On the bourgeoisfication of American Jews
When one of the few pogroms in American history struck the American Jewish community in May in the form of a wave of attacks by Muslim-American thugs, I wrote in rather strident terms about the failure of the Jewish community to anticipate the violence and the even more striking failure of their establishment leaders to effectively combat it. I posited that these failures were, in many ways, a class issue. As a result of bourgeoisfication, American Jews have been domesticated and, if I may go so far, castrated. In particular, they lack any capacity for meaningful political, social, and cultural self-defense. Jews may be staggeringly successful in America, but the antisemites own the street.
This bourgeoisfication of American Jews is borne out by the numbers. The Pew Research Center has found that, as of 2020, half of all American Jewish households make more than $100,000 per year, while 23% have incomes of $200,000 or more. Only 15% find it difficult to meet basic expenses. This success correlates with educational achievement. 64% of Reform Jews — the most middle-class of all American Jews — are college graduates, along with 57% of the unaffiliated.
These numbers, it should be noted, are in stark contrast to most other Americans. Statista states that, as of 2020, only 15.3% of American households make $100-150,000 a year, while 10.3% make $200,000 or more. At the same time, the number of Americans with college degrees was 37.5%.
At first glance, American Jewish achievement appears to be an extraordinary success story. But a closer examination reveals a more complex picture. Most especially, as many have noted, Jews overwhelmingly support political movements that are at least nominally hostile to their middle-class economic interests. Pew notes that 71% of American Jews identify with the Democratic party. This rises to 80% among Reform Jews, while 70% of Conservative Jews and 75% of the non-affiliated are Democrats. The only group whose political affiliations are so lopsided is Black American Protestants, 86% of whom are Democrats. Moreover, American Jews are not just Democrats, but largely on the more radical wing of the party. 50% identify as liberal — which in the American context indicates a further-left position than it does elsewhere in the world — including 55% of Reform and 61% of the non-affiliated.
Clearly, there is a paradox here that must be addressed: American Jews appear to be in the strange position of being both hellbent on being middle-class and equally hellbent on identifying with a movement inimical to that class.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to No Delusions, No Despair to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.