Cover of Conspicuous Consumption

Conspicuous Consumption

With its wry portrayal of a shallow, materialistic 'leisure class' obsessed by clothes, cars, consumer goods and climbing the social ladder, this withering satire on modern capitalism is as pertinent today as it was when it was written over a century ago.

Audience
adult
Length
short · 103 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked Conspicuous Consumption? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Conspicuous Consumption. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Work, Consumerism and the New Poor Shares economics, sociology, philosophy
  2. Free onlineFree
    An Essay on the Principle of Population Shares economics, philosophy, nonfiction
  3. How Much is Enough?: Money and the Good Life Shares economics, philosophy, nonfiction
  4. Of Empire Shares philosophy, penguin great ideas, nonfiction

“People who read Conspicuous Consumption tend to reach for these next.”

  1. An Attack on an Enemy of Freedom
  2. How to Achieve True Greatness
  3. The Inner Life
  4. Some Anatomies of Melancholy

“If you want more of the same (economics), start with these.”

  1. Free onlineFree A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy
  2. The Making of the Indebted Man: An Essay on the Neoliberal Condition
  3. Grundrisse: Foundations of the Critique of Political Economy
  4. Capital, Vol 1: A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production

“If it was the philosophy that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets
  2. Teachings from the Worldly Philosophy
  3. The Spirit of Disobedience: Resisting the Charms of Fake Politics, Mindless Consumption, and the Culture of Total Work
  4. The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Shiny Objects: Why We Spend Money We Don't Have in Search of Happiness We Can't Buy
  2. Free onlineFree The Ladies' Paradise
  3. Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America
  4. Commitment