Veblen's Instinct of Workmanship pg. 111-130

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 In this post, we are looking at about 20 pages to catch up from the week missed.

Veblen starts with the claim the the rate and nature of the technology of any community is a function of the material environment and the nature of the people in that community. He at first seems to claim that different communities will have different capacities for technological change but then wavers and seems to say that the character of people to seek and make technological change is a function of the material environment as well.  He then makes a further claim that communities which are made up of “hybrid” racial groups will be better able to achieve technological change and growth.  These are clearly empirical claims that could in theory be tested.

Starting on page 117, Veblen starts with a claim that all of the European communities started at a low level of savagery in terms of their institutional and technological environment and character. These communities in this state of “savagery” were relatively peaceful and content according to Veblen.  This is claim that has been by more recent anthropologists that much of earlier human history was much more peaceable than originally though(see David Graeber for example).

Veblen ends this section on page 130 with the comment that: 1) human communities have adapted to their environment in developing technological expedients and 2) technological change grows on itself across generations in a cumulative fashion and will differ across communities. 




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