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Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care

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Jewish identity and migration

Philip Sapiro and Paul Williamson, University of Liverpool, Hill Kulu, University of St Andrews and Gemma Catney, Queen's University Belfast

(Project no. 0301777, previously 30177)

Two factors thought to be threatening the viability of some Jewish communities in England are assimilation due to loss of Jewish identity and out-marriage, and migration from the English regions to the London area. The purpose of the project is to identify and analyse these impacts over time.

The topic of my PhD thesis is 'The Geography of the Anglo-Jewish Population in the Twenty-First Century: Spatial Distribution, Characteristics, and Trends'; the LS is relevant to one important, two-strand element of the study (migration and loss of identity). Religion data has been collected in the 2001 and 2011 censuses. There are about 2,700 Jewish LS members and a similar number of non-LS member Jews in the LS database as a whole. 

These 5,000 plus persons would form the basic study population. Additional information needed for each individual would include (at each census) age, position in household/establishment (eg dependent/non-dependent child, student, HRP, spouse/partner of HRP etc), marital status (single, cohabiting, married, lone parent, living with children or not, etc), economic status, local authority of residence;  religion of spouse/partner or other persons in the household, so that analysis can determine whether a change in any of these parameters is associated with a  greater or lesser 'risk' of retaining Jewish identity, and whether Jewish identity is being transmitted to LS members' children.

A parallel part of the study would backtrack the same people to the 1971, 81, and 91 censuses to allow an investigation of migration over a longer period to be considered, to put a spotlight on locational trends in the movement of the Jewish population over the period. Care will be needed to avoid any confusion caused by student status or other temporary residential location change. As with the first part of the study, information will be needed on age, socio-economic, employment, position in household and family-formation status, to understand the extent to which changes in these factors are linked to geographic moves. 

The LS part of the study complements the wider research project which uses standard census output to look at (amongst other things) spatial distribution and the degree of homogeneity of Jewish groups across England and Wales.