A week ago Monday we discussed Veblen's "The Theory of the Leisure Class." In reading the two chapters from the book, I was struck by his use of the adjective "invidious," in the sense of "causing envy or resentment." He uses the word ten times in the two chapters alone, and 106 times in the entire book. I figure the term must have some degree of importance to his argument. On page 419 of our anthology Great Conversations 1 he says that the distinction between the occupations of men and women in barbarian tribes is of an "invidious" character.
On pages 424 and 425 he talks about men doing the hunting and fighting ("exploits") and women doing lower-status work such as bringing home the kill. He writes "the distinction between exploit and drudgery is an invidious distinction between employments." Later on page 425 he writes, "In any community where such an invidious comparison of persons is habitually made, visible success becomes an end sought for its own utility [emphasis added] as a basis of esteem." Veblen sees the envy of one social group towards another as a key driver of economic life, but I submit that he uses the uncommon word "invidious" in order to avoid plainly expressing what for many might be an unpleasant truth about the social reality in which we live.
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