Concepts of Luxury and Waste in American Radicalism, 1880–1929

At the turn of the century, a specific discussion on luxury arose in America as a part of a world-wide discourse on modern capitalism. In this interdisciplinary study, the discourse is captured through the main concepts of luxury and waste in the works of seven American radical authors: Thorstein Veblen, Richard Ely, Upton Sinclair, Lincoln Steffens, George Herron, Ignatius Donnelly and Eugene Debs. As a conclusion, a new typology of consumption critique is presented by the author