From theory to empirics and back: A misunderstanding around the Veblenian dichotomy

Abstract

Objective: to trace the emergence and consolidation of a wrong meaning when moving from an inaccurately interpreted theoretical concept to empirical evidence. The authors suggest the case of Thorstein Veblen’s evolutionary theory and identify how researchers interpret and apply its selected elements.Methods: discourse analysis. The authors rely on Veblen’s original writings, research papers by Russian authors who refer to the so-called Veblenian dichotomy, and own research findings. The latter show the application of Veblen’s concept to study (1) the features of Russian 19th century economic culture, and (2) contemporary techniques of manipulating personal financial decision-making.Results: the authors found that Veblen had distinguished between contrasting analytical categories when describing different human dispositions, or instinctive proclivities, underlying habitual ways of thinking and doing and economic conduct. Some dispositions lead to productive behavior, while others lead to unproductive one. This concept is essential for institutional analysis. Our research discovers its inaccurate interpretations in the research literature. Starting from a distorted understanding of the theoretical concept, empirical studies contribute to the entrenchment and spread of a misconception, thus feeding a particular ideological agenda. The authors separated Veblen’s original concepts, including ethical ones, from subsequent interpretations and elaborations, to monitor the changing treatment of traditional values in research literature as productive or ceremonial ones. Research findings indicate that the articles by Russian institutionalists contain a systematic bias with regard to the treatment of traditional norms and values as merely ceremonial ones, implying backwardness and archaic patterns, which impede technological progress and “modernization”.Scientific novelty: the application of Veblenian analytical tools in an applied institutional study is reconsidered. Authors’ own analytical technique is suggested to assess the norms underlying economic behavior in terms of their productivity. This technique is applied to the Russian empirical material, both historical and contemporary. To our knowledge, the proposed research technique has not been used in the previous literature.Practical significance: the research findings and their interpretation indicate that Veblen’s ethics and his analytical approach remain relevant. This article contributes to the “restoration” of core values and economic culture of the Russian people. Veblen’s evolutionary theory is suggested as an alternative to the widespread trite methods of cross-country and cross-cultural socio-economic comparisons which presume the supremacy of “Western” values.