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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What was the state of the leisure class in hunting cultures?
(a) It did not exist.
(b) It existed only for the priests.
(c) It was highly developed, and hunters exploit the women for their labor.
(d) It was developing but still competing with the communal lifestyle.

2. What happens when people attain a certain level of consumption?
(a) It is difficult to move to a lower level.
(b) They are free to move down, but it is difficult to move further up.
(c) It is easier to reach what has been just out of reach.
(d) They try to raise their children with less frivolous things.

3. Vicarious consumption reflects whose standing?
(a) The worker's.
(b) The servant's.
(c) The patron's.
(d) The slave's.

4. Spending money on ornate buildings is an example of what?
(a) Vicarious waste.
(b) Devout waste.
(c) Vicarious consumption.
(d) Conspicuous waste.

5. Why does Veblen say women wore corsets?
(a) Because restricting their movements made them less threatening.
(b) Because restricting their movements prevented them from work.
(c) Because making them slenderer made them seem more expensive.
(d) Because discomfort was a luxury.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Veblen define leisure?

2. Private ownership led to what cultural development?

3. What standard does Veblen say guides people's behavior?

4. What employments did upper-class people in Iceland and Polynesia work in?

5. What aspect of culture was a condition for the development of a leisure class?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do a man's possessions say about the man?

2. How does Veblen define leisure?

3. What do expensive clothes say about a person?

4. What was the earliest form of ownership?

5. How does style ensure conspicuous waste?

6. Why do most people spend in excess of what is required for their physical comfort?

7. How did primitive societies divide the labor?

8. How does the individual consumer think of his conspicuous waste?

9. How does the leisure class view work?

10. What distinguishes the leisure class from the other classes?

(see the answer keys)

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