"Here occurs a curious inversion. ...in this lower middle class there is no pretense of leisure on the part of the head of the household. ...It is by no means an uncommon spectacle to find a man applying himself to work with the utmost assiduity, in order that his wife may in due form render for him that degree of vicarious leisure. ...the housewife's efforts are under the guidance of traditions that have been shaped by the law of conspicuously wasteful expenditure of time and substance. If beauty or comfort is achieved... they must be achieved by means and methods that commend themselves to the great economic law of wasted effort. The more reputable, "presentable" portion of middle-class household paraphernalia are... items of conspicuous consumption, and... apparatus for putting in evidence the vicarious leisure rendered by the housewife."
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p.81-83
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_the_Leisure_Class
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The Theory of the Leisure Class
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