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The article presents information about the comparative approach applied to the study of contemporary Jewry, which adds an important dimension to the research and interpretation of individual Jewish communities. Most present research analyses the local community in the context of its native environment and its adjustment to that environment. With the comparative method, one can explore the common relationship of Jewish communities throughout the world while taking into full account the problems of locus and specific historical configuration. Thus a particular Jewish community can be studied not only in its relation to the environing culture, but also in the total context of the Jewish people. The object of this paper is to delineate, by way of comparison, some of the disparate and common elements in the three major Jewish centers of the western hemisphere, Canada, the United States, and Argentina. The selected disparate element relates to the varying forms of representative organization of the Jewish communities as their respective majority, or host cultures influence them. The common element refers to the nature of individual identification with Jews and Judaism, a problem that is similar in the three communities.

One of the new techniques of comparative analysis developed in recent years for the study of foreign systems of public administration is the ecological or environmental approach. Utilizing such an approach, the following study compares the public administrative systems of Canada and Ceylon in relation to their geographic, economic, social, and political setting. By examining these administrative systems on the basis of some of the more significant environmental influences affecting them, this study attempts to identify the cultural variables influencing public administration in an industrially well-developed Western nation and a developing new state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canada and United States exhibit many similarities in their institutions and cultural patterns. On the global basis, there have been more similarities than differences in the institutions and cultural patterns of the two countries. Among their important institutions, for example, the two nations have shared a Jewish-Christian religious tradition, a liberal democratic political ideal and a capitalistic economy. Contributing to similar cultural patterns, there has been a common language and a related geography. In addition, the two countries have shared a British legacy, frontier areas, immigrants of comparable origin from the same historic epoch, and comparable ecological conditions. The comparative hypotheses have been that Americans are greater risk- takers and are more individualistic than Canadians. In contrast, Canadians have been said to be more conservative and more collectively oriented than Americans. Before describing how we have tested these hypotheses, we must indicate how we have expanded upon the modal personality concept.

The effects of education on current migration propensities in the United States are examined for each age group, and an estimate is made of how these age-specific differentials cumulate over a lifetime in determining the number of times that individuals at different educational levels can expect to move over the course of their lives. The independent effects of age, education, and occupation are also examined. Two other sections investigate trends in educational selectivity of migration in the United States and international comparisons of occupational differences in migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]