Thorstein Veblen ― Economist and Social Theorist

In his latest book, scholar-historian Murray Murphey exhaustively explores the life and theory of Thorstein Veblen (1857 – 1929), whom, many scholars agree, remains one of the leading social theorists of all time, if not also one of the more confounding. Murphey’s account begins with a brief economic history of 19^th century America, wherein he examines the conditions that formed Veblen’s ideology. With that understanding, the author studies Veblen’s personal history and brings to the fore his foundational ideas, on human psychology, race, his theory of knowledge, and his analysis of social evolution. In the book’s later chapters, Murphey considers Veblen’s writing through the scope of his major volumes (The Theory of the Leisure Class, The Theory of Business Enterprise, and Imperial Germany and the Industrial Revolution, among others).

Murphey traces Veblen’s radical economics and thinking within the greater context of America’s economic theory spanning the latter stages of the 19^th century through the first several decades of the 20^th century. In doing so, he argues for the significance of Veblen’s thought to the canons of economics and the social sciences more generally, and importantly, he attempts to resolve the lingering mystery behind one of America’s more puzzling and influential theorists.

Murray G. Murphey is Emeritus Professor of American Civilization at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of Philosophical Foundations of Historical Knowledge, The Development of Peirce’s Philosophy, co-author of a two-volume History of Philosophy in America, and co-editor of Values and Value Theory in Twentieth Century America.