Thorstein Veblen：The Theory of the Leisure Class, Excerpt 17

It is as elements of social structure--conventional facts--that leisure and ownership are matters of interest for the purpose in hand. An habitual neglect of work does not constitute a leisure class; neither does the mechanical fact of use and consumption constitute ownership. The present inquiry, therefore, is not concerned with the beginning of indolence, nor with the beginning of the appropriation of useful articles to individual consumption. The point in question is the origin and nature of a conventional leisure class on the one hand and the beginnings of individual ownership as a conventional right or equitable claim on the other hand.

Source： https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/833
Locator：Excerpt 17 · Verified：2026-10-19 · Verification：Short excerpt

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