This book provides a new conceptual and methodological framework for the social scientific study of Mishnah, as well as a series of case studies that apply social science perspectives to the analysis of Mishnah's evidence. The framework is one that takes full account of the historical and literary-historical issues that impinge upon the use of Mishnah for any scholarly purposes beyond philological study, including social scientific approaches to the materials. Based on the framework, each chapter undertakes, with appropriate methodological caveats, an avenue of inquiry open to the social scientist that brings to bear social scientific questions and modes of inquiry to Mishnaic evidence.

Chapter 1: Introduction: Challenges and Opportunities in the Social Scientific Study of the Evidence of the Mishnah.- Chapter 2: Dignity or Debasement: The Destitute in the World of Mishnah.- Chapter 3:"The Land of Israel is Holier than all Lands:" Diaspora in Mishnah's Cosmos - The Message.- Chapter 4: Marginal Person and/or Marginal Situation: The Convert in Mishnah.- Chapter 5: Religious Authority in the Mishnah: Social Science Perspectives on the Emerging Role of Scholars.- Chapter 6: Family Structure, Kinship, and Life Course Transitions: Social Science Explorations of the Mishnah.- Chapter 7: Study as a Socially Formative Activity: The Case of Mishnah Study in the Early Rabbinic Group.- Chapter 8: When Tosefta was Read in Service of Mishnah-Study: What Pervasive Literary-Rhetorical Traits of Toseftan Materials Divulge about the Evolution of Early Rabbinic Group Identity on the Heels of Mishnah's Promulgation.- Chapter 9: Studying Mishnah "Talmudic-ly": What the basic literary-rhetorical features of the Talmuds' legal compositions and composite "essays" tell us about Mishnah study as an identity-informing activity within rabbinic groups at the end of Late Antiquity.