The Instinct of Workmanship and the Irksomeness of Labor
The Instinct of Workmanship and the Irksomeness of Labor

Author: Thorstein Veblen

Publisher: Read Books Ltd

Published: 2015-02-10

Total Pages: 21

ISBN-13: 1473399106

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Originally published in 1899, this is a work by Thorstein Veblen, an American economist and sociologist. It is an article written for the American Journal of Sociology publication outlining some of his theories on work. We are republishing this work with a brand new introductory biography of the author with the aim of placing it in the context of his other writings and achievements. The following passage is an extract from the article: 'It is one of the commonplaces of the received economic theory that work is irksome. Many a discussion proceeds on this axiom that, so far as regards economic matters, men desire above all things to get the goods produced by labor and to avoid the labor by which the goods are produced. In a general way the common-sense opinion is well in accord with current theory on this head. According to the common-sense-ideal, the economic beatitude lies in an unrestrained consumption of goods, without work; whereas the perfect economic affliction is unremunerated labor. Man instinctively revolts at effort that goes to supply the means of life'

Essays in Our Changing Order
Essays in Our Changing Order

Author: Thorstein Veblen

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-10-08

Total Pages: 549

ISBN-13: 1351311425

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Essays in Our Changing Order is the ninth volume in the collected works of America's pre-eminent social scientist. Each volume has a new opening essay, in this case, a comprehensive review of Veblen's works by Scott Bowman that stands by itself as a premier statement. Using an innovative framework, Bowman sees Veblen as concerned with three unifying themes: the dynamic interrelationships between instinct, habits of thought, environment, and social change in human evolution; the essential contradiction between business and industry sustained by the instinctual dominance of pecuniary exploit over workmanlike efficiency; and the role of ideological and animistic thinking in human affairs. This volume of Veblen's most important studies, published posthumously in 1936, illustrates and embellishes the themes Bowman outlines in a variety of ways, and is remarkable for its contemporanity and literary freshness. Veblen's editor, Leon Ardzrooni, divides the work into three major segments: essays on economics, including the history of the field; miscellaneous papers, which nearly all come to rest on matters of religion and philosophy; and what Ardzrooni calls war essays, which again reveal a very worldly and wise observer of current events and critic of national policies. What is so astonishing is the timeliness of these seemingly time bound concerns: whether dealing with the condition of women, the intellectual contributions of Jews, farm labor and unions, or the meaning of the Bolshevik Revolution, Veblen confronts us with insights into still-unfinished business.

The Institutionalist Tradition in Labor Economics
The Institutionalist Tradition in Labor Economics

Author: Dell P. Champlin

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-10-24

Total Pages: 473

ISBN-13: 1317456254

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While there are many economists in schools, government, unions, and non-profit organizations working in the institutionalst tradition, there has been no book that describes this tradition -- until now. Editors Champlin and Knoedler have brought together prominent labor economists, highly respected institutional economists, and newer scholars working on such compelling issues as immigration, wage discrimination, and living wages. Their essays portray the institutionalist tradition in labor as it exists today as well as its historical and theoretical origins. The result is a major contribution to the literature of labor economics, institutionalist economics, and the history of economic thought.

The Ploy of Instinct
The Ploy of Instinct

Author: Kathleen Frederickson

Publisher: Fordham Univ Press

Published: 2014-09-15

Total Pages: 207

ISBN-13: 0823262537

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It is paradoxical that instinct became a central term for late Victorian sexual sciences as they were elaborated in the medicalized spaces of confession and introspection, given that instinct had long been defined in its opposition to self-conscious thought. The Ploy of Instinct ties this paradox to instinct’s deployment in conceptualizing governmentality. Instinct’s domain, Frederickson argues, extended well beyond the women, workers, and “savages” to whom it was so often ascribed. The concept of instinct helped to gloss over contradictions in British liberal ideology made palpable as turn-of-the-century writers grappled with the legacy of Enlightenment humanism. For elite European men, instinct became both an agent of “progress” and a force that, in contrast to desire, offered a plenitude in answer to the alienation of self-consciousness. This shift in instinct’s appeal to privileged European men modified the governmentality of empire, labor, and gender. The book traces these changes through parliamentary papers, pornographic fiction, accounts of Aboriginal Australians, suffragette memoirs, and scientific texts in evolutionary theory, sexology, and early psychoanalysis.

