categories
As expected the unmarried sub-sample was more secular than the overall weighted
sample as a result of both the sampling strategies used (as discussed above)
and the fact that the Orthodox members of the community are more likely
to be married.
Social network groups
If religious outlook were used as a typology in a relatively small sample,
like this one, the numbers in each category would be too small to allow
the correct application of certain statistical analyses. Therefore another
typology was developed based on the findings of the qualitative research
carried out on behalf of Jewish Continuity, namely social network groups.
Our sub-sample was divided into three 'types' of Jewish young adults: the
close, halfway and distant. In the 'Jewish attitudes,
practice and belief' section of the survey the respondents were asked what
proportion of their close friends were Jewish. Close was defined as individuals
who replied that 'all', 'nearly all' or 'more than half' of their close
friends were Jewish. Halfway included those who said that 'about
half' or 'less than half' of their close friends were Jewish, while distant
comprised those who replied that 'none or very few' friends were Jewish.
In one of the investigations commissioned by Jewish Continuity that used
this typology, it proved an effective way of differentiating between different
types of Jews. Close, distant and halfway Jews did not simply
differ in the number of Jewish friends they had, but also in other ways
such as their degree of religious observance and their attitude to the community.
A major hypothesis to be tested in the research was whether these findings
had any wider statistical validity. Table 7 shows the fairly even distribution
of the sample across these three categories.
Table 7: Distribution of the sample across social network categories
The use of this typology in analyses of the sub-sample is further supported
by the cross-tabulation of religious outlook with social network groups
shown in Table 8. As indicated there was a strongly significant linear relationship
between the two factors.
Table 8: Cross-tabulation of Jewish religious outlook with social network group (percentages in parentheses)
Statistical tests
Various techniques have been used to analyse the data in this study in order
to determine their statistical significance. If a finding is statistically
significant then it is unlikely that it is a chance occurrence. In other
words, as the statistical significance of a finding rises, it becomes more
improbable that it is due to chance. For example, if a finding that suggests
a discrepancy between the attitudes of men and women on a particular issue
has a 'p' value of 0.05, then there is only a 5 per cent (or 5 in 100) likelihood
that it is a chance occurrence. If the 'p' value is 0.0001, the likelihood
of it being a chance occurrence is 0.01 per cent (or 1 in 10,000). Such
a finding has a very high statistical significance. Another indication of
statistical significance is an F value. As the F value rises, so does its
statistical significance.
The following symbols have been used in this ) report to indicate the degree of statistical significance of findings: p<0.05 (*), p<0.01 (**), p<0.001 (***). it is worth noting that many of the findings have a very high statistical significance and the discussion that follows will concentrate on those most striking results. further details of i the techniques employed to analyse the data webstripperlinkwas="" are available on request.(1)
1 The techniques used include Chi-square analyses (X2), Analyses of Variance (ANOVA) and Multivariate Analyses of Variance (MANOVA). The report will generally indicate the outcome of such analyses without referring to the specific methods used. One final technique used is the post hoc Scheffe analysis which is helpful for discovering the relative statistical differences between different subsets of data or, in this case, groups of people. It is used. for example, to find out whether halfway Jews are more similar in their attitudes on particular issues to c/ose or to distant Jews.
1/ General attitudes
The general attitudes of this population and its
outlook on life are of intrinsic interest to anyone
who wants to understand what motivates and
concerns the younger generation. An overview of
general social attitudes can also help us place
respondents' specific Jewish concerns and
attitudes to communal life in perspective. It is also
useful to know if this is a homogeneous or
diverse population in terms of general interests
and outlook. This section focuses on the sub-
sample's opinions on a variety of social issues—
including government spending on services,
racism and antisemitism, politics and voting—and
examines the respondents' television viewing
patterns and their preferences for secular and
Jewish newspapers in order to determine which
forms of communication reach and influence this
population.
Ideological issues
A further philosophical issue concerning the
'meaning of life' was also addressed. The
'meaning of life' was sometimes or often
contemplated by 85 per cent of the sample,
although 41 per cent felt that to a certain extent
life was meaningless, with only 22 per cent saying
that it was never so. The sample was clearly
divided over a more practical moral question, the
issue of capital punishment being the most
appropriate sentence for some crimes, with 42
per cent agreeing and 49 per cent disagreeing
with its use. The respondents were more
equivocal when it came to recommending stiffer
sentences for those who break the law; although
47 per cent agreed, a large proportion (38 per
cent) were unsure.
Attitudes to government spending and
preferences for the allocation of taxpayers' money
can be controversial and divisive issues in the
wider population. The respondents were given the option of spending more, the same or less money
on different services with the understanding that
there would probably be an increase in taxes to
bear any additional costs. Table 9 shows the
patterns of government spending on a variety of
services advocated by the sub-sample.
Table 9 reveals an overall consensus on the
importance of increasing the allocation of tax
revenue for the National Health Service and
education, and the relative unimportance of
funding the military; as for the latter, the distant
and halfway groups were noticeably more
negative than the c/ose group. The preference for
an increase in the public funding of programmes
to protect the environment rather than to support
the arts is also clear.
Regarding the issue of Europe the sub-sample
was generally favourable towards the European
Union (EU), with 72 per cent stating that Britain
should continue its involvement and 53 per cent
stating that they were quite or very interested in
this issue. There was a marginal gender
difference here with men being slightly more
interested in the European issue than women.
Bearing in mind the high educational
achievements of this sub-sample it was
interesting to find that 52 per cent disagreed with
the statement, 'Formal exams are the best way of
judging the ability of pupils in schools', reflecting
the move towards continuous assessment in
higher education in this country in recent years.
The distant group was more likely to disagree
with this statement than the close group.
Racism and antisemitism
It worried me that he [a potential employer]
could discriminate against the employment of
Jewish people
(female respondent on a
comment made by a 'professional educated
person').
On the other hand, half of the sample admitted
that they were 'a little prejudiced' on race
themselves but an overwhelming majority of 90
per cent supported the idea of a law against the
incitement of racial hatred.
How do these views about racism and intolerance
fare when considering who the respondents
would not like to have as neighbours? Table 10
represents negative attitudes to groups of people
with various lifestyles when considering their
desirability as next door neighbours.
Table 10 shows that the sub-sample would be
particularly unhappy with an influx of right-wing
extremists in the neighbourhood, possibly seeing
them as a personal threat. Left-wing extremists,
emotionally unstable people, members of minority
cults and those with criminal records did not fare
well either although the respondents appeared to
be fairly liberal where family and race were
concerned.
