This work discusses the impact and contemporary relevance of the work of Thorstein Veblen, as well as the source of his ideas. It suggests that he was one of the first modern sociologists of consumption whose analysis of contemporary display and fashion anticipated later theories and research.

Stephen Edgell is Professor of Sociology at the University of Salford, Greater Manchester, England. He is the author of Middle Class Couples: A Study of Segregation, Domination and Inequality in Marriage (1980), and Class (1993); coauthor of A Measure of Thatcherism: A Sociology of Britain (1991); and joint editor of Debating the Future of the Public Sphere (1995) and Consumption Matters: The Production and Experience of Consumption (1996). He has published extensively in British, European, and American journals on Thorstein Veblen and on the sociology of the family, class, work, and politics. He is an elected director of the International Thorstein Veblen Association.

Chapter 1 The Times, Life, and Works of Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929); Chapter 2 The Mistaken Marginality of the "Man from Mars"; Chapter 3 Beyond the Myth of Marginality: Ethnicity and Evolutionism; Chapter 4 Evolutionary Change: Back to the Future?; Chapter 5 The Conspicuous Conservation of Leisure Class Culture; Chapter 6 The Problem: Predatory Institutions; Chapter 7 The Solution: Workmanship Institutions; Chapter 8 Conclusions;