Kiryas Tash


OVERVIEW: Life In A Religious Community: The Lubavitcher Chassidim In Montreal William Shaffir Toronto: Holt, Rinehart and Winston of Canada, 1974 This study deals with a community of religious Jews—Lubavitcher chassidim— and how they manage to persist in an urban setting. It is argued that in order for the community to maintain itself it must create a distinctive identity for its members and provide them with a tenable way of life. The first few chapters are addressed to how this is accomplished. As do other chassidic communities, the Lubavitcher define the outside world as threatening to their distinctive lifestyle but, unlike other chassidic communities, the members of this group do not attempt to isolate themselves from contact with outsiders. Instead, as the study shows, the Lubavitcher chassidim actively seek out contacts with the larger Jewish community. The latter part of the study examines why they do this and how they cope with the challenges and threats of assimilation posed by such contact. As the data suggest, to offset the potential distraction of assimilative contact with outsiders, the community constantly seeks to control the contexts of its members' contact with outsiders. Proselytizing activities, characteristic of the Lubavitcher chassidim, while seemingly endangering the community's tenability serve, in fact, to provide interactional contexts with a religious base, making religion the explicit focus of attention. Such activities, far from eroding the strength of the community actually reinforce and strengthen the community's distinctive identity. The data for the study were collected by means of participant observation during which time the researcher spent time within the chassidic community and participated in a variety of activities. While this study focuses on the Lubavitch community in Montreal, the ever-present influence of the Lubavitcher Rebbe— the leader of this chassidic group—is emphasized throughout. Return to the Top of this Page.	OVERVIEW: The Riot at Christie Pits Cyril H. Levitt and William Shaffir Toronto: Lester & Orpen Dennys, 1987 On 16 August 1933, during a softball game between teams of the Harbord Playground and St. Peter's at Toronto's Christie Pits, a huge swastika flag was suddenly unfurled to shouts of “Heil Hitler". This provoked outrage among the Jewish baseball players and spectators, and retaliation was swift. When the police were slow to intervene, reinforcements for both sides poured in from nearby neighbourhoods. The result was something never experienced in Toronto before or since-a four-hour race riot that sent many to hospital. Tensions had been mounting in the Jewish community throughout that hot summer of 1933. Residents of the eastern beaches region of Toronto-provoked by what they thought of as a "foreign invasion" of their district-had formed themselves into the "Swastika Club" earlier in the summer. Their organized parading on the boardwalk, with members sporting swastika badges, naturally infuriated Jewish visitors to the city's lakeside recreation area. Almost immediately Jewish community leaders began calling for the disbanding of the club. The riot at Christie Pits was the culmination of a summer of conflict, and remains a disturbing, even legendary, part of the city's history. Authors Cyril Levitt and William Shaffir carefully sift fact from fiction. Through the use of contemporary newspapers and journals, and through interviews with witnesses and participants, they piece together the story of the conflict, placing it in ironic juxtaposition with the horrifying events transpiring in Hitler's Germany of the 1930s. The Riot at Christie Pits is both a fascinating look at life in the Toronto of fifty years ago, and an engrossing perspective on how ordinary Canadians reacted to the coming of Nazism in Germany. Return to the Top of this Page.
OVERVIEW:Decency & Deviance: Studies in Deviant Behaviour Jack Haas and William Shaffir, editors Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1974 This is a book on the sociology of deviance, with emphasis on the Canadian situation. Most of the articles in this reader are based on data collected in Canada, but we have not restricted ourselves to Canadian research. We include those articles which we believe most adequately make a contribution. In addition, we have not restricted ourselves to the professional literature on deviance, but include articles and essays from Macleans, Saturday Night, and Playboy. We have committed ourselves to selecting the best articles we can find or have contributed for the book. Indeed, we have added and deleted selections up to the very last minute, in the hope of making an interesting and worthwhile book. The organizing theoretical orientation of this book is referred to as the "labelling perspective." We attempt in the book's introduction and in the introductions to the major sections to present a cogent framework of themes and concepts that we think important to the understanding of deviant behaviour, and, for that matter, "normal" behaviour. The perspective we describe and the introductions that analyze the relationship of this perspective to the articles we have selected, will aid the reader in understanding the deviance process. In our selection, we have tried to strike a balance between offering the readers substance without boggling their minds with pseudo-sophisticated sociologese. We do this in the hope that people from all walks of life will understand that the making of deviants is an important and everyday matter, affecting all of us, whether we be considered, or consider ourselves, decent or deviant. Return to the Top of this Page.	