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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which occupation would the leisure class have worked as?

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

3. What term does Veblen use to describe horses and dogs?

4. How do the clergy indicate the honor of their employment?

5. Where is conspicuous consumption most prevalent?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is emulation, and how does it function in society?

2. How does wealth stratify society?

3. How does Veblen define leisure?

4. How does the standard of wealth change over time?

5. How have women's clothes demonstrated that the woman does not engage in productive employment?

6. How does the labor class view its work?

7. What distinguishes the leisure class from the other classes?

8. How did primitive societies divide the labor?

9. In what way is dress an example of conspicuous waste?

10. What status is attributed to scholars?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Can leisure be said to be a form of labor itself? Is the leisure class obligated to perform its conspicuous leisure and conspicuous consumption? Is it work? If not, why not?

Essay Topic 2

How do Veblen's definitions hold up in contemporary society? Are his definitions of the classes accurate? Are his definitions of the behaviors accurate? Have the times changed since he wrote "The Theory of the Leisure Class"? How have they changed? How have they remained the same?

Essay Topic 3

What would a society without conspicuous consumption be like? Is Veblen satirizing leisure class culture? By exposing the excessive consumption, is he urging us to live a somehow more genuine or less luxurious lifestyle?

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