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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Conspicuous Consumption.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Veblen classify industrial labor in industrial societies?
(a) As work done by machines.
(b) As men's work.
(c) As women's work.
(d) As work that does not produce food or shelter.

2. What aspect of culture was a condition for the development of a leisure class?
(a) The entire community had to be involved in earning subsistence.
(b) Community standards of decency had to be fairly loose.
(c) Subsistence could be obtained without the entire community.
(d) The goal of a good life had to involve hard work.

3. What does Veblen say about the upper classes in Iceland and Polynesia?
(a) That they invested the capital and give laborers the means of production.
(b) That they were barred from physical labor.
(c) That they worked alongside the rest.
(d) That they offered their vassals' labor to the priests.

4. What allowed a leisure class to emerge?
(a) Expansion of the military.
(b) Differentiation and specialization of labor.
(c) Improvements in production efficiency.
(d) Exploitation of workers.

5. When does Veblen say that a leisure class emerged?
(a) During the transition from mercantilism to early industry.
(b) During the transition from savage barbarism to agricultural barbarism.
(c) During the transition from primitive savagery to barbarism.
(d) During the transition from agricultural barbarism to urban mercantilism.

Short Answer Questions

1. What incentive does Veblen say results from the desire to own property?

2. Private ownership led to what cultural development?

3. What distinction begins to be drawn as the group around the patron grows?

4. According to Veblen, property became a prerequisite for what?

5. How does Veblen describe hunting in a predatory culture?

(see the answer key)

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