The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions - Couverture souple

Veblen, Thorstein

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1573922196 ISBN 13 : 9781573922197

Editeur : Prometheus Books, 1998

Synopsis

The Theory of the Leisure Class In his best-known work, The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899), Veblen appropriated Darwin's theory of evolution to analyze the modern industrial system. While industry itself demanded diligence, efficiency, and cooperation, businesspeople - in opposition to engineers and industrialists - were interested only in making money and displaying their wealth in what Veblen coined "conspicuous consumption." Veblen's keen analysis of the psychological bases of American social and economic institutions laid the foundation for the school of institutional economics.

A propos du livre

Extrait :

Chapter I

Introductory

The institution of a leisure class is found in its best development at the higher stages of the barbarian culture; as, for instance, in feudal Europe or feudal Japan. In such communities the distinction between classes is very rigorously observed; and the feature of most striking economic significance in these class differences is the distinction maintained between the employments proper to the several classes. The upper classes are by custom exempt or excluded from industrial occupations, and are reserved for certain employments to which a degree of honour attaches. Chief among the honourable employments in any feudal community is warfare; and priestly service is commonly second to warfare. If the barbarian community is not notably warlike, the priestly office may take the precedence, with that of the warrior second. But the rule holds with but slight exceptions that, whether warriors or priests, the upper classes are exempt from industrial employments, and this exemption is the economic expression of their superior rank. Brahmin India affords a fair illustration of the industrial exemption of both these classes. In the communities belonging to the higher barbarian culture there is a considerable differentiation of sub-classes within what may be comprehensively called the leisure class; and there is a corresponding differentiation of employments between these sub-classes. The leisure class as a whole comprises the noble and the priestly classes, together with much of their retinue. The occupations of the class are correspondingly diversified; but they have the common economic characteristic of being non-industrial. These non-industrial upper-class occupations may be roughly comprised under government, warfare, religious observances, and sports.

At an earlier, but not the earliest, stage of barbarism, the leisure class is found in a less differentiated form. Neither the class distinctions nor the distinctions between leisure-class occupations are so minute and intricate. The Polynesian islanders generally show this stage of the development in good form, with the exception that, owing to the absence of large game, hunting does not hold the usual place of honour in their scheme of life. The Icelandic community in the time of the Sagas also affords a fair instance. In such a community there is a rigorous distinction between classes and between the occupations peculiar to each class. Manual labour, industry, whatever has to do directly with the everyday work of getting a livelihood, is the exclusive occupation of the inferior class. This inferior class includes slaves and other dependents, and ordinarily also all the women. If there are several grades of aristocracy, the women of high rank are commonly exempt from industrial employment, or at least from the more vulgar kinds of manual labour. The men of the upper classes are not only exempt, but by prescriptive custom they are debarred, from all industrial occupations. The range of employments open to them is rigidly defined.

Biographie de l'auteur :

THORSTEIN B. VEBLEN, the son of Norwegian immigrants, was born in Valders, Wisconsin, on July 30, 1857, and was raised in rural Minnesota. He graduated from Carleton Col­lege in Northfield, Minnesota, in 1880 and earned his doc­torate from Yale in 1884.

An economist and social critic, Veblen dissected Ameri­can social and economic institutions and analyzed their psy­chological bases, laying the foundations for the study of institutional economics. In The Theory of Business Enter­prise (1904), he described the inherent conflict between the processes of technology and industry and those of business: Technology, the making of goods, naturally tended toward maximum efficiency in production, while business, the mak­ing of money, profited from monetary manipulation and restrictions on output to create artificially high prices.

Despite the effects these theories have had on the study of modern economics, it was The Theory of the Leisure Class, published in 1899, that became Veblen's best-known work. In it, he introduced the now classic concept of "con­spicuous consumption." Other books include The Instinct of Workmanship and the State of the Industrial Arts (1915) and The Engineers and the Price System (1921).

After retiring from a teaching career that included tenures at the University of Chicago, Stanford University, the Uni­versity of Wisconsin, and The New School for Social Research in New York City, Veblen died near Menlo Park, California,  on August 3, 1929.

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Prometheus Books
• Date d'édition: 1998
• ISBN 10: 1573922196
• ISBN 13: 9781573922197
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 404