Theory of the Business Enterprise
By Thorstein Veblen
Cosimo
ISBN: 1596052392
Rating – 5 stars
June 26, 2006
Remains Eerily Relevant
I recently had the opportunity to reread Thorstein Veblen’s
The Theory of Business Enterprise. To my amazement, the book is more
relevant today than when I first read during my college days
Published in 1904, the book expands the author’s view that
business organization was incompatible with making money. The industrial
system, he argues, requires men to be diligent, efficient, and cooperative,
while those who rule it are overly concerned with making and spending money.
Personally, I have grown tired of hearing today’s
executives’ call for a renewal of a corporate entrepreneurial spirit. Meanwhile
their employment contracts guarantee bonuses keyed to meaningless metrics,
access to one or more corporate jets, gross-ups and one or more “uber”-luxury
cars.
Coining the phrase “conspicuous consumer,” Veblen broke the
story more than a century ago. Writing about the robber barons of his day, he
ravaged the greed and corporate malfeasance.
Educated at Carleton College, Johns Hopkins University and
Yale University had a short teaching career as a lecturer at the University of
Missouri and a subsidized position at the New School for Social Research.
Veblen's reputation reached its pinnacle during The Great
Depression. Often viewed as a political radical or socialist, Veblen committed
himself to any form of political action.
Eerily relevant today, “The Theory of Business Enterprise”
earned him a deserved reputation as a social critic that extends far beyond his
limited academic roots.
