This study explores the nature of Jewish identity and identification in contemporary American society. It is anchored theoretically in an analysis of alternative models of the nature of ethnic relations. Traditional models, including the theory of the melting pot, cultural pluralism, and the dominant perspective, assimilation, are discussed in Chapter I and found to be inadequate for the depiction and explanation of the Jewish experience. An alternative model, called ethnogenesis, is developed, which emphasizes changes in group life and the creation of new definitions of what it means to be an ethnic group member as well as the partial maintenance of traditional group characteristics and behavior patterns. Chapter II explores the American Jewish experience in some detail, paying particular attention to the religious and ethnic duality of this group's attitudes and behavior. To test the applicability of the ethnogenesis model, a research strategy was devised which utilized a new survey as well as an existing, larger-scale survey of Jewish attitudes and behavior. The former survey sampled the beliefs and practices of Jews raised and confirmed in a Reform Jewish congregation in Erie, Pennsylvania. Members of the sample were adults aged thirty-one to forty-one; as many of those who were confirmed (at age fifteen) in this congregation from 1952 to 1962 were contacted and surveyed by means of a mailed questionnaire. A reform congregation was chosen in order to maximize the likelihood of assimilation and thus provide a severe test of the ethnogenesis model. To supplement data from this small sample, data from the 1970-71 National Jewish Population Survey, sponsored by the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds, were also employed, and findings from the Erie survey were compared with findings from a comparable age group in the National survey. Chapters IV and V, the data analysis chapters, examine in detail the shape of contemporary Jewish ethnicity. Chapter V focuses on Jewish identity, which refers to the subjective or attitudinal dimension of being Jewish--the meaning of being Jewish to the individual Jew. Chapter V focuses on identification, which refers to the behavioral dimension--what people do in their lives to announce to themselves and to others the fact of their Jewishness. Both chapters examine these issues from the standpoint of both the religious and the ethnic component of Jewishness. Chapter VI attempts to bring together the detailed analyses of the preceding chapters and to examine the case for the ethnogenesis model. It concludes that ethnogenesis is a superior way of depicting and explaining patterns of contemporary Jewish life, and is probably a superior general model for the study of ethnic relations. Data from the Erie and national surveys indicate that new cultural patterns have emerged in this society that define Jewish identity and identification, and that, accordingly, an accurate portrayal of Jewish life cannot be made simply by examining the extent to which traditional group patterns of belief and behavior have persisted. While the shape of Jewish life has clearly changed, with many traditional beliefs and practices abandoned, Jews continue to identify as Jews, their Jewishness continues to have subjective importance to them, and they continue to act in ways that identify them to others as members of a distinct group. Despite the ease and potential for assimilation, Jews persist as a group, losing some ground to attribution and lower birth rates, but nevertheless preserving linked patterns of belief and action.

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This is an examination of congregational life among Chinese Christians in New England. The study primarily focuses on (1) the attractions of Chinese congregational life for members and recruits, (2) the process of conversion and the social and organizational context in which it occurs, and (3) the implications of the study for conceptual models of conversion and church growth. Previous research on Chinese Christians has largely addressed cultural and identity issues regarding conversion to what is for the Chinese a foreign religion, as well as the social and political context of increased Chinese openness toward Christianity, especially among Chinese from the People's Republic of China. The existing literature addresses the attractions of Chinese churches, but there has been little effort to systematically compare among such attractions. Employing multiple methods (survey, informal interviews, and participant observation), this study focuses on how Chinese congregational life's attractiveness depends largely upon the relationship between three factors: social context, Chinese Protestant ideology, and interaction rituals. The findings presented here suggest that conversion is best supported when these three factors are isologous (or "in sync").

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Theories of emotion and intergroup relations predict a link between fear, outgroup perception, and behavioral intentions toward specific groups. However, surprisingly, past research has not empirically tested the impact of actually experiencing incidental fear on appraisals of in- and outgroups and socially impactful decision-making. Accordingly, the goals of this dissertation were three-fold: (1) to determine whether the experience of incidental fear increases biased decision-making targeted at racial outgroup vs. ingroup members; (2) to investigate whether some individuals are more impacted by fear than others; and (3) to explore the psychological mechanism underlying the biasing impact of fear. In Study 1, fear increased race biased decision-making for female (but not male) participants, and for those who chronically believe the world is a dangerous place. In Study 2, fear shunted attention selectively towards Black over White faces for female (but not male) participants; however, it did not produce race biased decision-making. In Study 3, fear did not modulate attention to danger-relevant stimuli or intergroup decision-making. The implications of these findings and future research directions are discussed.