Imatge de l'autor

Thorstein Veblen (1857–1929)

Autor/a de The Theory of the Leisure Class

35+ obres 3,248 Membres 32 Ressenyes 6 preferits

Sobre l'autor

Thorstein Bunde Veblen was an American economist and social scientist best known for challenging the economic theories of his time. He rejected the neat logic and natural laws of his contemporaries, asserting instead that economic order was evolutionary and that this evolution was strongly mostra'n més influenced by institutions such as labor unions, business organizations, schools, and even churches. In so doing, Veblen laid the basis for what is now known as the institutional school of economics. Veblen was often described as being an aloof and isolated, albeit gifted, misfit. His sense of isolation was established early; he was born on a farm in rural Wisconsin to immigrant Norwegian parents. English was spoken only as a second language in the tight-knit Norwegian community and Veblen did not perfect his use of the language until he entered college. A voracious reader with a distinct aversion to farm work, he was sent to nearby Carleton College to study for the Lutheran ministry. While at Carleton, Veblen alienated some of the faculty with inflammatory and agnostic writings, and, although he graduated in 1880, it was without the divinity degree that would have enabled him to teach at one of the many small religious colleges of the time. After graduate work at Johns Hopkins University and Yale University, he returned to his parents' home, where he spent the next seven years relaxing, reading, and doing odd jobs. In 1888 he married Ellen Rolfe, much to the dismay of her uncle who happened to be the president of Carleton College. During this period, Veblen had little luck finding a job, even with the benefit of his wife's and her uncle's connections. Finally, at the age of 34, Veblen went to Cornell University to seek a teaching position. Despite his frontier appearance---corduroy trousers and coonskin cap---he was given a one-year teaching assignment. The next year he joined the faculty at the University of Chicago, where he taught until 1906. While at the University of Chicago, he wrote two of his most important works, The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899) and The Theory of Business Enterprise (1904). The Theory of the Leisure Class was an insightful, if not contemptuous, analysis of the excess consumption and wasteful behavior of the wealthy. Veblen contended that the modern quest for the accumulation of money, and its lavish display, was derived from the predatory barbarian practice of seizing goods and wealth without work. In The Theory of Business Enterprise, he described the heads of corporate enterprises as saboteurs of the economic system---people interested only in the financing of production rather than the process of production. This was a radical view, but Veblen was writing during the period when the "robber barons" seemed obsessed by the profits that could be made from stock flotations, bond issues, and other complex financial deals. Veblen's notorious womanizing cost him his position with the University of Chicago in 1906. He moved on to Stanford University, then the University of Missouri, and finally to the New School for Social Research in New York, where he taught briefly before retiring to a small rustic cabin in California. Divorced from his wife in 1911, he remarried in 1914, but his second wife was institutionalized shortly after for psychological problems. Veblen was one of the most provocative economists of his time, but his ideas were such that he attracted few disciples. Even so, economists have come to recognize the importance of institutions and their impact on economic behavior. Additional testament to the influence of his work is the fact that many of the terms he coined are in wide use today, among them conspicuous consumption conspicuous consumption, the leisure class, and cultural lag. (Bowker Author Biography) mostra'n menys
Crèdit de la imatge: Wikipedia

Obres de Thorstein Veblen

The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899) 2,252 exemplars
Conspicuous Consumption (1899) 377 exemplars
The Theory of Business Enterprise (1958) 144 exemplars
The Portable Veblen (1948) 104 exemplars
The Higher Learning in America (1954) 84 exemplars
Essays in our changing order (1964) 14 exemplars
Tra utopia e disincanto (2002) 2 exemplars
The Nature of Peace (1997) 2 exemplars
the THORSTEIN VEBLEN reader (2008) 1 exemplars
The Vested Interests (2001) 1 exemplars

Obres associades

Laxdaela Saga (1245) — Introducció, algunes edicions923 exemplars
The Awakening [Norton Critical Edition, 1st ed.] (1976) — Col·laborador, algunes edicions797 exemplars
Theories of the Labor Movement (1987) — Col·laborador — 7 exemplars

