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Capitalism and the Jews
How the fate of the Jews has been shaped by the development of capitalism
The unique historical relationship between capitalism and the Jews is crucial to understanding modern European and Jewish history. But the subject has been addressed less often by mainstream historians than by anti-Semites or apologists. In this book Jerry Muller, a leading historian of capitalism, separates myth from reality to explain why the Jewish experience with capitalism has been so important and complex―and so ambivalent.
Drawing on economic, social, political, and intellectual history from medieval Europe through contemporary America and Israel, Capitalism and the Jews examines the ways in which thinking about capitalism and thinking about the Jews have gone hand in hand in European thought, and why anticapitalism and anti-Semitism have frequently been linked. The book explains why Jews have tended to be disproportionately successful in capitalist societies, but also why Jews have numbered among the fiercest anticapitalists and Communists. The book shows how the ancient idea that money was unproductive led from the stigmatization of usury and the Jews to the stigmatization of finance and, ultimately, in Marxism, the stigmatization of capitalism itself. Finally, the book traces how the traditional status of the Jews as a diasporic merchant minority both encouraged their economic success and made them particularly vulnerable to the ethnic nationalism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Providing a fresh look at an important but frequently misunderstood subject, Capitalism and the Jews will interest anyone who wants to understand the Jewish role in the development of capitalism, the role of capitalism in the modern fate of the Jews, or the ways in which the story of capitalism and the Jews has affected the history of Europe and beyond, from the medieval period to our own.
The unique historical relationship between capitalism and the Jews is crucial to understanding modern European and Jewish history. But the subject has been addressed less often by mainstream historians than by anti-Semites or apologists. In this book Jerry Muller, a leading historian of capitalism, separates myth from reality to explain why the Jewish experience with capitalism has been so important and complex―and so ambivalent.
Drawing on economic, social, political, and intellectual history from medieval Europe through contemporary America and Israel, Capitalism and the Jews examines the ways in which thinking about capitalism and thinking about the Jews have gone hand in hand in European thought, and why anticapitalism and anti-Semitism have frequently been linked. The book explains why Jews have tended to be disproportionately successful in capitalist societies, but also why Jews have numbered among the fiercest anticapitalists and Communists. The book shows how the ancient idea that money was unproductive led from the stigmatization of usury and the Jews to the stigmatization of finance and, ultimately, in Marxism, the stigmatization of capitalism itself. Finally, the book traces how the traditional status of the Jews as a diasporic merchant minority both encouraged their economic success and made them particularly vulnerable to the ethnic nationalism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Providing a fresh look at an important but frequently misunderstood subject, Capitalism and the Jews will interest anyone who wants to understand the Jewish role in the development of capitalism, the role of capitalism in the modern fate of the Jews, or the ways in which the story of capitalism and the Jews has affected the history of Europe and beyond, from the medieval period to our own.
280 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
22 people are currently reading
427 people want to read
About the author
Jerry Z. Muller
11 books44 followersJerry Z. Muller is professor of history at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
February 16, 2017
This book takes what might be considered untouchable subject matter and not only writes about it but does so in a way that makes what he's saying seem simple and clear. I knew from the first few pages that this was going to be a significant book.
...Except that since the title included "capitalism," I thought it was going to be a book about economics. But, no--it's a history, a history of economics and its effect on people and the world, and, in particular, Jews. It is a book that paints history in broad brushstrokes. For the most part he doesn't get bogged down in details. It is an overview that shows how things work and why what has happened, happened.
The book consists of an introduction followed by four essays. It is not boring at all; in fact it is electrifying at points. He brings into focus a lot that was not clear, like "what is capitalism" (I'm a novice regarding economics), and why the "usury" charge casts such a long shadow. Usury could be all commerce (not just finance). It seems that the classical belief was that there was only a finite amount of wealth, so commerce--buying something in one place and selling it somewhere else for profit--was thought to be like stealing. Aristotle held forth against it. There was no value placed on knowledge or risk. So groups that practiced commerce, while necessary to society, were stigmatized.
In antiquity and in medieval times commerce was conducted by politically powerless merchant minorities living in diaspora. These included the Armenians, Greeks, and the overseas Chinese, but the Jews became the paradigmatic merchant minority. They got a double whammy--not only being merchants, but also the prototypical religious outsiders in Christian Europe.
The author explains, too, how the rulers used Jews to extract money from the landed nobility who weren't subject to taxation. When the nobility required financing, they would have to pay a high rate of interest for scarce capital; then the king wielded severe taxes to squeeze funds from the moneylenders into the royal coffers.
As a result of exclusion from other occupations, the merchant minorities developed business knowledge and skills. That's why, when Europe began emerging from feudal times, Jews were able to hit the ground running. But what also happened was that when the old empires--Habsburg, Romanov, and Ottoman, began to break down, which had to happen before new industrial societies could emerge, the blame was pinned on Jews for the accompanying changes and distress.
Where Jews were accepted as citizens, they already had the skills to succeed in "the new world order" of the day--industrialized society. They had a head start because of the role they had been made to perform in past generations. Disproportionate success could appear as an affront to the liberal attitude that everybody has equal ability and an equal shot at success. There tended to be less suspicion and antisemitism where industrialization and commerce had already taken root. But in Germany and Eastern Europe, once a middle class finally emerged from among the former peasants, they often wanted to dispose of the Jews, whom they now found it convenient to consider outside competition.
The third essay is more difficult and the only exception to the general ease of reading. The author shows how Jews became associated with the radical Left--communism--as well as with capitalism. Some were attracted because of the promise of equality and brotherhood in contrast to the harsh realities of antisemitism. Some became leaders of short-lived Bolshevik revolutions in countries where there was no popular support for communism. It was thus that antisemitism took a new turn and associated Jews with political radicalism, even though only a tiny minority were involved. Antisemitism not being very logical, Jews were even imagined as plotting to "work both sides of the street"--both capitalism and communism. The author also highlights the under-appreciated impact of how the myth of the Jew as Bolshevik led western countries to bar them from immigrating during the Nazi years.
In the last chapter the author teaches how the nation-state naturally arises from industrial society. The Marxist approach is that those who own capital foist nationalism on workers as sort of a false team spirit to keep then enthralled. Muller says what happens is very different from that. In the pre-industrial state, it doesn't matter if there are multiple languages and ethnic groups because every group is locked in without any mobility at all. You only have to be a peasant, or a craftsman, or a Jew, and so will your children. But in industrial times, everybody has to become educated and literate, so there has to be just one language and one dominant "high" culture, so we can negotiate the territory and become upwardly mobile. That culture is nationalistic--e pluribus unum. Unfortunately this can be bad news for minorities. They may no longer have even the former stigmatized but necessary role. Now they are just in the way of the nationalistic enterprise, to be blamed and punished--killed or expelled. The other option is assimilation. That seems more merciful, but, again, can flip if the minority group succeeds and the dominant population turns on them. And that is what can lead the minority group to develop a nationalist goal itself as an escape from insecurity and scapegoating.
Muller has more to say about how capitalism works--how society works, for that matter. I learned a lot. He is a good teacher. He will use some term that only a historian or economist would know, and then he'll paraphrase it for the general public. And what he teaches is a new way of looking at things. He says more surprising things then I could even touch on here. I guess you can get into the ball of yarn in different ways but he enters by way of the economic strand. A new look, a creative look, and a way to think for myself about economies and people. Recommended!
...Except that since the title included "capitalism," I thought it was going to be a book about economics. But, no--it's a history, a history of economics and its effect on people and the world, and, in particular, Jews. It is a book that paints history in broad brushstrokes. For the most part he doesn't get bogged down in details. It is an overview that shows how things work and why what has happened, happened.
The book consists of an introduction followed by four essays. It is not boring at all; in fact it is electrifying at points. He brings into focus a lot that was not clear, like "what is capitalism" (I'm a novice regarding economics), and why the "usury" charge casts such a long shadow. Usury could be all commerce (not just finance). It seems that the classical belief was that there was only a finite amount of wealth, so commerce--buying something in one place and selling it somewhere else for profit--was thought to be like stealing. Aristotle held forth against it. There was no value placed on knowledge or risk. So groups that practiced commerce, while necessary to society, were stigmatized.
In antiquity and in medieval times commerce was conducted by politically powerless merchant minorities living in diaspora. These included the Armenians, Greeks, and the overseas Chinese, but the Jews became the paradigmatic merchant minority. They got a double whammy--not only being merchants, but also the prototypical religious outsiders in Christian Europe.
The author explains, too, how the rulers used Jews to extract money from the landed nobility who weren't subject to taxation. When the nobility required financing, they would have to pay a high rate of interest for scarce capital; then the king wielded severe taxes to squeeze funds from the moneylenders into the royal coffers.
As a result of exclusion from other occupations, the merchant minorities developed business knowledge and skills. That's why, when Europe began emerging from feudal times, Jews were able to hit the ground running. But what also happened was that when the old empires--Habsburg, Romanov, and Ottoman, began to break down, which had to happen before new industrial societies could emerge, the blame was pinned on Jews for the accompanying changes and distress.
Where Jews were accepted as citizens, they already had the skills to succeed in "the new world order" of the day--industrialized society. They had a head start because of the role they had been made to perform in past generations. Disproportionate success could appear as an affront to the liberal attitude that everybody has equal ability and an equal shot at success. There tended to be less suspicion and antisemitism where industrialization and commerce had already taken root. But in Germany and Eastern Europe, once a middle class finally emerged from among the former peasants, they often wanted to dispose of the Jews, whom they now found it convenient to consider outside competition.
The third essay is more difficult and the only exception to the general ease of reading. The author shows how Jews became associated with the radical Left--communism--as well as with capitalism. Some were attracted because of the promise of equality and brotherhood in contrast to the harsh realities of antisemitism. Some became leaders of short-lived Bolshevik revolutions in countries where there was no popular support for communism. It was thus that antisemitism took a new turn and associated Jews with political radicalism, even though only a tiny minority were involved. Antisemitism not being very logical, Jews were even imagined as plotting to "work both sides of the street"--both capitalism and communism. The author also highlights the under-appreciated impact of how the myth of the Jew as Bolshevik led western countries to bar them from immigrating during the Nazi years.
