Theory of the Leisure Class

The Theory of the Leisure Class is one of the great works of economics as well as the first detailed critique of consumerism. Veblen argues that economic life is driven not by notions of utility, but by social vestiges from pre-historic times.

Drawing examples from his time (turn-of-the-century America) and anthropology, he held that much of today's society is a variation on early tribal life. It was in this book that the term conspicuous consumption was first used.