The transformation of the human sciences into the social sciences in the thirdpart of the 19th century was closely related to attempts to develop andimplement m... » 

The transformation of the human sciences into the social sciences in the thirdpart of the 19th century was closely related to attempts to develop andimplement methods for dealing with social tensions and the rationalization ofsociety. This book studies the connections between academic disciplines andnotions of Jewish assimilation and integration and demonstrates that the questfor Jewish assimilation is linked to and built into the conceptual foundationsof modern social science disciplines. Focusing on two influential assimilatedJewish authorsa anthropologist Franz Boas and sociologist Georg Simmela thisstudy shows that epistemological considerations underlie the authorsa TMrespective evaluations of the Jewsa TM assimilation in German and Americansocieties as a form of group extinction or as a form of social identity.This conceptual model gives a new key to understanding pivotal issues inrecent Jewish history and in the history of the social sciences. «