ABSTRACT
The economic and social trajectory of Jews who migrated to Brazil beginning in the first decades of the twentieth century can be considered an outstanding success. The study of the rapid upward social mobility of Jews in Brazil presents an optimal combination of structural and individual factors in a given historical period through which we may augment our understanding of the role of immigrants in social and economic development. Study of the occupational structure and mobility of Brazilian Jews provides a profile of the economic activities of a minority group whose immigration and acculturation into the mainstream of the adoptive society are relatively recent. During Brazil’s years of economic growth, higher education and prosperous businesses combined to form the most important path to upward social mobility. Social mobility and economic achievements press toward identification with certain social classes, rather than toward conformity or obedience to cultural patterns dictated by Jewish religious tradition.
