Jewish identity and civilizing processes

Jewish Identity and Civilizing Processes tells an old story in a new way. It asks why anti-Jewish feeling has persisted for so long in Europe and has had such devastating effects in the heart of Western modernity. It approaches these questions by using the insights of Norbert Elias, the eminent sociologist who lived through the Weimar Republic, escaped to Britain when Hitler came to power, and died in 1990 at the age of 93.

Elias's emphasis on the history of manners, the deeper social processes which influence human behaviour over time, and the steady development of modern states in the context of constantly shifting power balances all shed new and fascinating light on the peculiar history of European Jewry.

This book traces that history from the role of Jews in the developing commercial arrangements of the early Middle Ages, through to their isolation in ghettoes and their emancipation into the modern world, and the shock of a new and virulent anti-Semitism in 'civilized' Europe.