Thorstein Veblen, "The Theory of the Leisure Class"

            Thorstein Veblen presents wealth as a hierarchical system of human relation, illustrating how the possession of wealth and the performance of wealth create a stratification of class in society. Each of the different levels of stratification approaches labor. Veblen also explores the ways in which the attributes of the “leisure class,” the superior pecuniary class, reflect their attempts to distinguish themselves from those in lower social class positions. The behaviors characteristic of the leisure class are such that those employed in low-class labor cannot partake.

            Veblen begins by defining the leisure class and its traits, which centers around “the requirement of abstention from productive work.” Labor, through the eyes of the wealthy, is demonstrative of weakness; it is “a mark of inferiority, and therefore comes to be accounted unworthy of man in his best estate.” Veblen continues to justify appearance of wealth—performative wealth—by explaining that “the wealth and power must be put in evidence, for esteem is awarded only on evidence.” Thus, his two ideas of conspicuous leisure and conspicuous consumption are in response to this need for esteem.

            Leisure is a luxury exclusive to the wealthy, and respected for its association with intelligence. As Veblen points out, “vulgarly productive occupations are unhesitatingly condemned and avoided... they are incompatible with life on a satisfactory spiritual plane, with ‘high thinking.’” Leisure, because it is not available to those who must work to earn enough money to live, is the “most conclusive evidence of pecuniary strength.” Withdrawal from labor is a conventional signal of social standing, hence the term of the idle rich. Along with leisure, performance is significant in displaying wealth. Manners can demonstrate dominance as they are “an expression of the relation of status—a symbolic pantomime of mastery.” Manners and lifestyle adequately demonstrate wealth, for their continuance requires generational inheritance, the passing down of tastes and behaviors; “good breeding requires time, application, and expense, and can therefore not be compassed by those whose time and energy are taken up with work.”

            The second expression of wealth that Veblen addresses is conspicuous consumption. Such consumption is applicable to a broad variety of products: food, clothing, housing, and furniture, to name a few. Consuming goods that are unproductive—in essence, unnecessary—is a mark of “prowess and human dignity.” Likewise, the consumption of luxuries, as Veblen remarks, has no other purpose than for the comfort of the consumer and, therefore, distinguishes the wealthy as “masters.” As the class structure becomes more complex, the leisure class also stratifies into separate layers. With these new sub-classes the differentiation between inheritance of wealth and inheritance of behavior is divided and the leisure class is subsequently more difficult to distinguish.