Behind the Veil of Economics: Essays in the Worldly Philosophy

Because we take our economic system as a given, it spreads an ideological veil that shields from our view the true nature of capitalist exploitation and regimentation. This metaphor loosely links these eight scholarly essays from the author of The Worldly Philosophers. Heilbroner argues that the wage-labor relationship serves a political function by disciplining the work force. He probes the contradiction between work as a value-creating activity and a submissive routine. To lift the veil of economics-as-usual, he turns to Adam Smith, who clearly saw the psychological underpinnings of the class system, to Marx's value theory and to Joseph Schumpeter's analysis of the entrepreneurial spirit. This slight collection includes three new essays and five pieces reworked or reprinted from journals and Heilbroner's other books. (April)