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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Veblen say happens to cultures that develop knowledge and tools?
(a) They become more diplomatic.
(b) They become more warlike.
(c) They become more efficient.
(d) They become more decadent.

2. What standard does Veblen say guides people's behavior?
(a) The standard of the class just beyond their reach.
(b) The standard of the class they were born into.
(c) The standard of the highest ranking relative in their ancestry.
(d) The standard of the people surrounding them.

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

4. What distinguishes devout structures from other buildings?
(a) They are more comfortable.
(b) They are more ornate.
(c) They are always open to the public.
(d) They are less elaborate.

5. What does Veblen say possessions indicate in an ownership society?
(a) The virtue of the possessor.
(b) The nobility of the possessor.
(c) The fame of the possessor.
(d) The power of the possessor.

6. What does Veblen say happens as technology progresses?
(a) Men have more children.
(b) Men have more wives.
(c) Men have more time for activities beyond subsistence.
(d) Men have more time for prayer.

7. What makes dress a good indicator of conspicuous waste?
(a) Everyone has to wear it.
(b) Everyone knows how much clothing costs.
(c) It can be made in so many different ways.
(d) It is always on display.

8. How do the clergy indicate the honor of their employment?
(a) By their meditation upon timeless concepts.
(b) By their dress and their nonproductive labor.
(c) By their conspicuous waste of productive land.
(d) By their devout productivity in the Church's work.

9. Which occupation would the leisure class have worked as?
(a) Writer.
(b) Merchant.
(c) Engraver.
(d) Minister.

10. What are the standards of consumption determined by?
(a) Conspicuous waste and workmanship.
(b) Industrial production.
(c) Class mobility.
(d) Physical comfort.

11. When did the leisure class become part of society?
(a) At the same time religion did.
(b) At the same time slavery did.
(c) At the same time ownership did.
(d) At the same time technology did.

12. What does Veblen say clothing is designed for?
(a) Protection.
(b) Health.
(c) Show.
(d) Support.

13. What is reserved for the leisure class?
(a) Possession of slaves.
(b) Travel.
(c) Owning property.
(d) Luxuries like jewelry.

14. What classes does Veblen describe emerging as society developed?
(a) Workers and parasites.
(b) Industrial and nonindustrial classes.
(c) Blue-collar and white-collar classes.
(d) Proletariat and bourgeoisie.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Veblen say causes an item of clothing to be seen as inferior?

2. To whom does the requirement of excessive clothing apply most?

3. What does Veblen say is evidence of people's concern with their appearances?

4. Spending money on churches is an example of what?

5. What does Veblen say the effects of an ownership society are on the behavior of its members?

(see the answer keys)

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