What Thorstein Veblen thinks about behavioural science
American economist and sociologist (1857 to 1929); author of The Theory of the Leisure Class.
Thorstein Veblen did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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Only Thorstein Veblen on behavioural science. See everyone on behavioural science
9 dated positions, c. 1899, in their own words. Our reading of what Thorstein Veblen has said — not written or endorsed by them.
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Their wordsWherever the circumstances or traditions of life lead to an habitual comparison of one person with another in point of efficiency, the instinct of workmanship works out in an emulative or invidious comparison of persons.
↗The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsIn order to gain and to hold the esteem of men it is not sufficient merely to possess wealth or power. The wealth or power must be put in evidence, for esteem is awarded only on evidence.
↗The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsConspicuous consumption of valuable goods is a means of reputability to the gentleman of leisure.
↗The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsNo class of society, not even the most abjectly poor, forgoes all customary conspicuous consumption.
↗The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsThroughout the entire evolution of conspicuous expenditure, whether of goods or of services or human life, runs the obvious implication that in order to effectually mend the consumer's good fame it must be an expenditure of superfluities. In order to be reputable it must be wasteful.
↗The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Our readingThe spending standard people strive for is an ideal just beyond their reach, not the average
Their wordsThis suggests that the standard of expenditure which commonly guides our efforts is not the average, ordinary expenditure already achieved; it is an ideal of consumption that lies just beyond our reach, or to reach which requires some strain.
↗The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsThe need of conspicuous waste, therefore, stands ready to absorb any increase in the community's industrial efficiency or output of goods, after the most elementary physical wants have been provided for.
↗The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Our readingBelief in luck seriously affects the economic efficiency of a community where it is common
Their wordsThe belief in luck is a sense of fortuitous necessity in the sequence of phenomena. In its various mutations and expressions, it is of very serious importance for the economic efficiency of any community in which it prevails to an appreciable extent.
↗The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsThe canons of pecuniary decency are reducible for the present purpose to the principles of waste, futility, and ferocity.
↗The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book