>Thorstein Veblen, in The Theory of the Leisure Class, has an insight that I think you've missed: Suits make lower-class labor work impossible for the wearer, a

>Thorstein Veblen, in The Theory of the Leisure Class, has an insight that I think you've missed: Suits make lower-class labor work impossible for the wearer, and are therefore intrinsically a signal of higher class. I think your image of lower-class labor is outdated. There are now 'literate' jobs that pay way less while being tougher than a lot of 'physical' jobs. Like working on a call center on a daily pay. There's a whole class of people in Japan who are homeless but work in a suit.