Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class

1899

A Wisconsin economist named Thorstein Veblen published a savage study of the consumption habits of the American rich, coining the term 'conspicuous consumption.' Gilded-Age mansions, opera boxes, and absurd hats were, he argued, archaic tribal signals. Half the social criticism of the twentieth century would draw on the book. His prose style - deadpan, Germanic, lethally ironic - made the book a pleasure to read as well as a weapon to quote.