In the last chapter the author teaches how the nation-state naturally arises from industrial society. The Marxist approach is that those who own capital foist nationalism on workers as sort of a false team spirit to keep then enthralled. Muller says what happens is very different from that. In the pre-industrial state, it doesn't matter if there are multiple languages and ethnic groups because every group is locked in without any mobility at all. You only have to be a peasant, or a craftsman, or a Jew, and so will your children. But in industrial times, everybody has to become educated and literate, so there has to be just one language and one dominant "high" culture, so we can negotiate the territory and become upwardly mobile. That culture is nationalistic--e pluribus unum. Unfortunately this can be bad news for minorities. They may no longer have even the former stigmatized but necessary role. Now they are just in the way of the nationalistic enterprise, to be blamed and punished--killed or expelled. The other option is assimilation. That seems more merciful, but, again, can flip if the minority group succeeds and the dominant population turns on them. And that is what can lead the minority group to develop a nationalist goal itself as an escape from insecurity and scapegoating.
Muller has more to say about how capitalism works--how society works, for that matter. I learned a lot. He is a good teacher. He will use some term that only a historian or economist would know, and then he'll paraphrase it for the general public. And what he teaches is a new way of looking at things. He says more surprising things then I could even touch on here. I guess you can get into the ball of yarn in different ways but he enters by way of the economic strand. A new look, a creative look, and a way to think for myself about economies and people. Recommended!
July 16, 2023
Collection of essays responding to Milton’s Friedman’s address. Friedman thought it paradoxical that Jews were very successful at capitalism, yet tended to oppose it. Muller - a deeply knowledgeable historian of both Jews and capitalism - thinks that Friedman is simply wrong about Jewish affinity for socialism, reading too much into Jewish support for parties that gave them rights, over more Christian/ethnonationalist conservative parties. He cites Simmel, Marx, Weber and Sombart who debated the novelty of capitalism and whether Jews were somehow inherently oriented towards mercantile endeavours.
Such discussions may sound distasteful to some. Jews are understandably uneager to highlight their prosperity when historical and ongoing antisemitic violence has been connected to the trope of the rich, manipulative Jew. But even on controversial topics, objective scholarship has the potential to increase understanding and tolerance. That said, I think Muller’s lessons are the wrong ones. As he tells it, some writer disliked both capitalism and Jews (Marx, Keynes), and thus sought to connect them. Others who approved of both (Montesquieu) sought the connection for the opposite reason. Muller, a philosemite and free market fan, is the latter, thus falling into the same trap of seeking to connect two favoured themes without sufficient evidence! It’s easy to cherry-pick: he cites “he who is crushed by poverty is like one to whom all the curses of Deuteronomy have descended” (Shemot Rabbah 31:14) but not “poverty is good for the Jewish people” (Ḥagigah 9b).
To my mind, neither approach is right. Jews aren't inherently drawn to banking or capitalism. As Muller points out, this connection is based on contingent historical causes. But we might ask: what are Jews about? What is the telos of Jewish history? The academic consensus would be simply “nothing” - what common denominator could one find over such a vast timeframe? But actually I do have an answer, because it’s prescriptive, not descriptive. My opinion is that Judaism is about not every harebrained idea invented by Jews, but: an intelligent interpretation of Judaism’s scriptures and the Talmud; bearing in mind its contradictions, yet still channeling its messages of self-mastery, communal responsibility, moral improvement, and the never-ending approach to God.
Such discussions may sound distasteful to some. Jews are understandably uneager to highlight their prosperity when historical and ongoing antisemitic violence has been connected to the trope of the rich, manipulative Jew. But even on controversial topics, objective scholarship has the potential to increase understanding and tolerance. That said, I think Muller’s lessons are the wrong ones. As he tells it, some writer disliked both capitalism and Jews (Marx, Keynes), and thus sought to connect them. Others who approved of both (Montesquieu) sought the connection for the opposite reason. Muller, a philosemite and free market fan, is the latter, thus falling into the same trap of seeking to connect two favoured themes without sufficient evidence! It’s easy to cherry-pick: he cites “he who is crushed by poverty is like one to whom all the curses of Deuteronomy have descended” (Shemot Rabbah 31:14) but not “poverty is good for the Jewish people” (Ḥagigah 9b).
To my mind, neither approach is right. Jews aren't inherently drawn to banking or capitalism. As Muller points out, this connection is based on contingent historical causes. But we might ask: what are Jews about? What is the telos of Jewish history? The academic consensus would be simply “nothing” - what common denominator could one find over such a vast timeframe? But actually I do have an answer, because it’s prescriptive, not descriptive. My opinion is that Judaism is about not every harebrained idea invented by Jews, but: an intelligent interpretation of Judaism’s scriptures and the Talmud; bearing in mind its contradictions, yet still channeling its messages of self-mastery, communal responsibility, moral improvement, and the never-ending approach to God.
February 5, 2025
Good book surveying the history and relationship between Jews and capitalism. I enjoyed reading it. The best chapter/essay is the one on Jews and Communism.
As is typical of books in which Jewish/Gentile clashes and "antisemitism" is involved, you will have to discard the self-serving exculpations of the ethnically biased author and limit yourself to gleaning the hard information from it regarding overrepresentation in predatory banking and eager participation in Communist agencies of repression and murder.
As is typical of books in which Jewish/Gentile clashes and "antisemitism" is involved, you will have to discard the self-serving exculpations of the ethnically biased author and limit yourself to gleaning the hard information from it regarding overrepresentation in predatory banking and eager participation in Communist agencies of repression and murder.
