ABSTRACT
The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899) offered Veblen a fame that none of his other writings let him attain. Yet, this first book does not really represent the definitive form of his theory. On the contrary, it is its imperfections that will allow its author to develop a much sounder reflection. The intention here is not to detail the evolution of his supposed evolutionary model but to focus on the quasi-disappearance from his later works of one of the most essential expressions of that book. It is to show that this omission is not primarily a product of chance, a fashion or a personal strategy, but comes from an analytical requirement.
