1800s: Martineau · Tocqueville · Marx · Spencer · Le Bon · Ward · Pareto · Tönnies · Veblen · Simmel · Durkheim · Addams · Mead · Weber · Du Bois · Mannheim · Elias The sociology of Jewry involves the application of sociological theory and method to the study of the Jewish people and the Jewish religion.
[3] Marshall Sklare and Joseph Greenblum’s 1967 study of Jewish identity in “Lakeville” is considered one of the most notable works of its kind.
[5] The association was informally launched by Norman Friedman and Bernard Lazerwitz in 1970; the event, titled "The Sociological Study of Jewry" took place at the ASA annual conference.
The new group, the Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry (ASSJ or ASSSJ) was launched and formally met the following year.
The group has since organized annual conferences, established the academic journal Contemporary Jewry, founded the ASSJ Newsletter and honors exceptional scholars in the field with the Marshall Sklare Award.
Studies involving other social sciences and history are included as well, and professionals from those disciplines have joined as members, contributors and honorees.
Wolff's aim was to provide an aid to including material on Jews in courses on race relations, social disorganization, minorities, and/or introductory sociology.