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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. According to Veblen, what are sports based on?

2. Why, according to Veblen, were women excluded from education?

3. Which organization does Veblen cite as an example of an organization whose existence is related to devout observance?

4. In what activity do delinquents rival the leisure class?

5. How does Veblen describe charitable organizations?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Veblen describe the difference between esoteric and exoteric knowledge?

2. How does Veblen describe the gambling temperament?

3. Which classes duel? Which classes fight?

4. What traits in men are required for the success of a community, in Veblen's description?

5. How do sports relate to the fighting spirit?

6. How do institutions change?

7. Where does Veblen believe the desire to gamble originates?

8. How does education form the leisure class?

9. How does the workman manifest his animistic view about luck?

10. How is education similar to the observance of devotional functions and magic?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Where does the wealth come from that allows the leisure class to consume so much vicariously or conspicuously? How does the leisure class ensure its control over the means of production? That is, how does Veblen--or does Veblen--reflect the influence of Marxist economic and political theory?

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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