Thorstein Veblen

About the author

Thorstein Veblen (1857–1929) was an American economist and sociologist who became one of the most incisive critics of capitalism during the Progressive Era. His landmark 1899 work, The Theory of the Leisure Class, introduced the now-indispensable concepts of conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure. A founder of institutional economics, Veblen attacked production for profit and drew a lasting distinction between "institutions" and "technology" — the so-called Veblenian dichotomy — that continues to shape economic thought and non-Marxist critiques of capitalism and technological determinism.