"There's a Lot of Antisemitism Going Around": Young Jews' Evolving Beliefs About Anti-Jewish Hatred from Childhood to Early Adolescence.
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| Title: | "There's a Lot of Antisemitism Going Around": Young Jews' Evolving Beliefs About Anti-Jewish Hatred from Childhood to Early Adolescence. |
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| Authors: | Zakai, Sivan |
| Source: | Jewish Social Studies. Winter2026, Vol. 30 Issue 3, p137-168. 32p. |
| Subjects: | Antisemitism, Jewish children, Developmental psychology, American Jewish history, Adolescence, Discrimination (Sociology), Prejudices, Sociohistorical analysis |
| Geographic Terms: | United States |
| Abstract: | Drawing upon a longitudinal study tracking young Jews from early elementary school through the end of middle school, in this article I examine how Jewish children developed initial theories about antisemitism and refined their earlier beliefs as they grew into adolescence. The Jewish elementary school children of this study discussed the existence of anti-Jewish hatred, discrimination, and prejudice, and they viewed these phenomena as occurring long ago and far away. By middle school, young adolescents came to understand antisemitism as a phenomenon also occurring in the present-day United States, and they situated antisemitism as central to the American Jewish experience. The emergence of new language and theories about antisemitism in middle school marks a major shift that can be understood in two ways: as a developmental pivot point between Jewish childhood and Jewish early adolescence, and as a sociohistorical pivot point in what it means to be an American Jew. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Database: | Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection |
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| Abstract: | Drawing upon a longitudinal study tracking young Jews from early elementary school through the end of middle school, in this article I examine how Jewish children developed initial theories about antisemitism and refined their earlier beliefs as they grew into adolescence. The Jewish elementary school children of this study discussed the existence of anti-Jewish hatred, discrimination, and prejudice, and they viewed these phenomena as occurring long ago and far away. By middle school, young adolescents came to understand antisemitism as a phenomenon also occurring in the present-day United States, and they situated antisemitism as central to the American Jewish experience. The emergence of new language and theories about antisemitism in middle school marks a major shift that can be understood in two ways: as a developmental pivot point between Jewish childhood and Jewish early adolescence, and as a sociohistorical pivot point in what it means to be an American Jew. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| ISSN: | 00216704 |
| DOI: | 10.2979/jss.00037 |