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Om kriseforståelse på høyt nivå. Boken med den vel betente tittelen er ingen utskjelling av overklassens materielle overdådighet, men en innsiktsfull analyse av utviklingen fra røveriet (slaver, koner osv.) til det dannede liv med et vesentlig skille mellom produksjonsøkonomi og finansøkonomi (finansialisering). Parallellt med denne boken leser jeg historikeren Knut Odners biografi om Veblen ("Thorstein Veblen - forstyrreren av den intellektuelle fred"). Forfatteren kobler der Veblens liv og skrifter med blikk på det samfunnet Veblens familie var preget av og levde i. En tidlig biografi om Veblen skrevet av Joseph Dorfman inneholdt mange feilaktige analyser med ditto feillesning av Thorstein Veblen. Dette preget lenge oppslutningen om hans analyser og iakttagelser.
Krisen i 1929 like etter hans død fikk stor betydning idet økonomer og andre oppdaget rundt 1932-34 hans relevante kriseforståelse med økte sjanser til å forstå hva som skjedde og samfunnsmessig da å kunne innrette seg bedre. Nettopp idag med en globalt ødeleggende markedsliberalisme kan Veblen tas opp igjen og bidra med en innsikt dagens dominerende samfunnsøkonomer i liten grad har bidratt til. Han beveger seg mellom fagdisipliner som historie, antropologi, filosofi og sosiologi i sin økonomiske analyse. Dette tverrfaglige trekket viser fraværet av fagarroganse og den nødvendige åpenheten som må til for å forstå bredt. Produksjonsøkonomien med dens håndverksbasis gikk via industrialiseringen over i akkumuleringssamfunnet og finansøkonomi.
Koblingen til hans oppvekst med norsk bygdearv tydeliggjør hans altruisme og kravet til å utvikle en økonomi som er nyttig.
Dagens økonomer synes å ville kunne forklare alle dine preferanser for disposisjoner med økonomiske effekter utifra økonomiske teori på aktørnivå. Men selve innretningen på samfunnet med bl a maktdimensjonen synes ekstremt fraværende i deres teorier som ofte befinner seg i et lukket matematisk preget system. Når uforstående hendelser oppstår, er det kalt eksterne sjokk - slik krisen i 1929 bl a ble kalt. Veblen derimot viser til de store bevegelser og hvordan individuelle valg og store bevegelser med økonomiske konsekvenser henger sammen. Konkurranse om å vise betalingsevne på personlig nivå bidrar til en taksonomi rundt omdømme der overflødig kostbarhet og pekuniær prestisje i konsum av varer viser forskjellene mellom mennesker - der altså noen er klart bedre enn andre. Varer må for å fylle denne funksjon inneha et klart element av prangende sløseri. Dette gjelder på alle felt vedr. vare- og tjenestekjøp,men også på relasjoner som nettverk og parforhold. Å forlate "den gode smak", er på en måte å forlate det siviliserte samfunn - man er på et sett utenfor samfunnet og man teller ikke på annen måte enn som referanse til det uakseptable. Det betyr "ikke sett "og uten betydning, et dehumanisert objekt i forhold til menneskeslekten.

Ett sitat fra Erik S.Reinerts forord til den nye norske utgaven kan nevnes;""Kapitalsimen har latt rovdyrinstinktet ta overhånd over håndverksinstinktet:. Prestisjen ligger hos røverne. Ikke rart folk blir fattige og arbeidsløse". Og disse begrep er bla tatt fra Veblen: "Workmanship" står i motsetning til "Predation" der den første er den kollektive innsats (hjelpsomhet, effektivitet og ulyst til å ødsle) mens den siste fremmer enkeltindividet og bare enkeltindividet - via aggressiv konkurranse og det å tvinge eller stjele for egen berikelse.

Veblen analyser av den antropomorfiske kultur som preger religiøs utøvelse er fascinerende lesning - med den presisering av at den analysen dreier seg om " vurdering av disse fenomener sett fra det økonomiske synspunkt".
… (més)
 
Marcat
lestrond | Hi ha 23 ressenyes més | Jun 21, 2023 |
 
Marcat
saltr | Hi ha 23 ressenyes més | Feb 15, 2023 |
In this book Veblen coined the concepts of conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure. Historians of economics regard Veblen as the founding father of the institutional economics school. Contemporary economists still theorize Veblen's distinction between "institutions" and "technology", known as the Veblenian dichotomy.
 
Marcat
jwhenderson | Hi ha 1 ressenya més | Jul 4, 2022 |
Professor Veblen’s book, first published in 1899 is a sharp critique of the wealth elite of the Gilded Age. In abstract academic prose, which drips with sarcastic venom, he describes the wealthy as a holdover from humanity’s barbaric past. He uses few examples to back up his theory, relying on the common knowledge of his contemporary readers, but when he does it’s truly enlightening.

For example, in his chapter on “Modern Survivals of Prowess” he uses the example of an upper-class gentleman who carries a walking stick for show, and not as an aid to waking.

The walking-stick serves the purpose of an advertisement that the bearer’s hands are employed otherwise than in useful effort, and it therefore has utility as an evidence of leisure. But it is also a weapon, and it meets a felt need of barbarian man on that ground. The handling of so tangible and primitive a means of offense is very comforting to any one who is gifted with even a moderate share of ferocity. –pages 172-173 (in this edition)

He goes on to explain why this mindset, although it may be economically useful to the individual, is detrimental to the general population as a whole.

The two barbarian traits, ferocity and astuteness, go to make up the predaceous temper or spiritual attitude. They are the expressions of a narrowly self-regarding habit of mind. Both are highly serviceable for individual expediency in a life looking for invidious success. Both also have a high aesthetic value. Both are fostered by the pecuniary culture. But both alike are of no use for the purpose of the collective life. Page 179

In addition to the wealthy, he also eviscerates “conspicuous consumption,” athletics, religion, luck, and forms of higher education which have no practical application. As a result, his dry, droll prose, even if the reader does not agree with him, is hilarious to read, or to others infuriating. I loved it.
… (més)
 
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MaowangVater | Hi ha 23 ressenyes més | Jul 13, 2021 |

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