Islam and Capitalism: Considerations on the Construction of the Idea of a Western 'Modernity'

This review essay aims at highlighting the continuity of the relation that has been established between Islam, capitalism and modernity (or the lack of it) from the time of Weber’s theses on Islam in Sociology of Religion to more recent works of social science thinkers such as Eisentstadt and Gellner. This exercise does not aim at being a refutation of Weber’s theses on the ground of social science arguments or historical analysis. Its scope is first of all to demonstrate the influence and the many reverberations of Weber’s theses into social sciences, and from there into history. Thinkers such as Gellner and Eisenstadt have had a great impact on the way historians have understood the modern Middle East, and dealt with concepts such as tradition, modernity and nationalism. It is helpful to establish the genealogy of the relation between an ‘un-modern’ Middle East and the founding fathers of social sciences, to show the power that this paradigm has had up to the present day.