Fwd: Thorstein Veblen in SF Weekly

[William S. Lear]

On Tuesday, August 3, 1999 at 10:37:30 (-0400) Doug Henwood writes:
>...
>I was going to post this to LBO but then realized I'd unsubbed. Kind of
>simplistic, but articles about Veblen always seen to possess the virtue of
>fun-to-readness.
>
>http://www.sfweekly.com/1999/current/feature1-1.html

This claims:

    [Veblen] was the first to put into words the notion that people's

    self-esteem is tied directly to what they own, that "as the

    possession of property becomes the basis of popular esteem,

    therefore, it also becomes a requisite to the complacency which we

    call self-respect."

Actually, I think Adam Smith preceded Veblen in this by about 140
years in his *Theory of Moral Sentiments*.  I'll check later when I
get home to be sure, though.

Bill