Study On The Elevation Of The Socioeconomic Status Of Jewish Americans In The Post-War Period

The Jewish people are a distinctive popul ation in the United States.Since 1654 when the first batch of immigrants settled in America from Brazil,Jews have begun to immigrate to the New World—America—in four major waves and gradually got a firm foothold and then achieved an adm irable ascendance of socioeconom ic status,realizing the transformation from being m arginal to m ainstream in the post-war period.This thesis focuses on the elevation of socioeconomic status of Jewish Americans since the end of the Second W orld War.It begins by com bing through Jewish studies conducted by both Chinese and foreign scholars and then introduces its own subject m atter and the m ethodology used in this research.This thesis then presents a general picture of Jewish Am ericans and further discusses the four major waves of Jewish immigration into the United States as well as elabo rating on their socioeconomic status during the four m ajor waves of immigration.Then this thesis gives an in-depth analysis of the socioeconom ic status of Jewish Am ericans during the post-warperiod from the thre e dimensions of education,occupation and income/wealth.In pres enting the educational attainment of American Jews,quantitative analysis is employed to indicate that Jews enjoy a discernible advantage over non-Jews in terms of education.Then comparative method is employed,through the comparison between Jews and non-Jews,to show that,in term s of education,income/wealth as well as occupation,Jewish Americans have achieved an impressive elevation of socioeconomic status during the post-war period.This thesis then uses examples to shed light on both internal and external reasons behind such an elevation.Through all these analyses,a conclusion can naturally be drawn that even though an ethnic group is in disad vantaged positions in a host country,they can also secure a higher level of socioeconom ic attainments and enjoy anenhanced socioeconom ic status through the combination of their own merits including positive values,as well as favorable external conditions.