Jews are considered by other ethnic groups to be hard-working, intelligent and strongly committed to family, according to a study released recently by the American Jewish Committee.
Between 27 percent and 30 percent of non-Jews report contact with Jews at work, school or in the community, the report says.
Fifty-eight percent of non-Jews say they know a Jew, and 28 percent feel close to one.
The research also shows that people have a poor understanding of the number of Jews in the United States, with respondents estimating on average that Jews make up 18 percent of the population. The actual figure is close to 2 percent.
The recent study was authored by Tom W. Smith, director of the General Social Survey at the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. It’s one of a number of research projects conducted by the AJCommittee on relations among religious, racial and ethnic groups.
The study paints a positive picture of Jews in American society, said Ann Schaffer, the director of the Belfer Center for American Pluralism at the AJCommittee.
“Negative stereotyping of Jews has diminished,” she said.
Schaffer also noted that a majority of Jews felt that Jews as a group should maintain a distinctive culture.
In certain cases, Jews rated other minorities more favorably than these groups rated themselves.
Schaffer sees the statistic of how many people know Jews and or have contact with them as “fairly positive,” considering the relatively small number of Jews in the United States.
Kenneth Jacobson, associate national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said Jews are considered an integral part of American culture, but are still able to maintain a distinct identity.
“I see that as cultural pluralism at its best,” he said.
In fact, Jews are perceived in more positive terms than whites in general, the report shows.
The study looked at ethnic images of whites, blacks, Asians, Hispanics and Jews.
Overall, Smith notes that intergroup relations have improved over the years, as Americans have become increasingly supportive of racial and ethnic equality.
But negative ethnic images remain common, and intergroup interaction is still limited, Smith warns.
Jews increasingly are more accepted in society, Jacobson said, but people “shouldn’t think old stereotypes don’t exist.”
In a 1998 ADL survey, 12 percent of Americans were identified as anti-Semitic.
Americans have become more tolerant in their views on intergroup relations over the last decade, according to the survey.
In 1990, 16 percent of non-Jews said they would object to a relative marrying a Jew, compared with 13 percent in 2000. Only 9 percent said they would object to living in a majority-Jewish neighborhood, compared with 14 percent in 1990.
Meanwhile, another AJCommittee report hints at some of the strains — as well as the progress — behind trends toward a more multicultural country.
The study, “Intergroup Relations in a Diverse America,” also authored by Smith, draws on data from the 2000 General Social Survey, which polled close to 1,400 Americans.
At a forum heralding the study’s recent release, Smith pointed to steady downward trends in most “ethnic judgments.”
Negative appraisals about the supposed violence, intelligence and laziness of ethnic groups have largely declined in the past decade, Smith noted. Moreover, these judgments drop steadily with the age of respondents, suggesting that younger adults are growing more tolerant and accepting.
Despite headway shown by the survey, Smith warned, problems remain. More than 40 percent of those polled still see blacks as lazier and more violent, and Latinos as less intelligent, than others. And those viewing Jews as lazy or dumb — 13 to 14 percent — has risen slightly since 1990.
“Appreciable sectors of the American population still hold these negative stereotypes of non-white ethnic groups,” said Smith.
Also troubling, he suggested, is the finding that less than 50 percent of Americans feel close to someone Jewish, black, Latino or Asian.
“There is still a high level of social segregation in the lives of people,” Smith noted.
Washington Jewish Week contributed to this report.
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