December 24, 2020
Yeah no. Maybe 1.5 stars. I feel reproducing and rebutting all the claims here is already creating a false balance. Just as a gist, the author doesn't know or at least engage in the pre-20th century history of the Jewish people and delineates where a lot of pre-modern anti-semitism comes from, which seems absolutely indispensable in a treatise on this topic. I'm sure there are interesting analyses to be made on feudal merchant capitalism, which are conveniently left out, even though I assume Muller knows at least about that part of history. His strange dichotomozing of early 20th century economics with 'good guy' Hayek and 'anti-semite' Keynes is strange. It was terribly en vogue to be an anti-semite at that time, and Hayek was no different, as has been shown in various analyses. Despite all this, it doesn't really matter what a particular person said and done rather than a society that collectively believed in a particular ideology. Just mentioning old socialists and anti-semitism in the same sentence doesn't make the idea of socialism bad. On top of that, Muller takes a way a lot of agency of historic Jewish people that were leading various socialist causes. But he just goes on how (like, am I misreading this or is he just one-level removed anti-semitic here) these Jews just got lured into the ideology and are to blame for the consequential anti-semitism? The whole analysis seems based on this obsession with wanting to shoehorn the Jewish people (which is on top of everything an extremely heterogenous people) into some collective behaviour and subjugate them to a grand narrative that somehow favors a capitalist analysis of history. Every 10 pages or so he by the way completely loses track of what he was going to say and just indulges in how a) great capitalism was/is and b) how bad socialism was/is.
Muller seems to be sort of quasi-conservative or adjacent to neo-reactionary movements in the US, some of which are outright obsessed with Jewish culture and people (in bad (neo-nazis and their friends) and weird ways (evangelical christians), rarely good and healthy, it seems). His own research is mostly into the history of capitalism and conservatism, which is fine per se, but I'd expect of a rigorous scholar to really stake out the field well if you try to comment on other theories (like Marxism, which he didn't characterize well in my view). Most of his conclusions in this book I could've told you beforehand. And it seems like he just set out to do that: slander the left with anti-semitism and praising neoliberalism, without actually doing anything against anti-semitism and being vaguely anti-semitic himself.
Muller seems to be sort of quasi-conservative or adjacent to neo-reactionary movements in the US, some of which are outright obsessed with Jewish culture and people (in bad (neo-nazis and their friends) and weird ways (evangelical christians), rarely good and healthy, it seems). His own research is mostly into the history of capitalism and conservatism, which is fine per se, but I'd expect of a rigorous scholar to really stake out the field well if you try to comment on other theories (like Marxism, which he didn't characterize well in my view). Most of his conclusions in this book I could've told you beforehand. And it seems like he just set out to do that: slander the left with anti-semitism and praising neoliberalism, without actually doing anything against anti-semitism and being vaguely anti-semitic himself.
Want to read
February 22, 2011PRELUDE:
When my older sister Di gave me this book at Xmas,
I recalled the time eyebrows had been raised
when she gave me The Complete Works of Shakespeare
one Xmas many years ago in our youth,
and round the same period when we sat on the beach
one hot December reading to each other out of her Complete Works of Tennyson,
totally oblivious that this was NOT acceptable Australian Beach Behaviour!!!
For some reason this title of "Capitalism and the Jews" struck me as being
very Anti-Semitic and I could feel eyebrows rising all around me
-we were on a restaurant verandah in the Blue Mountains with a panoramic view
back to Sydney.
"Why on God's Earth has she given me THIS???"
The next thought was probably worse!!!
"Good Grief,why would she give ME a book on Economics???"
She told me of all the trouble she had gone to to get hold of this damned book.
I dutifully browsed.
It's an absolutely absorbing, interesting and informative book.
THERE - you can ALL breathe easy again.
I sure as hell am!!!
September 23, 2019
"If you hate the banks, you're a revolutionary. If you name the bankers, you're a fascist."
Anti-capitalism and antisemitism travel on parallel paths. The Jews are dope. Thanks for helping build the modern world.
Anti-capitalism and antisemitism travel on parallel paths. The Jews are dope. Thanks for helping build the modern world.
December 12, 2020
I threw in the towel on this book after making it approximately a quarter of the way through. It is very bloated, repetitive, and has a bad mix of providing uninteresting details and a poor holistic perspective. The reason I gave this book 2 stars rather than 1 is because I could see myself potentially coming back to it in the future when I am at a different point in my life.
As a Capistlit and a Jew, I was intrigued by the title and wanted to see what the book had to offer. I was looking to learn something new and perhaps change my perspective.
However, the book delves into random uninteresting details. For example, the author spent several pages discussing the types of words Karl Marx used to describe Jews and how that affected the public's perception of them. I did not find it to be a very interesting perspective because there are many people who use a multitude of words to describe various groups of people, so this was just a very specific example of one person saying a few things about a very specific group of people. All races, religions, and groups experience the same problems.
Some historical reasons for why Jews historically managed money is because lending money was considered a sin in Catholicism. This is interesting but was delivered via a very mundane and uninteresting manner in the book.
Overall, I think that reading the wiki page on Economic Antisemithism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economi...) is a better use of time than reading this book.
As a Capistlit and a Jew, I was intrigued by the title and wanted to see what the book had to offer. I was looking to learn something new and perhaps change my perspective.
