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non-specialist can soon master enough of his vocabulary to grasp the main thrust of his remarks.
What Veblen attacks as the “ceremonial” appears throughout the social order in the form of pockets of irrationality and inequity. McCormick skillfully interprets the ceremonial in the society in which we now live as he brings to life the vestiges and residues, some might say the preponderance of the ceremonial which he and Veblen would replace with a more rational and just existence. Underlying the latter are the forces of progressive change which are found in the ethos and practice of science, the secularism and egalitarianism secured by the advance of technology as well as humanistic ends; in short, the upsurge of the generic ends of life, impersonally considered.
Yet lurking in the shadows are the persistence of atavistic continuities and imbecile institutions whose regressive resurgence in the form of war, exploitation, waste and superstition still threaten humankind. Neither Veblen nor McCormick are Pollyannas who believe we have reached the land of milk and honey where we can live together peaceably under conditions of voluntary simplicity and economic abundance. But such a tranquil order has now appeared on the historical scene and political agenda as a distinct possibility whose ultimate realization is worth striving for.
Rick Tilman
Adjunct Professor of History
Northern Arizona University
Footnotes
1Wesley Mitchell to B. W. Huebsch, July 14, 1934, Joseph Dorfman Collection, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York City.