Politics and voting
Table 11 indicates that Liberal-Democrat and
Green Party supporters would show their support
for their preferred political party by voting for
them tomorrow should the occasion arise.
However Conservative and Labour supporters
were more ambivalent and possibly more unsure
of their party's policies.
The media
In contrast to national preferences, television
viewing patterns were distributed fairly evenly
across the four terrestrial channels available at the
time, with about 25 per cent of the sub-sample
also watching satellite or cable television. The
median (most frequently cited) number of hours
of television watched every weekday was
approximately two hours, with the figure for radio
being closer to one hour per day. In order to
gauge what interests and engages this young
adult population its viewing preferences are
represented in Table 12, beginning with
programmes that were of the greatest interest.
Table 12 shows that both national and
international news were watched by the vast
majority of this population, indicating a high level
of interest in current affairs both at home and
abroad.
The choice of daily newspaper both reflects and
influences political outlook in Britain. As we might
now expect, the choice was well distributed
across the spectrum of broadsheets. The most
popular secular daily newspapers read on a
regular basis included The Times (17 per cent),
Guardian (17 per cent), Independent (14 per cent),
Daily Mail (10 per cent). Telegraph (9 per cent) and
the London-based Evening Standard (9 per cent)
with respondents often reading several daily
newspapers. As nearly one-third of the sub-
sample (31 per cent) did not regularly read any
daily newspaper it would appear that the only
source of information about national and
international current affairs for those respondents
came from the television or radio. A similar
pattern was observed in terms of the most
popular Sunday newspapers: Sunday Times (32
per cent), Mail on Sunday (16 per cent), Observer
(16 per cent) and the Independent on Sunday (15
per cent), with 24 per cent reading none. The
general distaste for the tabloids reflects the
educational and social profile of this population.
With regard to the Jewish media, the majority of
respondents (61 per cent) read at least one
Jewish publication regularly, the most popular of
which were the Jewish Chronicle (35 per cent of
all respondents) and New Moon (8 per cent). The reading of the Jewish press was statistically
significant according to Jewish social network
group as shown in Figure 1.
These statistics on the reading of the Jewish
press are relevant in terms of communication
within the community since the majority of the
c/ose and over half of the halfway group regularly
read a Jewish newspaper. This issue is more
pertinent because three-quarters of the sample
live away from the family home, suggesting that
they themselves might be buying the publications.
The sub-sample was evenly split when
considering the benefits of capitalism versus
socialism, with 36 per cent preferring capitalism,
34 per cent being unsure and 30 per cent
favouring socialism. The c/ose group, which is
more involved in the life of the Jewish
community, were more likely to favour the tenets
of capitalism over those of socialism than either
the halfway or distant groups who tended
towards support for socialism. Additionally only 6
per cent of the sample believed that left-wing
views were more common among Jews while 32
per cent felt they were more common in the rest
of society; a majority of 62 per cent believed that
there was no difference on the issue of support
for left-wing views.
About one-third of the sample felt that, generally
speaking, there is more racial prejudice in Britain
now than there was five years ago, and 24 per
cent felt that there is more antisemitism now than
in the past. In fact 53 per cent of respondents had
been called a 'Jew' in a derogatory way and 14
per cent felt that they had been victimized at work
in some way for being Jewish.
Earlier in this century Jews, and particularly young
Jews, were noted for their political radicalism and
above average interest and involvement in
politics. This situation no longer seems to exist.
Table 11 reiterates what has already been
discovered, that this is not a homogeneous
population in terms of political preference. Nor,
despite strong views about ideological issues,
does it appear to be overly enthusiastic about
party politics. Analyses of the sub-sample's
attitudes to politics and voting revealed no
significant variation according to gender, age or social network group. Although 72 per cent stated
that they were closer to one political party than
another, 30 per cent declined to indicate which
party it was. Table 11 shows the interesting
discrepancy revealed between the political party
the respondents claimed that they were closest to
and the party they would vote for if the election
was tomorrow.
It is important to look at the sub-sample's
preferences with regard to the media as these are
a principal source of information and opinion. First,
the general issue of censorship was addressed by
asking how much the respondents agreed or
disagreed with the statement, 'Censorship of
films and magazines is necessary to uphold moral
standards'. Opinion was fairly evenly divided with
45 per cent agreeing and 42 per cent disagreeing
(13 per cent were unsure).
2/ Jewish identity
Religious upbringing
This section is concerned with the respondent's
family upbringing, the strength of Jewish identity
within the household and Jewish education. Table
13 shows the respondents' perceptions of their
parents' levels of observance and Jewish identity
for which there were no gender or social network
group differences. In fact 13 of the respondents (7
per cent) had a non-Jewish mother or father.
The type of religious upbringing received by
respondents was also of interest. This is
represented in Figure 2.
Table 14 shows a cross-tabulation of the religious
upbringing of respondents with their adult social
network groups; there was a statistically
significant relationship between them (***). In #12; other words, a religious upbringing is strongly
linked to the likelihood that in adulthood an
individual will have more Jewish friends (and vice
versa). The level of religious upbringing in the
family would probably be closely related to the
social environment and Jewish identity of the
family, all of which, in turn, would influence the
socialization of the children. These factors are
undoubtedly inter-related—each one having an
impact on the others—and almost certainly continue to influence children throughout their lives.
Jewish education
It is important to call attention to a number of
relevant issues at this point. Formal Jewish
education is likely to end at age thirteen for a large
number of children while attendance at Jewish
youth clubs is predominantly a teenage activity.
Furthermore there is a distinction to be drawn
between Jewish education, which is likely to be a
choice made by parents for their children, and
attendance at a Jewish youth club which is more
likely to be the teenager's choice. Accordingly
Jewish education is perhaps more indicative of
parental attitudes and Jewish identity while
Jewish youth club attendance is more indicative
of the individual's own identity and social choices.
Feeling Jewish
The most interesting questions [in the
questionnaire] so far as I am concerned were
those on Jewish identity. To be Jewish is
simply to be Jewish, nothing more and
nothing less than that. I do not wish to demean
Judaism and its plethora of followers and
believers in the slightest. To put it more clearly,
I feel as much on a par with [how], say, a
Roman Catholic or a Protestant might feel on a
day to day basis existing within a multi-layered
melting pot society, but then that is merely an
assumption of them I might feel. I believe that
my feeling of Judaism is as distinctive as a
Catholic's feeling of being a Catholic, i.e. a
tribal warmth or affinity, where the only
difference is the name and the customs of the
respective religions. Yes I do feel a warmth
among Jewish people, but how do I know
whether that is any different than that felt
among people of other religions? (twenty-six-
year-old male respondent.)
