Symbolic Interactionism • economic development can be more fully understood if we look at the historical context and appreciate that human behaviour is intrinsically meaningful • Weber suggested that...

Symbolic Interactionism

• economic development can be more fully understood if we look at the historical context and appreciate that human behaviour is intrinsically meaningful

• Weber suggested that capitalism in northern Europe developed because the Protestant ethic encouraged people to develop their own businesses, to engage in trade, and to accumulate wealth for investment

• Thorstein Veblen used the term conspicuous consumption to describe a behavior of the “nouveau riche” in the United States at the end of the nineteenth century