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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. How does Veblen say the upper classes in an agricultural society see work?
(a) They envy it.
(b) They idealize it.
(c) They see it as dishonorable.
(d) They master it.

3. What happens when men come into wealth through peaceful means?
(a) Property becomes an indicator of success.
(b) Property becomes the subject of competition and warfare.
(c) Property becomes the measure of spiritual values.
(d) Property becomes an indicator of heritage.

4. What employments did upper-class people in Iceland and Polynesia work in?
(a) Investment banking and diplomacy.
(b) Management, service jobs, and newspapers.
(c) Arts, music, and entertainment.
(d) Government, military, and the ministry.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What stage of culture contained the institution of the leisure class?

2. Who engages in vicarious consumption?

3. What distinction does Veblen say emerged between types of labor in cultures that had a leisure class?

4. How does the upper class distinguish itself, according to Veblen?

5. What allowed a leisure class to emerge?

(see the answer key)

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