Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

In his first and best-known book, Veblen defines the social attitudes and values that condone the misuse of wealth and observes the variety of ways in which the resources of modern society are wasted. Chief among these is the practice of conspicuous consumption, a pattern of behavior that more than survives to the present day. With exquisite irony, Veblen discusses the hollowness of our canons of taste and culture and considers the emptiness of those habits of life and thought that many of us like to regard as our strengths. Book jacket.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction (p. v)
• Preface (p. xiii)
• Chapter I Introductory (p. 1)
• Chapter II Pecuniary Emulation (p. 22)
• Chapter III Conspicuous Leisure (p. 35)
• Chapter IV Conspicuous Consumption (p. 68)
• Chapter V The Pecuniary Standard of Living (p. 102)
• Chapter VI Pecuniary Canons of Taste (p. 115)
• Chapter VII Dress as an Expression of the Pecuniary Culture (p. 167)
• Chapter VIII Industrial Exemption and Conservatism (p. 188)
• Chapter IX The Conservation of Archaic Traits (p. 212)
• Chapter X Modern Survivals of Prowess (p. 246)
• Chapter XI The Belief in Luck (p. 276)
• Chapter XII Devout Observances (p. 293)
• Chapter XIII Survivals of the Non-Invidious Interest (p. 332)
• Chapter XIV The Higher Learning as an Expression of the Pecunlary Culture (p. 363)