Buffered mobility: parenting strategies of religious Jewish global middle class families

Abstract

This study adds to the emerging body of literature on parental practices and trajectories of globally mobile middle-class families, by focusing on families belonging to diverse religious Jewish communities. Through an interview-based, in-depth analysis of three internationally mobile families representing various Jewish religious factions, we illustrate the complex matrix of inter-relations between mobility, religion, and parenting. Our analysis shows that a mobile lifestyle offers these Jewish religious families a liberating encounter, but that parents work to maintain their religious links while simultaneously securing the necessary advantages middle-class families generally aspire to. We found that religion plays an important role in social reproduction of these particular mobile families, acting as a buffer to reduce the uncertainty and shock integral to regular mobility. Furthermore, we illuminate how various forms of religiosity are reproduced through different strategies across the participating families.

Keywords

• religion
• mobility
• global middle class
• families