Veblen's Analysis Research Articles

The Concept of Sacramental Goods: Addressing Veblen's Critique of Liturgy

Liturgy invites participants to partake in spiritual goods that are also economic commodities. This article explores the liturgical significance of these commodities through the lens of Veblenian thought. Thorstein Veblen argues that consumption of positional or inherently limited goods signifies predatory status, and that liturgy similarly uses such resources to depict God as a predator. Addressing Veblen's analysis of liturgy, Paul's explanation of the eucharist in 1 Corinthians 11 suggests that the goods of liturgy are the antitheses of positional goods, insofar as they attain their highest goodness when shared equitably. Such “sacramental goods” provide a means for viewing divine participation not only in the liturgy, but also in the broader economy. Selected implications follow, including a need to orient the aesthetics of the liturgy toward shared rather than limited goodness, and cautious employment of consumerist emblems in liturgical settings.

The Weirdness of James Bond's World: How Thorstein Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class Helps Us Understand Ian Fleming's 007

This working paper takes as its subject the well-known oddities of the original Ian Fleming James Bond novels--the questionable-seeming claims for Bond's exceptional competence as a secret agent, the place of various luxuries with which Fleming closely associates Bond (down to his favored brand of strawberry jam) and the complex interactions between Bond and villain, with their sometime combination of gentility and gamesmanship with murderous intent. Examining these features of the books through the lens afforded by the sociologist Thorstein Veblen's theory of the leisure class, it shows that these details of the stories, implausible as they are, are remarkably consistent with Veblen's analysis of the prowess-living, conspicuously consuming barbarian, which world-view seems to deeply inform the work.

The personal learning environment and the institution of education: reflections on technological personalisation in iTEC schools

This paper explores the distinction between 'education' and 'learning' with regard to the personal learning environment (PLE), drawing on evidence from the large-scale European iTEC project. The paper argues that Searle's concept of 'status functions' - declarations by powerful agencies about the nature, legitimacy and function of institutions, tools, practices and positions - can help bring clarity to the distinction between the PLE and institutional learning. In analysing the iTEC project, low adoption rates of tools are reported. It is argued that these result from conflicts between status functions for individual stakeholders who are already committed to a wide variety of practices and tools which PLE tools could potentially disrupt. The difference between the status functions of tools and social status within the educational institution is explored drawing on Veblen's analysis of education. In conclusion, it is argued that the PLE was mistaken in focusing on learning, and would be better focused on mechanisms of social status. The work highlights the challenge for the PLE to study and explore new ways in which learners can empower themselves.

Veblen on the machine process and technological change

This paper explores Veblen's analysis of technological change. I claim that, rather than succumbing to the traditional criticisms, his approach founders due to his failure to fully articulate a social ontology. Whilst Veblen's analysis of his own time remains in many ways compelling, this failure creates a gap between meta-theoretical promise and current theoretical results. I show how work in the social studies of technology has successfully avoided the ontological problems associated with Veblenian economics. This success is tempered by the fact that the field has not yet provided an appropriate framework to systematise the ways in which technical innovations transform social relations in ways that are beyond conscious control and manipulation. Copyright The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Cambridge Political Economy Society. All rights reserved., Oxford University Press.

Keeping Labor Productive: Veblen’s Notion of Reserve Capacity and Procyclical Productivity Analysis

The technology.productivity puzzle has generated a rancorous debate in economics. Many labor economists claim that computer-related investments have led to structural gains in productivity. Others are skeptical that such high-tech investments are behind recent surges in labor productivity. They argue that the relative increase in productivity growth rates since the early 1990s is largely explained by procyclical effects-an expansion of economic activity that leads to increasing returns and higher labor productivity growth rates. This paper examines the Veblenian explanation of how capitalists attempt to enhance their profitability by restraining production and how widespread accessibility to technology can frustrate capitalistic sabotage, leading to economic expansion and higher labor productivity. The analysis initiates a search for an alternative way of measuring the intensity or robustness of the economic system that is grounded in the labor market. The need for an alternative measurement stems from both a critique of the commonly used capacity utilization figures and the increasingly positive relation between work hours, economic output, and labor productivity. The interplay among technology, excess capacity, productivity, and work hours is admittedly convoluted, but Thorstein Veblen's analysis of reserve capacity lends illuminating insight into how technological advance may lead to cyclical productivity gains that rival, and possibly dwarf, those of a structural nature. The investigation begins with a brief overview of the theoretical debate over the source of productivity improvements as well as the problematic nature of productivity measures. The following section explores Veblen's reserve capacity discussion as an explanation of why economic slack systemically exists within the productive capacity