Although there is no agreement on the
constituent parts of 'feeling Jewish' it is clearly
important to ask respondents how Jewish they
feel. The strength of these young adults' Jewish
feeling will almost certainly have significant
implications for the roles they will play in the
community and their choice of marriage partners.
Awareness of being Jewish
As already reported, in terms of religious outlook
34 per cent of the sub-sample defined themselves
as 'Non-practising (secular)', 27 per cent as 'Just
Jewish', 9 per cent as 'Progressive', 24 per cent
as 'Traditional' and 6 per cent as 'Strictly
Orthodox'. Another crucial subject to be
considered is the British versus Jewish identity
issue. How does this Anglo-Jewish young adult
sub-sample define itself? When asked how they
saw themselves in these terms, a range of
opinions again emerged: 26 per cent felt more
British than Jewish, 39 per cent were equally
balanced between both identities, 31 per cent felt
more Jewish, while 4 per cent were unsure or felt
some other thing. When these categories were
used as independent variables—that is, as entities
that are held fixed by the analyst—and the Jewish
social network groups were treated as a
continuum, there was a strongly significant
correlation (***). Analyses indicated that those
who felt more British than Jewish had
significantly fewer close Jewish friends than both
those who felt equally Jewish and British and
those who felt more Jewish. Although these
analyses do not imply causality, it is clear that
religious outlook, Jewish identity, Jewish social
network group and awareness of being Jewish
are closely related social variables.
Jewish beliefs, experiences and religious
observance
I am interested in the separation in Judaism
between following conventions (synagogue
attendance, bar mitzvahs, dietary, festivals etc.)
and belief in God or faith. It is my opinion that
in Judaism more than any other religion the
two have grown so far apart so that 'faith' isn't
even an issue to the vast majority of Jews.
Belief in God is relegated to a footnote at best
in Jewish families in the main. I. . . say that
without faith, the paraphernalia of religion
(customs, church attendance, marrying within,
social occasions etc.) are irrelevant and unfair
on the children (twenty-nine-year-old male
respondent).
Table 15 shows the how strongly the respondents
agreed or disagreed with various statements. The
lower the mean score (that is, the average of all
the responses), the more the respondents agreed
with the statement.
Table 15 reveals patterns of polarization and
consensus—agreement and disagreement—
regarding Jewish beliefs and experiences. The
majority of the sample agreed that it was
important that the Jews survive as a people
(mean score 1.7) and that an unbreakable bond
unites Jews all over the world (mean score 2.3).
At the same time they tended to disagree as to
whether or not Jews in a crisis can only depend
on other Jews (mean score 3.7), and they were
unsure about the expression of their spirituality in
a synagogue (mean score 3.1).
Personally I am a thoroughgoing materialist
and have no time for any form of traditional
religion. However I have a sense of the
'spiritual'—this is not, nor should it be, the exclusive domain of organized religion
(male
respondent in his thirties on the perceived gap
between religion and spirituality).
The beliefs of the sub-sample concerning the
creation of the universe, the role of prayer and the
relationship of Jews with God were fairly
uniformly distributed. Although care should be
taken with regard to the limitations on the
representativeness of the sub-sample, it is quite
clear that the unmarried are a heterogeneous
population in terms of Jewish beliefs.
Patterns of synagogue membership and
attendance
Table 16 shows the patterns of synagogue
attendance by the sub-sample across the three
social network groups during the past year. Most
of the distant and about one-third of the halfway
respondents did not attend synagogue at all.
It was interesting to note that 10 per cent of the
close respondents did not attend synagogue at all
in the past year, and that only one-third of them
attended once a month or more. This suggests
that there is little religious content to the Jewish
identity of even the close group.
As expected, there were strongly significant links
between social network groups and both
synagogue belonging and attendance which are
shown in Table 17 (***). More respondents
clearly attend synagogue than are actually
members.
As Table 17 shows, 89 per cent of the close
group, 55 per cent of the halfway group and 34
per cent of the distant group attend synagogue.
There were some variations between patterns of
current synagogue membership, type of
synagogue actually attended and the synagogue
affiliation of the respondents' parents; this is
represented in Table 18.
Only a minority of the sub-sample were members
- of synagogues. Attendance was more common.
Apparently about 15 per cent of respondents who
actually attend Orthodox synagogues do not
belong to them. There have also been substantial
shifts at both ends of the religious spectrum
between parental synagogue membership and the
respondents' own adult membership.
However the community should take note of the
fact that 68 per cent of respondents agreed with
the statement: 'The people who run synagogues
sometimes make others feel like outsiders.'
Furthermore this agreement was expressed
consistently across the three social network
groups. A situation in which certain sections of
the community feel that they are being excluded
in some way should certainly be addressed.
Observance of rituals and festivals
Further analyses were then carried out on these
data to determine whether there were gender,
age or social network group differences between
the respondents' beliefs and experiences.
Analyses of the questionnaire items revealed a
statistically significant link to Jewish social
network group (***). Follow-up analyses revealed
that the close and halfway respondents felt that
the Jewish beliefs outlined in Table 15—in
addition to attending synagogue, lighting candles
and attending a seder—were significantly more
important to them than they were to the distant respondents.(2) Correspondingly, distant
respondents were significantly more likely to
celebrate Christmas than the other groups.
Differentiation between the close, distant and
halfway Jews was particularly apparent both in
the strength of agreement with the statements,
'When it comes to a crisis, Jews can only depend
on Jews' and 'An unbreakable bond unites Jews
all over the world', and in behaviours such as
lighting candles, attending seder and synagogue,
and celebrating Christmas. The only moment of'
consensus between the three social network
groups was when respondents were asked if they
could feel at ease expressing their spirituality in
synagogue; the majority of all respondents were
uncertain that they could (see Table 15). There
Aspects of Jewish life
Analyses by age, gender and Jewish social
network group were performed to determine
whether attitudes to the issues listed in Table 19
varied according to these factors. Age was not
significant; that is, there was consensus among
the respondents in both their twenties and their
thirties on these issues. Although there was a
significant overall effect for gender, follow-up
analyses found gender differentiation on only two issues:(3) 'involvement in Jewish home life' and
'loyalty to my Jewish heritage'. In both cases
these aspects of Jewish life were more important
to women than to men. While gender may not
have been significant with regard to the individual
aspects of Jewish life listed, there was a
cumulative significance of gender with regard to
all the items taken together: that is, women in the
sub-sample placed a higher importance generally
on aspects of Jewish life than men. This supports
findings from other research. The salient aspects
of Jewish life for men and women in this sub-
sample therefore differed, with 'involvement in
Jewish home life' and 'loyalty to the Jewish
There was, more predictably, a significant link
between Jewish social network groups and the
importance of aspects of Jewish life. The follow-
up analyses outlined in Table 20 are also of
interest. There were significant differences
between each of the three social network groups
in terms of the importance of being loyal to the
Jewish heritage, of feeling close to other Jews
and of being involved in Jewish home life (the
items signified by 'a' in the group order column).
