The Theory of the Leisure Class

Why do people buy things they do not need? Thorstein Veblen's answer, in 1899, was that the rich display their status through 'conspicuous consumption' and 'conspicuous leisure', and that everyone below them imitates them as far as they can. He studies fashion, sport, manners, pets and even higher education in this light.

Written in a dry, ironic style that often hides how funny it is, the book introduced terms still used today, and its analysis of status and spending is perhaps even more relevant in the age of social media. Compare Adam Smith's view of human motives in The Theory of Moral Sentiments.

Thorstein Veblen (1857–1929) was born in Wisconsin to Norwegian immigrant farmers, earned a doctorate in philosophy at Yale and then, unable to find work, spent seven years on his family's farm reading. At the University of Chicago he published The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899), which made him famous.

An eccentric teacher and a sharp, ironic writer, he moved from university to university and spent his career criticising business culture and wasteful consumption. He died in August 1929, a few months before the stock market crash that seemed to prove him right.