Veblen and Bourdieu on Social Reality and Order: Individuals and Institutions

This essay focuses on the conceptual relationship between Veblen and Bourdieu given that several important aspects of their works remain less widely discussed, or even inadequately explored in a comparative manner. First, the two scholars have laid the foundations of a socioeconomic perspective. Evolution and change are the fundamental vehicles of economic life in their respective works. In such a framework, a central point of their analyses is the interdependence between the cultural, social, and economic spheres. Furthermore, an economic sociology is built around the concept of habit formation. Systemic views expressed, focus on the various institutions and other aspects of cultural, social and economic life, where habits are formed and cover diverse fields and notions such as Rationality, Individualism, Institutions, Classes, Power, Struggle, Culture, and even Capitalism. For instance, both acknowledged that society is a field for the exercise of power, where antagonisms emerge giving way to negotiation, struggle, and compromise. Also, both recognized that research and knowledge development is a collective social process. However, from a methodological perspective, their main emphasis is on the emerging dynamic evolution of habits, which is perceived as the interruption of already existing social norms and the conflict between routine and change.