In other words these aspects of Jewish life were
most important to the close group, less important
to the halfway group and even less important to
the distant group. However, in terms of feeling
Jewish 'inside', attachment to Israel and
participation in Jewish religious life (signified by
'b') the close group felt that these issues were
significantly more important to them than was
indicated by the other two groups put together.
Therefore the former items (a) revealed more
clearly the distinctions between each of the three
social network groups than the latter items (b).
The only issue on which there was consensus
among the three social network groups is that
Jewish culture (art, music and literature etc.) is of
relatively little importance to feelings of Jewishness. Follow-up analyses revealed that all
three groups felt that it was between 'quite
important' and 'not at all important'.(4) This might
have implications for the promotion of Jewish
cultural events targeted at this population since
such activities do not seem to be viewed as an
intrinsic part of being Jewish or as contributing to
a feeling of Jewishness. There is a rich tradition of
Jewish music and literature which has been
viewed in the past as integral to Jewish culture
and even identity; these findings however
suggest that for this population this may be less
true at present. This is particularly troubling since
culture has often been seen as a site of
consensus where differences in religious and
political outlook between Jews could be broken
down.
Israel
A moderate or strong attachment to Israel was
expressed by 73 per cent of respondents, with 24
per cent being indifferent and 4 per cent having
negative feelings.
I do not detest or dislike Israel, in fact its birth
was necessary and I would very much like to
visit there someday, but I do believe that
Judaism and Israeli nationality are two
different (if not entirely different) concepts . . . I
feel no special affinity with the country itself.
Perhaps this is because I am two generations
There was clear differentiation between the three
social network groups, indicating that the strength
of expressed emotional attachment to Israel
clearly lessened as one moved along the
continuum from close to halfway to distant.
Furthermore this attachment to Israel was linked
to the number of visits that had been made, and
whether or not the respondents had friends or
relatives in the Jewish state.
Personally I have a strong Jewish identity,
mainly through my time spent in Habonim
Dror and my feeling towards Israel will remain
strong with the possibility of me making aliya
within ten years (twenty-one-year-old male respondent).
Table 21 shows a cross-tabulation of the
attachment to Israel with the existence of friends
in Israel. This was a strongly significant finding.
Also indicated in the table is the mean (average)
number of visits to Israel in relation to the
attachment expressed.
Predictably, attachment to Israel was significantly
related to the number of visits there. Further
analysis indicated that those with a strong
attachment had visited Israel significantly more
times (mean visits=4.5) than those who
expressed a weaker attachment. The close
respondents had also visited Israel significantly
more often than the halfway or distant groups.
In addition, interesting social network group
variations are apparent on issues concerning the peace process and attachment to Israel. Most of
the sample (68 per cent) were in favour of Israel
giving up land for peace. However, there were
significant social network differences, with 52 per
cent of the close group being in favour of this as
compared with 83 per cent of the halfway group
and 73 per cent of the distant group.
This section has demonstrated relationships
between strength of feeling towards Israel, the
number of visits paid over the years, the
existence of friends or relatives in Israel as well as
how many of the respondents' close friends are
Jewish. Among the three social network groups,
the close Jews were the most likely to have
visited Israel several times, to have friends or
relatives there and to exhibit a strong attachment
to the Jewish state. However they were the least
likely to support Israel giving up land for peace. It
is clear that these relationships are two-way in
that, if one has friends in Israel, one is more likely
to express an attachment to it and to have visited
it. Likewise if one has visited Israel, one is more
likely to have made friends there which may, in
turn, foster a greater emotional attachment to it. If
individuals have many close Jewish friends this
may also encourage, or be the result of, a strong
Jewish identity which is likely to generate a
stronger Zionist commitment and deeper feelings
towards Israel.
2 These further analyses were univariate.
Was there a discernible pattern of formal and
informal Jewish education? Eighty-six per cent of
the sub-sample had in fact received some kind of
formal Jewish education. This education took a
wide variety of forms: cheder, informal learning
with relatives, Jewish primary and secondary
schools, teenage centres and yeshiva. Figure 3
shows the levels of Jewish education and youth
club attendance by the c/ose, halfway and distant
social network groups (***), and indicates that
participation in Jewish education of some form
decreases uniformly across the three groups in
the expected direction. However, when
considering Jewish youth club attendance, the
pattern was bipolar, the main difference being
between the c/ose group and the other two
groups put together.
'Feeling Jewish' is intrinsically important in terms
of an individual's Jewish identity. But what does it
mean?
Jewish awareness is not strictly concerned with
levels of observance although, for many, the two
cannot be separated. Of the sub-sample, 3 per
cent said that, although they were born Jewish,
they did not think of themselves as Jewish in any #12; way. A further 24 per cent were aware of their
Jewishness but did not think about it very often. A
majority of 48 per cent felt quite strongly Jewish
but were equally conscious of other areas in their
lives, while 22 per cent felt extremely conscious
of being Jewish and felt that it was very important
to them. The remaining 4 per cent felt that none
of these categories applied to them. The c/ose
respondents were significantly more aware of
being Jewish than both the halfway and distant
respondents, although there was no difference
between the latter groups.
Synagogue attendance by the sub-sample during
the past year is represented in Figure 4.
The ritual of lighting candles on a Friday night was
observed by 27 per cent of the sub-sample all of
the time and by 25 per cent some of the time; yet
47 per cent never observed this ritual.
Interestingly there was no gender difference on
this question even though the lighting of the
candles is a female role. It is therefore assumed
that the question was interpreted by most
respondents as a household ritual: how often they
were present when candles were lit rather than
how often they personally lit the candles. Most of
the sub-sample (69 per cent) attended a Passover
seder every year (or most years), with 13 per cent
attending sometimes and 17 per cent never
taking part. The finding that 37 per cent of the
respondents celebrate Christmas puts these
results in perspective.
