Title: The Affluent Society
Author: John Kenneth Galbraith
Pages: 270
Writing in 1958, Keynesian Economist John Galbraith explains how the goals and driving forces of a society afflicted with scarcity (US until the 1920s) are no longer healthy for the affluent society. In the former production is of prime concern because the essential needs of the many have not been met (food, clothing, shelter). In the latter, production has generally satisfied these needs and now must manufacture new needs so that production can continue to increase. (Otherwise you get inflation. Which pisses everybody off.) He goes on to argue that this is inherently unstable and subject to market corrections (remember this is 1958). And therefore a new economic focus needs be considered for this new type of society.
Galbraith is an exceptionally good writer. While not a breezy book, it is pithy and covers lots of ground to explain why we are no longer concerned with inequality. In this text he coins the term "Conventional Wisdom", something he's looking to overturn. His work is the basis of many liberal/progressive political approaches to govt spending and taxation in the 20th century (though the similitude is questionable at best).
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