An Elementary Syllabus in the Sociology of the Jews

HE following pages constitute a syllabus T to be used in connection with whatever college course the instructor who contemplates its adoption may deem appropriate. Courses in race relations, social disorganization, minorities, or, if the syllabus is treated more briefly, in introductory sociology, suggest themselves most readily. The document may be utilized either as a lecture and study outline for two or three class meetings or as a text core, in combination with the literature indicated or with other literature, for perhaps several weeks. Suggestions for using it in the latter capacity, or in a capacity somewhere between the two, are provided in the footnotes, which for this reason are somewhat lengthy. The syllabus is called elementary because it is clearly partial in the selection of its topics; because it is very far from covering all facts about statistics of Jews and about the question of the Jewish "race" (Parts I and II); and because it does not try to arrive at a relatively final conclusion regarding the nature of antisemitism (Part III). Rather, with reference to numbers, it gives those figures which the author believes most important for an orientation regarding the distribution of the Jews in the world and, in particular, in the United States; with reference to the Jews as a "race,"2 it presents those scientific findings which he believes can clarify this emotionally and politically charged question most economically; and with reference to antisemitism. it assembles those hypotheses which in his opinion best lend themselves to attempts at understandingthe nature of this puzzling phenomenon. The same pedagogical reasons which determined. the treatment of the three topics-statistics, "race," antisemitism-decided their selection,, rather than that of others. The experience of the, author has led him to believe that it is these three, more than other questions, which need clarification. most urgently and from which others may in turn receive a clearer perspective. Again it should be noted that the suggestions, bibliographical and other, contained in the footnotes, will make it rel-atively easy for the instructor to discuss additionaL problems or particular aspects not dealt with in the syllabus but in which he or his students are especially interested. Insofar as the author has striven to be objective,, the syllabus may be called a scientific document;; insofar as the topics are either sociological or represent sociological reactions to nonsociological errors, the title "sociology of the Jews," in spite of the elementary and selective character of the treatment,, may be justifiable. The author does not believe that education alone, however broadly applied, can eliminate antisemitism (cf. IIIF), but he thinks that education can play an important role in this task. More specifically, he does not believe that a study of the present document will remove the causes of antisemitism as they may be operative in the student of the syllabus, but he thinks that reading it may reinforce an objective attitude which the reader may already have, or that in some cases it may even arouse such an attitude.