Sociological Elements in Veblen's Economic Theory

Davis, Arthur K.

doi:10.1086/256247

Cited by 17 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Thorstein Veblen generally criticizes capitalism in all his works, but there is not a single work in which he clearly demonstrates these criticisms. In his different works, he expresses these criticisms with different aspects (Davis, 1945). However, in his general critique of capitalism, Veblen identifies individualism as the fundamental moral flaw and bad instinctive behaviors that serve individual interests.…”

Section: Veblen's Leisure Class and The Phenomenon Of Conspicuous Con...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Homomoralis Search in Purchase Behaviors of Veblen’s Leisure Class and the Conspicuous Who Imitate Them Through Vignettes

EROL¹

2023

pejoss

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Economics and marketing disciplines, which left behind the days when traditional theories were in competition with behavioral theories, where the basic view is to maximize self-benefit, have been busy with studies that question the limits of people's selfishness in recent years. In these studies, in which human behavior is considered the dependent variable, the independent variables constantly differ. In the research, in which different working methods are used, many independent variables such as psychology, genetics, neurology, sociology, personality, and environment can be mentioned. In this study, while the dependent variable remains the same as "human", the motives of non-producing and conspicuous consumers were tried to be determined by following the moral traces of Veblen's leisure class and conspicuous purchasing behaviors. Drawing attention to his findings opposing the law of demand of the economy, Veblen states that in some cases, the demand of some consumers for goods with higher prices may increase. He calls this group of consumers the leisure class. This class is a class that participates in the economy only through consumption. In addition, the class of conspicuous people trying to imitate the economic behavior of this class also emerged from Veblen's theory. The pretentious class, on the other hand, can be defined as consumers who participate in the economy through production, but who try to imitate the leisure class because of their spending behavior. Researching such consumer classes can be difficult, often due to social desirability. In other words, individuals may not want to admit it even if they are in the leisure class, or they may try to provide evidence that they are not, even though they are in the conspicuous class. For this reason, in this study, the vignette method, which has recently become widespread in the field of social sciences, was preferred in order to minimize socially desirable response errors. The results of the study conducted through the vignette method reveal that people who are estimated to be from the leisure class are more likely to display ethical behaviors about spending. In other words, the group that is only involved in the economy through consumption shows not only homoeconomicus but also homomoralis behaviors that try to maximize their own interests. In the conspicuous class, homomoralis traces are more obscure. As Veblen clearly states in his theory, conspicuous ones display changing behavior in front of others for the sole purpose of showing off.

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Section: Veblen's Leisure Class and The Phenomenon Of Conspicuous Con...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Homomoralis Search in Purchase Behaviors of Veblen’s Leisure Class and the Conspicuous Who Imitate Them Through Vignettes

EROL¹

2023

pejoss

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“…According to Coats (1954), the literature on Veblen had neglected his contribution to the methodology of American economics. Davis (1945) also deals with Veblen's methodology and focuses on Veblen's criticism of classical and neoclassical economics, his notion of economics, and the place of sociological elements and ethics in Veblen's writings. Anderson (1933) advocates that Veblen's contribution to economics could be understood as a general theory standing apart from neoclassical economics -as a Marshallian version of neoclassical economics.…”

Section: Most Relevant Papersmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Bibliometrical Analysis of Thorstein Veblen's writings and ideas

Almeida

Paula²

2023

Estud. Econ.

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Thorstein Veblen’s work was a cornerstone in American economics during the late 19th and early 20th century. Veblen is usually characterized as a founding father of American Institutionalism, which competed with Neoclassical Economics in the mainstreaming process of American economics during the first half of the 20th century. Given the huge Veblen’s writings impact on economics, it is possible to find mainstream economics papers that mention Veblen’s contribution – hence, they would be not an exclusivity of the heterodox approach. The goal of our study is to investigate how papers published by heterodox and mainstream journals deal with Veblen’s writings. Our investigation is based on a bibliometric analysis to identify Veblen’s economics ideas as referenced in papers published by top heterodox and mainstream journals. Bibliometry is also applied in our paper to build indicators and analyze patterns.

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“…18-19) denotes 'sociological economics'. Furthermore, Durkheim's economic sociology displays a manifest affinity or compatibility with Veblen's ([1899] 1934), Mitchell's (1914), Commons's (1931) and other statements of original institutional economics (Boulding 1957;Davis 1945;Parsons 1935;Furubotn and Richter 2010;Hodgson 1998;Stinchcombe 1997). For example, Mitchell (1914, p. 104) suggests that one needs 'an economic sociology' to address such issues as the 'struggle between the strong and the weak' replacing 'equal opportunity for all', the 'nature and the origin of this inequality in power' and the source of the 'unity of society'.…”

Section: Later Classical Economic Sociology and Neoclassical Economicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Introduction to A Modern Guide to Economic Sociology

Zafirovski¹

2020

A Modern Guide to Economic Sociology

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Sociological Elements in Veblen's Economic Theory

Cited by 17 publications

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Homomoralis Search in Purchase Behaviors of Veblen’s Leisure Class and the Conspicuous Who Imitate Them Through Vignettes

Homomoralis Search in Purchase Behaviors of Veblen’s Leisure Class and the Conspicuous Who Imitate Them Through Vignettes

A Bibliometrical Analysis of Thorstein Veblen's writings and ideas

Introduction to A Modern Guide to Economic Sociology

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