Thorstein Veblen (1857 – 1929)

Major Works of Thorstein Veblen Through 1908"Kant's Critique of Judgement", 1884, Journal of Speculative Philosophy"Some Neglected Points in the Theory of Socialism", 1891, Annals of AAPSS"Bohm-Bawerk's Definition of Capital and the Source of Wages" , 1892, QJE. "The Overproduction Fallacy", 1892, QJE"The Food Supply and the Price of Wheat", 1893, JPE"The Army of the Commonweal", 1894, JPE"The Economic Theory of Women's Dress", 1894, Popular Science Monthly"Review of Karl Marx's Poverty of Philosophy", 1896, JPE"Review of Werner Sombart's Socializmus", 1897, JPE"Review of Gustav Schmoller's Uber einige Grundfragen der Socialpolitik", 1898, JPE"Review of Turgot's Reflections", 1898, JPE"Why is Economics Not an Evolutionary Science?" , 1898, QJE. "The Beginnings of Ownership" , 1898, American Journal of Sociology . "The Instinct of Workmanship and the Irksomeness of Labor" , 1898, American Journal of Sociology . (copy) "The Barbarian Status of Women" , 1898, American Journal of Sociology . The Theory of the Leisure Class: an economic study of institutions, 1899 - Copy (1) ; (2) "The Preconceptions of Economic Science", Part 1 (1899),Part 2 (1899) , Part 3 (1900), QJE; "Industrial and Pecuniary Employments", 1901, Publications of the AEA"Gustav Schmoller's Economics", 1901, QJE"Arts and Crafts", 1902, JPE"Review of Werner Sombart's Der moderne Kapitalismus", 1903, JPE"Review of J.A. Hobson's Imperialism", 1903, JPE"An Early Experiment in Trusts", 1904, JPE"Review of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations", 1904, JPETheory of Business Enterprise , 1904 - Copy (1), (2)"Credit and Prices", 1905, JPE"The Place of Science in Modern Civilization", 1906, American J of Sociology"Professor Clark's Economics", 1906, QJE"The Socialist Economics of Karl Marx and His Followers", Part 1 (1906), Part 2 (1907), QJE"Fisher's Capital and Income" , 1907, Political Science Quarterly . "The Evolution of the Scientific Point of View", 1908, University of California Chronicle"On the Nature of Capital", 1908, QJE

Source: http://www.newschool.edu/nssr/het/profiles/veblen.htm

Major Works of Thorstein Veblen Through 1927

"Fisher's Rate of Interest" , 1909, Political Science Quarterly . "The Limitations of Marginal Utility" , 1909, JPE. "Christian Morals and the Competitive System", 1910, International J of Ethics"The Mutation Theory and the Blond Race", 1913, Journal of Race Development"The Blond Race and the Aryan Culture", 1913, Univ of Missouri BulletinThe Instincts of Worksmanship and the State of the Industrial Arts, 1914. "The Opportunity of Japan", 1915, J of Race DevelopmentImperial Germany and the Industrial Revolution, 1915. An Inquiry into the Nature of Peace and the Terms of its Perpetuation, 1917. "On the General Principles of a Policy of Reconstruction", 1918, J of the National Institute of Social Sciences"Passing of National Frontiers", 1918, Dial"Menial Servants during the Period of War", 1918, Public"Farm Labor for the Period of War", 1918, Public"The War and Higher Learning", 1918, Dial"The Modern Point of View and the New Order", 1918, DialThe Higher Learning In America: A Memorandum On the Conduct of Universities By Business Men , 1918 - (1) . The Vested Interests and the Common Man , 1919 "The Intellectual Pre-Eminence of Jews in Modern Europe", 1919, Political Science Quart"On the Nature and Uses of Sabotage", 1919, Dial"Bolshevism is a Menace to the Vested Interests", 1919, Dial"Peace", 1919, Dial"The Captains of Finance and the Engineers", 1919, Dial"The Industrial System and the Captains of Industry", 1919, DialThe Place of Science in Modern Civilization and other essays, 1919. "Review of J.M.Keynes's Economic Consequences of the Peace , 1920, Political Science Quarterly The Engineers and the Price System, 1921. (PDF version) Absentee Ownership and Business Enterprise in Recent Times: the case of America, 1923. "Economic theory in the Calculable Future", 1925, AEREssays in Our Changing Order, 1927.

Source: http://www.newschool.edu/nssr/het/profiles/veblen.htm

Veblen’s Critique of Neoclassical Economics

Veblen Argues that Neoclassical Theory Serves Three Purposes: 1. Justify Capital on the Basis of its Importance in the Production of Utility.

2. Provide the Moral Justification for All Incomes by Arguing that Income is Derived from One’s Contribution to the Production Process.

3. Demonstrate that a Competitive Capitalist System Generates Social Harmony

Neoclassical Theory Obscures the Relationship between Capital and Labor

Two Points:1. The conflict is viewed as apparent rather than real.

2. Production is viewed as Ahistorical, whereby the relationship between labor and capital is depicted as timeless and eternal.

Production as a Social and Cultural Phenomenon

• Production is never the result of a single person or factor of production.• Production is a shared social process in which

knowledge and skills are passed from one generation to the next.• Production socially transforms nature in an effort to

fulfill human needs and uses.• A Categorization of Land, Labor, and Capital as Private

Property is a Historic Phenomenon Unique to Capitalism.• Wages, Profits, and Rents are Unique to Capitalism.

The Expression of Human Behavior is Conditioned by Social Institutions and Culture

• Human Behavior is Characterized by Certain Traits and, Therefore, is Not Strictly Determined by Social Institutions and Culture.• The Outward Expression of Human Instincts is,

However, Conditioned by Social Institutions and Culture.aka. Human Beings are Social Creatures!

The Two Conflicting Clusters Expressing Dominant Human Traits

I. Instinct of WorkmanshipOther Underlying Instincts:

i. Parental Instinct – To care and nurture.

ii. Instinct of Idle Curiosity – To be creative and inventive. To stimulate new techniques of production.

As Manifested in Capitalism (Three Spheres):

1. Social Psychology - associated with Labor.

2. Economics - associated with Industry.

3. Sociology – associated with the Common Man

II. Predatory Instinct (Exploit)

As Manifested in Capitalism (Three Spheres):

1. Social Psychology - associated with the Capitalist Class.

2. Economics - associated with Business.

3. Sociology – associated with the Leisure Classand expressed through.

i. Ceremonialism

ii. Sportsmanship

The Two Mechanisms of Cultural Discipline and Social Control

I. Patriotism, Nationalism, Militarims, and Imperialism

II. Emulative Consumption

~Pecuniary Emulation

Marx and Veblen

I. Similaritiesi. Historic Approach.

~Capitalism as historically peculiarii. Laws of Capitalism and Private

Property form the basis of Capitalist Power.

iii. The Negative Impact of Capitalism on the Lives of Labor.

iv. Inevitability of Industrial Concentration.

v. Capitalist Government Enforces the Asymmetrical Power Relation Between the Capitalists and Labor.

II. Differencesi. Marx Utilized Equilibrium Theory,

Veblen did not.~Marx translates Class Struggle into a Depiction of Wages and Profits, Veblen does not.~Marx’s theory of Crisis and Depressions is more complete than is Veblen’s.

ii. Veblen has a deeper understanding than does Marx of the Culture of Capitalism and the Ideologically driven Social Control mechanisms of Capitalism