The Anthem Companion to Thorstein Veblen
ANTHEM COMPANIONS TO SOCIOLOGY
Anthem Companions to Sociology offer authoritative and comprehensive assessments of major figures in the development of sociology from the past two centuries. Covering the major advancements in sociological thought, these companions offer critical evaluations of key figures in the American and European sociological tradition, and will provide students and scholars with an in-depth assessment of the makers of sociology and chart their relevance to modern society.
Series Editor
Bryan S. Turner City University of New York, USA / Australian Catholic University, Australia / University of Potsdam, Germany
Forthcoming titles
The Anthem Companion to Karl Mannheim
The Anthem Companion to Gabriel Tarde
The Anthem Companion to Philip Rieff
The Anthem Companion to Ernst Troeltsch
The Anthem Companion to Auguste Comte
The Anthem Companion to Thorstein Veblen
Edited by Sidney Plotkin
Anthem Press
An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company
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This edition first published in UK and USA 2017
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2017 Sidney Plotkin editorial matter and selection;
individual chapters individual contributors
The moral right of the authors has been asserted.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Plotkin, Sidney, editor.
Title: The Anthem companion to Thorstein Veblen / [edited by] Sidney Plotkin.
Description: London ; New York, NY : Anthem Press, 2017. | Series: Anthem companions to sociology | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017006962 | ISBN 9781783082797 (hardback : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Veblen, Thorstein, 18571929. | Economics. | EconomicsSociological aspects.
Classification: LCC HB119. V4 A58 2017 | DDC 330.092dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017006962
ISBN-13: 978-1-78308-279-7 (Hbk)
ISBN-10: 1-78308-279-8 (Hbk)
This title is also available as an e-book.
For Sam, Rachel, Joanna and Joseph, their humanity and their laughter.
CONTENTS
| Erkki Kilpinen |
| William Waller |
| Rick Tilman and Kohl Glau |
| Russell H. Bartley and Sylvia Erickson Bartley |
| Stjepan G. Mestrovic |
| John D. Kelly |
| Ahmet nc |
| Sidney Plotkin |
| Ross E. Mitchell |
Toil in the field of Veblen scholarship can be a lonely affair. Thanks to organizations such as the International Thorstein Veblen Association (ITVA) and the Internet, which allows conversation to flourish across oceans and time zones, I have enjoyed the fruits of advice, cooperation, collegiality and friendship. I owe special debts in this regard to the late Art Vidich, who originally urged me to join the ITVA, and to the inspiration of Franco Ferrarotti and Rick Tilman, scholars of the first rank, who persuaded me to believe that I might have something worthwhile to say about Veblen and politics. Of course, this collection would have been impossible without the heartfelt scholarly dedication and labor of its globe-spanning contributors. Their insight, effort and cooperation made my editorial work far more pleasurable than I originally imagined it might be. I am greatly beholden to them for such value as this collection may possess. Plaudits as well to Vincent Rajan and the production team at Anthem: their patient aid in guiding the manuscript through its final stages was as helpful as it was stress free. I remain deeply indebted to my colleagues in the Political Science Department of Vassar College. My turn toward writing and teaching about Veblen would likely not have developed without their support. Their welcoming of changes in a colleagues intellectual direction speaks volumes about the departments zealous commitment to freedom of inquiry and the adventure of learning. I owe an equal, perhaps greater, debt to my students. Their thirst for understanding politicsand Veblen toohas afforded me the greatest pleasure and reward of my teaching life. In more personal ways, my wife, Aura, deserves my infinite gratitude for her love. Her forbearance with my many grumbles amid the labor of writing merits equal thankfulness. I owe Nancy and David Gluck more thanks than I can enumerate, most of all for their enduring friendship through moments of pain as well as joy. Finally, I have dedicated this work to my children, Sam, Rachel, Joanna and my stepson, Joseph. Simply put, there is no greater reward for the parental bent than to watch children mature into responsible and generous human beings. They have privileged me to feel intensely what Veblen called fullness of life.
Sidney Plotkin
Thorstein Veblen ranks among the more elusive but also rewarding and provocative thinkers in the classic tradition of social theory. Of course he is known best as the author of The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899), as sharp witted a satire of upper-class folly as was ever penned. The books key concept of conspicuous consumption rooted itself in everyday language: millions who have never heard of Veblen use his term every day. But Veblens first book is more than a wisecracking comedy of manners. It is an early important statement of his essentially evolutionary, Darwinian approach to explaining social institutions. It also rests on the crucial Veblenian distinction between industry and exploit, an idea that evokes the anthropological outlook he applied throughout his later explorations of social behavior. So while the book is a resounding critique of Gilded-Age American valuesVeblen loved to remind patriotic American readers of their rabid affection for the trappings of European aristocratic culturethe books theoretical preoccupations should not be underestimated. They show us that Veblen and his outlook were grounded in more than his efforts at satire of his American setting and rural Minnesota upbringing. Such elements, for all their formative influence, were just that, points of departure for an insatiable curiosity and an intellectual project that was fundamentally theoretical in character and direction.
Veblen emerged from rural Minnesota to engage with thinkers, ideas and modes of analysis that reflected the deep reservoir of Western thought. Paying little heed to disciplinary boundaries, his writings transcend formulaic distinctions between economics, sociology, politics and psychology. Veblen alerts his readers to institutional intersections, to associations and linkages, to the tissue and fiber of connections between material and cultural life and the ways these inform political habits and constraints. Here are the sources of Veblens provocation.
