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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. 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 people surrounding them.
(d) The standard of the highest ranking relative in their ancestry.

2. Why does Veblen say women wore corsets?
(a) Because restricting their movements prevented them from work.
(b) Because making them slenderer made them seem more expensive.
(c) Because restricting their movements made them less threatening.
(d) Because discomfort was a luxury.

3. What spiritual need does clothing serve for people?
(a) Veblen says that it reminds them of the discomforts Christ suffered.
(b) Veblen says that it helps them conform to society.
(c) Veblen says that it helps them raise their eyes to the skies.
(d) Veblen says that it comforts them as God comforts them.

4. What factors drove the emergence of the leisure class?
(a) Military forces.
(b) Economic forces.
(c) Geographical forces.
(d) Technological forces.

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

6. How does Veblen explain the change of fashion from year to year?
(a) It is a form of cultural restlessness.
(b) It is a shallow form of bourgeois emulation of different aristocratic idols.
(c) It is a constantly renewed way to police who is current and who is classic.
(d) It is a form of conspicuous waste.

7. 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.

8. What distinction begins to be drawn as the group around the patron grows?
(a) Between aristocratic and democratic.
(b) Between landed and monied gentry.
(c) Between upper-class and lower-class merchants.
(d) Between noble and ignoble.

9. What principle does Veblen say guides the consumer's habits?
(a) Conspicuous consumption.
(b) Vicarious consumption.
(c) Conspicuous waste.
(d) Vicarious waste.

10. What does Veblen say happens to those who need to work but do not work?
(a) They are exiled.
(b) They are taken care by the stronger workers.
(c) They become beggars.
(d) They take care of the children and elders.

11. How does Veblen say members of a society are ranked and judged?
(a) In terms of their power.
(b) In terms of their morals.
(c) In terms of their noble lineage.
(d) In terms of their wealth.

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

13. What consumption articles does Veblen state that the consumer hangs on to the most?
(a) Luxuries.
(b) Objects with high utility value.
(c) Necessities.
(d) Objects with high exchange value.

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

15. What incentive does Veblen say results from the desire to own property?
(a) The incentive to marry.
(b) The incentive to fight over property.
(c) The incentive to work.
(d) The incentive to have children.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Veblen say a woman's dress indicates about her spouse?

2. How does Veblen define leisure?

3. Private ownership led to what cultural development?

4. What makes dress a good indicator of conspicuous waste?

5. What happens when men come into wealth through peaceful means?

(see the answer keys)

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