Standard accounts of the evolution of Tibor Scitovsky’s ideas and his writing in The Joyless Economy(1976) emphasize the influence of psychological theory as proposed by the motivational psychologists of the 1950s and 1960s. There is no doubt that this was indeed important for the development of Scitovsky’s innovative monograph, though its influence needs to be understood in the context of his troubled perceptions of 20^thcentury mass society. Drawing on Scitovsky’s autobiographical memories, this paper explores his ongoing critique of economic progress, which was inspired by his move from inter-war Europe to post-war consumer-oriented America and also shaped by his engagement with the significant writings on architecture and design of Lewis Mumford, Siegfried Giedion and especially Bernard Rudofsky.