Veblen once said “Purposeful effort comes to mean, primarily, effort directed to or resulting in a more creditable showing of accumulated wealth.” When this saying becomes the everyday definition for modern individuals, it easily leads to a misguided understanding that happiness is to be found in the pursuit of material wealth.
The first thing that jumps out at me is that this quote in many ways accurately describes life as we know it in the United States today. The American Dream has always been that anyone from any background who lives in America has an opportunity to be anything he or she wishes to be. For many people, the American Dream is, as Veblen says, accumulated wealth. If pursuing the American Dream is equivalent with the pursuit of happiness and if the American Dream for many people is the accumulation of wealth, then it is no stretch to say that many Americans seek to find happiness and meaning through the growing and gathering of material possessions.
The problem is that when a person’s happiness is placed in their own ability to show off the wealth they have accumulated as a result of their hard effort, “enough” is never enough. If the quality of my happiness is to be judged by the wealth I accumulate then true happiness is a state that can never be fully realized because there will always be some new avenue (whether it be in the form of a sleek sports car, cutting edge technology, or precious jewels) to demonstrate to others that I am a successful person. The constant desire for “more,” which results if you live by Veblen’s definition of purposeful effort, leads to bitterness, envy, resentment, and ultimately a sense of emptiness.
