This paper critiques Bonacich's application of her middleman minority theory to the American Jewish experience. American Jewish immigrants did not have a sojourner outlook nor did they shift to the intermediary positions that Bonacich's theory anticipates. In contrast to Bonacich's model, Jews accumulated human and physical capital as a result of their lack of a sojourner outlook and remained a predominantly working-class group prior to World War II. Rather than being clannish and hostile to progressive movements, Jews were assimilationist and supportive of unions and antiracist activities.
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