Here I go again, biting off a little more than I think I can chew…
I’ve been buried in quite a few texts recently (and by texts I mean books & essays, not the emoticon-ridden abbreviations my peers are usually buried in) that have me thinking in many ways. Actually, I forced myself to finish a “beach read” just a few days ago in order to give my brain a moment to breathe. I have successfully completed Weber’s vocation lectures (see Pt. 1: Dear Max Weber), but there is one question that went unanswered throughout my reading. What I’d like to do today is explore the connection (or hopefully lack thereof) between antisemitism and Max Weber.
So how did this thought and question come to be? I was reading “Science as Vocation” (or “The Scholar’s Work” as it is otherwise known) and there was one particular quote that caught me completely off guard. Weber was talking about the select few, the small population of individuals who are capable of becoming true scholars. I call them the “bourgeoise of academia”, for various reasons, but that’s a post for another day. As he was doing this, I noticed that there were a few identities inherently left out. Primarily, there was the age-old absence of female pronouns. I won’t get into the debate over “man” being generalized for “mankind”, because Weber was talking specifically about male individuals. I digress. The quote that stood out to me is as follows:
“If the young man in question is Jewish, one can only say, ‘Abandon all hope, ye who enter here’.”
“The Scholar’s Work” by Max Weber (Found on page 10 of “Charisma and Disenchantment”, edited by Paul Reitter and Chad Wellmon)
Weber makes reference here to the words written above the entrance to Hell in Dante’s Inferno. Abandon all hope, ye who enter here. For a Jew wanting to be a scholar. What? Before I jump into the more formal research of Weber and antisemitism, I will share some personal thoughts about what our dear sociologist could mean by this.
I kind of wanted to give Weber an out when I first read that quote. One of the greatest compliments I’ve ever received is when someone said I “debate and question like a Jew”. Granted the person’s intention was a little backhanded and antisemitic, but I take that quite kindly. More often than not, the Jewish mind, especially that of a Jewish scholar, is incredible. I’ve witnessed that firsthand. What is really cool about Judaism, although not exclusive to the Jewish faith, is the encouragement of asking questions, of studying. Why do I bring this up? Because sending someone who naturally asks a lot of questions into academia is like throwing them into a bottomless pit. This pit, however, Weber would classify as Hell (I could make theological comments about the Jewish beliefs on the existence of a “Hell”, but I’ll shut up now). So could Weber be referencing the endless capacity of the Jewish mind? I’d like to think so, his delivery just lacks a little bit.
Personal hopes aside, let’s take a look at Weber’s inclusion of religion in various texts. The massive Weberian text I got to read for my sociology class is “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism”. One distinction my professor made between Weber and Marx, both of which being associated to capitalism, is that Weber isn’t exactly anti-capitalist. Actually, he tends to see some of the benefits of at least the spirit of capitalism. Let’s stay on that track, there are benefits to the spirit of capitalism. Even then, Weber takes an alternative approach to the Jewish people. Weber taught that it was the American (and I guess some British?) side of western establishment that fueled the development of capitalism. This was because of their exposure to Calvinism and Puritanism (fun fact: I’m a Puritanism junkie, more on that another time). However, Weber also teaches that the Jewish people don’t share this “spirit”. Rather, they are known for trades, not entrepreneurship, which would be the opposite of the spirit of capitalism that Weber favored. Now, some progressive Jews would argue that not being involved in the capitalist machine is a great thing, but that isn’t quite what Weber was saying. If they weren’t part of establishing modern capitalism, was Weber implying they didn’t have this “spirit” he derived some positive meaning from?
I’ll make this point clear: When it comes to the spirit of capitalism, Weber didn’t blatantly say anything atrocious about the Jewish faith or people. But if there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s sometimes what is implied or unsaid that says the most.
