Boundaries Lost: Thorstein Veblen, The Higher Learning in America,and the Conspicuous Spouse

Abstract

The Central concern of Thorstein Veblen's The Higher Learning in America (1918), a book that anyone concerned with the bureaucratization of the university or recent assaults on tenure would do well to scrutinize, is the scandalous porousness of boundaries between academia and business. According to Veblen, research universities contaminated themselves at the time of their formation in the late 19th century, not simply by accepting funding from capitalists, but also by mimicking the administrative structure and adopting the values of commercial culture. Although he believes the interests of education and business are “wholly divergent,” Veblen finds that “Plato's classic scheme of folly, which would have the philosophers take over the management of affairs, has been turned on its head; the men of affairs have taken over the direction of the pursuit of knowledge.” While some of the local concerns of Higher Learning differ from problems facing the university today, current interest in what Andrew Ross calls the “corporatization of the modern university” makes the book's broad claims strikingly relevant.

Emile Durkheim and Thorstein Veblen on epistemology, cultural lag and social order

“…This study is flawed in several respects; correctives to it include Tilman (1992Tilman ( , 1996 and Jorgensen and Jorgensen (1999). Also, see Bartley and Yoneda (1999), Edgell (1996Edgell ( , 2001 and Eby (2002). 4 Intellectual biographies of Durkheim abound, but see Nisbet (1974), , Giddens (1979), Thompson (1982) and Jones (1986).…”

Veblen: the making of an economist who unmade economics

“…There is also no evidence that Veblen was a sexual predator (Jorgensen and Jorgensen, 1999;Eby, 2001). No document or worthwhile testimony suggests that he was unfaithful to his wife until several years after he had asked her for a divorce.…”

Thorstein Veblen and Dementia praecox

“…easily the most intellectual member of the class" (Dorfman, 1934, p. 34). She was editor of the college newspaper and a poet (Eby, 2001). However, she was no better adjusted to this small church college than was Veblen.…”

“…She reluctantly agreed to a divorce in 1914, and wore her wedding dress to the divorce hearing (Eby, 2001). Ellen was vindictive toward the couple afterward and wrote hostile letters to universities that considered hiring Veblen.…”

“…In a 1904 letter to a colleague, Veblen described the book as "entirely impersonal" (Eby, 2001, p. 271). He transformed his anger against college presidents into an indictment of universities for mimicking corporate culture (Eby, 2001). Veblen was not unaware that colleagues and deans viewed negatively his liaisons with students but he did not think this was any of their business.…”