Encountering Cultural Effects of Jewish Ethnicity on Negotiating Social Anxiety in Norma Rosen’s At the Center

Abstract

Jewish ethnicity has a long-term connection with the historical development of many religious communities and belief systems, yet it stands as a way of life for the ethnic community. The Holocaust changed the future of the Jew influencing the formation of a different migrant identity in other parts of the world from which second-generation survivors form. The influence of literature for such a group was prominent as many writers intended to represent the actual struggles including identity crisis, trauma, and community crisis, and their effect on social change. In the scenario, the themes of social anxiety and community consciousness arise, and they reveal the present-day struggles of these people including all social platforms. Social anxiety as a theory dwells on the impact of the social boundaries of negative memories reflecting the individuals surrounded by it and the paper discusses such an impact with Norma Rosen’s At the Center ( 1982) and the influence it takes on each character of it through Overestimate the level of threat in social situations, Underestimate their ability to handle social situations, Expect negative outcomes from interactions in social environments, Overestimate the consequences of these negative outcomes. At the core, the paper attempts to give a real-time solution to social phobia through cognitive behavioral therapies. The concern also enters in contemporary world with its relevance of discussion to mental health and allied fields.