Description:
Drawing on in-depth ethnographic fieldwork in Amman, Sarah A. Tobin demonstrates that Muslims combine their interests in exerting a visible Islam with the opportunities and challenges of advanced capitalism in an urban setting, which ultimately results in the cultivation of a "neoliberal Islamic piety."
Review Quotes:
Through her examination of Islamic banking, Tobin explores the role that piety plays in the commercial interactions of middle-class Muslims in Jordan's capital, Amman.... Her stylish, ambitious, and pragmatic interlocutors undermine any stale conceptions readers might have of contemporary Muslims, and her treatment of the workplace as a space where moral debates are negotiated points to the social significance of work relationships and their related social dynamics. The book's accessible and sensitive treatment of urban Jordanians and the role of morality in their economic choices make it a fine choice for students as well as scholars interested in the topics of work, identity, religion, and global finance.
--Susan MacDougall, Oxford University "Anthropology of Work Review"