Biographical note: GalbraithJohn Kenneth: John Kenneth Galbraith was Paul M. Warburg Professor of Economics, Emeritus, at Harvard University. James Goodman is Associate Professor of History at Rutgers University.

The world has become increasingly separated into the haves and have-nots. In The Culture of Contentment, renowned economist John Kenneth Galbraith shows how a contented class—not the privileged few but the socially and economically advantaged majority—defend their comfortable status at a...