The questionnaire highlighted several different
aspects of Jewish life and asked how important
they were to the respondents. Table 19
represents the frequencies and percentages of
responses for each item starting with the aspect
of Jewish life rated as the most important one by
the majority of the sub-sample, namely feeling
Jewish 'inside'.
Key:
Scoring: 1 =verv important; 2=quite important; 3=not at all important
(i.e. the lower the score the more important it is)
Significance: p<0.0001 ***
Group order, 'a' represents distant and halfway > close; distant >
halfway: 'b' represents distant and halfway > close.
Attachment to and feelings about Israel were
measured in a variety of ways. The majority of the
sub-sample (76 per cent) had visited Israel at
some point in their lives, with a significantly
higher proportion of females (83 per cent) having
done so than males (68 per cent). The number of
times the respondents had visited Israel in the
past ten years is represented in Figure 5.
3 These further analyses were oneway ANOVA's.
4 These further analyses were univariate.
3/ Attitudes to marriage and interpersonal relationships
This section will first consider the attitudes of the
sub-sample to marriage, interpersonal
relationships and sex roles in the home and at
work, and, second, how this population perceives
being unmarried within the community, and its
attitudes to intermarriage and non-Jewish
partners.
Marriage, divorce and relationships
Attitudes to sexual relationships before marriage,
outside of marriage and within a homosexual
partnership were then addressed. Analyses were
performed on the data revealing strongly
significant findings (***) according to both
religious outlook and social network group. The
mean scores of all the social network groups in
relation to these three types of sexual
relationships are represented in Figure 6: a score
of 1 =always wrong, and a score of 5=not wrong
at all. In each of the three cases, the halfway and
distant groups were more liberal than the close
group.
Liberal attitudes were predominantly expressed
with regard to premarital sex, with 73 per cent
stating that it was not wrong at all. Sexual
relations between two adults of the same sex
were viewed by 59 per cent of the sub-sample as
rarely wrong or not wrong at all. However adultery
was viewed unfavourably by most respondents
with 79 per cent saying that it was always or
mostly wrong, and an additional 17 per cent
saying that it was sometimes wrong. The
statistical analyses show, unsurprisingly, that
halfway and distant unmarried Jewish adults are
more liberal vis-a-vis these issues than close
adults. This would probably in large part be due to
the differences in religious beliefs associated with
different types of sexual relationships. Although,
interestingly, all three groups rated adultery as
'more wrong' than homosexual sex.
Sex roles at home and at work
The relevance of traditional male/female roles in
the workplace was also investigated. When asked
how much they agreed with the following
statement, 'Most married women work only to
earn money for extras rather than because they
need the money', 84 per cent of respondents
either disagreed or disagreed strongly and there
was consensus between the genders, as well as
across age and social network groups. The more
controversial statement, 'A man's job is to earn
the money; a woman's job is to look after the
home and family', prompted 76 per cent of the 76
respondents to disagree with varying degrees of
intensity. However there was once more a
significant difference according to religious
outlook. Further analysis suggested that the
Traditional and Orthodox respondents tended to
be more uncertain about this statement than the
more secular who tended to disagree with the
statement's premise.(6) Responses to the following
statement were much more unequivocal
according to religiosity: 'A job is all right but what
most women really want is a home and children.'
The overall responses were fairly evenly spread
across the options of agreeing (17 per cent), being
Finally, there was a general finding that 55 per
cent of the whole sub-sample of 193 respondent
agreed with the statement, 'I think women get a
"raw deal" in Judaism', with only 12 per cent
disagreeing. Female respondents were
significantly more likely to agree with this
statement than males, and interestingly there
were also social network group differences. The
close group was less likely to agree with the
statement—thus representing a more traditional
outlook—than the halfway and distant groups.
To summarize, gender is apparently not a source
of division among the sub-sample, and a wide
range of opinions about sex roles at home and at
work were represented. On a positive note, this
implies that there is a potentially compatible
Jewish partner of the opposite sex for each
individual across the whole range of opinions.
Being unmarried and the Jewish
community
Encouragingly, when asked how strongly they
agreed with the statement, 'The Jewish
community has no place for single people', only
10 per cent agreed, with 34 per cent being
uncertain and 57 per cent disagreeing. However
there were age differences regarding this issue,
with the respondents who were in their thirties'
tending to agree more than those in their
twenties. There were also significant social
network group differences,(7) the close
respondents were much more likely to have an
opinion on the subject than the other two groups
(38 per cent of the halfway group and 49 per cent
of the distant group didn't know).
The belief that there is hostility towards unmarried
people may be related to the perception that there
is pressure to marry from the Jewish community.
In fact just over two-thirds of the respondents
agreed that single people are pressured to marry
(25 per cent were uncertain and 10 per cent
disagreed). When it came to the search for a
partner, 28 per cent replied that they were
presently with someone even though they had
indicated elsewhere that they were 'single',
highlighting the confusion between the different
definitions of terms used. This finding probably
indicates that these individuals were currently in a
relationship but were not married or cohabiting.
The majority were not looking for a partner at
present but were open to the idea of meeting
someone, while 9 per cent were not looking. The
remaining 23 per cent were actively seeking a
partner at the time of completing the
questionnaire.
Attitudes to intermarriage
The questionnaire investigated issues relating to
the institution of marriage, the ease with which
divorce can be obtained and attitudes to sexual
relationships both within and outside of
relationships. The majority of the sample (65 per
cent) disagreed with the statement, 'Marriage is
an outdated institution', with 26 per cent agreeing
and 9 per cent being unsure. In relation to the
current divorce laws, 59 per cent felt that things
should remain as they are with the remainder
evenly split between wanting to see it become
both easier and more difficult to obtain a divorce
(20 per cent for each). Consensus was reached on
these two issues by male and female
respondents in both age groups, and in all three
social network groups.
It is important to examine the views of the
unmarried sub-sample regarding sex roles at
home and at work in order to determine whether
there are any major discrepancies between the
genders, age groups and social network groups. It
is perhaps of greatest importance that the views
of men and women are compared within each
social network group. One of the three versions of
the questionnaire included a section concerned
with sex roles at home and at work, and
consequently this section of the report reflects
the views of only seventy-eight members of the
sub-sample. Both consensus and differentiation—
agreement and disagreement—were observed
regarding the contentious issues of sex roles, and
the only basis for differentiation was that of either
religious outlook or social network grouping
which, as we have already shown, are closely
correlated. Contemporary attitudes were for the
most part represented on the subject of who
should do the different tasks around the home.
