Stereotypes praising workers as humble and naive enabled their exploitation.

Evidence

The personal qualifications identified as “typical” of the Yemenite Jews—diligence, humility, and naïveté—were considered their main assets in Bezalel but they also allowed for their exploitation. At a time of crisis, in 1913, when their products were no longer in demand many silversmiths of Bezalel were dismissed without notice or compensation after years of low-paid work. — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 601

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader theme of racialized labor in settler-colonial economies — parallels descriptions of exploited native labor in other colonial contexts.