Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929) was an American economist and social scientist. He was born in Wisconsin to Norwegian immigrant parents, where he grew up on a farm. He attended Carleton College in Minnesota and later earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from Yale University.
Veblen’s most famous work, “The Theory of the Leisure Class,” was published in 1899. It established him as a prominent social critic and brought much attention. In it he critiqued the values and behaviors of the American upper class, arguing that their conspicuous consumption and its association with social status were alienating and detrimental to society.
Veblen believed the upper class, or the what he termed the leisure class,” used their wealth to purchase goods and services solely for the purpose of displaying their wealth and status to others. In other words, they would buy things not because they needed them, but to show off to others.
Veblen argued that this behavior was not only wasteful, but worrisome for society as a whole. He believed that their conspicuous consumption distracted from more productive and useful activities. Further, he believed it contributed to the reification of economic inequality and social injustice.
Overall, Veblen’s thoughts on the Leisure Class suggests that our society is structured around the accumulation and display of wealth, rather than the production and distribution of goods and services that meet people’s needs.
Throughout his career, Veblen continued to challenge conventional economic theory and championed the idea that economics was a social science that needed to take into account social and cultural factors. He wrote several other influential books, including “The Theory of Business Enterprise” and “The Instinct of Workmanship and the State of the Industrial Arts.”
Veblen’s ideas had a significant impact on the development of economic sociology and institutional economics. Despite his critical view of the upper class, he never aligned himself with any particular political ideology and remained an independent thinker throughout his life.
More Readings:
https://www.postbulletin.com/rochester-magazine/a-disturbing-genius-a-visitor-from-another-world
https://doorcounty.net/washington-island-and-thorstein-veblen/
https://thebaffler.com/latest/a-theory-of-thorstein-veblen-robbins
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