View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Selective adaptation governs what?

2. What aspect of man's character does gambling originate in, according to Veblen?

3. In which temperament does Veblen say that gambling originates?

4. What does Veblen mean by the terms "social inertia" and "conservatism"?

5. What is education's relationship with the supernatural, according to Veblen?

Short Essay Questions

1. What temperament does Veblen say characterizes the leisure class, and how does the leisure class change?

2. How does education form the leisure class?

3. What traits in men are required for the success of a community, in Veblen's description?

4. How do lower-class delinquents manifest the fighting spirit?

5. What are the effects of devout observances?

6. How does Veblen describe the difference between esoteric and exoteric knowledge?

7. What is martial spirit, and which classes demonstrate it?

8. How do men and women of the industrial classes feel and react to pecuniary pressures?

9. How does the workman manifest his animistic view about luck?

10. Where does Veblen believe the desire to gamble originates?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Are status symbols necessary? If social status is a fact of life for middle-class (leisure-class) people in industrial society, are status symbols necessities, or are they luxuries? Is Veblen being puritanical to see them as luxuries when pragmatically they are requirements for participation in culture?

Essay Topic 2

How useful is the term "the leisure class"? Does it describe everyone with any disposable income? Is it really a synonym for the upper class? Is it a synonym for the middle class?

Essay Topic 3

Why does society need to have its industrial efficiency reduced through devout observances and the belief in unseen hands? What would happen if society accelerated toward efficiency? What does reducing efficiency allow for a leisure class? What does it offer for the other classes?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 801 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample