Book description
Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have
transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have
inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened,
outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and
destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great
thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook
civilization and helped make us who we are.
With its wry portrayal of a shallow, materialistic 'leisure class'
obsessed by clothes, cars, consumer goods and climbing the social
ladder, this withering satire on modern capitalism is as pertinent
today as when it was written over a century ago.
Thorstein Bunde Veblen (1857-1929) was an American economist and
sociologist. Educated at Carleton College, Johns Hopkins University and
Yale University, his most famous work, The Theory of the Leisure Class
(1899), from which this selection is taken, is a satiric look at
American society. He coined the widely used phrases "conspicuous
consumption" and "pecuniary emulation".