However, the book delves into random uninteresting details. For example, the author spent several pages discussing the types of words Karl Marx used to describe Jews and how that affected the public's perception of them. I did not find it to be a very interesting perspective because there are many people who use a multitude of words to describe various groups of people, so this was just a very specific example of one person saying a few things about a very specific group of people. All races, religions, and groups experience the same problems.
Some historical reasons for why Jews historically managed money is because lending money was considered a sin in Catholicism. This is interesting but was delivered via a very mundane and uninteresting manner in the book.
Overall, I think that reading the wiki page on Economic Antisemithism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economi...) is a better use of time than reading this book.
August 25, 2016
Keep David Duke away from this book! Jews made the best capitalists and populated the leadership of the anti-capitalists. Sounds like anti-Semitic propaganda? yet recent works like Slezkine’s The Jewish Century have explained how Jews dominated commerce and communism in Europe. Muller’s short book traces these ironies of Jewish economic and political history explaining how usury, forbidden by the Church, was relegated to the despised Jews who were already going to Hell. As Europe becomes capitalist, usury became normal business practices and some Jews flourish. As well, Muller cites some lucid examples in the case of Hungary as Jews dominated the Communist party, even perpetuate anti-Semitic show trials, while only a small percentage of Jews ever joined the party. In the end, he favors the economic theory of nationalism established by Ernest Gellner. In modernity, Jews flourished because of their ‘cultural capital’, resented by the peasants who take up the new language of nationalism.
April 7, 2010
A series of 4 long essays -
1. The Long Shadow of Usury: Capitalism and the Jews in Modern European thought.
2. The Jewish Response to Capitalism
3. Radical Anticapitalism: The Jew as Communist
4. The Economics of Nationalism and the Fate of the Jews in Twentieth-Century Europe
For anyone interested in the long history of Europe and/or 20 century Europe and/or the history of the Jews in Europe and/or nationalism and/or capitalism and/or Marxism.
Well footnoted with interesting references for further reading. Thoughtful and thought-provoking.
And lest anyone wonder - it is NOT an anti-Semitic book in any sense.
1. The Long Shadow of Usury: Capitalism and the Jews in Modern European thought.
2. The Jewish Response to Capitalism
3. Radical Anticapitalism: The Jew as Communist
4. The Economics of Nationalism and the Fate of the Jews in Twentieth-Century Europe
For anyone interested in the long history of Europe and/or 20 century Europe and/or the history of the Jews in Europe and/or nationalism and/or capitalism and/or Marxism.
Well footnoted with interesting references for further reading. Thoughtful and thought-provoking.
And lest anyone wonder - it is NOT an anti-Semitic book in any sense.
December 29, 2023
An interesting collection of essays about European Jewry and the rise of modern capitalism. It is neither an economic history of capitalism, nor a history of European Jewry, but it does capture snapshots of both. Covering the middle ages up through the twentieth century, Muller’s essays examine the role of antisemitism and how that affected the relationship of Jews to modern capitalism. He argues that earlier religious antisemitism (large rooted in Christian theology) lead to the restriction of employment by Jews to areas of trade and commerce; and then as modern capitalism grows, the Jewish overrepresentation in trade and commerce leads to new forms of antisemitism. Muller also explores the Jewish involvement in the major social movements of nineteenth and twentieth century Europe. He shows that Jews were overrepresented in most of these movements, not just socialism and communism as is the common stereotype. Indeed, Muller argues, that only a small minority of European Jews were ever supportive of the socialist movements. And in the movements, Jews were also always a small minority. But Jewish involvement was conspicuous and tended to reinforce older antisemitic stereotypes, and so these newer antisemitic tropes develop. In one of the more tragic ironies of the twentieth century is that Jews were regarded, by the socialist left, as being evil, rapacious capitalists, but then, on the right, as being the leaders of communist vanguard. Muller also looks at the rise of nationalism and how Zionism fits into that both as a form of nationalism and a response to European nationalism.
All the essays are clear and informative, exploring the contours of this history in interesting and often novel ways. The analysis is at a more general level; a ten-thousand-foot view if you will, rather than getting into any great detail. As such, this is a good starting place, rather than the only or final account, for understanding the complex relationships of capitalism, socialism, antisemitism, and Zionism.
All the essays are clear and informative, exploring the contours of this history in interesting and often novel ways. The analysis is at a more general level; a ten-thousand-foot view if you will, rather than getting into any great detail. As such, this is a good starting place, rather than the only or final account, for understanding the complex relationships of capitalism, socialism, antisemitism, and Zionism.
October 1, 2012
Jerry Muller’s latest book Capitalism and the Jews covers a part of history that has been growing over the past few years due to the revisionist nature of historians today. In Muller’s book he tries to paint the Jewish peoples natural disposition to capitalism in a positive way, rather than the negative stereotype we are all too familiar with. Muller’s book deals with the Jews connection and reaction to capitalism, nationalism, and communism. Muller divides the book into four essay chapters which cover these topics. The first chapter focuses on capitalism while the second focuses on capitalism and communism. Chapter three is on the Jews relation to communism and socialism. Finally, chapter four deals with nationalism in the Jewish community.
