Occupational Selection and Adjustment in the Jewish Group in Montreal with Special Reference to the Medical Profession

The author writes that the occupational distribution and adjustment of the Jewish group in Montreal, circa 1940s, was a function of their subordinate status as an ethnic minority. She points out that their occupational pattern was marginal to that of the French and English groups and was characterized by self-sufficiency. Selection of Jews to the fee-earning professions was related to their limited opportunities in the occupational structure and to their cultural background. The author argues that the occupational adjustment of the Jewish doctor was conceived in terms of his adjustment to the roles arising out of the groups of which he was a part. She notes that his ethnic identification influenced distinctively his participation in Gentile medical institutions in Montreal, and the status he achieved. His clientele and practice were highly coloured ethnically. She concludes that the development of Jewish medical institutions which paralleled Gentile ones, and the assimilation of the doctors to Gentile culture, were part of the process of accommodation of the whole Jewish ethnic group to the life of the larger community.

Master's Thesis

McGill University

Montreal

1942

vii-157-liv p.

en