![]() ![]() The choice between them is a question of advertising expediency." (Veblen, p. "Both are methods of demonstrating the possession of wealth, and the two are conventionally accepted as equivalents. Veblen notes that the common element of conspicuous leisure and conspicuous consumption is "waste." Conspicuous leisure represents a waste of time and effort, whereas conspicuous consumption represents a waste of goods. They are motivated by pecuniary emulation, and this motivation is clearly reflected in their patterns of conspicuous leisure and conspicuous consumption. They seek self-respect from immediate peers in competition for honor through the reputable possession of wealth. Members of the leisure class display their status by their expressed disdain for all forms of productive work, especially any type of manual labor. Levi points out, the underlying thesis of Veblen's theory of the leisure class is simultaneously simple and revolutionary namely, that elite members of society show their "superiority not by their capacity to lead, administer or create, but by their conspicuous wastefulness: by an expenditure of effort, time, and money which is intrinsically reputable in a class-conscious world" (p. The Theory of the Leisure ClassĪs Albert W. While Karl Marx is the classic social theorist of labor, work, production, and practical activities, Thorstein Veblen is the classic social theorist of leisure, consumption, expressive, and honorific activities. In this economic study of social institutions he also invented the related concepts of pecuniary emulation, conspicuous leisure, and conspicuous consumption, which shifted significantly the emphasis of social analysis from the economics of production to the economics of consumption. Thorstein Veblen originated the concept of the leisure class in his first and most famous book, The Theory of the Leisure Class, published in 1899. ![]()
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