Nature & Animals Quote by Thorstein Veblen

Veblen’s line treats the family dog less like a furry friend and more like a small, domesticated stage for power. The verb choice is doing the heavy lifting: the dog “commends himself” not by loyalty or affection but by satisfying something in us - a “propensity for mastery.” That phrasing is chilly on purpose. It recasts pet-keeping as a social impulse with teeth: we like animals, Veblen suggests, partly because they let us rehearse dominance in a morally approved, even tender form.

The intent fits Veblen’s broader project in The Theory of the Leisure Class, where seemingly innocent tastes get decoded as status signals and control rituals. A dog is a low-stakes subordinate: trainable, grateful, publicly visible. The relationship flatters the owner’s competence (“Look how well-behaved he is”), resources (food, vet care, leisure time), and authority (commands obeyed on cue). Even “play” is telling. Mastery isn’t only exercised; it’s enjoyed. The dog becomes a safe outlet for hierarchical cravings that might look ugly if aimed at people.

The subtext is not that affection is fake, but that affection and domination can be braided together without us noticing. Veblen nudges the reader toward discomfort: if our fondness is partly powered by control, then “love of animals” starts to resemble a refined version of the same social wiring that organizes class, labor, and prestige. It’s an economist’s sentence with a satirist’s edge, turning a wagging tail into an x-ray of modern self-regard.