Chicago School midterm - Essay Example

His writings are representative of a fresh stance and opinion regarding human affairs and he posits about various aspects of the community in his writings (Hammond). On a general note, it is these qualities that make Veblin a legitimate precursor of the Chicago School. In most of his writings, Veblen has always presented an oppositional stance against Christianity; this is because the leisure class always used it as an appendix. Analysts have described Veblen’s interpretation of Christianity as a patriarchal religion who subserves the elite and the leisure class.

However in his writing, Christian Morals and the Competitive System, Veblen takes a different stance. In the essay that was published in 1910, Veblen takes the Christian religion separately and discusses it in the context of the Western culture. In the essay and to subtle degrees in his other writings, Veblen talks about Christianity in good terms and discusses its morals as an important practice in the function of Western society. Veblen was of the perspective that Christianity is a promoter of love and self-abnegation amongst the people.

However Veblin also argued that the Western society is not merely characteristic of Christian morals. It also has the tendency to be competitive. This gives rise to the dilemma if the two traits can co-exist at the same time. If contradictions between them emerge, it is necessary for people to choose either of the two. Moreover the question arises that what would the effect of such a choice be on the Western civilization (Mestrovic 148). Veblen’s writings are characteristic of a perspective that contemporary social thought is essentially a burden on the “solitary, egoistic individual” (Mestrovic 154).

This burden could have been borne by people living in the 18th century. However the advent of the new century has seen changes in the market and the society. The 18th century, being typically driven towards the service of the community and the activities were also community-centred, could have provided a better environment for the application of the contemporary social thought. However the contemporary social thought has no place in a complicated, post-modern society (Mestrovic 155). He argued that with the shift from feudalism to capitalism, competition and “pecuniary exploit” replaced “chivalric exploit”.

The resulting habits of thoughts were being considered dysfunctional in the new era of capitalism. The habits of life were becoming a much more important part of the society as it moved towards a capitalist society. Although Veblen believed that Christian morals and rules of businesses stemmed from two differing cultural environments, they had some features in common. He correlated the two, and it may be this character that makes Veblen a suitable candidate for being a precursor of the Chicago School.