Economist Held a Mirror to Society – New York Times

“The Affluent Society” appeared in 1958, making Mr. Galbraith known around the world. In it, he depicted a consumer culture gone wild, rich in goods but poor in the social services that make for community. He argued that America had become so obsessed with overproducing consumer goods that it had increased the perils of both inflation and recession by creating an artificial demand for frivolous or useless products, by encouraging overextension of consumer credit and by emphasizing the private sector at the expense of the public sector. He declared that this obsession with products like the biggest and fastest automobile damaged the quality of life in America by creating “private opulence and public squalor.”

Anticipating the environmental movement by nearly a decade, he asked, “Is the added production or the added efficiency in production worth its effect on ambient air, water and space — the countryside?” Mr. Galbraith called for a change in values that would shun the seductions of advertising and champion clean air, good housing and aid for the arts.”

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

He remained optimistic about the ability of government to improve the lot of the less fortunate. “Let there be a coalition of the concerned,” he urged. “The affluent would still be affluent, the comfortable still comfortable, but the poor would be part of the political system.”

Obituary in New York Times (registration may be required)