The Dynamic Nature of Being Jewish: Identity Centrality and the Acculturation of Russian Jews in the United States

To investigate acculturation as it is influenced by Jewish identity, Russian Jewish immigrants born in the Former Soviet Union and American Jews of Eastern European ancestry were surveyed regarding their three identities: American, Jewish, and Eastern European ethnic/Russian. Study 1 examined percei...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of cross-cultural psychology
Authors: Rosner, Jennifer L. (Author) ; Gardner, Wendi L. (Author) ; Hong, Ying-yi (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage 2011
In: Journal of cross-cultural psychology
Further subjects:B American Jews
B Acculturation
B Identity
B Russian Jews
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:To investigate acculturation as it is influenced by Jewish identity, Russian Jewish immigrants born in the Former Soviet Union and American Jews of Eastern European ancestry were surveyed regarding their three identities: American, Jewish, and Eastern European ethnic/Russian. Study 1 examined perceived differences between the three cultures on a series of characteristics. Study 2 explored perceptions of bicultural identity distance between the American and Eastern European ethnic/Russian identities as a function of Jewish identity centrality. Findings revealed that for Russian Jews, Jewish identity centrality is related to less perceived distance between the American and Russian identities, suggesting that Jewish identity may bridge participants’ American and Russian identities. In contrast, for American Jews, Jewish identity centrality is not related to less perceived distance between the American and Eastern European ethnic identities. The authors discuss implications for the long-term acculturation of Russian Jews in the United States and the function of religion in acculturation.
ISSN:1552-5422
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of cross-cultural psychology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/0022022111412271