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Preferred term

affluent society  

Definition

  • John K. Galbraith's The Affluent Society (1958) drew attention to a tension in the USA: it was indeed affluent but the private prosperity of the majority was accompanied by a good deal of public squalor and there was a significant minority who had not only been left behind economically but also in effect dis-enfranchised. Arguably the two problems remain with us and have been extended globally: individual affluence comes at the expense of public services and also creates major environmental costs. [Source: The SAGE Dictionary of Sociology; Affluent Society]

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https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/affluent_society

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