The Theory of the Leisure Class

By: Thorstein Veblen

Narrated by: John Lescault

Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

In this, his best-known work, the controversial American economist and social critic Thorstein Veblen appropriates Darwin's theory of evolution to analyze the modern industrial system. For Veblen, the shallowness and superficiality observed in society results from the tendency to believe that true accomplishment lies in arriving at a condition of ostentatious wealth and status. In developing his thesis, Veblen traces the origins and development of ownership and property, offering extraordinary insights into consumerism, the evolution of class structure, the rise of leisure time, and how modern societal goals are grounded in monetary aspirations and achievements.

With a cool gaze and devastating wit, Veblen examines the human cost paid when social institutions are founded on the consumption of unessential goods for the sake of personal profit. Fashion, beauty, sports, the home, the clergy, scholars - all are assessed for their true usefulness and found wanting. Indeed, Veblen's critique covers all aspects of modern life from dress, class, industry, business, and home decoration to religion, scholarship, education, and the position of women, laying bare the hollowness of many cherished standards of taste and culture.The targets of Veblen's brilliant, scathing satire are as evident today as they were when this classic of economic and social theory was first published, and his book still has the power to shock and enlighten.

Public Domain (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Informative and Engaging

A great listen. It’s detailed and unique perspective of how our modern Western societies have developed.

Brilliant analyis

Veblen was writing not only economic analysis but satire. His interpretations are acute and original. His language may seem anarchistic but is also wry and account for why the book is considered humorous by readers familiar with his work and style. Anyway, I like it. His life was very hard, as it often is with unconventional types who don't fit into academia.

An independent mind

Love Thorstein Veblen. A wide intellectual range. Many of his views ring true today.

At times pedantic and occasionally slow, overall very good. I smiled at some arguments because Veblen must have been a grumpy guy. But whatever annoyed him gave rise to an intellectual clarity that is worth a listen

Accurate to the 2000s

Conspicuous consumption. Honorific intent, leisure and labor. Thorstein could have written this book today. Rich and poor are exactly the same.

A lesser read (it seems?) but important classic

Veblen really attempts to demonstrate that the rise of a moneyed (or capital-rich), leisure class gives downward rise to a wide variety of phenomena in modern economies, and that they are really an ultimate driver of stratification, segmentation, and both the positive aspects of the modern, complex economy and its ills. At times, Veblen is not just a little but quite overtly sexist. These aspects of the book weather the most poorly, because in them he makes the model predictions that are most flagrantly erroneous. However, there is some merit to the overall model, and it's worth thinking about in terms of thinking about how the world is evolving, particularly in light of recent predictions (e.g. Piketty) that the world is heading back in the direction of long-term inequality and entrenched moneyed classes. Narration is dry but suitable.

Review

Despite the language being archaic, convoluted, and repetitive, the content of Veblen's book is insightful and convincing, although a lot of his conclusions have become relatively common understandings of today. Of course as a 21st century reader, I'm biased against the writing style of a 19th century scholar, but I can't help but feel it ironic when Veblen himself commented on language in the last chapter:

"Elegant diction, whether in writing or speaking, is an effective means of reputability. It is of moment to know with some precision what is the degree of archaism conventionally required in speaking on any given topic. Usage differs appreciably from the pulpit to the market-place; the latter, as might be expected, admits the use of relatively new and effective words and turns of expression, even by fastidious persons. A discriminate avoidance of neologisms is honorific, not only because it argues that time has been wasted in acquiring the obsolescent habit of speech, but also as showing that the speaker has from infancy habitually associated with persons who have been familiar with the obsolescent idiom. It thereby goes to show his leisure-class antecedents. Great purity of speech is presumptive evidence of several successive lives spent in other than vulgarly useful occupations; although its evidence is by no means entirely conclusive to this point."

There, you can see how difficult it is to read him; and, imagine applying this mode of analysis to almost every aspect of our society, you get more or less what he is trying to do in this book: not only do conspicuous leisure and conspicuous consumption, as ways of demonstrating superiority, permeate our lives, but they also heavily shape our values (both aesthetical and moral).

Veblen defines "leisure" or "waste" in terms of whether it is "useful" or "productive." I think there is some truth in it, but for him such distinction is taken for granted and I think the precise definition can be debated. Would he consider the spiritual or cultural effects on our community of certain works and projects as being "productive"? From my reading it seems he would discredit at least a subset of those. Maybe he could get around this by claiming being "productive" is whatever the community values as being "productive," and thus the reputability of leisure is culturally relativistic. But there's none of that discussion. I guess he might be biased by the industrial revolution of his time.

Insightful and Anachronistic.

Are you ready for some hot hot Gilded Age economic theory? Let's party like it's 1899!

Veblen's influential 1899 "Theory of the Leisure Class" is as dry as grandma's fruitcake and as anachronistic as an old dude at the nightclub but nevertheless is an intriguing and insightful look into the rise of service culture, conspicuous consumption (and waste), and what societies look like when people acquire status without doing much of anything.

Written at the height of the 19th century's Gilded Age, Veblen's basic argument is that as societies transition out of barbarism to an industrial era there rises a leisurely class whose status is derived not from traditional "barbaric" virtues (martial prowess) but rather the conspicuous consumption of good/services and the conspicuous waste that having lots of money entails. This leisurely class (and the service economy that orbits it) differs from the industrial/productive class in that the former doesn't actually produce anything tangible. Think every social media influence sporting Louis Vitton handbags.

While Veblen's examples of conspicuous consumption are a BIT dated -- we get lots of commentary on footmen, livery, and the gentleman's walking stick -- the overall sentiment is accurate and you can just switch out the titles or accoutrements to show what people do for status or clout in the modern era. I found particularly amusing Veblen's example of handcrafted items vs mass/machine produced items. The former are purportedly made with skill and mastery by a craftsman while the latter are cheaply made dross. And Veblen notes how willing people are to accept/forgive imperfections/shoddy work in a more expensive "handcrafted" item (again, to gain status) vs imperfections in a mass-produced and "cheap" product. A thousand "distressed" items on Pinterest just called out in pain and were suddenly silenced.

Again, while dry as a bone and exceedingly quasi-academic, Veblen's theory was prescient and still offers relevant insights for a modern world.

A Comprehensive Analysis of the Social and Economic Dynamics within the Leisure Class!

Thorstein Veblen’s book, "The Theory of the Leisure Class," provides a comprehensive analysis of the social and economic dynamics within the leisure class of early 20th-century America.
Veblen explores the concept of conspicuous consumption and argues that the leisure class engages in wasteful and non-productive activities as a means of displaying their wealth and status.
He delves into the origins of this class, tracing it back to the predatory instincts of early human societies.
Veblen also highlights the role of women in the leisure class, asserting that they serve as symbols of wealth and status for men.
Moreover, he criticizes the leisure class for its unproductive and parasitic nature, as they derive their wealth from the labor of the working class.
Veblen’s analysis sheds light on the societal inequalities and the inherent contradictions of the capitalist system, challenging the prevailing notions of social hierarchy and economic value.

Ivory Tower Imaginings

Imagines things that you will not find in reality. Struck me as Ivory Tower (and worse, wishful thinking). If you indeed find someone who actually thinks like the author thinks in the real world, then that person will be certifiably insane.

TLDL

The use of large words and Latin makes it sound like Charlie Brown’s teacher
The only fun is to make a drinking game every-time the word invidious is used