affluent society

British  

noun

1. a society in which the material benefits of prosperity are widely available

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affluent society Cultural  

1. A society in which scarcity of resources is not the predominant condition, and a general level of economic well-being has been achieved by most members of society. The term was made current by John Kenneth Galbraith in The Affluent Society, which described conditions in the United States after World War II.

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Conventional economic theory is based on the assumption that resources are scarce. Therefore, it makes increasing production in the private sector and limiting interference and regulation from the government a priority. In Galbraith's affluent society, this priority is misplaced because scarcity is not predominant. The continued pursuit of conventional economic objectives in an affluent society leads to the conditions Galbraith observed in postwar America: private-sector affluence and public-sector squalor. For example, affluence in the private sector led to the mass availability of automobiles. Because public-sector interference (in the form of regulation and taxation) was discouraged, however, governments could not afford to build adequate roadways to accommodate those automobiles.

Example Sentences

"There are 20 million people in Australia, we're an affluent society and economy," he said.

From Reuters • Nov. 13, 2021

In a little over 30 years, milk has become the emblem of a modern, affluent society and a country able to feed its people.

From The Guardian • Mar. 29, 2019

Unfortunately, the affluent society is not as affluent as he and others expected.

From Washington Post • Feb. 17, 2019

At the University of Michigan, a campus awash in Corvettes, $600 guitars, $400 camping outfits, $150 bicycles and other choice items of an affluent society, an administrator said dryly:

From US News • Jul. 1, 2016

Over the course of his or her life, a typical member of a modern affluent society will own several million artefacts—from cars and houses to disposable nappies and milk cartons.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari