Translator’s Note to Werner Sombart’s The Jews and Modern Capitalism

Werner Sombart is undoubtedly one of the most striking personalities in the Germany of to-day. Born in 1863, he has devoted himself to research in economics, and has contributed much that is valuable to economic thought. Though his work has not always been accepted without challenge, it has received universal recognition for its brilliance, and his reputation has drawn hosts of students to his lectures, both at Breslau, where he held the Chair of Economics at the University (1890–1906), and now in Berlin at the Handelshochschule, where he occupies a similar position.

But Sombart is an artist as well as a scholar; he combines reason with imagination in an eminent degree, and he has the gift, seldom enough associated with German professors, of writing in a lucid, flowing, almost eloquent style. That is one characteristic of all his books, which are worth noting. The rise and development of modern capitalism has been the theme that has attracted him most, and his masterly treatment of it may be found in his Der moderne Kapitalismus (2 vols., Leipzig, 1902). In 1896 he published Sozialismus und soziale Bewegung [Socialism and the Social Movement, 1909 trans. by Epstein], which quickly went through numerous editions and may be described as one of the most widely read books in German-speaking countries. Die deutsche Volkswirtschaft im 19ten Jahrhundert appeared in 1903, and Das Proletariat in 1906.

For some years past Sombart has been considering the revision of his magnum opus on modern capitalism, and in the course of his studies came across the problem, quite accidentally, as he himself tells us, of the relation between the Jews and modern capitalism. The topic fascinated him, and he set about inquiring what that relationship precisely was. The results of his labours were published in the book of which this is an English edition (The Jews and Modern Capitalism).¹

The English version is slightly shorter than the German original. The portions that have been left out (with the author’s concurrence) are not very long and relate to general technical questions, such as the modern race theory or the early history of credit instruments. Furthermore, everything found within square brackets has been added by the translator.

My best thanks are due to my wife, who has been constantly helpful with suggestions and criticisms, and to my friend Leon Simon for the verse rendering on p. 208.