Synagogue Life: A Study in Symbolic Interaction. by Samuel C. HeilmanReview by: Julian RoebuckSocial Forces, Vol. 56, No. 1 (Sep., 1977), pp. 296-297Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2577449 .

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296 I Social Forces I volume 56:1, september 1977

However, if Canadian Catholics have succeeded in maintaining a separate Catholic school system, it is probably because they get some government aid, rather than because the laity are in charge. Greeley et al. would like both lay control and all-out support on the part of the clergy and hierarchy, a clear impossibility in the present U.S. context, especially if no government aid is available. It seems then that the U.S. Catholic school system is on its way out (unless it gets bailed out by government funds) and not much can be done about it. U.S. bishops should be commended rather than attacked for not committing billions of dollars to a venture which brings so few returns anyway. On the other hand, they certainly deserve to be told that they should now leave control of the existing schools to the laity. I seriously doubt, however, that schools controlled by the laity could even maintain the present level of contributions, or that they could ever get the U.S. government to reverse its stand on aid to denominational schools.

Synagogue Life: A Study in Symbolic Interaction. By Samuel C. Heilman. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976. 314 pp. $12.95.

Reviewer: JULIAN ROEBUCK, Mississippi State University

Professor Heilman describes, from the perspective of the participant-observer, the interaction among the members of a small, modern, Orthodox synagogue in a large northeastern city. Beginning as a native participant in shul life, he moves to the stance of an open participant-observer purporting to combine the ethnographic approach (description and explanation) with a sociological one (analytic generaliza- tion), within a dramaturgical framework. The three-year study (1970-73) details the three primary settings of the synagogue: the houses of prayer, study, and assembly. Heilman discusses the physical setting of each of these three functions on two levels of analysis: instrumental (the physical layout and its props) and institutional (how people in each setting use the props and impute meaning to them).

The remainder of the book presents the chief characters in the three settings and the shifting activities (overt and covert) occurring in each. Unfortunately, the cast of characters (men, women, children, shul members, the gabbai, the president, the chazan, the rabbi, guests, outsiders, etc.) and their conduct in these settings are dealt with for the most part in a formal, structural-functional manner. The scenarios are not developed by the characters; that is, the actors neither write the script nor speak and act for themselves. Therefore, most of the social meanings the reader receives from Heilman's work are either his or adaptations from secondary sources, rather than actors' constructions on the scene. This does not obviate the author's meanings, but in dramaturgical sociology and symbolic interactionism, social meanings in great part emerge from interaction. Actors in behavior settings present the scene to one another as they see and desire it to be, explaining and justifying it to themselves and others.

In chapters on gossip and on joking, the author determines the social significance of these two conversational forms for synagogue members. Instead of dealing with these forms as social constructions of the actors on the scene, Heilman analyzes them as they relate to status and identity maintenance, bonding mechanisms, mutual obligation (the essence of the author's so-called "interactional

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Book Reviews / 297

dynamic") and social control. This functional presentation is brilliant, and supported by substantial references to previous scholars of gossip and joking (e.g., Simmel). But symbolic interactionism it's not.

Regarding status and identity maintenance in everyday secular life, Heilman argues that the Orthodox Jew wavers between two poles of identity-modernity and Orthodox Judaism. Moreover, he identifies the essential ingredients for Orthodox Jewish identity and community life: a shul (synagogue); a Jewish day school for children of primary school age; a source of kosher meat; and a mikva (ritual bath). Knowledge of Hebrew and Yiddish and enough male Jews for a minyan complete the requisites for the practice of Orthodox Judaism.

Though Heilman disclaims any aim to explain the essence of Orthodox Judaism, he makes a good start at this unintended task. And herein lies the strength and value of his contribution. Intertwined throughout his meticulous analyses are explanations of being "frum" (behaving like a Jew) and of the Jewish conception of justice, mutual obligations, charity, devotion, worship, scholarship, and kibbud (public honor associated with performance of rituals).

Two major flaws of this work are evident, one of commission and one of omission. (1) In attempting to create a portrait of the life of a synagogue, Heilman relies more on a presentation of "social facts" than on interactive dynamics. Interviews with shul members would have helped. (2) Though noting that women are in the synagogue but not of it, the significance of the Orthodox Jewish woman's limited participation in shul activities is unexplored. Perhaps this limitation may exacerbate the conflict of Orthodoxy and modernity, to the detriment of the former. One of the author's most persistent themes is that of the inroads of secularism on Orthodox Jewry, and how the women's movement affects the lives of all American women regardless of religious affiliation. Synagogue Life, notwithstanding, is well-written, documented, and researched. It should be read by general sociologists, ethnographers, sociologists of religion, and those interested in ethnic minorities. Heilman should be highly commended for an informative, thorough, compact, and internally consistent work.

Gamblers and Gambling. By Robert D. Herman. Lexington: Lexington Books, 1976. 142 pp. $12.00.

Reviewer: KEN LEVI, University of Texas at San Antonio

Robert D. Herman, in his lively, bite-sized book Gamblers and Gambling, steeps his readers in the lore of backgammon, poker, handicapping, craps, twenty-one, slot machines, baccarat, roulette, lottery games, and horse-racing in an attempt to explain gambling behavior in terms of its "sociopsychological properties." Through a comparative, situational analysis he examines the distinctive components of various games and develops a set of hypotheses to provide the literature on gambling with the kind of comprehensive, grounded theory it lacks. However, Herman's typology does not venture far beyond the "grounded" level, toward a wider analysis of games within a comparative, non-game setting, or within a structural-functionalist context.

Harping on sins of omission in such a compact monograph is unfair, but the

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