The majority of respondents had no preference
when asked who should pay the bills, who should
wash up and who should do the DIY, and there
were no variations on the basis of gender, age or
social network group. Although 87 per cent of the
76 respondents had no preference for who should
do the shopping, a further analysis revealed a
significant difference according to religious outlook.(5) A similar significant difference by
religious outlook was also found on the question
of who should do the washing and ironing in the
home. In both cases traditional attitudes were
associated with the Orthodox.
The sub-sample of young Jewish adults were all
unmarried at the time of completing the
questionnaire. We were interested in both their
experience of being 'single' in the Jewish
community as well as their attitudes to finding a
partner. They were initially asked whether they
thought the Jewish community was more or less
welcoming to single people than society at large;
the answers are represented in Figure 7. Only 1 in
6 respondents considered the Jewish community
more welcoming than the wider society.
How important is the Jewishness of a partner in
theory and in practice? In terms of the importance
of marriage to a Jewish partner there was a wide
range of opinion: 15 per cent strongly agreed that
a Jew should marry a Jew, 25 per cent agreed, 24
per cent were unsure, 26 per cent disagreed and
10 per cent disagreed strongly. Thus over one-
third appeared to favour intermarriage in theory
while 40 per cent opposed the notion. What then
of their personal experience? Just over two-thirds
(68 per cent) of the sub-sample had previously
been in a relationship with a non-Jewish person;
and a further analysis indicated that this factor
was significantly differentiated across the social
network groups (***).(8) The cross-tabulation in
Table 22 illustrates the pattern of these
In terms of their own personal lives, and
regardless of their dating patterns, over half of the
sample (55 per cent) believed that it was
important for their partners to be Jewish.
Unsurprisingly this value was significantly
differentiated across the social network groups
(***). Further analysis indicated that the c/ose
group members were more likely to consider it
important than the halfway or distant groups, with
no significant difference being observed between
the beliefs of the latter two groups. Bearing in
mind the importance of finding a Jewish partner in
over half of the respondents' minds, 51 per cent
believed that they were difficult to find, as
opposed to 20 per cent who had experienced no
problem finding one. The remaining 29 per cent
believed the ease or difficulty of finding a Jewish
partner to be of no importance to them.
I am nearly twenty-nine and though not in a
hurry to marry do feel pressure (as much or
more from myself than from my family) that I
should marry someone Jewish. But it is very
hard indeed to find that person. I love being
Jewish but it can be something of a burden at
times. . . . I feel very strongly Jewish and
identify with Israel, but at the same time am
not very religious. I hate the idea of my
children not being Jewish, but realize that as
part of the wider community that is a real risk (male respondent).
General attitudes to non-Jewish partners
So, is the question of an inter-faith relationship
only of relevance when there is an intention to
have children? As many as 69 per cent disagreed
with this viewpoint, with consensus reached
across not only gender and age groups, but also
social network groups, indicating that intra-faith
relationships are important for more reasons than
simply in regard to having children. The
questionnaire went further and asked to what
extent respondents agreed with the statement: 'If
my son or daughter wished to marry a non-Jew I
would do everything possible to prevent it.' The
majority of the sub-sample disagreed with this
statement (63 per cent), while 17 per cent were
unsure and 20 per cent agreed. As before, there
were no age or gender differences, although there
were significant social network differences, with
the close individuals agreeing significantly more
than the other two groups that they would go out
of their way to prevent their child marrying out
) (***).
Comfort in the company of Jews and non-
Jews
Figure 8 represents the religious outlooks of the
Jews (friends and colleagues) with whom
respondents from each of the three social
network groups felt most at ease. The majority of
those who expressed the greatest comfort at
being with Orthodox and Traditional Jews were
clearly from the close group. In contrast, none of
the distant group felt comfortable with Orthodox
Jews.
I feel they [the Orthodox community] have cut
me off from something I am part of and they
have made themselves more isolated and
unapproachable (thirty-five-year-old distant female).
Halfway respondents seem prepared to accept all
types of Jews. As expected these views and
trends were reversed when respondents were
asked about the religious outlook of Jews with
whom they felt least at ease.
Views on general traits and attitudes of the
Jewish community
My own view is that Jews tend to be 'more'
than many other people—'more' neurotic/
intense; 'more' left-wing/right-wing; 'more'
materialistic/intellectual. Thus they tend to be
'more' high profile in many aspects of society
and are then prone to receive all types of
labelling—none of which is appropriate to
Jews at large, only to aspects of the
community (thirty-five-year-old female in Inner
London).
Bearing in mind the traits and attitudes that
respondents felt were more common among
Jews, how comfortable was this sample with the
community in general? Only 6 per cent felt that
Jewish organizations were 'open and welcoming'
while 26 per cent felt they were 'cliquey and
exclusive', with 46 per cent saying they were
somewhere between the two (the remaining 22
per cent didn't know). Furthermore, 21 per cent
believed that Jews behaved in a way that caused
hostility towards them (with 79 per cent saying
that this was not the case).
5 The further analysis was a oneway ANOVA. 
With a large proportion of young unmarried people
being prepared to consider intermarriage and
having had relationships with non-Jews, questions
of outreach become crucial. Overall, 56 per cent
of the sub-sample agreed that rabbis should be
more willing to welcome non-Jewish partners into
the community (30 per cent were uncertain and
14 per cent disagreed). Once again the sub-
sample was further differentiated by Jewish social
network groups, with the close young adults
disagreeing more strongly than the halfway and
distant groups. This not only indicates the
importance to the members of this sub-group of
having a Jewish partner, but it also suggests
something about their attitudes to other
individuals within the community who have inter-
faith relationships.
The comfort that respondents felt in the company
of Jewish friends (with both the same and
different religious outlooks) and non-Jewish
friends and colleagues may partly explain the
attitudes to non-Jewish relationships and
intermarriage. It emerged that 29 per cent were
more comfortable with Jews, 10 per cent were
more comfortable with non-Jews and 61 per cent
expressed no preference. Not surprisingly, further
analysis showed that the three social network
groups were differentiated, with 65 per cent of
the close respondents feeling most comfortable
with other Jews as compared to 15 per cent of
the halfway group members and none of the
distant group members. For respondents who
expressed a greater comfort in mixing with other
Jews, the most common explanations for this
preference related to having a 'common
3 background' (23 respondents), a 'mutual
understanding' (7), 'non-Jews are sometimes
s latently antisemitic' (4), in addition to others
comments citing similar senses of humour,
attitudes, interests and practices. For those who
3 felt more at ease with non-Jews the most
common reasons given were that they 'weren't
religious' (5 respondents), 'Jews are too money
conscious' (4) as well as additional reasons such
as that non-Jews are less arrogant, they have
compatible interests and opinions and they are
less 'cliquey'.
