ABSTRACT
Thorstein Veblen was a Norwegian-American economist and sociologist, who, during his lifetime, emerged as a well-known critic of capitalism. Veblen was also managing editor of the Journal of Political Economy between 1895 and 1906. In this work, The Theory of the Leisure Class, Veblen created the familiar notions of conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure. His comments on aesthetic beauty and pecuniary beauty are of interest in relation to design, whereby aesthetic beauty is seen as functional, whilst pecuniary beauty is considered ostentatious and ‘wasteful’. The innovation must have the support of the canon of conspicuous waste. Any feature in the physiognomy of goods, however pleasing in itself, and however well it may approve itself to the taste for effective work, will not be tolerated if it proves obnoxious to this norm of pecuniary reputability.
