The Affluent Society

John Kenneth Galbraith's The Affluent Society is a witty, graceful and devastating attack on some of our most cherished economic myths.

Why worship work and productivity if many of the goods we produce are superfluous — artificial 'needs' created by high-pressure advertising? Why begrudge expenditure on vital public works while ignoring waste and extravagance in the private sector of the economy? Classical economics was born in a harsh world of mass poverty, and has left us with a set of preconceptions ill-adapted to the realities of our own richer age. And so, too often, 'the bland lead the bland'. Our unfamiliar problems need a new approach, and the reception given to this famous book has shown the value of its fresh, lively ideas.

John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) was a Canadian-American economist. A Keynesian and an institutionalist, Galbraith was a leading proponent of twentieth-century American liberalism and progressivism. Galbraith was the author of 30 books, including The Economics of Innocent Fraud, The Great Crash: 1929, and A History of Economics.

Endorsements

'A compelling challenge to conventional thought' — The New York Times

'He shows himself a truly sensitive and civilized man, whose ideas are grounded in the common culture of the two continents, and may serve as a link between them; his book is of foremost importance for them both' — The Times Literary Supplement