Jewish historiography tends to stress the religious, cultural, and political aspects of the past. By contrast the “economy” has been pushed to the margins of the Jewish discourse and scholarship since the end of the Second World War. This volume takes a fresh look at Jews and the economy, arguing that a broader, cultural approach is needed to understand the central importance of the economy. The very dynamics of economy and its ability to function depend on the ability of individuals to interact, and on the shared values and norms that are fostered within ethnic communities. Thus this volume sheds new light on the interrelationship between religion, ethnicity, culture, and the economy, revealing the potential of an “economic turn” in the study of history.
Tabela de Conteúdo
Chapter 1. Prolegomena to an ‘Economic Turn’ in Jewish History
Gideon Reuveni
PART I: RETHINKING THE ECONOMY IN JEWISH HISTORY
Chapter 2. Can Economic History Date the Inception of Jewish Modernity?
Jonathan Karp
Chapter 3. Wandering as Circulation: Dostoevsky and Marx on the ‘Jewish Question’
Kirill Postoutenko
Chapter 4. Money Makes the Jew Go Round: West German Jewry and the Search for Flexibility
Anthony D. Kauders
PART II: JEWS IN THE MARKETPLACE
Chapter 5. All Talk or Business as Usual? Brokerage and Schmoozing in a Swiss Urban Society in the early 19th Century
Susanne Bennewitz
Chapter 6. Socialists, Bankers and Sephardic Jews: The Pereire Brothers and the Crédit Mobilier
Helen M. Davies
Chapter 7. Buying, Selling, Being, Drinking; Or, how the Coffeehouse became a Site for the Consumption of new Jewish Modalities of Belonging
Sarah Wobick-Segev
Chapter 8. Consuming Powers: The “Jewish Department Store” in German Politics and Culture
Paul Lerner
PART III: JEWISH ECONOMIES IN NATIONAL AND TRANSNATIONAL CONTEXTS
Chapter 9. Going Native: Moritz Jellinek and the Modernization of the Hungarian Economy
Michael L. Miller
Chapter 10. Jews, Plumes, and Global Commerce in the Modern Period
Sarah Abrevaya Stein
Chapter 11. Trading in Torah: Bootleg Bibles and Secondhand Scripture in the Age of European Imperialism
Adam Mendelssohn
Chapter 12. Cut to Zionism: The Emergence of the Diamond Industry in British-Ruled Palestine
David DeVries
Notes on Contributors
Bibliography
Index
Sobre o autor
Sarah Wobick-Segev is a Jim Joseph postdoctoral teaching fellow at Syracuse University. She has most recently published “Une place pour l’amour? Le mariage juif à Paris et à Berlin dans une ère transitionnelle, 1890–1930” in Expériences croisées. Les juifs de France et d’Allemagne aux XIXe et XXe siècles edited by Heidi Knörzer (Éditions de l’éclat, 2010).