OVERVIEW: Experiencing Fieldwork: An Inside View of Qualitative Research William Shaffir and Robert A. Stebbins, editors Newbury Park, CA., Sage Publications, 1991 Reports about field research usually describe the methods and techniques of the research. Less often do they tell of the researchers’ social and emotional experiences: anxiety and frustration, as well as exhilaration and pride in achievement. These topics are discussed more often in personal conversations between field researchers than written about in the literature. But in field research the social and emotional side of the endeavor is more problematic than in any other form of inquiry. Frequently the formal rules and canons of research must be bent, twisted, or otherwise abandoned to accommodate the demands of the specific field research situation and the personal characteristics of the investigator. Learning about the research experiences of others is essential for students because it enables them to anticipate more accurately the trials and rewards of their own research efforts. In this book field researchers discuss their personal experiences and, less prominently, the methodological decisions and choices behind their studies of society. Fieldwork has often been viewed as a great black box, untaught and unteachable. While recent years have seen an increase in the number of how-to manuals for doing fieldwork, they never fully convey the complexity of the experience – the loneliness, the uncertainty, the moral dilemmas, the ambiguities. In Experiencing Fieldwork a group of top ethnographers use their own personal experiences to address various issues and challenges of field work. How do you gain entrée into a setting? What tricks are there to learning the rules of the community without alienating the people you came to study? How are good relations maintained with informants? What happens after you leave the field? Using examples of research from police departments to schools, from nursing homes to motorcycle gangs, the essays in this absorbing volume make the process of fieldwork come alive for the reader and provide invaluable advice for those entering the field. Return to the Top of this Page.
OVERVIEW: Shaping Identity in Canadian Society Jack Haas and William Shaffir, editors Scarborough, ON., Prentice-Hall of Canada, 1978. This books attempts to provide an interesting and comprehensible introduction to sociology. We have adopted a particular theoretical orientation, symbolic interactionism, to give a coherent analysis of behavior and identity in Canadian society. We have deliberately selected materials emphasizing the human element that underlies abstract sociological concepts. Our hope is that the reader will begin to develop a sociological perspective by reading material that describes real-life persons and settings. The integrating theme of the book is Canadian identity. We develop that theme by presenting a social psychological approach to understanding the formation of identity, and integrating this approach with an organizational and historical/structural analysis of Canadian society. The book’s focus on identity moves back and forth from individual to group, community, organization, social structure, social class, political economy, and societal relationships. The web of relationships important to understanding personal, group, collective, regional, and national identities is inductively described by moving from a micro to a macro analysis. We have used the concept of identity for two main reasons. First, it allows us to capture the essential elements of the symbolic interactionist perspective. Second, the concept seems especially suitable for analyzing and tying together seemingly unrelated features of everyday life in society. As we will indicate, human behavior is best explained in terms of process, and attempts at understanding such behavior must include an analysis of that process. The concept of identity as formulated within the symbolic interactionist perspective both encourages and enables us to highlight the interconnected processes that underlie our behavior. Return to the Top of this Page.	OVERVIEW: The Jews in Canada Robert Brym, William Shaffir, Morton Weinfeld, editors Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1993 Most ethnic groups in Canada are either successful, persecuted, cohesive, or endangered, but only Canada’s Jews appear to embody all these characteristics simultaneously. They, therefore, represent a community of enduring fascination; they are worth knowing about because they are an archetype of multiculturalism, confronting most of the problems and advantages bound up with ethnicity in the modern world. This is the first book to paint a comprehensive sociological portrait of Canada’s Jews. It contains much of the best recent research on Canadian-Jewish society, politics, and history by leading scholars in the area. By examining the achievements of the community and the challenges it faces in its attempt to survive the exigencies of modern life, it clarifies not only the evolution of the community but the evolution of ethnicity in Canadian society. Return to the Top of this Page.
