Women & Evolutionary Economics - A Comparison of Thorstein Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Women and Economics in Historical Perspective

Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, Brown University (Department of American Civilization), course: Cultures of Imperialism: Race and Gender, 19 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: This essay seeks to draw a comparison between Thorstein Veblen’s and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s most respective books The Theory of the Leisure Class and Women and Economics. The purpose of this essay is to show how Veblen’s basic theory of the Leisure Class relates to Gilman’s notion of power relations between the sexes in the 19th century. Taking a closer look on the economic situation of women in the 19th century, we find them to be the main consumer of economic goods and actively participating in what Veblen calls wasteful consumption. Although many aspects of their criticism are no longer valid, the question raised by Veblen and Gilman concerning economic independence and equality between the sexes remains pertinent today.