投资 · 西方古典
托斯丹·凡勃伦:有闲阶级论·摘录 142
托斯丹·凡勃伦《有闲阶级论》· The Theory of the Leisure Class · 投资
All this of course does not question the fact that the proprieties of the substituted schedule are more decorous than those which they displace. The doubt which presents itself is simply a doubt as to the economic expediency of this work of regeneration--that is to say, the economic expediency in that immediate and material bearing in which the effects of the change can be ascertained with some degree of confidence, and as viewed from the standpoint not of the individual but of the facility of life of the collectivity. For an appreciation of the economic expediency of these enterprises of amelioration, therefore, their effective work is scarcely to be taken at its face value, even where the aim of the enterprise is primarily an economic one and where the interest on which it proceeds is in no sense self-regarding or invidious. The economic reform wrought is largely of the nature of a permutation in the methods of conspicuous waste.
出处:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/833
定位:Excerpt 142 · 核对日期:2026-10-19 · 核验:短摘录
白话
当然,这不否认替代后的规矩比被替代的旧规矩更体面。真正要问的是:这种“改造”在经济上是否划算——不是对个人,而是对集体生活的便利而言,并且只看那些能较有把握确认的直接物质效果。所以评估这类改良事业的经济效益时,不能只看它表面做了多少有效工作,哪怕它的目标主要是经济的、动机也毫不自私或攀比。因为这种经济改革很大程度上只是“炫耀性浪费”的方式换了个花样:浪费的总量未必减少,只是换了名目和形式。
上下文
凡勃伦《有闲阶级论》批评社会改良事业,认为其经济效果常只是炫耀性浪费的重新排列。
今日一问
你身边哪些“改良”只是换了形式的浪费,而非真正减少了浪费?
公版作品;原文逐字取自 Project Gutenberg,仅摘录段落并附全书链接。
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