Introduces students to the social scientific study of the Jews and their communities in the modern period. Focus is on the different paths of Jewish emancipation in Western societies, the impact of modernisation on Jewish life, and the significance of the Holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israel for contemporary Jewish identity. Themes include: occupational, educational, and social class transformations; religious, ethnic, and communal forms of Jewish identification; Jews and others; political allegiances; Israel-Diaspora relations; and assimilation and intermarriage.