ABSTRACT
Contrary to the ancient anti-Semitic myth, Jews are a minor influence in banking and finance. The fact that Jewish businesses are essentially marginal in character has manifold collateral ramifications. It means, for example, that the Jewish lawyer occupies somewhat the same position in relation to the practice of the law that Jewish businessmen occupy in relation to American business. Measured in quantitative terms, Jews constitute a marginal class in American society; socio-economically speaking, they are in the middle of the middle class. To gain a realistic understanding of the economic basis of anti-Semitism in the United States we badly need studies of the relationships between Jews and non-Jews engaged in similar lines of business in the same community. Much of the job discrimination that Jews encounter in the United States today reflects a determination on the part of the majority to keep certain sectors of the economy in non-Jewish hands.
