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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through The Pecuniary Standard of Living.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Veblen say was lacking in primitive culture?
(a) A priest class.
(b) The need for drudgery.
(c) A governing class.
(d) Ownership of private property.

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

3. What happens when a community develops a standard of wealth?
(a) Society bands together to care for those below that level.
(b) Anything below that level becomes objectionable.
(c) Society persecutes those below that level.
(d) Anything beyond that level becomes meritorious.

4. How must a man of leisure act?
(a) WIth appreciation for the technical trades that allow him his leisure.
(b) With deference toward his equals and superiors.
(c) With decorum appropriate to his station.
(d) With no respect or regard for his inferiors.

5. What does Veblen say was the earliest form of ownership?
(a) Ownership of land.
(b) Ownership of women.
(c) Ownership of songs.
(d) Ownership of hunting rights.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Veblen say comprises people's standard of living?

2. Who engages in vicarious consumption?

3. What was the state of the leisure class in hunting cultures?

4. Why do people spend more than they need for physical comfort?

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

(see the answer key)

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