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The Theory of the Leisure Class
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The Theory of The Leisure Class
The theory of the Leisure Class.jpg
Author Thorstein Veblen
Original title The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study in the Evolution of Institutions
Country United States
Language English
Genre Economics and sociology
Publisher Macmillan
Publication date
1899
Media type book
Pages 400 pp
OCLC 17647347
The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions (1899), by Thorstein Veblen, is a treatise on economics and a detailed, social critique of conspicuous consumption, as a function of social class and of consumerism, derived from the social stratification of people and the division of labour, which are social institutions of the feudal period (9th–15th c.) that have continued to the modern era.
Veblen asserts that the contemporary lords of the manor, the businessmen who own the means of production, have employed themselves in the economically unproductive practices of conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure, which are useless activities that contribute neither to the economy nor to the material production of the useful goods and services required for the functioning of society, while it is the middle class and the working class who are usefully employed in the industrialised, productive occupations that support the whole of society.
Conducted in the late 19th century, Veblen's socio-economic analyses of the business cycles and the consequent price politics of the U.S. economy, and of the emergent division of labour, by technocratic speciality – scientist, engineer, technologist, etc. – proved to be accurate, sociological predictions of the economic structure of an industrial society.[1] |