Thorstein Bunde Veblen as precursor of business and society field

Purpose The paper is a viewpoint about Thorstein Bunde Veblen (1857‐1929) a known yet misunderstood author, as much appreciated as criticised. The aim of this paper is to present an overview of Veblen's work whilst providing a few keys to his writing and showing the interest of his work for the business and society field of researches. Design/methodology/approach It starts by presenting Veblen's body of work. Then it turns to a general evaluation of Veblen's work. It finishes with a discussion of Veblen's possible contributions to the business and society field. Findings Finds that Veblen's work is an attempt to understand the fundamentals of the functioning and evolution of societies and economies and that in many respects he placed great emphasis on the relations between the work of business and society. Research limitations/implications The implications may be theoretical since this paper is an invitation to renew the standard way of studying the business and society field. Originality/value This may be seen as a new approach to Veblen's work.