Consumer culture and the making of modern Jewish identity / Gideon Reuveni.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Reuveni, Gideon, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jewish consumers.

Consumer behavior.

Judaism and culture.

Jews--Identity.

Jews.

Jews--Social life and customs.

Consumption (Economics)--Social aspects.

Consumption (Economics).

Consumption (Economics)--Religious aspects--Judaism.

Europe.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xxi, 257 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2017.

Summary:

"Antisemitic stereotypes of Jews as capitalists have hindered research into the economic dimension of the Jewish past. The figure of the Jew as trader and financier dominated the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. But the economy has been central to Jewish life and the Jewish image in the world; Jews not only made money but spent money. This book is the first to investigate the intersection between consumption, identity, and Jewish history in Europe. It aims to examine the role and place of consumption within Jewish society and the ways consumerism generated and reinforced Jewish notions of belonging from the end of the eighteenth-century to the beginning of the new millennium. It shows how the advances of modernization and secularization in the modern period increased the importance of consumption in Jewish life, making it a significant factor in the process of redefining Jewish identity"-- Provided by publisher.

Antisemitic stereotypes of Jews as capitalists have hindered research into the economic dimension of the Jewish past. The figure of the Jew as trader and financier dominated the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. But the economy has been central to Jewish life and the Jewish image in the world; Jews not only made money but spent money. This book is the first to investigate the intersection between consumption, identity, and Jewish history in Europe. It aims to examine the role and place of consumption within Jewish society and the ways consumerism generated and reinforced Jewish notions of belonging from the end of the eighteenth century to the beginning of the new millennium. It shows how the advances of modernization and secularization in the modern period increased the importance of consumption in Jewish life, making it a significant factor in the process of redefining Jewish identity.

Contents:

Producers, consumers, Jews and Antisemitism in German historiography

Ethnic marketing and consumer ambivalence in Weimar Germany

The Jewish question and the changing regimes of consumption

What makes a Jew happy? longings, belongings and the spirit of modern consumerism

Emancipation through consumption

Boycott, economic rationality and Jewish consumers in interwar Germany

Advertising national belonging

The consumption of Jewish politics

The cost of being Jewish

Place and space of Jewish consumption

The world of Jewish goods

Spending power and its discontents

Beyond consumerism : the bridge, the door and the cultural economy approach to Jewish history.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

National Jewish Book Awards - Modern Jewish Thought and Experience, Winner, 2017

Other Format:

ebook version :

ISBN:

9781107011304

1107011302

9781107648500

1107648505

OCLC:

983878418