Like Talcott Parson, I know he's making an important point, it's just that hacking through the mental undergrowth to get at it is difficult.
About John Bates Clarke.
I'm studying political science, there's this tacit, but very real competition going on right now about the extent rational choice paradigms have been allowed to choke out all other theory in the American sub-field.
I worked as a research assistant for the principal instigator on the rational choice side.
I find the intolerance which proponents of rational choice (utility maxmizing) paradigms show towards explanations that do not suppose utility maximization and individualist ontology to be behind political phenomena to be ironic given their presentation that they are the defenders of liberty and academic freedom.
I think that unless we recognize that reduction of human life to the narrow construct of utility maximization was responsible for most of the horrors of the 20th century we are damned to repeat it. And that is far more than an academic concern. And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
As for the so-called "rational" choice crowd, I find their worldview less convincing than that of a Southern Baptist. At least the Baptists know how to make music ;-) "Remember the I35W bridge--who needs terrorists when there are Republicans"
The biggest problem I have with Veblen is that he takes 20 big words to convey something that could have been said with two small words.
I really hate rational choice. And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
When confronted with the "what do YOU propose?" question, Veblen came up with three motivations he thought more economically important than utility:
Not only are the utility extremists batshit insane, they cause GREAT harm to both people and the biosphere. Our only hope is to ridicule them out of the legitimate debate on our economic future.
And as you know, utility extremists lie thick on the ground throughout the Anglo-American academic world. In fact, an unquestioned belief in utility is one of the boundary maintaining mechanisms of the profession. We have lost a whole generation of economists to the cult of utility. The damage has literally been incalculable. "Remember the I35W bridge--who needs terrorists when there are Republicans"
