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Quote by Thorstein Veblen

Work

Theory of the Leisure Class

This seminal text explores the role of leisure in the development of social classes, economic structures, and cultural values. more

Author

Thorstein Veblen
Thorstein Veblen

Thorstein Veblen was an American economist known for his sociological perspective on economics and his critical analysis of economic theories. His work, 'The Theory of the Leisure Class,' had a profound impact on later economics and sociology. more

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“As a matter of selective necessity, man is an agent. He is, in his own apprehension, a centre of unfolding impulsive activity-'teleological activity.' He is an agent seeking in every act the accomplishment of some concrete, objective, impersonal end. By force of being such an agent, he is possessed of a taste for effective work, and a distaste for futile effort.”

MenEndsMatterForceEffortTasteActivitySeekingObjectivesAgentsAccomplishmentConcretePossessedCentreUnfoldingApprehensionSelectiveImpulsiveDistasteFutile Efforts
Book:THORSTEIN VEBLEN Ultimate Collection: 8 Books & 50+ Business Essays and Articles in Warfare and Economics: The Theory of the Leisure Class, The Theory of Business Enterprise, The Higher Learning In America, Panem et Circenses, The Vested Interests and the Common Man, The Use of Loan Credit in Business…
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“Beauty is commonly a gratification of our sense of costliness masquerading under the name of beauty.”

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Book:BUSINESS & ECONOMICS Premium Collection: 25+ Titles in One Volume: The Theory of Business Enterprise, The Higher Learning in America, The Vested Interests and the Common Man, On the Nature of Capital…: The Theory of the Leisure Class, The Beginning of Ownership, The Preconceptions of Economic Science, The Industrial System and the Captains of Industry, The Socialist Economics of Karl Marx…
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“The superior excellence imputed to the book, which imitates the products of antique and obsolete processes, is conceived to be chiefly a superior utility in the aesthetic respect; but it is not unusual to find a well-bred book-lover insisting that the clumsier product is also more serviceable as a vehicle of printed speech.”

WellsBookProcessProductsLoversSpeechExcellenceSuperiorsUnusualAestheticVehicleUtilityPrintedObsoleteAntiquesInsistingBook Lover
Book:A Veblen Treasury: From Leisure Class to War, Peace, and Capitalism
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“The changing styles are the expression of a restless search for something which shall commend itself to our aesthetic sense; but as each innovation is subject to the selective action of the norm of conspicuous waste, the range within which innovation can take place is somewhat restricted. The innovation must not only be more beautiful, or perhaps oftener less offensive, than that which it displaces, but it must also come up to the accepted standard of expensiveness.”

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Book:A Veblen Treasury: From Leisure Class to War, Peace, and Capitalism
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“These various habits of thought, or habitual expressions of life, are all phases of the single life sequence of the individual; therefore a habit formed in response to a given stimulus will necessarily affect the character of the response made to other stimuli. A modification of human nature at any one point is a modification of human nature as a whole.”

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Book:BUSINESS & ECONOMICS Premium Collection: 25+ Titles in One Volume: The Theory of Business Enterprise, The Higher Learning in America, The Vested Interests and the Common Man, On the Nature of Capital…: The Theory of the Leisure Class, The Beginning of Ownership, The Preconceptions of Economic Science, The Industrial System and the Captains of Industry, The Socialist Economics of Karl Marx…
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“Conservatism is the maintenance of conventions already in force.”

ForceTraditionConventionsConsistencyConservatismMaintenance
Book:BUSINESS & ECONOMICS Premium Collection: 25+ Titles in One Volume: The Theory of Business Enterprise, The Higher Learning in America, The Vested Interests and the Common Man, On the Nature of Capital…: The Theory of the Leisure Class, The Beginning of Ownership, The Preconceptions of Economic Science, The Industrial System and the Captains of Industry, The Socialist Economics of Karl Marx…
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