Chapter one, as the title points out, deals with Jewish people and usury. Muller is quick to point out that usury, while the act is well defined in the Bible, to whom it applies too is vague. The different interruptions are between the word brother meaning literal brother as some Jews believed or every person of their religion or people in general as the Christians came to define it. Muller also follows the evolution of usury to being simply an illegal way of lending money, to loaning people money at too high a rate of interest.
Muller’s main points in this chapter are to put the Jews and their tendencies towards lending and business in a positive light. He argues that, while these are stereotypes about Jews, they are not view as accomplishments of the Jewish people’s heritage and hard work. Muller points out that people of Judaism value reading, education, and debate as byproducts of their faith. Muller makes the argument that the Jews disposition towards education naturally gave them better chances of finding new forms of trade or ways to improve existing trade. Muller makes a questionable assumption that the demeanor of Jews was a natural aid to the line of work they favored. Muller stated that people who work in trade or economics should be more open and understanding people, who are culturally meeker. While I do not disagree with Muller’s qualifications, I disagree that these traits were present in the Jewish faith.
Muller’s second chapter deals with the prosperity and close-knitness that is associated with Jews. Muller makes the point that many held that belief that Jews only hired other Jews simply because of their religion. Muller argues that Jews hired those who were best suited for the position rather than based on religion. Due to the disproportioned amount of education possessed by the Jewish community, Muller claims, they held a larger number of these jobs.
Muller explains the assumed prosperity of the Jews was actually hard work done to increase their family’s standing in the world. Muller uses the example of a new Jewish emigrant to America who through hard work and diligence could work his or her way up from a peddler to owning a successful store. This, however, was not the end of the families climb up the social ladder. Through the parents, sacrifice and thriftiness could give their children the best possible education and push their children in professional careers such as a lawyer or professor. This shows the primary advantage that Jewish people have over others at the time, self sacrifice. Muller claims that the propensity for self sacrifice comes from the Jews understanding of a good life, which was measured through material gains.
In the third chapter, Muller discusses the role that Jewish people played in the various communist revolutions that occurred after 1918. Muller pointed out that these tended to be the younger Jews who were taken in by the international brotherhood philosophy that was part of communism. Once again, the over abundance of education possessed by the Jews meant that they were places in high levels of the party and in the other organization such as Cheka. Ultimately this chapter was meant to separate the Jews who took part in the revolution from the rest of them.
This chapter also points out the genesis of the new anti-Semitism that rose after World War I. That is since Jews were perceived to be the leaders of these successful and unsuccessful communist revolutions; the rural people would take out their animosity on the local Jewish population believing them to be in league with the communist Jews. Muller points out that this was not the case, because many Jews did not support or live long in those countries that succumb to communism or socialism such as Russia or Czechoslovakia. Instead the Jewish population immigrated west to places like England and America.
Muller’s last chapter deals with nationalism and Jews. It was pleasantly surprising to see the down play of the formation of Israel and focus on not only Jewish Zionism but also how nationalism of European countries affected the Jewish population that dwelled within. Muller also points out that the rise of nationalism affected Jews mostly in central and eastern Europe. Many of these countries had been under one unifying flag, but with the end of World War I, many of these countries were given the right of self determination. With the creation of a national identity such as Czechoslovakia being for the Czechs and the Slovaks where did the Jews fit in?
The answer according to Muller is that Jews increasingly were viewed as others in the countries where they had lived for centuries. It almost seemed as if they were given a status similar to Gypsies by the sense of nation-lessness that was associated with them. The solution to this problem was Zionism, where the Jews would be united as a people with a definite home, land, and language which the markers of nationality. Another option was to liberalize themselves and make Judaism a lesser part of who they were, to fit into the countries were they lived.
Muller states early in the book that it is for general consumption, while he used a wide array of sources from cultural to economical. However, some of his assumptions seem to rest only on stereotypes and wide held beliefs that many, if not all, people accept. That Jews were more suited for business because of their demeanor is an assumption that was simply put forward. The evidence backing his assumption was that people with these skills would be better suited for business and trade. We are to assume that since the Jews were good at business that they possessed those demeanors. Muller refrained from giving examples of Jews displaying this business demeanor. This may be because the book is meant to be a general look at Jews and capitalism, but it is still a point I wish to make. The rest of Muller’s book was informative and enjoyable. His focus on Jews not only from the point of view of themselves, but from the point of view from non-Jewish people, is to be commended and is truly the strength of the book.
Chapter one, as the title points out, deals with Jewish people and usury. Muller is quick to point out that usury, while the act is well defined in the Bible, to whom it applies too is vague. The different interruptions are between the word brother meaning literal brother as some Jews believed or every person of their religion or people in general as the Christians came to define it. Muller also follows the evolution of usury to being simply an illegal way of lending money, to loaning people money at too high a rate of interest.
Muller’s main points in this chapter are to put the Jews and their tendencies towards lending and business in a positive light. He argues that, while these are stereotypes about Jews, they are not view as accomplishments of the Jewish people’s heritage and hard work. Muller points out that people of Judaism value reading, education, and debate as byproducts of their faith. Muller makes the argument that the Jews disposition towards education naturally gave them better chances of finding new forms of trade or ways to improve existing trade. Muller makes a questionable assumption that the demeanor of Jews was a natural aid to the line of work they favored. Muller stated that people who work in trade or economics should be more open and understanding people, who are culturally meeker. While I do not disagree with Muller’s qualifications, I disagree that these traits were present in the Jewish faith.
