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A dispersed ethnic group as a living system: Soviet Jewry in the 1970s
Author(s) -
Riss Ilan
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
systems research and behavioral science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1099-1743
pISSN - 1092-7026
DOI - 10.1002/sres.518
Subject(s) - ethnic group , judaism , miller , ethnic community , population , sociology , geography , ecology , anthropology , demography , archaeology , biology
This paper applies the living systems theory (LST), developed by J. G. Miller, to the analysis of a dispersed ethnic community. The LST structure, in all 20 of its subsystems, is analyzed at a community level for the Jewish population of the USSR in the 1970s. It is found that the thorough definition of all 20 subsystems may help in examining of the organization of ethnic communities. Possible ways of quantifying the subsystems and the use of this method for comparative analysis of various ethnic communities are proposed. Crucial subsystems, the dysfunction of which may threaten the very existence of the ethnic community, are defined. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.