Thorstein veblen brief biography sample

  • Thorstein veblen institutionalism
      • Thorstein veblen brief biography sample
  • Thorstein veblen accomplishments
  • Thorstein veblen theory

    • Thorstein Veblen

    Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929) was an American economist famous in the history of economic thought. He claimed that, under certain circumstances, when the price of an item increases, its value in people's mind also increases.

    Veblen combined a Darwinian evolutionary perspective with his new institutionalist approach to economic analysis. He combined sociology with economics in his masterpiece, The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899), arguing there was a basic distinction between the productiveness of "industry," run by engineers, which manufactures goods, and the parasitism of "business," which exists only to make profits for a leisure class. The chief activity of the leisure class was "conspicuous consumption," and their economic contribution is "waste," activity that contributes nothing to productivity. The American economy was therefore made inefficient and corrupt by the businessmen, though he never made that claim explicit. Veblen believed that technological advances were the driving force behind cultural change, but, unlike many contemporaries, he refused to connect change with progress. Although Veblen was sympathetic to government ownership, he had a low opinion of workers and the labor movement and was hostile to Marxism. As a leading intellectual of the Progressive Era, his sweeping attack on production for profit and his stress on the wasteful role of consumption for status greatly influenced liberal thinkers seeking a non-Marxist critique of capitalism. Experts complained his ideas, while brilliantly presented, were crude, gross, fuzzy, and imprecise; others complained he was a wacky eccentric. Scholars continue to debate exactly what he meant in his convoluted, ironic and satiric essays; he made heavy use of examples of primitive societies, but many examples were pure invention.

    Thorstein Veblen was the uncle of Oswald Veblen.

    Early career

    Veblen was born on July 30, 1857, in Cato, Wisconsin, to Thomas a

    Thorstein Veblen

    American economist and sociologist (1857–1929)

    Thorstein Veblen

    Born

    Thorstein Bunde Veblen


    (1857-07-30)July 30, 1857

    Cato, Wisconsin, U.S.

    DiedAugust 3, 1929(1929-08-03) (aged 72)

    Menlo Park, California, U.S.

    FieldEconomics, socioeconomics
    Institutions
    School or
    tradition    		Institutional economics
    Alma mater
    InfluencesHerbert Spencer, Thomas Paine, William Graham Sumner, Lester F. Ward, William James, Georges Vacher de Lapouge, Edward Bellamy, John Dewey, Gustav von Schmoller, John Bates Clark, Henri de Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier
    ContributionsConspicuous consumption, conspicuous leisure, trained incapacity, Veblenian dichotomy

    Thorstein Bunde Veblen (; July 30, 1857 – August 3, 1929) was an American economist and sociologist who, during his lifetime, emerged as a well-known critic of capitalism.

    In his best-known book, The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899), Veblen coined the concepts of conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure. Veblen laid the foundation for the perspective of institutional economics. Contemporary economists still theorize Veblen's distinction between "institutions" and "technology", known as the Veblenian dichotomy.

    As a leading intellectual of the Progressive Era in the US, Veblen attacked production for profit. His emphasis on conspicuous consumption greatly influenced economists who engaged in non-Marxist critiques of fascism, capitalism, and technological determinism.

    Biography

    Early life and family background

    Veblen was born on July 30, 1857, in Cato, Wisconsin, to Norwegian-American immigrant parents, Thomas Veblen and Kari Bunde. He was the sixth of twelve children.

    His parents had emigrated from Valdres, Norway to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on September 16, 1847, with few funds and no knowledge of English. They migrated to Milwaukee via Drammen, Hamburg and Quebec. The

    Thorstein Veblen was odd man out in late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century American economics. His position on the fringe started early. Veblen grew up in a Norwegian immigrant farming community in Wisconsin. He spoke only Norwegian at home and did not learn English until his teens. He studied economics under John Bates Clark, a leading neoclassical economist, but rejected his ideas. He did his graduate work at Johns Hopkins University under Charles Sanders Peirce, the founder of the pragmatist school in philosophy, and at Yale University under laissez-faire proponent William Graham Sumner. He repudiated their views as well.

    Veblen is best known for his book The Theory of the Leisure Class, which introduced the term “conspicuous consumption” (referring to consumption undertaken to make a statement to others about one’s class or accomplishments). This term, more than any other, is what Veblen is known for.

    Veblen did not reject economists’ answers to the questions they posed; he simply thought their questions were too narrow. Veblen wanted economists to try to understand the social and cultural causes and effects of economic changes. What social and cultural causes were responsible for the shift from hunting and fishing to farming, for example, and what were the social and cultural effects of this shift? Veblen was singularly unsuccessful at getting economists to focus on such questions. His failure may explain the sarcastic tone his writing took toward his fellow economists.

    Veblen had to struggle to stay in academia. In the late nineteenth century many universities were affiliated in a substantial way with churches. Veblen’s skepticism about religion and his rough manners and unkempt appearance made him unattractive to such institutions. As a result, from 1884 to 1891 Veblen lived on the largesse of his family and his wife’s family. His big break came in 1892 when the newly formed University of Chicago hired his mentor, J. Laurence Laughlin

    Who was Thorstein Veblen? His Life, Career, and Theories

    Who Is Thorstein Veblen?

    Thorstein Veblen was an economist and sociologist who is best known for coining the term "conspicuous consumption" in his 1899 book The Theory of the Leisure Class.

    Veblen was interested in the relationship between the economy, society, and culture. He analyzed the social order and believed that people made purchases to signal their economic status and accomplishments to others.

    Veblen critiqued the consumption habits of the wealthy and questioned their values. He coined the terms “conspicuous waste” and “pecuniary emulation” (striving to meet or exceed someone else’s financial status). He also founded the school of institutional economics. Veblen lived from 1857 to 1929.

    Key Takeaways

    • Thorstein Veblen was an economist noted for his contributions to the development of American institutionalist economics.
    • Veblen is best known for developing the concept of conspicuous consumption, or excessive consumption for the sake of signaling social status.
    • Veblen’s theories created the concept of a Veblen good, which refers to a product whose demand increases as its price increases because consumers consider it an exclusive status symbol.
    • Veblen believed that limits on production by businesses to raise profits contributed to problems such as unemployment.
    • Veblen's theories became a major foundation of 20th-century critiques of consumerism and for-profit capitalism.

    Understanding Thorstein Veblen

    Veblen Good

    Because of Veblen’s analysis, we have the concept of a Veblen good, a product whose demand increases as its price increases because consumers consider it an exclusive status symbol—in other words, a product that is consumed conspicuously.

    Veblen goods are designer, luxury items with a strong brand identity. They are not sold in regular stores and are highly coveted. Consumers perceive them as being more valuable because of their high