Stereotypes of Jews as Doctors and Lawyers
How True is the Jewish Stereotype? How Did the Jewish Stereotype Originate?
One somewhat-positive stereotype the Jewish people have been given is the label as doctors, lawyers, and accountants. The stereotype says that Jews are supposed to inevitably grow up to find a career in a high paying professional and intellectual job.
Although the stereotype is not by any means representative of reality, Jewish people do have a higher percentage, per capita, of career placements in intellectually focused jobs that require college educations. There are many different reasons behind how the stereotype developed and why the label has a partial truth.
Jewish History as a Basis for Stereotypes
In Eastern Europe — especially in locations where Jews were outcasts in society — Jewish people learned the value of taking professions based on intellectual talent. With their family and community at risk for relocation and forced migration at a moment's notice, Jewish people couldn’t risk a normal profession that was based in land and material.
Farming, cattle raising, blacksmithing, and other normal jobs of the time were too difficult to move at a moment's notice. However jobs involving mental talents were not only easy to move, but were in high demand in most places. Thus Jews naturally became teachers, accountants, and doctors as a way to ensure that they would have a source of income regardless of where they were living. wherever they went.
Any kind of trend involving a minority ethnic or racial group, especially a group that garnered a great deal of attention, is bound to result in an exaggerated stereotype. Many other stereotypes put on the Jewish people were created in Eastern Europe during and before the 1700s. So it is very possible that the behavior of the Jewish people during migratory periods in medieval Europe created a label that survived into the modern era.
Stereotypes During Jewish Immigration to the United States
The largest influx of Jewish immigrants traveling into America occurred in the 19th century. Over two million Jews immigrated to America from Central and Eastern Europe. Most Jews emigrated to escape persecution they experienced from a myriad of sources throughout Europe. America gave a promise of success, freedom and an opportunity to live without danger of pogroms, attacks, and forced migrations.
The vast majority of these Jewish immigrants moved to highly populated cities. Most became merchants, vendors, and other types of businessmen as it was the most available profession in the eighteenth century urban setting. Very few Jewish people moved further inland than the east coast and even fewer moved to non-urban areas for a variety of reasons, including:
- Jewish people were previously cast out of cities and forced to build their own communities outside the city limits.
- Most Jewish people previously had skill sets more suited for urban areas, skills for jobs that didn’t require land, livestock, or heavy equipment and skills for jobs based on intellectual talent rather than physical talent.
- Living in the city was cheaper, and required less investment cost than the countryside.
During this time, the American Jewish community developed a cultural value to strive to be more successful than the last generation. Since America offered so many more opportunities for wealth, stability, and peace, for the Jewish people, new immigrants felt obligated to take advantage of the freedoms of America to the fullest, largely because the last generation was stifled.
When the second generation of Jewish immigrants were born, they were urged to build off the success of the first generation, because the first generation started out poorer. This cycle of improvement, combined with the value for intellectual based skills spurred from the violence of Eastern Europe, created a form of Jewish culture that put a strong emphasis on education and high paying, professional, intellectually based jobs, serving as a source of the stereotype that continues to endure.
Related Articles on Jewish Stereotypes
Readers may also enjoy learning about the origins of the negative Jewish stereotype that's labeled Jews as "greedy" or focused on money.
References:
Making Sense of Jewish Stereotypes by Dr. Jeffrey A. Singer
Published April 2000 on www.fff.org
Jewish Stereotypes Link Jews to Intellectual Jobs
|
What do you think about this article?
Latest Articles