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''The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions'' (1899), by Thorstein Veblen, is a treatise on economics and a detailed, social critique of conspicuous consumption, as a function of social class and of consumerism, derived from the social stratification of people and the division of labour, which are the social institutions of the feudal period (9th – 15th centuries) that have continued to the modern era. That the contemporary lords of the manor, the businessmen who own the means of production, have employed themselves in the economically unproductive practices of conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure, which are useless activities that contribute neither to the economy nor to the material production of the useful goods and services required for the functioning of society; while it is the middle class and the working class who are usefully employed in the industrialised, productive occupations that support the whole of society. Conducted in the late 19th century, Veblen’s socio-economic analyses of the business cycles and the consequent price politics of the U.S. economy, and of the emergent division of labour, by technocratic speciality — scientist, engineer, technologist, ''et al.'' — proved to be accurate, sociological predictions of the economic structure of an industrial society.〔''Benét's Reader's Encyclopedia'' Third Edition (1987) p. 970.〕 ==Background== ''The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions'' (1899) presents the evolutionary development of human institutions (social and economic) that shape society, such as how the citizens earn their livelihoods, wherein technology and the industrial arts are the creative forces of economic production. That such production of goods and services was not merely the means of meeting the material needs of society, but of earning profits for the owners of the means of production. That the industrial production system required the workers (men and women) to be diligent, efficient, and co-operative, whilst the owners (businessmen and businesswomen) concerned themselves with making money and with the public display of their accumulated wealth; and that such behaviours (conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure) survived from the predatory, barbarian past of the tribal stage of modern society.〔"The New Encyclopædia Britannica", 15th Edition. Volume 12, p. 287.〕 The sociology and economics applied by Veblen show the dynamic, intellectual influences of Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Adam Smith, and Herbert Spencer; thus, his theories of socio-economics emphasize evolution and development as characteristics of human institutions.〔.〕 Therefore, Veblen criticised contemporary (19th-century) economic theories as intellectually static and hedonistic, and said that economists should take account of how people behave, socially and culturally, rather than rely upon the abstractions of theoretic deduction to explain the economic behaviours of society. Whereas neoclassical economics define people as rational agents who seek utility and maximal pleasure from their economic activities, Veblen perceived people as irrational, economic agents who pursue social status and the prestige inherent to a place in society (class and stratum) with little regard to their own happiness. That conspicuous consumption did not constitute social progress, because American economic development was unduly influenced by the static economics of the British aristocracy; therefore, conspicuous consumption was an un-American activity contrary to the country’s dynamic culture of individualism.〔.〕 Originally published as ''The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study in the Evolution of Institutions'' (1899), the book arose from three articles that Veblen published in the ''American Journal of Sociology'': (i) “The Beginning of Ownership” (ii) “The Barbarian Status of Women”, and (iii) “The Instinct of Workmanship and the Irksomeness of Labour” (1898–99),〔.〕 which presented the major themes of economics and sociology that he later developed in works such as: ''The Theory of Business Enterprise'' (1904), about how incompatible are the pursuit of profit and the making of useful goods; and ''The Instinct of Workmanship and the State of the Industrial Arts'' (1914), about the fundamental conflict between the human predisposition to useful production and the societal institutions that waste the useful products of human effort.〔''The New Encyclopædia Britannica'' 15th Edition. Volume 12, pp. 286–87.〕〔.〕 Moreover, ''The Theory of the Leisure Class'' is a socio-economic treatise that resulted from Veblen’s observation and perception of the United States as a society of rapidly developing economic and social institutions.〔.〕 Critics of his reportage about the sociology and economics of the consumer society that is the U.S., especially disliked the satiric tone of his literary style, and said that Thorstein Veblen's cultural perspective had been negatively influenced by his boyhood in a Norwegian American community, of practical, thrifty, and utilitarian people who endured anti-immigrant prejudices in the course of integration to American society.〔"The New Encyclopædia Britannica", 15th Edition. Volume 12, pp. 286–87.〕〔.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Theory of the Leisure Class」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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