Veblen

THORSTEIN VEBLEN is only known to a Thimired class of English readers by his Theory

of a Leisure Class which, though rightly represen tative of his distinctive sociology, by no means does full justice to the depth of his research into and the acuteness of his interpretation of the origin and development of social institutions under the dominant pressure of economic forces. My attempt here is to give an intelligible account of Veblen's various approaches, anthropological, bio logical, psychological, that converge in his economic determination of the history of his time and country. No American sociologist has brought a wider intellectual equipment, a keener brain and a more objective vision to bear upon the spectacle of American social processes and institutions, and possibly because America has in some respects outrun the economic pace of other civilized countries, Veblen's analysis should have a special value in helping us to forecast our own economic future.

In the space at my disposal I have not been able to do full justice to the breadth of Veblen's treatment in discussing the relations between the economic and the non-economic factors in social evolution. Many of my readers will, I hope, be encouraged to read the large volume by Joseph Dorfman, entitled Thorstein Veblen and his America, which gives a full and able account of Veblen's teaching, and upon which I have drawn freely not only for the brief story of his life in my opening chapter, but for the interpretation of some difficult passages in his writings.