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Honor Among Thieves? Socio-Economic Theories Of Thorstein Veblen In The Plays Of David Mamet, Steven Allan Halverson

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Award-winning playwright David Mamet has acknowledged numerous times his indebtedness to the socio-economic theories of turn-of-the-century economist Thorstein Veblen, whom Mamet credits as influencing the motivation of the characters in several of his plays set in work-related environments.

Veblen, who was largely influenced by Darwin and Freud, declared that the economic institution of capitalism encourages an instinctive "predatory animus" in man to surface due to capitalism's encouragement of the ownership of private property. Veblen asserted that the desire for private property goes beyond one's essential physiological needs and is driven instead by the psychological drive to improve one's self-esteem and …