Veblen on Interpreting Veblen

Abstract

Was Veblen a radical social critic? Was he an evolutionary scientist? Or was the gist of his argument, in some sense, a reflection of both? In order to shed light on these questions, the paper focuses on an important exchange between Veblen and one of his critics, John Cummings. It is argued that, unlike the theories of classical apologists and radical critics before him, Veblen’s theory was not intended as a theory of just desserts.

Keywords::

• Thorstein Veblen
• Leisure Class
• evolutionary economics