Veblens Instinct of workmanship pg 265 - 283

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 In this set of pages, Veblen continues his exploration of the transformation of various cultural and religious practices as the handicraft era of industry continues to evolve.  Veblen notes that the religious move is towards autonomy and more focus on the individual self and more in line with a protestant view as opposed to a catholic view of christianity.

Another major movement that occurred during the handicraft era according to Veblen in political history and thought was the creation of nation states. Veblen sees the handicraft era as supplying the necessary means for large states to exist and for warmaking to be feasible on a large scale. Veblen is at pains to note that handicraft workers did not wish to subject themselves to the coercion of the nation state but rather this was a side effect of the price system and its principle of self-help.  Why? In essence according to Veblen, princes of states could buy from a larger catchment era the needs for war and could even borrow using the price system.  This allowed them to expand their territories and their armies as compared to the medieval or earlier times.

The rest of this section takes us on brief of the evolution of handicraft to industrial era technology.  As technology changed, the single worker as merchant and crafts person could no longer and they had to transform into self owned property and controlling the means of production.  However, society and communities were no ready for these transformations and these concepts were very descriptive as they took hold in the industrial era when they had been developed for the handicraft era.



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