Cost of Judaism in Popular Culture

Contact: Jeffron Boynes, (312) 413-8702, [email protected]

UIC SCHOLAR EXAMINES COST OF JUDAISM IN POPULAR CULTURE

Compared to most other religions, Judaism requires a lot of time and a high level of personal investment to gain the rewards or benefits of religious participation, says University of Illinois at Chicago professor Carmel Chiswick. "Because the observance of traditional Jewish ritual is 'time-intensive,' Judaism tends to be a costly religion - especially in high-wage households in the United States," Chiswick says. Chiswick, UIC professor of economics, whose current research is on the economics of religion as it applies to American Judaism, expresses these views in a series of recent papers and presentations.

The key assumption underlying Chiswick's economic approach - called "rational choice" by sociologists - is that people choose to join a church or convert to another religion by weighing anticipated costs (inputs) against expected benefits (outputs). The value of those benefits (spirituality, social interaction, coping with mortality) largely depends on a person's inputs (money and time spent on religious observance). The rational-choice approach to the study of religion recently has gained a great intellectual appeal among an increasing number of economists and sociologists. Researchers including Chiswick say it goes a long way towards explaining historical changes in the religious behavior of Jewish immigrants who came to the United States at the turn of the century.

"Since religious observance must compete with many alternative activities in America, time has become a very important cost of religious involvement," says Chiswick, who adds that the Reform and Conservative Judaism synagogue movements developed in America partly as "time-saving approaches to the observance of Judaism."

"As the value of time has risen for contemporary Americans, many old-country Jewish customs and observances have become increasingly costly to maintain," Chiswick says. "This suggests why many of them are at risk of disappearing entirely from American Jewish life."

Chiswick, who holds a doctorate degree in economics from Columbia University (NY) and was a visiting professor at Hebrew University in 1992, has published various papers including "The Economics of American Judaism," Shofar 13.4, (Summer 1995). Most recently, she presented "The Cost of Living Jewishly and Jewish Continuity," (with B. Chiswick) to the Conference on the Future of the Jewish Family in America, Brandeis University and American Jewish Committee (April 1998). Her forthcoming publications include "The Economics of Contemporary Jewish Family Life," in P. Medding (ed.), Families and Family Relations Among Jews in the Twentieth Century, Studies in Contemporary Jewry 14, (1998).