| Chapter 1: | Instincts |
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Human instincts continue to evolve, but the process is slow, perhaps too slow to matter for any period of time short of many centuries. As a result, Veblen sees instincts as more or less constant for the purpose of examining the economy. The evolution of our instincts is not the source of change in modern economies.
Prominent among our group-regarding instincts is the innate human propensity that Veblen called “parental bent.” Parental bent is much more than the “quasi-tropismatic impulse” [1914, 26] to procreate. It includes not only the desire to take care of one’s own children, but also a broader concern for the children of one’s extended family, tribe, nation and even humanity in general. Veblen notes that it is “despicably inhuman” [Ibid. 26] for one generation willfully to make life harder for the next generation. Hence, we feel obliged not only to provide things like food, clothing and shelter for children, but we also view it necessary to provide the proper education and training so that the next generation will be able to take care of itself when the time comes.
Note that we do these things not because of rational calculation, but because it is instinctive. It is part of being human, and without it the race could not have survived. Our parental bent means that, contrary to the view of neoclassical economics, self-interest is not the only thing that motivates people. We instinctively care for others, especially the young, to at least some degree. It is not at all unusual for parents to sacrifice their own consumption for the benefit of their children. People can be induced to vote money for better schools or to donate money to orphans with the slogan, “do it for the children.”
Veblen pointed out that our parental instincts run in direct opposition to the common neoclassical assumption of positive time