Affluent Society

The book The Affluent Society (1958) was written by the U.S. economist John Kenneth Galbraith. The book is a coherent critique of the assumptions of classical economics, aspects of American culture, and conservative thinking in general. It is one of the most widely read and highest selling works within modern economics. As well as spawning a series of memorable phrases that entered the popular vocabulary, the book is an influential forerunner to contemporary social attitudes toward overconsumption, the problems associated with unfettered economic growth, and the growth of enclaves of private consumption in the Western world.

The work consists of a number of interrelated theses, but The Affluent Society's essential line of reasoning is found in its challenge to the orthodox assumption that the “problem of ...