Encyclopedia of Religion and Society

Lazerwitz, Bernard

(1926-) Born in Clayton, Missouri, trained at the University of Michigan in sociology and survey research, Lazerwitz has taught at Illinois, Brandeis, and Missouri before joining the faculty at Bar-Ilan University in Israel in 1974.

Lazerwitz’s work has focused on religion and, in particular, American Jews. His methodological acuity has particularly benefitted survey studies of Jews. His work has integrated survey findings on Jews with equivalent data on Protestants and Catholics, and has located the Jewish community within the larger American religious community.

Lazerwitz’s research and publications have centered on the areas of survey research, ethnicity, religious involvement, and urban affairs. His ethnic and religious studies have focused on the components of consequences of religiosity. He is author or coauthor of several books, the most recent of which is Jewish Choices: American Jewish Denominationalism (with Arnold Dashefsky, Ephraim Tabory, and J. Alan Winter, SUNY Press 1997), and more than 60 articles, a number of which have appeared in the major journals in sociology and in religion.

—M. Herbert Danzger