About the Book
In
The Theory of the Leisure Class, his first and best-known work, Thorstein Veblen challenges some of society’s most cherished standards of behavior and, with devastating wit and satire, exposes the hollowness of many of our canons of taste, education, dress, and culture.
For Veblen, the shallowness and superficiality of society resulted from the tendency to believe that true accomplishment lay in arriving at a condition of ostentatious wealth and status. In developing this thesis, he traces the origins and development of ownership and property, offering extraordinary insights into the phenomenon of consumerism, the evolution of class structure, the rise of leisure time and how modern societal goals are grounded in pecuniary aspirations and achievements.
In this classic work, Veblen sets forth his theory that the economic life of modern society is rooted in the division of labor dating back to tribal times. That is, that the ruling or leisure class reserved what they considered the most important tasks – such as warring and hunting – for themselves, while dictating tasks such as farming or cooking to the lower echelons. The heavier and harder labor falls to the lower members of the order, while the light work is accomplished by the owners of capital – the leisure class.
In the book, Veblen famously coined the term ‘conspicuous consumption’. Still relevant today,
The Theory of the Leisure Class remains a landmark work in the fields of economics and sociology.
Contents
1. Introductory
2. Pecuniary Emulation
3. Conspicuous Leisure
4. Conspicuous Consumption
5. The Pecuniary Standard of Living
6. Pecuniary Canons of Taste
7. Dress as an Expression of the Pecuniary Culture
8. Industrial Exemption and Conservatism
9. The Conservation of Archaic Traits
10. Modern Survivals of Prowess
11. The Belief in Luck
12. Devout Observances
13. Survivals of the Non-Invidious Interest
14. The Higher Learning as an Expression of the Pecuniary Culture
About the Author / Editor
Thorstein Veblen (1857–1929) was an American economist and sociologist. He was educated at Carleton College, Johns Hopkins University, and Yale University. He is well known as a witty critic of capitalism. Within the history of economic thought, Veblen is considered the leader of the institutional economics movement. Veblen’s distinction between ‘institutions’ and ‘technology’ is still called the Veblenian dichotomy by contemporary economists. Veblen coined the widely used phrases ‘conspicuous consumption’ and ‘pecuniary emulation’.
