Economic transformation in perspective of Thorstein Veblen and Karl Polanyi

The limits between production opportunities and consumption needs are determined by the instrumental rationality of the markets. Despite the illegibility of post-modernist indicators, the links between the 21th century society and the economic reality are becoming concrete. Production relations are being formed in a controlled pattern in favor of capital. Flexible production as the ultimate result of commodification has tuned out to be a compulsory form of existence for the labor. The reflexes of individuals towards this transformation can be manipulated by conspicuous-symbolic consumption. Neoliberalism, that expands its limits according to the needs of the markets, appropriates institutional-cultural structures as inputs in the market mechanism. Self narratives of individuals as economic units take after the homoeconomicus typology. While the process reproduces its legitimacy with the tools of the advanced cultural industry, the arguments of mainstream economics take the form of a reflexive structure. In terms of the main motivation of this study, the commodification tendency and the dynamics behind this tendency refers to Karl Polanyi's ideas. On the other hand, evolutionary-anthropological critique of capitalism is materialized in the rich theoretical heritage of Thorstein Veblen. The present study claims that the analyses developed by these great social scientists against the mainstream paradigm will help us understand the transformation of production and consumption relations.