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A review by cryo_guy
Conspicuous Consumption by Thorstein Veblen
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
So this book, like the Hoffer I just read, is best considered as a historical document. But before I get into that, I'll say that I've been reading books in this series for a while now (Penguin's Great Ideas). I'm a fan of them because I like the cover arts, I like the slimness, and it's an easy way to get a brief idea about conventionally important thinkers. However, many of them are comprised of excerpts from a much larger text. I can't help but feel in this case, there is a lot more context and argumentation in Veblen's The Leisure Class that would clarify the topic. Nevertheless, I think it's fair attempt to give the average reader an idea of what Veblen was up to. That being said, I'll comment on a few things...
1. As satire
So the back of the book calls this a "wrt portrayal" and a "withering satire" and I think its worth reflecting on the nature of satires...normally i'd consider them to be a bit more lively. But Veblen's is not just doing satire, its very truly wry in that its exclusively (as far as I know) academic satire. There's no ironic narrative, its just logical argumentation about why the upper class values the things it does, and why they do. E.g. The Leisure Class values ornate clothing because its useless and spending money is a means of demonstrating exactly that. Don't expect to get a good laugh out of this otherwise dry take on how useless the habits of the upper classes are, however withering it may be.
2. As economics
I had been under the impression that the book might delve more into the economics of things. And while it most definitely is economics, its far more suitably described as sociology. Of course, in this period, the two are nigh inseparable (and naturally in other periods, they are not unrelated either). I merely find it worth mentioning that there's not a whole lot of economics, per se, going on in these excerpts (unsure if there's more in the full book).
3. As an actual argument
While I found the satire of it to be less funny but eventually coherent as an argument for how the upper class functions and why-and this is not a point to be set aside; he does put a fine point on how the valuing determines how people make moral judgements (this is probably my fav aspect of the book/argument)-he unfortunately, as far as I can tell, doesn't quite fully explain how his argument works, instead leaving his satire to stand on its own. That is, although he describes the state of affairs of the leisure class and how they value things, he doesn't particularly make an argument that convinces you of that fact. So I guess I was ultimately expecting a little convincing and less laborious describing. I understand that the laborious prose was the style of such things at the time.
4. My misgivings
I've gone over the main issues, but the big one he throws down at the end is that...OF ALL THINGS...learning dead languages, and the study of classics in general, is the most useless and therefore the most valued of all pursuits. Sadly this is an assertion that the humanities struggle with even now. While it's interesting to note in passing that the more things change the more they stay the same, there are plenty of useful and applicable sets of knowledge to be gained from such study. Being a self-professed classicist myself, I'll not bore you with all my various rants on the subject. And I will note that such concessions would be against the grain of Veblen's satire. Nevertheless, I'm compelled to speak out in defense of my hobby horse, as it were. (I guess I did have a laugh about this after all, so you win with your satire here Veblen!)
An otherwise interesting and edifying read, a peculiarly unique academic satire, informative, but perhaps lacking in some respects.
1. As satire
So the back of the book calls this a "wrt portrayal" and a "withering satire" and I think its worth reflecting on the nature of satires...normally i'd consider them to be a bit more lively. But Veblen's is not just doing satire, its very truly wry in that its exclusively (as far as I know) academic satire. There's no ironic narrative, its just logical argumentation about why the upper class values the things it does, and why they do. E.g. The Leisure Class values ornate clothing because its useless and spending money is a means of demonstrating exactly that. Don't expect to get a good laugh out of this otherwise dry take on how useless the habits of the upper classes are, however withering it may be.
2. As economics
I had been under the impression that the book might delve more into the economics of things. And while it most definitely is economics, its far more suitably described as sociology. Of course, in this period, the two are nigh inseparable (and naturally in other periods, they are not unrelated either). I merely find it worth mentioning that there's not a whole lot of economics, per se, going on in these excerpts (unsure if there's more in the full book).
3. As an actual argument
While I found the satire of it to be less funny but eventually coherent as an argument for how the upper class functions and why-and this is not a point to be set aside; he does put a fine point on how the valuing determines how people make moral judgements (this is probably my fav aspect of the book/argument)-he unfortunately, as far as I can tell, doesn't quite fully explain how his argument works, instead leaving his satire to stand on its own. That is, although he describes the state of affairs of the leisure class and how they value things, he doesn't particularly make an argument that convinces you of that fact. So I guess I was ultimately expecting a little convincing and less laborious describing. I understand that the laborious prose was the style of such things at the time.
4. My misgivings
I've gone over the main issues, but the big one he throws down at the end is that...OF ALL THINGS...learning dead languages, and the study of classics in general, is the most useless and therefore the most valued of all pursuits. Sadly this is an assertion that the humanities struggle with even now. While it's interesting to note in passing that the more things change the more they stay the same, there are plenty of useful and applicable sets of knowledge to be gained from such study. Being a self-professed classicist myself, I'll not bore you with all my various rants on the subject. And I will note that such concessions would be against the grain of Veblen's satire. Nevertheless, I'm compelled to speak out in defense of my hobby horse, as it were. (I guess I did have a laugh about this after all, so you win with your satire here Veblen!)
An otherwise interesting and edifying read, a peculiarly unique academic satire, informative, but perhaps lacking in some respects.