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

2. What does Veblen say happens whenever people acquire a greater ability to pay?

3. What does Veblen say about the upper classes in Iceland and Polynesia?

4. What consumption articles does Veblen state that the consumer hangs on to the most?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the relationship between the necessities of life and an individual's standard of living?

2. What is the purpose of leisure?

3. Why do most people spend in excess of what is required for their physical comfort?

4. How does Veblen describe the differences between the sexes and the effect of those differences on economic life of a society?

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

6. How are the different social classes distinguished?

7. How are habits formed?

8. How did primitive societies divide the labor?

9. How does wealth stratify society?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How useful is the term "the leisure class"? Does it describe everyone with any disposable income? Is it really a synonym for the upper class? Is it a synonym for the middle class?

Essay Topic 2

Is the belief in luck the same thing as religion in Veblen's view? Compare and contrast the two belief systems. Do they both have the same effect on society?

Essay Topic 3

How are women of the leisure class different from men? How are their roles and responsibilities different? How are they the same? Do women express traits of other classes besides the leisure class? If so, what are those traits.

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