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Thorstein Veblen and Albert Bandura: A Modern Psychological Reading of the Conspicuous Consumer

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  • Felipe Almeida

Abstract

Thorstein Veblen was a founding father of original, or old, institutional economics. The social and evolutionary usage of things and thoughts are at the center of Veblen's approach. In his studies, he dealt with psychological, social, anthropological and economic issues. The psychological content of Veblen's writing takes instinctive and habitual issues into consideration. The proposal of this paper is to revisit the psychology of Veblen's conspicuous consumer. In such a task, this paper discusses the role of observation and cognition in habit building, and their influence on the conspicuous consumer. It also introduces a psychological explanation of the importance of the leisure class to the conspicuous consumer. In order to build the analysis, this paper takes into account elements of Albert Bandura's vicarious learning. These elements are introduced to highlight vicarious observation as a key component of Veblen's conspicuous consumer.

Suggested Citation

  • Felipe Almeida, 2014. "Thorstein Veblen and Albert Bandura: A Modern Psychological Reading of the Conspicuous Consumer," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(1), pages 109-122.
    • Handle: RePEc:mes:jeciss:v:48:y:2014:i:1:p:109-122
    DOI: 10.2753/JEI0021-3624480105
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    Cited by:

    1. Wang, Zi & Yuan, Ruizhi & Luo, Jun & Liu, Martin J., 2022. "Redefining “masstige” luxury consumption in the post-COVID era," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 239-254.
    2. Felipe Almeida, 2016. "Society and brain: A complementary approach to Thorstein Veblen’s conspicuous consumer based on Tibor Scitovsky’s neuropsychology [Society and brain: A complementary approach to Thorstein Veblen’s con," Nova Economia, Economics Department, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Brazil), vol. 26(2), pages 347-367, May-Augus.

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