Essay On The Savage Society Of Thorstein Veblen

(Chapter 8 Summary)
The differences in the business environment between Europe and US during the industrial revolution made the investors in the USA begin using rough and unethical means to gain wealth. Entrepreneurs like John Rockefeller, J. P. Morgan, William Vanderbilt, Jim Fisk, and Jay Gould aimed at ruining their competitors to the point of driving them out of the market. J. P. Morgan's sentiment of 'owning the public nothing' was their leading approach in dealing with the public. These finance and industry men are what Veblen called the robber barons. In his work, Veblen noted that the “savage world” resulted from the business community that was predatory in nature. Also, it was as a consequence of the human nature i.e. hereditary. In the current world, people work not to enjoy or because of their families but because of the prestige associated with it. Many acquire wealth and flaunt it to the rest in what Veblen claimed was one of the fundamental reason why the lower class never overthrew the upper class. Veblen contended that instead of seeking to dethrone them, the lower class worked to join them. Veblen in his second work foreshadowed “technocracy” i.e. government run by technical experts using work units of currency substituted for money. The nature of current world reflects his ideas since machines are taking places for the technocrats.
Veblen’s and Karl Marx’s had similar approaches at some point. First, Veblen’s views on instincts agree to some degree with that of Marx. A similar case occurs concerning business cycle whereby both Marx and Veblen used a similar approach. However, Veblen did not suggest any aspect of armed conflict as Marx did. Veblen argued that the lower class admired the predatory behavior of the upper class.