Muller’s second chapter deals with the prosperity and close-knitness that is associated with Jews. Muller makes the point that many held that belief that Jews only hired other Jews simply because of their religion. Muller argues that Jews hired those who were best suited for the position rather than based on religion. Due to the disproportioned amount of education possessed by the Jewish community, Muller claims, they held a larger number of these jobs.
Muller explains the assumed prosperity of the Jews was actually hard work done to increase their family’s standing in the world. Muller uses the example of a new Jewish emigrant to America who through hard work and diligence could work his or her way up from a peddler to owning a successful store. This, however, was not the end of the families climb up the social ladder. Through the parents, sacrifice and thriftiness could give their children the best possible education and push their children in professional careers such as a lawyer or professor. This shows the primary advantage that Jewish people have over others at the time, self sacrifice. Muller claims that the propensity for self sacrifice comes from the Jews understanding of a good life, which was measured through material gains.
In the third chapter, Muller discusses the role that Jewish people played in the various communist revolutions that occurred after 1918. Muller pointed out that these tended to be the younger Jews who were taken in by the international brotherhood philosophy that was part of communism. Once again, the over abundance of education possessed by the Jews meant that they were places in high levels of the party and in the other organization such as Cheka. Ultimately this chapter was meant to separate the Jews who took part in the revolution from the rest of them.
This chapter also points out the genesis of the new anti-Semitism that rose after World War I. That is since Jews were perceived to be the leaders of these successful and unsuccessful communist revolutions; the rural people would take out their animosity on the local Jewish population believing them to be in league with the communist Jews. Muller points out that this was not the case, because many Jews did not support or live long in those countries that succumb to communism or socialism such as Russia or Czechoslovakia. Instead the Jewish population immigrated west to places like England and America.
Muller’s last chapter deals with nationalism and Jews. It was pleasantly surprising to see the down play of the formation of Israel and focus on not only Jewish Zionism but also how nationalism of European countries affected the Jewish population that dwelled within. Muller also points out that the rise of nationalism affected Jews mostly in central and eastern Europe. Many of these countries had been under one unifying flag, but with the end of World War I, many of these countries were given the right of self determination. With the creation of a national identity such as Czechoslovakia being for the Czechs and the Slovaks where did the Jews fit in?
The answer according to Muller is that Jews increasingly were viewed as others in the countries where they had lived for centuries. It almost seemed as if they were given a status similar to Gypsies by the sense of nation-lessness that was associated with them. The solution to this problem was Zionism, where the Jews would be united as a people with a definite home, land, and language which the markers of nationality. Another option was to liberalize themselves and make Judaism a lesser part of who they were, to fit into the countries were they lived.
Muller states early in the book that it is for general consumption, while he used a wide array of sources from cultural to economical. However, some of his assumptions seem to rest only on stereotypes and wide held beliefs that many, if not all, people accept. That Jews were more suited for business because of their demeanor is an assumption that was simply put forward. The evidence backing his assumption was that people with these skills would be better suited for business and trade. We are to assume that since the Jews were good at business that they possessed those demeanors. Muller refrained from giving examples of Jews displaying this business demeanor. This may be because the book is meant to be a general look at Jews and capitalism, but it is still a point I wish to make. The rest of Muller’s book was informative and enjoyable. His focus on Jews not only from the point of view of themselves, but from the point of view from non-Jewish people, is to be commended and is truly the strength of the book.
April 16, 2019
Zero stars. Not a serious work of history or scholarship.
Rather than interrogating the incoherency of Jewish stereotypes and their historical appearance, Muller decided to begin with a provocation: an apology for Shylock. Not citizen Shylock who is denigrated and asserts his claim to be treated according to a rule of law, but instead the money-lending Shylock, a profiteering Shylock, the one who demands his pound of flesh. Verisimilitude and greed: in the hands of Mueller, antisemitic motifs are vindicated as heroic qualities of "the Jews."
There are important histories that have been written and ones that are still to be written, but Capitalism and the Jews is not among them.
Rather than interrogating the incoherency of Jewish stereotypes and their historical appearance, Muller decided to begin with a provocation: an apology for Shylock. Not citizen Shylock who is denigrated and asserts his claim to be treated according to a rule of law, but instead the money-lending Shylock, a profiteering Shylock, the one who demands his pound of flesh. Verisimilitude and greed: in the hands of Mueller, antisemitic motifs are vindicated as heroic qualities of "the Jews."
There are important histories that have been written and ones that are still to be written, but Capitalism and the Jews is not among them.
February 10, 2023
This book does not purport to say absolutely everything on the topic. It is four essays on four different aspects of the issue of the relationship between Jews and Capitalism. It's so relevant and pertinent, it even provoked me to go away and read Ernest Gellner (on nationalism).
It does not force any particular interpretation of economic issues, and bases all of its conclusion on verifiable information, on history and fact.
And it's all presented in such a concise form, and written smoothly, it is far from difficult to read.
It does not force any particular interpretation of economic issues, and bases all of its conclusion on verifiable information, on history and fact.
And it's all presented in such a concise form, and written smoothly, it is far from difficult to read.
