The Affluent Society is a 1958 (4th edition revised 1984) book by Harvard economist John Kenneth Galbraith.

The book sought to clearly outline the manner in which the post–World War II United States was becoming wealthy in the private sector but remained poor in the public sector, lacking social and physical infrastructure, and perpetuating income disparities.

Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich called it his favorite on the subject of economics.

[2] Galbraith writes: On the importance of production as a test of performance, there is no difference between Republicans and Democrats, right and left, white and minimally prosperous black, Catholic and Protestant.

[3]Galbraith ends the book with another appeal to the importance and need for investment in educating people: Whether the problem be that of a burgeoning population and of space in which to live with peace and grace, or whether it be the depletion of the materials which nature has stocked in the earth’s crust and which have been drawn upon more heavily in this century than in all previous time together, or whether it be that of occupying minds no longer committed to the stockpiling of consumer goods, the basic demand on America will be on its resources of intelligence and education.