Understanding the Demographic Challenge: Education, Orthodoxy and the Fertility of American Jews

Autor: Michelle Shain
Rok vydání: 2018
Předmět:
Zdroj: Contemporary Jewry. 39:273-292
ISSN: 1876-5165
0147-1694
DOI: 10.1007/s12397-018-9249-6
Popis: Fertility is a key contributor to the demographic vitality of American Jewry. Recent studies have found that the fertility rate of American Jews is below that of the general public and below replacement level. The Jewish community is asking whether fertility rates are amenable to policy intervention and, if so, what sorts of interventions have the potential to increase fertility rates. This paper uses data from the Pew Research Center’s (A portrait of Jewish Americans: Findings from a Pew Research Center Survey of U.S. Jews, 2013) Survey of U.S. Jews to examine the fertility of American Jewish women currently of childbearing age. Drawing on the Theory of Conjunctural Action and on fertility patterns in the broader U.S. population, it models the fertility of American Jewish women as a function of sociodemographic and religious characteristics, focusing particularly on the roles of education and Orthodoxy. While Orthodox women have birthrates that contribute to strong population growth, fertility rates among the non-Orthodox do not reach replacement level, with the college educated majority likely to average only 1.5 births by age 40. The potential of various policy interventions designed to increase fertility are discussed, including indirect benefits like free or subsidized childcare, lobbying for changes in U.S. public policy and actively nurturing pronatalist norms in communal institutions.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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