Thorstein Veblen
Thorstein Veblen

Author: Murray Murphey

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-05-20

Total Pages: 318

ISBN-13: 135124437X

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In his latest book, scholar-historian Murray G. Murphey exhaustively explores the life and theory of Thorstein Veblen (1857–1929), whom, many scholars agree, remains one of the leading social theorists of all time, if not also one of the more confounding. Murphey’s account begins with a brief economic history of nineteenth-century America, wherein he examines the conditions that formed Veblen’s ideology. With that understanding, the author studies Veblen’s personal history and brings to the fore his foundational ideas on human psychology, race, his theory of knowledge, and his analysis of social evolution. In the book’s later chapters, Murphey considers Veblen’s writing through the scope of his major volumes – The Theory of the Leisure Class, The Theory of Business Enterprise, and Imperial Germany and the Industrial Revolution, among others. Spanning the latter stages of the nineteenth century into the first several decades of the twentieth century, Murphey traces Veblen’s radical economics and thinking within the broader context of America’s economic theory. In so doing, he upholds Veblen’s influence on the canons of economics and social science, and importantly, he attempts to resolve the lingering mystery behind one of America’s more puzzling and influential theorists.

The Theory of the Leisure Class (Annotated)
The Theory of the Leisure Class (Annotated)

Author: Thorstein Veblen

Publisher: Independently Published

Published: 2020-03-14

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13:

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Differentiated book- It has a historical context with research of the time-The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions (1899), by Thorstein Veblen, is a treatise on economics and a detailed social critique of conspicuous consumption, based on social class and consumerism, derived from social stratification. of people and the division of labor, which are social institutions of the feudal period (9 to 15 c.) that have continued until the modern era. Veblen claims that the contemporary lords of the mansion, the entrepreneurs who own the means of production, have been employed in the economically unproductive practices of conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure, which are useless activities that contribute neither to the economy nor to production material of the useful goods and services required for the functioning of society, while it is the middle class and the working class that usefully work in the industrialized and productive occupations that support the whole of society.Conducted in the late 1800s, Veblen's socioeconomic analyzes of business cycles and the consequent pricing policy of the U.S. economy and the emerging division of labor, by technocratic specialty (scientist, engineer, technologist, etc.), proved to be predictions. precise and sociological of the economic structure of an industrial society.

Marx, Veblen, and the Foundations of Heterodox Economics
Marx, Veblen, and the Foundations of Heterodox Economics

Author: Tae-Hee Jo

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-07-30

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 1317631447

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John F. Henry is an eminent economist who has made important contributions to heterodox economics drawing on Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Thorstein Veblen, and John Maynard Keynes. His historical approach offers radical insights into the evolution of ideas (ideologies and theories) giving rise to and/or induced by the changes in capitalist society. Essays collected in this festschrift not only evaluate John Henry’s contributions in connection to Marx’s and Veblen’s theories, but also apply them to the socio-economic issues in the 21st century. In Part I leading heterodox economists in the traditions of Marxism, Post Keynesianism, and Institutionalism critically examine Marx’s and Veblen’s theoretical frameworks (and their connections to each other) that have become the foundations of heterodox economics. Chapters in Part II showcase alternative theoretical explanations inspired by Marx, Veblen, and Henry. Topics in this Part include financial crisis, financialization, capital accumulation, economics teaching, and the historical relationship between money and class society. Part III is devoted to John Henry’s heterodox economics encapsulated in his "farewell" lecture, interview, and bibliography. Essays in this book, individually and collectively, make an important point that the history of economic thought (or historical analysis of economic theory and policy) is an integral part of developing heterodox economics as an alternative theoretical framework. Anyone who is troubled by the recurring failure of capitalism as well as mainstream economics will find this book well worth reading.