The Theory of the Leisure Class (Warbler Classics Annotated Edition)

During America's Gilded Age, economist Thorstein Veblen published The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899), a critique of the era's new wealth and the behaviors it inspired. Veblen argued that both the old elite and the rising class of industrialists indulged in "conspicuous consumption" and "conspicuous leisure"-lavish displays of wealth and idleness designed not for utility, but to project status. These practices, Veblen claimed, were inherently wasteful: they diverted resources toward orna...