In the same context the respondents were asked
to compare the Jewish community to the rest of
society in terms of a variety of traits and attitudes,
as shown in Table 23. An emphasis on the family
was believed to be more common among Jews
than the rest of society by the majority of
respondents, as were the traits of ambition and
ostentation.
6 The order effects however were not significant.
7 The statistics did not however indicate the ordering of the groups.
8 The further analysis was a Chi-square analysis.
4/ The association of unmarried people in the community
What have we learned about young Jewish unmarried adults? Their involvement in Jewish life is not differentiated in terms of age or gender but in terms of three distinct social network groups. The triadic typology we have presented is a very robust and consistent analytical framework. It works well for ideology, religiosity and social behaviour. It has real effects, and both tangible and intangible manifestations. Our findings have practical implications for Jewish communal organizations as the data on charitable giving in Figure 9 clearly demonstrate.
Charitable
giving
Charitable giving
What are the charitable causes deemed most
important by this population? Figure 9 illustrates
the significant differences (***) between the
social network groups when asked to choose the
most important item from a list containing general
British charities, charities involving overseas aid
for the poor, Jewish charities in Britain and Israeli
charities. The choice of British Jewish charities
decreased uniformly from the close to distant
social network groups as did, to a lesser extent,
the choice of Israeli charities. On the other hand,
support for overseas aid for the poor and general
British charities increases from the close to the
distant groups.
What are the charitable causes deemed most
important by this population? Figure 9 illustrates
the significant differences (***) between the
social network groups when asked to choose the
most important item from a list containing general
British charities, charities involving overseas aid
for the poor, Jewish charities in Britain and Israeli
charities. The choice of British Jewish charities
decreased uniformly from the close to distant
social network groups as did, to a lesser extent,
the choice of Israeli charities. On the other hand,
support for overseas aid for the poor and general
British charities increases from the close to the
distant groups.
5/ Discussion
By Keith Harris and Robert Rabinowitz,
JIA/Jewish Continuity
The crucial life-shaping decisions of British Jewry's unmarried young adults
are of enormous consequence to the future of the community. At the moment
there is no communal consensus about the sort of provisions to be made for
unmarried young adults; beyond the very general but negative aspiration
of preventing intermarriage, little thought has been given to why the community
feels that this group represents a problem. The data analysed in this report,
together with Jewish Continuity's qualitative research, presents a complex
picture. It does, however, provide insights that will be crucial in helping
the community to develop a positive and informed response to the needs of
its unmarried young adults.
The most important point to stress is that Jewish unmarried young adults
are a highly heterogeneous group of people in terms of their tastes, lifestyles
and attitudes. This means that there can be no single form of provision
that will satisfy all sections of the population. Nevertheless, the categories
of close, halfway and distant do provide theoretical and practical
reasons for the division of individuals into broad but real groupings that
will ease the formulation of policy. While we should not assume a causal
relationship between the amount of Jewish friends that someone has and the
strength of their connection to the community, it is clear that social life
and friendship has to be at the heart of a response to the data presented
in this report.
A theoretical and practical approach
In the past decade, some research into the psychology of behaviour and behavioural
intention has adopted the 'transtheoretical model' or 'stage theory' to
explain and predict behaviour and attitudinal changes. This seems to be
a particularly useful way to approach the issue of Jewish identity. Stages
of change, when applied to 'feeling Jewish', may best be conceptualized
as a continuum.
At one extreme are individuals who either don't feel at all Jewish, deny
that they have a Jewish identity or have negative feelings about Judaism
and being Jewish. We would regard these people as being in a state of 'pre-contemplation':
they have no intention of changing their attitudes towards Judaism, their
Jewish identity or involvement in the community in the foreseeable future;
for them, the pros of such a change are outweighed by the cons.
Next we have those in a state of 'contemplation': they intend to change
their behaviour in the next few months but they keep putting it off; they
mean to go along to a 'Jewish' event but other priorities keep getting in
the way.
One stage along the continuum are those in 'preparation': they are intending
to take action in the very near future and they may have taken small steps
towards this already. In theoretical terms this is not a stable stage, and
the individuals in it are more likely than those in the previous two stages
to progress over the next few months. In theoretical and practical terms
those in 'preparation' are very much like many of the halfways and
are more amenable to suggestions for changes than those in the previous
stages.
Next along the continuum are those in 'action': although they have changed
their behaviours in the past six months these individuals are in a very
unstable stage which is subject to a high risk of relapse. They have, for
example, started to be more involved with the community, to attend Jewish
events and, as a result, to increase their network of Jewish friends.
Finally there are those in 'maintenance': they have maintained their change
of behaviour for over six months, and their new lifestyle is becoming more
natural to them. The close group would largely be regarded as being in maintenance.
Although this is a very useful theoretical way to examine Jewish identity,
Jewish social network groupings and involvement within the community, it
also has important practical applications. Once it is possible to identify
which stage an individual is in (i.e. close, halfway or distant)
we are in a better position to devise appropriate ways forward. It becomes
clear that blanket interventions or 'solutions to the problem' will not
work given the heterogeneity of the sample, to say nothing of the community
as a whole. Research has in fact shown that if the goal is behavioural change
with associated attitudinal changes, interventions should target each sub-group
separately using a language that they understand and a medium that is relevant
to them. This is not only more effective but it is also a more efficient
allocation of resources. Furthermore individuals can and do move 'backwards'
as well as 'forwards' along this dynamic continuum, and interventions need
also to address this negative progress.
An attitudinal shift in the community and its leaders is required for this
'segmentation' approach to be adopted. The desired result is not that the
distants suddenly begin to keep kosher or to observe Shabbat (which
even many of the close ignore) but that individuals be helped to
move one step along the continuum, from a less involved to a more involved
position. The community must learn to value each step along the continuum
of Jewish awareness and identity.