OVERVIEW: Fieldwork Experience: Qualitative Approaches to Social Research William B. Shaffir, Robert A. Stebbins, Allan Turowetz, editors New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1980 This book is organized into four parts that correspond to the chronology of field research: getting in, learning the ropes, maintaining relations, and leaving the field. The general introduction describes the nature of fieldwork and presents a discussion of its history and the main issues researchers have to confront: validity and reliability, ethics, and the problem of dealing with unfamiliar situations. The introduction to each part further describes the different stages of fieldwork and considers the recent literature. Each of the contributions in this book is original, specially solicited for publication here. We believe these selections demonstrate a healthy and productive approach to social research, one that will benefit the student as well as the instructor teaching field research methods. Through engaging first-person accounts, Fieldwork Experience introduces qualitative methods as an important element of social research. Twenty-one papers, all written by experienced social researchers, cover a wide range of research subjects, including drug users, widows, delinquents, elites, pain sufferers, hustlers, artists, porno shop clients, gays, police, retardates, Moonies, and others. Return to the Top of this Page.	OVERVIEW: Doing Everyday Life: Ethnography As Human Lived Experience Mary Lorenz Dietz, Robert Prus, William Shaffir, editors Toronto: Copp Clark Longman, 1994 This book originated as the three of us were discussing a number of the very interesting papers delivered at a series of conferences on symbolic interaction and ethnographic research. As we talked with others about -assembling a package of materials along these lines, we encountered much enthusiasm concerning the utility of having a collection of articles of this sort available for classroom use. There was also considerable enthusiasm expressed about the desirability of providing readers with a conceptual and methodological framework for comprehending and approaching the ethnographic study of human lived experience. Accordingly, in approaching this book, we assumed two objectives. First, we wanted to compile a series of articles that would convey some of the vitality and richness of ethnographic research conducted in the Chicago style of symbolic interaction. Second, we wanted to provide readers with a theoretical viewpoint and a set of concepts that they could use both to synthesize the ethnographic material presented in this volume and to facilitate their own understandings of the social worlds around them. We think we have accomplished the first objective in developing this volume. While we have been able to include only a small portion of the highly insightful and compelling works that fall under the rubric of Chicago style interactionism, we expect that readers will find the articles in this volume to be diverse, interesting, and highly relevant to a fuller understanding of the ways in which people accomplish everyday life. The papers presented here are slices of larger studies of people's experiences in a variety of settings, but they still generate considerable insight into participant viewpoints, involvements, identities, activities, and relationships. Thus, in particularly valuable manners, these papers indicate the ways in which human group life is accomplished in practice. The second pursuit was that of introducing readers to a conceptual frame for approaching the study of human lived experience. To this end, the first article, "Approaching the Study of Human Group Life: Symbolic Interaction and Ethnographic Inquiry," lays out the major thrusts of an inter -actionist approach for such study. As well, it introduces readers to the methodological practices characterizing interactionist research. The concluding statement, "Generic Social Processes: Intersubjectivity and Trans-contextuality in the Social Sciences," pursues these same themes by delineating a set of "generic social processes" pertinent to ongoing conceptual develoments in interactionist research. Representing a means of synthesizing and dialoguing with much of the vast array of research falling within this style of research, these trans-situational or transcontextual social processes also constitute the frame around which the studies in this volume were organized. Return to the Top of this Page.
OVERVIEW:The Canadian Jewish Mosaic Morton Weinfeld, William Shaffir, Irwin Cotler, editors Toronto: John Wiley & Sons, 1981 Are Canadian Jews unique? Can Canadian Jewry truly be distinguished from the much larger, apparently similar Jewish community of the United States? Are Jews different in kind or degree from other ethnic groups in Canada? From the first refugees at the turn of the century who fled the pogroms of Eastern Europe and Russia, to the present thriving community which includes Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews from many parts of the world, Canadian Jewry has formed a unique segment of the national mosaic. The authors of this fascinating collection of essays examine the institutions of Judaism as a religion, Jewish education, voluntary organizations, and family life. Among the issues explored are: immigration, and the shocking failure of the Canadian government to respond to the plight of Jews in Germany during the 1930s, assimilation and intermarriage; Yiddish culture; anti-Semitism; Zionism; and the Jewish reaction to the independence movement in Quebec. Consideration has also been given to those who, for whatever reason, fall outside the mainstream of Canadian Jewish culture – the aged, the poor, women, the Jewish communities of Western and Atlantic Canada. This controversial book, whose contributors are all respected Canadian scholars, is an up-to-date discussion and analysis of the dynamics underlying contemporary Jewish life in Canada. From Nathan Glazer: “The Canadian Jewish Mosaic is an excellent introduction to the Jewish community of Canada, now one of the largest and most important in the world. This well-written, interesting book brings together the work of leading scholars on topics that vary from the history of the Jews in Canada to their occupational and social structures, their subgroups, their problems in maintaining Jewish identity, education, and culture, and their approaches to the recurring issues of intermarriage, anti-Semitism, and relations with Israel and other Jewish communities. The Canadian Jewish Mosaic could serve as a model for other Jewish communities, challenging them to do as well. Return to the Top of this Page.	OVERVIEW: Leaving Religion and Religious Life Mordechai Bar-Lev and William Shaffir, editors Greenwich, Connecticut: JAI Press, 1997 Until relatively recently, studies of religion devoted disproportionate attention to church involvement, commitment, and conversion. Less than thirty years ago, Mauss noted that the literature contained hardly more than “… an occasional oblique mention of religious defection.” However, people not only join religious groups but also leave them and, in the process, may switch to others. More recently, religious leavetaking, including disengagement, disaffiliation, and apostasy – the terminological thicket identified by Bromley ten years ago is less dense than a decade earlier – has been the subject of scholarly research. The general focus of the contributions in this volume is on leaving religion and religious life. However, as they illustrate, the meanings underlying these activities are far from uniform, reflecting a series of changes that, measured along a continuum, range from minimal adjustment to total transformation. Return to the Top of this Page.
