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This study is concerned with the historical development and perpetuation of the leisure class in the Colombian society. The study is based on Thorstein Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class. The main purpose of this study is to analyze in terms of the evolution of social institutions the problems that the Colombian society faces today. Spanish values and traditions are analyzed, as well as more recent values and modes of behavior adopted by the leisure class. Institutions such as the church, the educational, employment and political apparatus are analyzed in terms of how they contribute to the perpetuation of elites. This study concludes that as long as there is economic surplus in society, a leisure class will exist. The elites forming the leisure class may be displaced by counter-elites, which in turn will conform a new leisure class.