Veblen's two major works formed a keen description of the robber barons and their savagery. The phrase "robber barons" comes from the definitive and highly readable The Robber Barons (1934), by Matthew Josephson. Also highly descriptive of these titans of Big Business is Ida M. Tarbell's History of the Standard Oil Company (1903).
Veblen's "savage world" was savage on two counts. First, the practices of the actual business world which he observed were predatory. Second, in his examination into the nature of economy, Veblen concluded that by heredity, human nature itself is savage.
Thorstein Veblen has been largely ignored by many economists; however, it is fair to note at least two facts. In his Theory of the Leisure Class, Veblen coined the term "conspicuous consumption," and he anticipated the rash of current writings on "status symbols," which has proven correct. For example, Americans look down on physical work, compared with office work. Consequently, the executive and the financier enjoy a high prestige. Business executives continue to accumulate money beyond their normal needs. The modern-day status symbol, such as the sable coat, Lear jet, face-lift, or yacht, exemplifies the concept of conspicuous consumption.
As for his second major work, The Theory of Business Enterprise, Veblen foreshadowed "technocracy" — the belief in government by technical experts, with the use of work units of currency to be substituted for money. If alive today, Veblen would undoubtedly observe, with justification, the latest trend in the development and use of computers and robotics, as well as the fact that not only blue collar workers are being dispossessed from their jobs by the machine, but business executives find their positions increasingly threatened by computers.
