In almost any sociology textbook, readers will find pages devoted to the class struggle of Karl Marx (1818-1883), the Protestant ethic of Max Weber (1864-1920), and the collective consciousness of Emile Durkheim (1858-1917). Yet, Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929), who was a highly influential contemporary of Marx, Weber and Durkheim, is often relegated to a few short lines or omitted altogether from discussion. Considering the damaged state of the world economy and the large and growing gap between the rich and poor, Veblen's forgotten masterpiece The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899) deserves to be rediscovered and reexamined..
Thorstein Veblen
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Born in the small town of Cato, Wisconsin (USA) in 1857, Thorstein Veblen was accepted at Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, Maryland) and studied under the polymath founder of Pragmatism (whereby theory and practice are conceived as a circuit working together rather than as separate functions) Charles S. Peirce (1839-1914). From there, Veblen transferred to Yale (New Haven, Connecticut) and took his PhD.
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As a professor at The University of Chicago (until 1911), Veblen published The Theory of the Leisure Class in 1899. For the next twenty years, economists, historians, philosophers, sociologists and journalists among others drew upon Veblen's insights on class formation and individual behavior.
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In the following paragraphs, selections from The Theory of the Leisure Class appear in bold italics with a comments on Veblen's relevance to our world in the early twenty-first century.
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Selections from The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899) and Commentary
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"The earliest form of ownership is an ownership of the women by the able-bodied men of the community...The original reason for seizure and appropriation of women seems to have been their usefulness as trophies. From the ownership of women, the concept of ownership extends itself to include the products of industry."
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Whether or not Veblen is entirely correct in asserting that private ownership of land and commodities evolved from men taking possession of women, his analysis is nonetheless on the mark. Since the ancient times, patriarchal societies have been the norm throughout most of the world. Today, women in South Asia and much of the Middle East and Africa remain second-class citizens due to laws and mores inscribed in static patriarchal cultures. Gender discrimination continues to plague the West in varying degrees as well.
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Far more heartbreaking is the number of girls and young women trafficked for sex worldwide - a number that exceeds 500,000 annually. These females, who have been commodified for sex, have been all but destroyed for the purpose of serving the base desires of unscrupulous men. Is there a crime more sinister or repugnant? The victims of sex trafficking are as much our sisters and daughters as the ones in our immediate families. Ending sex trafficking (and all human trafficking) needs to be the top priority of the United Nations and the first object of foreign policy for every nation.
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You have heard the phrase "trophy wife," right? The origins of the concept may indeed lie with Veblen. You also know the definition. A wealthy man around fifty years-old tires of his first wife after more than two decades of marriage, gets divorced and selects a younger woman (usually 25-30 years old) to show off to his friends, his business partners and his own ego. There may be mutual respect, but true love is not involved. It is a mutual agreement for money and status. As women have become more financially empowered, the number of "trophy wives" seems to have declined. As there is no such thing as a "trophy husband" (except for a musical band named The Trophy Husbands in Pennsylvania (USA) - a fantastic name for a band), the patriarchy embedded in the idea of a "trophy wife" is evident.
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"The motive that lies at the root of ownership is emulation. The possession of wealth confers honor; it is an invidious distinction...The most imperative of these secondary demands of emulation, as well as the widest one in scope, is the requirement of abstention from productive work...labor is felt to be debasing."
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Across the world in 2012, many (if not most) people still measure success by one's profession and level of material prosperity. Doctors, lawyers and most of all - entrepreneurs, who start new businesses and make fortunes, are admired and envied almost everywhere for their ability to "make it big" in the world. If they are believed to have had little help in achieving their high position in society, they are called "self-made men." This myth, which emanates from nineteenth century thought during the industrial revolution, still pervades our societies and creates "invidious distinctions." As invidious means 'an unfair situation that creates resentments,' Veblen selected the perfect word. A self-made man? Would not the mother of a self-made man and perhaps God - if God exists - have a bit of an issue with this concept? No one is self-made. We all rely on parents and/or others in our communities for support from day one. The idea of a self-made man is supremely arrogant, and many of these so-called self-made men are just that - as they take pride in thinking they were able to succeed without help. Nonsense.