Ultimately, I could get aggressive and say that Weber undervalued the Jewish people by removing them from his positive thoughts on the spirit of capitalism, but I don’t think that’s what he was doing. I think he was merely saying that this new way of thinking and doing things was associated with the establishment of a “new world”. What I find very interesting is the dialogue between Weber and another scholar by the name of Werner Sombart. Following the publication of one of Sombart’s texts, after Weber’s PESC, Weber really honed in on his argument. Sombart tried making a case for the inclusion of Jews in the development of Capitalism, and Weber strongly disagreed. Weber did more research and investigating on the subject, which apparently made it’s way into Economy and Society which is a behemoth on my “to read” list. So we know Weber didn’t attribute the development and success of early capitalism to Jews. Was that antisemitic? Not necessarily, but it’s certainly a grey area.
Where else do we see Weber interacting with Jews? A sidestep from capitalism, Weber also addresses an overlap between Judaism and Protestants in relation to social structure/order. Weber states that when it comes to the legalities and structures that are “pleasing to God”, they can be found in the Old Testament, which is the Tanakh in Judaism. This means, and Weber acknowledged, that Protestants and Jews overlapped. Cool, so maybe the Jewish people were actually a part of the process after all? No. Weber associates modern capitalism with Calvinism specifically. If you’re confused, me too.
Here’s where I think Weber starts dancing on the line of antisemitism again. So, if Jewish and Protestant religious texts overlap, how are Jews not part of the process? Remember, Weber sees the benefits in this process/spirit. In his eyes, having that spirit of capitalism is a good thing, to an extent. Well, it turns out that Jews aren’t a part of modern capitalism, but they are a part of what Weber calls “pariah capitalism”. Cool, so the Jewish people, as a result of cultural and religious tradition have played a part in the development of certain economic structures. So what’s the problem? Pariah. I’m an English major, I believe words are incredibly important, and this specific word is inexplicably important. What exactly is a pariah? The most common root of the word goes back to India, which classified a “pariah” as someone of a low caste. In more “modern” and western terminology, a pariah is a social outcast, someone/something to be avoided, etc. What concerns me about Weber’s use of the term is that regardless of the definition we take, whether it be a low caste or a social “other”, the application to Jews is antisemitic. Either Jews are poor and of low status or they are social outcasts. Heck, being poor and of low status makes you a social outcast.
Weber furthers this by comparing the idea of “rationalism” between Judaism and Protestantism, with the latter taking a more positive approach. Here is where I’ll tie this all back to The Scholar’s Work. In the same text that talks about Jewish rationalism being abstract, Weber discusses how all religions are mere rationalizations of the mystical. So the Jewish faith is a rationalization of the mystical, but that rationalization doesn’t carry into social participation, status, etc. Do you see where I have an issue with this? Now I’ll personally take this a step further. Tikkun olam. There is a Jewish belief in repairing the world. Again, there are plenty of Jews who don’t believe that modern capitalism is part of that reparation, but how can something like repairing, let alone improving the world make Jewish theology “irrational”? Weber may not have been trying to be outwardly antisemitic with not associating Jews with modern capitalism, but his reasoning behind it is pretty alarming, in my novice opinion.
Let’s stick with this idea of rationalism some more, and we’ll bring it back to the original quote that started all of this research and questioning. I find it so hard to believe that Weber recognizes the rationalization in all religions, but fails to correlate scholarship with the religion that is centered on study and asking questions. To rationalize is, in my opinion, to try and make sense of or understand something. To rationalize is to study. Am I crazy or does this all fall in alignment with not just Jewish theology, but Jewish ideology? It seems as though my research has left my initial question surrounding scholarship and Judaism unanswered, yet also frustrated me with what I have found.
I think it’s time for me to shut up before I go too far, and by that, I mean before I start becoming the offensive one. That is the exact opposite of my intention behind this writing. What I need to do now is pick my sociology professor’s brain on this one (the poor woman can’t get rid of me). Dare I say she might be the perfect person to ask. My sociological knowledge is pretty small, which oftentimes leads me to fear that I’ve said or done something wrong in this realm, but it also gives me the opportunity to learn. So, let’s see what learning I can do, and I’m sure I’ll be back to talk about this some more!
Humble Chutzpah 