“Purposeful effort comes to mean, primarily, effort directed to or resulting in a more creditable showing of accumulated wealth” reports Thorstein Veblen. But who is judging the meaning? Is Veblen speaking of the person who is accumulating the wealth? The surrounding community? A higher observer?
Throughout his book, The Theory of the Leisure Class, Veblen details the “evolution” of the high class that works hard at being unproductive. In early times, when wealth was gained primarily through conquest, wealth and possessions were marks of a good warrior. At that time, a good warrior was a protection to the whole town, so honor was given to this mighty man by his community. As society progressed to the industrial stage, having possessions no longer was a result of protecting ones community, but the honor attached to the possessions remained. The result was that people didn’t care how goods were obtained, as in the past, but only that they were. The value was no longer in doing service for community, but simply in having the things that used to mean you had done service.
With this in mind, I would argue that in this quote, Veblen means that “purposeful effort” is judged by the community and from the community, the individual feels value. Wealth, for better or worse, is normally how people judge this “purposeful effort”. But I don’t believe that is always the case. Moral leaders, like Ghandi and Mother Teresa had little in the way of worldly goods, but are given great honor even today. I see two basic forms “purposeful efforts”. First, you can act on purpose, gaining wealth and fame or other such public indicators for yourself. This is the most common way, and the one Veblen details. The second “purposeful effort” is when you act for a purpose.
Acting for a purpose means doing something that isn’t centered on you. A life centered on others rather than self contradicts Veblen’s picture of society, but that is what we as Christians have been called to. “But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth” says God in Exodus 9:16. Our purpose is to share our amazing God with the world. This is true “purposeful effort”.