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While people ought to be admired for their hard work, tenacity and accomplishments, one's degree of success must never be measured by wealth. Who is more successful: a person who works twenty hours a day, six days a week, earns $5 million a year and ignores his or her family and friends, or a person who works eight hours a day, five days a week, earns just enough to pay the bills and devotes their heart, time and soul to the welfare of family and friends?
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Members of the wealthy leisure class do not actually know how to do anything. They have things done for them. They are served by others. Labor is seen as a degrading activity. That is what 'the lower classes' do. Yet, who is really degraded? It is the members of the leisure class. To labor is to be useful. To be useful is having practical knowledge, skills and abilities that helps and serves others. If janitors did not clean offices or school buildings, would workers and students want to be there? What about electricians, plumbers, engineers, bus drivers, table servers at restaurants and retail shop clerks? Neither our economies nor our societies could function without them. Yet, according to Veblen, life could certainly go on without the leisure class - as they contribute little or nothing of value - with the exception of occasional capital infusions (investments) into the economy.
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Rather than demonizing the ultra-rich, Veblen seems to simply be exposing the illogical, self-serving nature of their ideology - an ideology that is still accepted by many in middle-class today. Work hard. Get rich. Keep up with the Joneses' (Veblen's emulation: If your neighbors, Sam and Rita Jones buy a new BMW for example, you need to buy a new BMW to maintain your status-level in the neighborhood). There are alternatives.
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Instead of a BMW, write your son and/or daughter a letter telling him or her how proud you are of his/her character - and how a character consisting of compassion, humility, hope and forgiveness is worth more than a stack of BMWs from Bavaria, Germany to the moon. When your son or daughter turns seventy-five years old, which one, the BMW or the letter, will mean more to him or her?
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In short, the idea that wealth confers success or honor is - the most bankrupt idea of all.
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"The accumulation of wealth at the upper end of the pecuniary scale implies privation at the lower end of the scale. It is commonplace that, wherever it occurs, a considerable degree of privation among the body of the people is a serious obstacle to any innovation."
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Brief translation: When the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle-class shrinks. Over the last thirty years, much of the world has seen income inequality grow significantly. The wealthiest members of society, who learned how to read and write from teachers and were cured of illness by medical staff and were helped by a countless number of hard-working people in their communities, often do not pay their share of taxes on income and capital investments. Their like-minded allies in government have either written favorable tax laws that allow them to keep their money, or they are able to secure their assets in offshore accounts - away from the arms of the taxman. When asked to pay more, they accuse critics of engaging in class warfare. Yet, is not the definition of class warfare when the rich refuse to pay their fair share?
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US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney (b. 1947) is worth $200 million. He will pay 14% in income tax on his considerable earnings last year (2011) - which amounted to $20.9 million. While Romney did make generous donations to charity, is a tax of 14% on $20.9 million on someone who already has $200 million reasonable - at at time when school budgets and government services are being cut for the middle-class and poor? Unsurprisingly, his economic plan calls for tax-cuts for the wealthiest members of society - people he and his party call "job-creators." Yet, the largest source of job-creation has always been the middle-class where most innovation takes place. Veblen was dead right. When society is organized to serve the wealthy elite rather than all citizens, a stasis sets in, innovation is crippled and desperation rather than hope becomes the order of the day.
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Thorstein Veblen: A Man of Our Time
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While much of The Theory of the Leisure Class is dated, Veblen's work deserves to be reintroduced to scholars, students and anyone concerned with rooting out the invidious distinctions of race, class and gender discrimination. Is a radical solution required? Not at all. Our societies simply need to be based on common-sense, fairness and human decency. Everyone should have the opportunity to enjoy the comforts of life - but not at the expense of others. Hopefully, Veblen's insightful analysis on the nature of inequality will be less relevant in 2112.
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(Photo: A house everyone should have an opportunity to own)
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Key Sources/Further Reading
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1. Meredith May, "Sex Trafficking" The San Francisco Chronicle (6 October 2006). See link: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/06/MNGR1LGUQ41.DTL&ao=all
2. Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Working Class (McClean, VA: IndyPublish.com, 2002 - a reproduction of the original 1899 edition)
3. "How Romney's Income Stacks Up Against Wall Street" The Wall Street Journal (24 January 2012) See link: http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2012/01/24/how-mitt-romneys-income-stacks-up-against-wall-street/
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J Roquen