OVERVIEW: Becoming Doctors: The Adoption of a Cloak of Competence Jack Haas and William Shaffir Connecticut: JAI Press, 1987 Becoming Doctors: The Adoption of Cloak of Competenceis an intimate portrayal of medical school socialization in an innovative medical school. Through first hand participant observation and informal interviews we describe student perceptions and adaptations to the process. This begins at admissions and ends at graduation. Comparisons and contrasts with those of students in more traditional professional programs are noted. The result is an attempt to integrate and synthesize these findings into an holistic conception of professionalization. The emphasis throughout has been on generating and testing hypotheses and concepts, thus producing an analytic model that describes the true nature of professionalization. The comparative method has aided this effort and helped to unveil the shrouds of mystification and ideology that characterize this process at the individual, group, organizational and occupational levels. We have found that the exaggerated expectations and claims that surround the profession and the professional role require exaggerated adaptations and efforts of legitimation. Although our interest was not evaluative and the locus of study is incidental to our conclusions, the medical school we studied is, necessarily, critically examined. If our interest had been evaluative, we would also have reported some very positive aspects of the program and the fact that students were generally enthusiastic about McMaster and its innovative curricula. It is also important for us to note that our interest in this socialization process essentially ignores the curriculum context and student acquisition of medical knowledge and skills. Our interest as sociologists gives emphasis to the art, rather than the science of medicine and to the "hidden curriculum" of professionalization. We regret any perceived imbalance by some of the school's administrators, but maintain that our findings are not specific to the school we studied. In effect, they reveal and illustrate the more general characteristics of professionalization. We have been encouraged about the validity of our analysis by the students we studied. These students provided continuous feedback about our analysis, as did our professional colleagues and peers who have read and commented favorably about our work. This book is the culmination of a long and sometimes difficult research process. When the idea first emerged to do a "Boys in White" study of an innovative school, we never fully grasped the time, energy, strains and commitment such an enterprise would involve. Now as the process is completed, we can retrospectively appreciate the difficult times. One enduring highlight is the comfortable and secure relationship that developed between the co-authors. In the sometimes petty and competitive world of professional life, it is often difficult for people to cooperate, let alone enjoy their work together. Our relationship gives testimony to the idea that joint research and writing can be a joy if the individuals take the work and the relationship more seriously than themselves. Our largest debt of gratitude is to the students of this study whose generous cooperation and interest made the study possible. Their support opened many doors that might otherwise have been closed. We are grateful to the faculty and practitioners at the medical school who facilitated our research and allowed us into their tutorials and clinical settings. Return to the Top of this Page.	OVERVIEW: Doing Ethnography: Researching Everyday Life Dorothy Pawluch, William Shaffir, Charlene Miall, editors Toronto: Scholar’s Press, 2005 (Back Cover Copy) This original contributed book will become an essential test for those teaching Ethnography, Research Methods (qualitative emphasis), applied sociology. And related subjects across Canada. Chapters in the first section of this volume consider the merits of qualitative research, profile interviewing strategies, and discuss the relationship to respondents as well as writing about social life. The second main component of this book contains three key sections: constructing perspectives, constructing identities, as well as doing and relating. This section features fascinating and often harrowing case studies. “Symbolic interactionism has gotten a bum rap,” emphasize General Editors Dorothy Pawluch, William Shaffir, and Charlene E. Miall. “In truth, any question about society, big or small, is ultimately about people interacting with each other. Whether the issue is changing gender relationships, corporate deeds and misdeeds, class structures or the social performance of children from cultural minorities, it all comes down to one thing: people doing things together. "More and more sociologists – whether they see themselves as symbolic interactionists or not – are appreciating that it is human beings who act and who through the ways in which they define situations and construct lines of action for themselves, create and constantly re-create social structures. [This volume reflects an] abiding commitment to ethical research among ethnographic researchers. Whether the issue is deciding how to handle emotionally sensitive topics, how much or how little of oneself to reveal, how to ensure that respondents’ voices come through loudly and accurately, there is a persistent preoccupation with not only ‘getting it right’ but ‘doing it right.’” Return to the Top of this Page.