Tag: The Theory of the Leisure Class

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Books & printed materials

[2899] My 10 books for the decade

Inspired by Barack Obama’s book list, here are my top 10 books that I have read during the past decade, in no particular order.

This is quite a hard list to compile because there are so many books. And if such a list is possible, then ten is such an arbitrary number. Nevermind that this assumes the decade began with 2010, and not 2011. Nevertheless, let us not get such debate in our way.

So, what would be the criterion for listing a book? I think mine would be the book’s influence on my understanding of the world.

There is no order to the list. Listing only 10 is hard enough and I do not want to complicate it. Be warned though as there might be recency biased. I cannot remember all of the books I have read earlier during the decade.

Here we go.

  1. Orientalism by Edward Said. This makes the list because of several things but the one thing I appreciate the most is not about orientalism — though it was enlightening — but on how history is textual: we understand history based on what has been written, not on what happened per se. That is such a revelation to me despite it being so obvious. Orientalism is also in the list because of its influence other books that I have read. The Myth of the Lazy Native by Syed Hussein Alatas for instance clearly adapted Said’s ideas within Southeast Asian context.
  2. The Malays by Anthony Milner. This should be read together with Kerajaan by the same author. The book describes and proposes the definition of Malayness and its justification will make you question the meaning of becoming a Malay. Bangsa Melayu by Ariffin Omar and Leaves of the Same Tree by Leonard Andaya are probably useful further reading.
  3. The Malay Dilemma by Mahathir Mohamad. This is an important book to read in order to  understand Malay politics. You can disagree with the content of the book, but you cannot deny its relevance in this age of heightened ethnonationalism (and during the administration of Mahathir II).
  4. Ownership and Control in the Malayan Economy by James Puthucheary. The book highlights the fact that the debate between Malay and non-Malay wealth distribution in the early days of Malaya and Malaysia totally ignored European control over the Malayan economy. The book also created a whole new research line in Malaysia.
  5. The End of Empire and the Making of Malaya by Timothy Harper. What I love about the book is its tracing of pre-independence Malayan history that sheds light on the Chinese Malaysian community’s dynamics, particularly the pre-war rivalry between the Kuomintang and the Communists, as well as the origin of Sino-Malay rivalries deep during the Japanese occcupation. The citation here is massive. In some ways, this book compresses classics like Willam Roff’s The Origins of Malay Nationalism and Boon Kheng Cheah’s Red Star Over Malaya.
  6. Imagined Communities by Benedict Anderson explains the creation of national identity. I think the book is particularly interesting when read together with Milner’s work. The two authors do offers competing explanations, but I think together both explain the creation of the old (classical?) and modern Malay identities, and in doing so,outline the full evolution of the Malay identity.
  7. A History of God by Karen Armstrong. The book traces the history of the Abrahamic religions, and it will make you realize how smooth the evolution of beliefs from the earliest of Judaism to Islam. I recommend reading Heirs to the Forgotten Kingdoms by Gerard Russell for a view of what happened to all the heterodox Abrahamic beliefs, and other pre-Abrahamic religions as a minor companion to Armstrong’s excellent work.
  8. The Theory of The Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen. It is all about signalling!
  9. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Max Weber. Essentially, the Reformation in Europe had removed the Church as a means of salvation. This led to the evolution of values, which suggested that work was the new means of salvation. This led to capital accumulation among individuals.
  10. The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant. A great broadbrush take about western philopshy. Durant’s work really feels like an brief encyclopedia to help you decide which work do you want to read first. Additionally, it also traces multiple ideas and how it evolved across time, from ancient Greece to industrial Europe and early 20th century. This book might be fun to read together with the fiction Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder.

Other notable mentions include:

  • Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. This is about racism in America. Some profound observations made by the author here.
  • Empire by Niall Ferguson. An apologist for the British Empire.
  • Identity by Francis Fukuyama. He describes the rise of communalism/nationalism in the 21st century and the reasons behind it, with plenty of references to Plato’s The Republic.
  • Capitalism by Juergen Kocka. This is a history of capitalism and a little bit about capital accumulation.
  • Early Islam and the Birth of Capitalism by Benedikt Koehler. Self-describing.
  • The Opium War by Julia Lovell. This is a great retelling of the Opium War, critical of both Imperial China and the British Empire.
  • A Sudden Rampage by Nicholas Tarlings. A great work detailing the Japanese decisions that led to its invasion of Southeast Asia during World War II. Be ready to revise your assumptions about the war.
Categories
Economics Society

[2326] Conspicuous consumption in the train

When I first read Veblen’s The Theory of the Leisure Class, I found the idea of conspicuous consumption a bit ridiculous. In the book, he argued that individuals consume for the purpose of signalling his wealth. Wealth as a signal evolved from prehistoric social structure.

