In 1899, the publication of The Theory of the Leisure Class caused a wave of excitement around its author, American economist Thorstein Veblen. Veblen defined the elites who had switched from rational production to conspicuous consumption as the 'leisure class.' Veblen traces the development of the tradition of conspicuous consumption—a term coined by Veblen—from the feudal Middle Ages to his own time, simultaneously exposing, with the caustic wit of a satirist, the emptiness and artificiality of such cherished social goals as the desire to achieve wealth with all its external manifestations and high social status.
Since its first publication, the work has become a classic of socio-economic thought and policy, and has exerted an influence far beyond the economic sphere. Echoes of Veblen's theories can be heard in the works of Henry James and F. Scott Fitzgerald, and his treatise itself remains relevant and entertaining even a century later.