Thorstein Veblen’s Theory of Business Competition

Although almost all dimensions of Thorstein Veblen's analysis of modern capitalism have attracted adequate attention, his theory of business or market competition that lies in heart of his understanding of modern capitalism has not received interest it deserves. Even though there are attempts here and there, they do not provide us with a full picture of his conceptualization of business competition. This paper aims to elaborate on Veblen's theory of business or market competition. It is argued that he, in fact, developed a very sophisticated theory of dynamic business competition based on idea that economy is more than market and as such it should be studied dynamically, holistically, and historically by primarily considering empirical phenomena instead of solely by focusing on a priori deductive mental exercises. The first section of paper elaborates on foundations of Veblen's vision of capitalist market economy. In second section, his notion of the state of industrial arts, which is starting point in dissecting his two visions of competition, is explored. While third and fourth sections elucidate his distinction between two ideas of competition, fifth section illustrates working logic of competition in contemporary capitalism. His theory of competition is assessed in final section by comparing it with other theories of competition to show innovations he introduced. The overall conclusion is that he developed a very sophisticated theory of competition essential for analyzing contemporary capitalism.

Réification et consommation ostentatoire dans Gatsby le Magnifique

Robert Sayre and Michael Lowy, Reification and Conspicuous Consumption in Great ; Starting from the notion that literature can provide an irreplaceable, sui generis illumination of social reality, the article attempts to illustrate the proposition by examining what The Great Gatsby can bring to the understanding of those fundamental aspects of modern society analyzed by Marx/Lukacs and Thorstein Veblen : reification and conspicuous consumption. The article demonstrates the presence of reification throughout the novel, the depth of its penetration in the character of Gatsby, and its partial occultation through the narrative point of view. The authors then explore the particular mode of reification in the leisure class constituted by conspicuous consumption, through a comparison of the novel with Veblen's analysis of the phenomenon.

Veblen's critique of Marx's philosophical preconceptions of political economy

This paper explores some of the theoretical linkages between Thorstein Veblen and Karl Marx. Special reference is placed Veblen's criticisms of Marx and the Marxist tradition for adhering to the preconceptions of (a) the natural right of labour to the full product, and (b) the teleology of conscious agents directing action towards change. Veblen was incorrect to believe that Marx adhered to the natural right of labour thesis, but he was correct to assert that Marx utilized undesirable teleologies. Overall, however, Veblen was attempting to reformulate and modernise the materialistic conception of history through an evolutionary analysis of institutions. The two thinkers complement each other in important ways, although Veblen's analysis is more evolutionary, collectivist and holistic.

Thorstein Veblen's Analysis of German Intellectualism: Institutionalism as a Forecasting Method

Abstract Veblen's critique of German intellectuals during World War I ran parallel to his overall critique of Imperial Germany. Elements from the modern West (liberal ideas or technology) were seen as grafted onto the German authoritarian structure in such a way as to temporarily strengthen that structure. Analysis of wartime writings by German academics verifies Veblen's assertions. Those writings presented the authoritarian state as a better protector of the interests of all the German people than was the type of constitutional state found in Britain. The shrill wartime writings of Werner Sombart wete of a different tone than those of the moderates, verifying Veblen's concerns over the explosiveness of the mixture of the modern and authoritarian, as well as its fascistic potential. Veblen's institutional forecastting can, with reservations, be rewarding in analyzing similar atavistic continuities today.