During barbarian times, what Veblen called successful exploits — primarily war but later as society became peaceful and orderly, through business — brought the great spoils to the victors. Success brought status and wealth. The society soon used wealth as a signal of success that brought status, while taking the causal relationship for granted. Slowly, it did not matter whether one is successful or not. Only wealth matters. Wealth differentiated individuals into classes.

Wealth is observed through either consumption or leisure. Long story short, through further evolution, the whole society in the end engaged in consumption to signal wealth and status. All that matters in the end are consumption. If one consumes some minimum level of goods or leisure, then one is accorded with some kind of respectability by the wider society.

Veblen called it conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure. It is conspicuous because individuals consume goods and leisure to — to put it crudely — show off.

As I said, I found the whole concept ridiculous initially. It could not be that we all consume to show off in conscious manner. After awhile however, I started to warm up to Veblen’s idea though there were some reservations, mostly because I accepted that there are individuals who engage in this type of consumption. After all, there is such a thing as a Veblen good. For example, a Ferrari. One of the reservation I had was not all consumptions are principally due to signalling. There are consumptions made out of necessity, even in a rich society. Even so, a majority of consumption of items that might be labelled as luxurious are done simply because individuals enjoy such consumption, not because they want to signal their status in a conscious manner.

That opinion of mine later changed.

While I was in Sydney, a majority of individuals, friends and strangers alike, had iPhone or iPod or anything Apple’s. Even I had one. Apple’s products were ubiquitous. It had become some kind of expected standard of consumption.

I only started to recall Veblen when I was riding a train in Kuala Lumpur. I did not see any Apple product, or at least, a majority did not own it. Consumption as a signal of wealth did function well in describing wealth difference between Malaysian and Australia societies.

As I switched on my iPod in the train, I kept holding it in my hand. I did that because I would like to control the player rather than allow it to randomize the songs for me. At one point, I asked myself, am I showing off in the way Veblen described more than a century ago? More question came to mind: what if whether one is aware that he or she is showing off is relevant? What if all of us are showing off, unconsciously?

Whether or not I was aware of the signalling, or regardless of my intention in consuming, I was effectively signalling my wealth, and arguably, status to others through my iPod.

I first read Veblen about five months ago. The first few months were a struggle that began with me trying to disprove Veblen. From disproving, I later tried to qualify his statements. In the end, Veblen won.

Categories
Books & printed materials Economics Society

[2247] Of Veblen on religion

Veblen introduced some interesting ideas in The Theory of the Leisure Class. My professor seems to insist that Veblen was an early pioneer in the field of signalling.

Although Veblen drove his ideas to the extreme to bring in absurd implications that I simply will not buy, there are specific arguments that I find attractive and readily agreeable. This is one of them:

The same pervading canon of vicarious leisure is also visibly present in the exterior details of devout observances and need only be pointed out in order to become obvious to all beholders. All ritual has a notable tendency to reduce itself to a rehearsal of formulas. This development of formula is most noticeable in the maturer cults, which have at the same time a more austere, ornate, and severe priestly life and garb; but it is perceptible also in the forms and methods of worships of the newer and fresher sects, whose tastes in respect of priests, vestments, and sanctuaries are less exacting. The rehearsal of the service (the term ”service” carries a suggestion significant for the point in question) grows more perfunctory as the cult gains in age and consistency, and this perfunctoriness of the rehearsal is very pleasing to the correct devout taste. And with a good reason, for the fact of its being perfunctory goes to say pointedly that the master for whom it is performed is exalted above the vulgar need of actually proficuous service on the part of his servants. They are unprofitable servants, and there is an honorific implication for their master in their remaining unprofitable. It is needless to point out the close analogy at this point between the priestly office and the office of the footman. It is pleasing to our sense of what is fitting in these matters, in either case, to recognize in the obvious perfunctoriness of the service that it is a pro forma execution only. There should be no show of agility or of dexterous manipulation in the execution of the priestly office, such as might suggest a capacity for the turning off the work. [The Theory of the Leisure Class. Chapter 6: Pecuniary Canons of Taste. Thorstein Veblen. 1899]

As a side note, I am beginning to understand why a Veblen good is called a Veblen good. It all begins with this book.