The Close of the Galbraithian System

Abstract

J. K. Galbraith's new book, The New Industrial State, can be regarded as the further elaboration of ideas which first caught wide public attention sixteen years ago with the publication of his American Capitalism and subsequently with The Affluent Society. Some significant differences can be seen between the first and last of these, but it is apparent to anyone who reads them together that the three are to a considerable extent companion volumes, amplifying themes which run through all. The title of this review article may be premature in the sense that one should not assume that further books on these great themes will not flow from Galbraith's prolific pen, but with The New Industrial State, his view of the nature of the modern economy and his identification of its major problems are now clear and can be considered as a potential system of ideas. Ten years ago, in The Affluent Society, Galbraith noted that his mind was turning toward matters which now find expression in his new book and, despite the fact that he has been writing other books and doing many other important things these past ten years, The New Industrial State may be considered as a work of mature reflection by America's most widely known economist. It is perhaps time, then, to make a general evaluation of Galbraith's economic thought, to try to locate its place in the history of the science, and to appraise the contribution it may make to our understanding of the modern world. One must begin with a candid recognition that the academic reader of Galbraith's books is under a strong temptation to react negatively to the author's style and method of discourse. He waives the scholarly conventions in favor of a rhetoric which is designed to appeal to the lay reader. But the stylistic techniques he employs to this end increase the difficulty of grasping the substance and structure of his thought and work against a