Szeged in 1934

1. WHY SZEGED? The year 1933 was dreary and dismal for most people. This was precisely at the end of my studies for the doctorate. By some miracle, I was spared unemployment. I was awarded National Research Council Fellowship, for year of postdoctoral study at Harvard University under the guidance of Marshall Stone. There were four N.R.C. fellows at Harvard: Magnus Hestenes, David Nathan, Deane Montgomery, and me. Montgomery and I formed seminar, to lecture each other on the material in Oswald Veblen's Analysis Situs. We were joined by Norman Steenrod, who shone by his determination to find out what was really going on. These fellowships had been severely cut, both in number and in stipend. Nevertheless, even with the reduced stipend of $1,600 for twelve months, I managed to live in Boston like Bohemian, dividing my activities between wooing the recalcitrant muse of mathematics and indulging in the follies of youth: drinking beer, going to symphony concerts, and jogging in the park. This extra year at Harvard was supposed to give us coat of varnish, as one of my friends put it. Whether it turned us into gentlemen or scholars is moot question. It did provide line in my curriculum vitae. Future employers were impressed. Stone told me that the two mathematicians in all the world who could be most helpful to my development were John von Neumann and Frederick Riesz. (His Hungarian name, Frigyes, became Frederick when anglicized). von Neumann's name was well known to me, of course. Of Riesz, situated at the other end of the world, I was only vaguely aware. But Stone's remark was prophetic. Stone and I agreed that my energies were best spent digging deeper into Hilbert and Banach spaces. That meant frontal attack on Stone's Colloquium Series Publication, Linear Transformations in Hilbert Space, remarkable 622-page book more often quoted than read. Stone's style has sometimes been subject to comment. It is infinitely correct but, like many of his other qualities, carried out a outrance, with some bizarre results. For example, one of his theorems (p. 590) takes two complete pages-for the statement. The last chapter of the book fills 218 pages. Stone had special sense of humor. At one of our infrequent meetings I mentioned some problems as possible candidates for research topics. About the best one of my problems, Stone said, Oh, I don't know. Somebody must have

Veblen on Scientific Creativity: The Influence of Charles S. Peirce

Thorstein Veblen's analysis of scientific method focuses on the nature of scientific creativity. His primary interest was how scientists create hypotheses. An essential task in organizing his analysis is to recognize its fundamental similarity to Charles S. Peirce's theory of inquiry. Once Veblen's conceptualization of scientific inquiry is organized according to Peirce's systematic views on science, Veblen's views are seen to be ordered around the question: How do scientists create? To show that Veblen succeeds in developing a theory of inquiry that focuses on the problem of creativity, it is necessary to show the parallels between his theory and Peirce's. Veblen was a student of Peirce's at Johns Hopkins, but there is little evidence of the latter's influence on him. Nonetheless, I will show that knowledge of Peirce's analysis of creative scientific inquiry advances the understanding of Veblen's philosophy of science; and Veblen's theory of inquiry offers economists a promising logic of inquiry, one that guides and spurs creative advance. After analyzing the parallels between Veblen's and Peirce's views of scientific creativity, I will explain in my conclusion how this novel understanding of Veblen clarifies the fundamental difference between institu

Veblen and the Political Economy of the Engineer

Abstract. Thorstein Veblen's case for a Technocracy, “The Engineers and the Price System,” has long posed an enigma: Why would a thinker as radical as Veblen align himself with a group as conservative as engineers? But engineers themselves had developed a political economy with important points in common with Veblen's analysis. Starting from their positions as technological experts in corporations, engineers came to believe that business methods were not efficient for production; this belief led them to develop systems of scientific management as an antidote to old‐style management. Later, they expanded these ideas into a system of social management called Technocracy. This system of Technocracy represented an engineering effort at formulating an industrial democracy, with the cooperation of labor. Veblen was able to write a more systematic version of these ideas, because they fit in well with his own theoretical analysis.

The Theory of the Leisure Class.

'Conspicuous consumption of valuable goods is a means of reputability to the gentleman of leisure.' In The Theory of the Leisure Class Thorstein Veblen sets out 'to discuss the place and value of the leisure class as an economic factor in modern life'. In so doing he produced a landmark study of affluent American society that exposes, with brilliant ruthlessness, the habits of production and waste that link invidious business tactics and barbaric social behaviour. Veblen's analysis of the evolutionary process sees greed as the overriding motive in the modern economy; with an impartial gaze he examines the human cost paid when social institutions exploit the consumption of unessential goods for the sake of personal profit. Fashion, beauty, animals, sports, the home, the clergy, scholars - all are assessed for their true usefulness and found wanting. The targets of Veblen's coruscating satire are as evident today as they were a century ago, and his book still has the power to shock and enlighten. Veblen's uncompromising arguments and the influential literary force of his writing are assessed in Martha Banta's Introduction. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.