The quasi-peaceable gentleman of leisure, then, not only consumes of the staff of life beyond the minimum required for subsistence and physical efficiency, but his consumption also undergoes a specialisation as regards the quality of the goods consumed. He consumes freely and of the best, in food, drink, narcotics, shelter, services, ornaments, apparel, weapons and accoutrements, amusements, amulets, and idols or divinities.

Veblen is famous in the history of economic thought for combining a Darwinian evolutionary perspective with his new institutionalist approach to economic analysis. In early barbarian society this is the difference between the hunter and the gatherer in the tribe but as society matures it is the difference between the landed gentry and the indentured servant. Veblen was sympathetic to state ownership of industry but he had a low opinion of workers and the labor movement and there is disagreement about the extent to which his views are compatible with Marxismsocialism or anarchism.