Veblen's Nightmare

THORSTEIN VEBLEN’S “THEORY OF THE LEISURE CLASS”

The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen, first published in 1899, was an economic analysis of contemporary society in America. Veblen’s style and language was considered satirical, but the ideas and content remain fascinating and stimulating some eighty years after its first appearance. Although many of his ideas on society are considered outdated, there are a number that still fit in society today. Veblen’s basic ideas may be summarized as: the existence of a wealthy leisure class is a sociological phenomenon as well as an economic one, whose origins lie in the pre-history of social organization. Leisure is a primary form by which social status is measured and expressed, and has developed in our society into traditions of conspicuous leisure and consumption; the ambition of men to gain these approved measures of status has been a primary influence on the development of today’s economy and institutions.

Veblen’s analysis begins from the sociological and anthropological knowledge of his day; although we no longer use the categories of “savagery, barbarism and civilization,” the key point – that the division of labor appeared early in human history, and that the division of labor was soon associated with categories of social status – seems confirmed by modern anthropology. Veblen believes that economic competition for subsistence has been over-emphasized. He feels that ownership of property began with the practice of seizing women from alien tribes, and that the key motive in the development of ownership as an institution was the desire for status and honor, for a distinction that would allow the individual to “look down” on his fellows. “Ownership began and grew into a human institution on grounds unrelated to the subsistence minimum. The dominant incentive was from the outset the invidious distinction attaching to wealth...”

Veblen goes on to describe in great detail how the association...