The Theory of the Leisure Class

by Veblen, Thorstein; Lekachman, Robert

• ISBN13: 9780140187953
• ISBN10: 0140187952
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1994-02-01
• Publisher: PENGUIN BOOKS

Summary

In his first and best-known book, Veblen defines the social attitudes and values that condone the misuse of wealth and observes the variety of ways in which the resources of modern society are wasted. Chief among these is the practice of conspicuous consumption, a pattern of behavior that more than survives to the present day. With exquisite irony, Veblen discusses the hollowness of our canons of taste and culture and considers the emptiness of those habits of life and thought that many of us like to regard as our strengths. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929) was a Norwegian-American sociologist and economist and a leader of the Efficiency Movement. In 1919, Veblen, along with Charles Beard, James Harvey Robinson and John Dewey, helped found the New School for Social Research (known today as New School University).
Robert Lekachman was a professor of economics at Lehman College, City University of New York, and is the author of The Age of Keynes and Capitalism for Beginners.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. v
Preface	p. xiii
Introductory	p. 1
Pecuniary Emulation	p. 22
Conspicuous Leisure	p. 35
Conspicuous Consumption	p. 68
The Pecuniary Standard of Living	p. 102
Pecuniary Canons of Taste	p. 115
Dress as an Expression of the Pecuniary Culture	p. 167
Industrial Exemption and Conservatism	p. 188
The Conservation of Archaic Traits	p. 212
Modern Survivals of Prowess	p. 246
The Belief in Luck	p. 276
Devout Observances	p. 293
Survivals of the Non-Invidious Interest	p. 332
The Higher Learning as an Expression of the Pecunlary Culture	p. 363
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