The Affluent Society
First edition cover
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| Author | John Kenneth Galbraith |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Economics |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
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Publication date
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1958 |
| Media type | |
The Affluent Society is a 1958 (4th edition revised 1984) book by Harvard economist John Kenneth Galbraith. The book sought to clearly outline the manner in which the post-World War II United States was becoming wealthy in the private sector but remained poor in the public sector, lacking social and physical infrastructure, and perpetuating income disparities. The book sparked much public discussion at the time, and it is widely remembered for Galbraith's popularizing of the term "conventional wisdom."
Many of the same ideas were later expanded and refined in Galbraith's 1967 book, The New Industrial State.
Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich called it his favorite on the subject of economics. The Modern Library placed the book at no. 46 on its list of the top 100 English-language non-fiction books of the 20th century.
Galbraith writes:
Galbraith ends the book with another appeal to the importance and need for investment in educating people:
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