Reflexivity
What is striking in many of the findings of this report is that many young
Jewish unmarrieds feel very positive about Judaism in the most general terms;
86 per cent felt it was important that Jews survive as a people, 65 per
cent felt there was an unbreakable bond uniting Jews all over the world
and 83 per cent felt Jewish 'inside'. Yet, in specific terms, they were
often very negative about Jewish institutions and did not seem willing to
articulate what it meant to be Jewish. In fact, to many questions dealing
with central aspects of Judaism there were a large number of 'uncertain'
or 'don't know' responses-particularly in answer to questions dealing with
prayer and spirituality. Although 44 per cent in general were uncertain
as to whether it was difficult to express spirituality in a synagogue, the
distant group were in fact twice as likely to be uncertain about
the expression of their spirituality in synagogue (66 per cent) than either
the halfway or close groups. Additionally, 37 per cent were
unsure whether the universe came about by chance, and the same number was
uncertain as to whether prayer could help overcome personal problems. These
are of course complex questions but there is similar bewilderment over simpler,
more 'secular' questions. For example, 31 per cent did not know whether
the Jewish community was more or less welcoming to unmarried adults than
other communities.
This uncertainty does not just apply to Jewish issues: 66 per cent did not
(or could not) name the political party they would vote for if an election
were to be held tomorrow, a phenomenon that might well be common to non-Jews
of this generation as well. However, it is surely vital for the future health
of the Jewish community that young Jews are able to think more deeply about
what it means to be Jewish.
It is here that we may find the beginnings of a way to address the 'Jewish
young adult problem'. One of the market research companies employed by Jewish
Continuity (Dialog) reported that many of the participants in their group
discussions mentioned how enjoyable it was talking and thinking together
about Judaism. Many of them had not taken part in such discussions since
they had been members of youth groups-and they missed them. For many of
the halfways and distants, a creative engagement with Judaism
seemed to finish, along with youth clubs, at 16-18 years of age. What is
left is a set of practices that are barely reflected on and a set of similarly
inchoate beliefs and prejudices. It seems that amongst young adults there
may be a great need and desire to think through and engage creatively with
Judaism. In terms of outreach, this is a more realistic goal for many of
the halfways and distants than an expectation that they will
instantly take on a complex series of behaviours (kashrut, Shabbat etc.).
Participants enjoyed taking part in Jewish Continuity's research because
it offered them a chance to think about and discuss the way they lived their
lives and what it meant to be Jewish. The ability to monitor and reflect
on practices and attitudes which have been accepted without question can
be referred to as 'reflexivity'.(9) What reflexivity enables is a sense that
life can be different than it is, that practices and attitudes are open
to revision. Perhaps the problem with many unmarried Jewish adults is their
belief that the meaning of 'Jewishness' is so circumscribed, so parochial,
that it cannot be made meaningful to them. The Jewish community may need
to show that a range of practices, beliefs and indeed cultures resides under
the sign of 'Jewish', the project, in other words, of nurturing a 'Jewish
reflexivity'. Such a reflexivity, in treating everything as potentially
open to change, is perhaps threatening to traditionalists. Yet organizations
such as Habad and Aish HaTorah tacitly practice it already when they recognize
that their audiences can go elsewhere and need to be convinced of the value
of Judaism within a 'marketplace' of ideas and cultures. Reflexivity involves
education, but it is not education in the usual sense since all that is
conveyed is an attitude. Jewish reflexivity requires that the community
have confidence in letting people make their own choices as well as an awareness
that the only way to make a meaningful Jewish choice is to recognize the
openness of the category.
Reaching out
No one, of course, can simply institute and publicize 'reflexivity'. There
needs to be a carefully thought-through communications strategy. How does
this research suggest ways in which young unmarried Jews might be 'reached'
and communicated with? The research found that 61 per cent read one Jewish
newspaper or magazine regularly, including over 20 per cent of the distant
group. At first this seems to suggest easy solutions, for instance that
advertising in the Jewish press will reach people. There are several problems
however. The question did not specify what 'reading' entailed, nor did it
ask whether respondents purchased Jewish newspapers or magazines themselves.
The qualitative research for Jewish Continuity suggested that many young
people 'flicked through' the Jewish press (generally the Jewish Chronicle)
at their parents' house-often on a Friday night. Whatever their motives
in doing so, close, halfways and distants overwhelmingly regarded
events advertised in the Jewish press as events not to go to. This does
not mean that any such advertising was ineffective amongst young people
nor that it might not be effective for communicating other things. However
it does suggest that, for many, the Jewish press is a medium of communication
without prestige or cachet.
The qualitative research suggested that all three groups found out about
events and social activities to a large extent through word of mouth. This
finding is supported further by research carried out by Jewish Continuity
at the Jewish Film Festival and Jewish Book Week in 1996. Younger, less
Jewishly involved people were more likely to have heard about the events
from friends or family connections. Older, more involved people were more
likely to hear from the Jewish press.
Thus social network groups do not simply identify different types of Jews,
they also identify the means by which to reach them. Whilst we should be
careful in not assuming causality, 'the social' is clearly an arena in which
Jewish identity is forged, negotiated and articulated. To understand and
work with unmarried young adults, the importance of friendship and socializing
must be grasped. Any 'solution' to the 'problem' of unmarried Jewish young
adults must intervene in that area of their lives. Effective communication
and publicity should therefore not only be targeted at isolated individuals,
but at the complex social webs within which they move. It is, however, unclear
whether this would work in practice-particularly with the distant
group.
Conclusion
This report has not made any concrete policy recommendations about how to
address the issue of unmarried Jewish young adults, an issue that cannot
be resolved by communal institutions initiating a few simple measures that
fail to take account either of the diversity of this group or the need to
empower Jewish reflexivity. While we have discussed the need for Jewish
reflexivity, we have not stipulated the 'Jewish message' that should be
conveyed, as both the message and the means of communicating it need to
come from the young adults themselves. Communal institutions should be prepared
to provide the tools and the support as well as to have the courage to stand
back where necessary. The data in this report and their interpretations
will hopefully be central in informing this process.
9 For this use of the term, see the work by sociologist Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity (Cambridge 199), 36-44
Report authors
Professor Barry A. Kosmin is Director of Research at JPR. He was founding Director of the North American Jewish Data Bank at the City University of New York Graduate Center. He has directed a large number of studies of Jewish populations worldwide, including the the US 1990 National Jewish Population Survey.
Dr Jacqueline Goldberg is Research Fellow at JPR. She is co-author of three reports based on the 1995 JPR Survey of Anglo-Jews examining the attitudes of young unmarried Jews, attachment to Israel and patterns of charitable giving. She is currently involved in JPR's Long-term Planning for British Jewry programme of research. Jacqueline is also a consultant with Z/Yen Ltd, a risk/reward management consultancy.