The first chapter introduces Veblen’s economic framework, which he references throughout the rest of the book. He begins by defining two key terms: industrial work and conspicuous leisure. Industrial work refers to work that produces the “material means of life,” whereas conspicuous leisure is time spent in a wasteful manner that produces nothing of social value (12). Veblen claims that conspicuous leisure and conspicuous consumption—two economic behaviors that constitute pecuniary culture, or the practice of wasting resources and time—are traditionally seen as respectable in Western society because they have been adopted by the upper class.

Veblen uses the term “industrial” to mean work that is manual, domestic, agricultural, or trade-related. In Europe’s feudal systems of the past, wealthy people were exempt from industrial work and instead held symbolic roles (such as the military or the clergy), which have a certain degree of honor attached to them, but, in Veblen’s terms, are not truly productive. He calls people who comprise this group the “leisure class.” In what Veblen calls “higher barbarian cultures” (such as feudal Europe and feudal Japan), people belonging to the leisure class are employed in a specific range of fields—warfare, government, religious, and sports—but they are all non-industrial types of work.