Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, in 1957 used the term 'affluent society' to describe the rising prosperity in Britain in those years. Does anyone know of any earlier reference to the term?
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6If you can provide a reference to Macmillan in 1957, OED would probably like to know. Their earliest citation is J.K. Galbraith's book Affluent Society from 1958.– Andrew Leach ♦Commented Sep 28, 2013 at 21:27
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4"The most common catchword description of the socioeconomic scene in the United States today is the affluent society." That's the opening line from "The Consumer in an Affluent Society", published in The Journal of Home Economics Vol 53, Pg 79, in 1909. But I don't see what the point or this question is; it's simply an adjective modifying a noun. The phrase apparently took off in the late 1950s.– J.R.Commented Sep 28, 2013 at 22:43
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@J.R.That article appeared in 1961 written by a Carol O'Brien. Don't know where you got 1909 from. So it seems as if Macmillan was the person who coined the term. In answer to Andrew Leach HM used it in a speech in 1957.– user52780Commented Sep 29, 2013 at 6:26
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@Strangerbird - Sorry about that misinformation. I searched for the phrase and Google indicated a 1909 hit, but now I see I misinterpreted that; evidently, the journal was founded in 1909. If the article was written in 1961, and the journal founded in '09, then Volume 53 would make sense. Thanks for the correction.– J.R.Commented Sep 30, 2013 at 9:25
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@Strangerbird I don't believe Macmillan actually used the phrase. He did use the "never had it so good" phrase in a speech in 1957.– Andrew Leach ♦Commented Sep 30, 2013 at 11:11
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1 Answer
The Affluent Society is a 1958 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. The book sparked much public discussion at the time, and it is widely remembered for Galbraith's popularizing of the term "conventional wisdom." Extracted from Wikipedia.