In: Dialectical anthropology: an independent international journal in the critical tradition committed to the transformation of our society and the humane union of theory and practice, Band 8, Heft 1-2
This note contrasts the familial origins of 136 Jewish American entrepreneurs with those of 187 American non-Jewish entrepreneurs described in a previous study of mine. Information on both groups was drawn from published biographies. In addition, manuscript biographies were used to gather information on Jewish entrepreneurs.
Jewish and Japanese child rearing are compared as examples of patterns that produce highly successful, achievement‐oriented children. Mothers are notably devoted and nurturant, and also fairly sophisticated and antonomous individuals, with considerable authority at home. Fathers have high prestige, but are somewhat distant. Achievement is also motivated by the child's feelings of guilt over the mother's pain and suffering caused by his failure to live up to her high expectations.