February 10, 2021
I thought this book was great. It covers a lot of ground that later gen Frankfurt inspired writers have, though from an apologist for capitalism. If you can get past an ideological disagreement on that, the book is a clear and well written analysis of how capitalism affected Jews, how modern antisemitism emerged in response to capitalism, and where the idea of “Jewish communism” comes from. Short and pointed, I quite like it and will cite it plenty.
March 27, 2021
not difficult to read. introduces the ideas of many great/important thinkers/historians of the 18 and 1900s. it's organized chronologically which definitely helps understand the train of thought. it's easy to get lost in all of the names, works, and dates provided, but focusing on the ideas provides a great intro into the discussion of the jewish relationship with capitalism and associated consequences in politics, education, etc.
November 15, 2019
Outstanding!
There are several excellent reviews of the book on Goodreads; I could not add anything significant to them, and I am really pleased that readers who don't normally read about economics (which includes me) and may not have a profound connection to the Jewish people (this does not include me) have found this to be an absorbing, unusual, and very worthwhile book.
There are several excellent reviews of the book on Goodreads; I could not add anything significant to them, and I am really pleased that readers who don't normally read about economics (which includes me) and may not have a profound connection to the Jewish people (this does not include me) have found this to be an absorbing, unusual, and very worthwhile book.
September 14, 2025
Writing style: decent, but more academic than I’d like.
Content: A lot of food for thought for how Jews have been associated with Capitalism (and anti-capitalism) in reality and antisemitic fantasy.
I did find it annoying how the author seemed to put too much weight on the antisemitism comes from envy theory (I fundamentally disagree with it, even though I think it plays a part).
Content: A lot of food for thought for how Jews have been associated with Capitalism (and anti-capitalism) in reality and antisemitic fantasy.
I did find it annoying how the author seemed to put too much weight on the antisemitism comes from envy theory (I fundamentally disagree with it, even though I think it plays a part).
October 26, 2022
Good historical perspective on how the relationship between Jews as a community and money has evolved basis the diaspora, religious dogma, political inclinations etc.
January 26, 2023
It was boring. The third essay is the most compelling and best written.
September 3, 2010
Good etiquette advises that discussing religion, money and politics with strangers is not prudent, but, fortunately, professor Jerry Z. Muller ignores this maxim. Instead, this broadly published academician presents four exceptional essays assessing the role of Jews in developing capitalism in terms of complex social, historical and religious structures. He wrote the series, which covers centuries of history, over the course of 30 years of study. His combined notes and bibliography alone are 29 pages. Muller tellingly shows the relationships among the political, theological and economic ideas that created some of the best and worst events in modern society. getAbstract highly recommends this enlightening, accessible work of contemporary scholarship.
Read more about this book in the online summary:
http://www.getabstract.com/summary/13...
Read more about this book in the online summary:
http://www.getabstract.com/summary/13...
January 4, 2023
Capitalism has been the most important force in shaping the fate of the Jews in the modern world. Of course, one could plausibly argue that it has been the most important force in shaping the fate of everyone in the modern world.
Great book! Explains how and why Jews and free-market usually are so close, without ignoring the fact that the Jewish community is made up of people, and people think different and act different, sounds obvious, but when you talk about Jews this fact doesn't seem to be that clear to some people.
However, I wish the author could go a little deeper than he did in some subjects.
April 26, 2012
A bit academic, its title makes the book sound like an anti-semitic screed but this book is actually a rare even handed look at the relationship between capitalism and Jews. This book is very much an intellectual history rather than a 'normal' history, and is an interesting read because of the differences between how he deals with the topic and how most others do. The first chapter is better than the others, though, and the author's relatively conservative biases are made clear at certain points.
September 4, 2013
The book is comprised of four separate essays with a tangential relation to each other: namely the experience of Jews in capitalist society and nation-states which have identified membership in largely Christian terms. The book explores the role of stigmatized professions (finance and commerce) in preserving toleration for ethnic minorities whilst eventually reinforcing stereotypes found in the writings of 18th and 19th century writers. Highly informative ethnic and intellectual history even if no strong conclusions may be drawn.
November 16, 2014
I found the history fascinating - I don't feel I can add significant commentary in that regard - but I do want to mention that the Kindle edition had numerous formatting and layout issues. They were many places in the text that did not display correctly, where words were hyphenated in the middle of the sentence, and where because of incorrect wrapping spaces were missing after some commas or hyphenated words.
February 1, 2012
Fraulein Kost: "If the Jews are all bankers then how can they be Communists too?"
Herr Ludwig: "Subtle..., very subtle."
--Cabaret, 1972
Damned if you do and damned if you don't. Jerry Muller uses four, easy-to-read and enjoyable essays to explore the perceptions of Jews as both archetypal capitalists AND communists. This is perhaps the best discussion of this I've read.
Herr Ludwig: "Subtle..., very subtle."
--Cabaret, 1972
Damned if you do and damned if you don't. Jerry Muller uses four, easy-to-read and enjoyable essays to explore the perceptions of Jews as both archetypal capitalists AND communists. This is perhaps the best discussion of this I've read.
April 11, 2010
I must confess that I didn't read the whole book. One reason is that most of my questions were answered in the introduction. The other reason is that the chapters are a little too academic for my level of interest. I may come back to this one in the future if my curiosity increases.
Want to read
May 14, 2010
Want to read
June 25, 2010ny times
July 31, 2010
Informative! I found it suitable for me who is pretty new to the subjects. It gives pointers to follow in further study.
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