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The Theory of the Leisure Class
Thorstein Veblen Paperback edition Penguin Books, 1979 ISBN: 0-375-50566-0 ISBN: 0-14-018795-2 Originally published, 1899 400 indexable pages 1213 headings, subheadings 2305 locators, 115 cross references For more about this book, see Penguin Putnam |
 Thorstein Veblen |
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The Theory of the Leisure Class is a masterpiece of economics and deadpan humor in which Veblen repeatedly skewers the business elite of his day. For decades, it was very popular and very widely read, but that is no longer so. It did not decline in popularity because it had become irrelevant or because its ideas had been discredited. Neither is true. Its decline in popularity may be attributed to two factors. One factor is our current social and political climate. Conservatives and corporate leaders are now firmly in control of education and the press. Neither group is interested in skewering business elites; they prefer pandering to them. Veblen is not on their reading lists. The second factor is Veblen's style. Today, most people prefer simple ideas, simply expressed. Veblen's ideas are relatively straightforward, but his sentences are not. They are convoluted parodies of academic locutions. They are perfectly suited to his irony and his subject. Witness the last sentences in the book: Classic speech has the honorific virtue of dignity; it commands attention and respect as being the accredited method of communication under the leisure-class scheme of life, because it carries a pointed suggestion of the industrial exemption of the speaker. The advantage of the accredited locutions lies in their reputability; they are reputable because they are cumbrous and out of date, and therefore argue waste of time and exemption from the use and the need of direct and forcible speech. That's as wonderful as the ending to Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint. RIP TBV. |
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A ability to pay conspicuous consumption evidence of, 84 consumable goods evidence of, 154–155 dress evidence of, 167–168, 169 evidence of success and superior force, 181 harder to discern as wealth grows, 188 honour and esteem in industrial communities based on, 86–87 increases in, results of, 102, 110 knowledge of classics evidence of, 397 leisure evidence of, 84 personal servants evidence of, 57, 62 required by all classes, 241 women's dress and leisure evidence of men's, 182 acquisition invidious comparison based on, 208 motivation for, 25–26, 32 pecuniary emulation based on, 208 adults, defined, 251–252 aesthetic nausea, 178 agriculture, 283–284 alcohol consumption, 70, 108 America. See United States angling (fishing), 255, 257, 258, 260 animals for conspicuous consumption, 140, 142 exotic, 134–135 pecuniary beauty of, 139–144 animism anthropomorphic cults expressions of, 292 becoming obsolescent, 331 devout observances expressions of, 292 economic significance, 282–285, 287–288 nature of, 279–280, 285–286 phases displayed in sports, 296 in predatory stage, 289–290 in primitive culture, 289–290 in sportsmen, 290 unsuited to industrial society, 304 anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic cults animism expressed by, 292 disintegration of, 332–333 divinities as predatory chieftains, 303–304 |
anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic cults (continued) economic significance, 282–285, 287–288, 306–307 habits of thought fostered by, 300 industrial efficiency curtailed by, 307, 318 nature of, 280–281, 286–287, 291–292 in predatory stage, 289–290 in primitive culture, 289 prowess correlated with, 290 in sportsmen, 290 status in, 291–292, 301–302 subsidiary impulses (charity, goodwill, etc.), 332–335 unsuited to industrial society, 304 antiwar movement, 339 aptitudes abeyance through disuse, 112 development of, 212, 220–221 habits affected by, 108–109 pecuniary, 246 suitable to employments, 239–240 workmanlike deranged by classical learning, 395 archaic traits conserved by leisure class, 64, 233–235, 237, 240, 241, 244 surviving, 221–222, 253, 267–268, 270, 276–277, 304–305, 368–370, 374, 378 architecture, 153–154, 349 arrested spiritual development exceptional devoutness a mark of, 305 in gentlemen of leisure, 253–254 in sportsmen, 256 astuteness, 274–275 athletics, 255, 256, 258, 260, 262, 298–299 B bankers, 231 barbarian culture, barbarians aggressiveness an advantage, 223 animate vs. inert things in, 11–12 clannishness in, 379 class antagonism in, 222 division of labour in, 4, 5 earlier stage of development, 2–3, 236, 246, 262 |
barbarian culture, barbarians (continued) emulation in, 16–17, 222–223 exploit in, 12 higher stage of development, 1–2 honourable activities, 18 legacy, 290–291 leisure class in, 2, 3–4 lower stage of development, 3–5 manual labour in, 2 men in, 3, 4–5, 14–15, 57 predatory stage of development (see predatory stage) primitive culture compared to, 6–7, 220–221 quasi-peaceable stage of development (see quasi-peaceable stage of industry) rehabilitated in football, 262 women in, 2–3, 4–5, 14, 22–24, 53–57 beauty aesthetic nausea, 178 aesthetics vs. reputable correctness as criteria, 144–145 conspicuous waste's influence on aesthetic standards, 128, 148–149 fashion's search for, 174–175 of humans, 146–149 of the prevailing fashion, 177–178 serviceability a prerequisite, 151–153 from workmanship, 158–159 See also pecuniary beauty (beauty enhanced by expensiveness) birthrates, 113 bookmaking, artistic, 162–165 boxing (prizefighting), 255 boys fighting in, 250–254 make-believe in, 256, 259 pseudo-military organizations of, 255, 300 See also men brachycephalic-brunettes, 217, 226. See also dolichoblonds; Mediterranean type bullfights, 255, 261 Bushmen, 6 business derived from predatory pursuits, 210 management in, 232 a pecuniary institution, 209 workers in, 232–233 businessmen, ordinary, 81 |
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