Veblen's Instinct of Workmanship ch. 5 pg. 201-205

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We asked in the last post about the nature of change in Veblen/s system, we get a partial answer in the pages following the last section. Veblen specifically uses the term “mutations” to talk about what has brought on this”modern technological episode”. He points to two competing habits of thought: 1) warrant of seizure by prowess and 2) prescriptive tenure. He points to the second one, prescriptive ownership as being the one that facilitates the growth of technology, trade and industry. One key point where number two dominates occurs when the interests of the “commonweal” are greater than the “fiscal interests of the crown or state”. This change will mark a substantial improvement in the mechanical arts as well. It is in this environment that the “genius” of the lower or industrial classes can excel versus those of the ruling class.

He states this period can be characterized by a shift to a nearly shift to “spirit of savagery” versus the predatory barbarian culture where exploitation is prized above all else. Importantly for Veblen, workmanship rather than predation becomes the most important force in habituation. However he ends on a more negative note writing that workmanship is combined with ownership in this new industrial phase and, “workmanship couple with individual emulation and consequently with a system of institutions embodying a range of prescriptive differential benefits” (Veblen, pg. 204, 1914).


Some insights have been gained and yet we still seem to lack of fully coherent theory of institutional change and in particular why change will vary across communities and cultures.

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