'''The Affluent Society''' is a
1958 book by
Harvard economist John Kenneth Galbraith. The book sought to clearly outline the manner in which the post-
World War II America 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 coining and popularizing of the term "
conventional wisdom".
See also
★
Marshall Sahlins articulated in 1966 the theory that
hunter-gatherers were the
original affluent society.