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AP U.S. History Videos 277 videos

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AP U.S. History Exam 2.29 166 Views


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Description:

AP U.S. History Exam 2.29. Those in Veblen's "leisure class" justified their wealth by citing the theory of...what?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:00

[ musical flourish ]

00:03

And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by conspicuous consumption,

00:07

the sickness that makes you crave attention.

00:10

All right.

00:11

[ mumbles ]

00:16

All right, Theory of the Leisure Class, 1899.

00:19

All right, and the question:

00:20

Those in Veblen's leisure class justified their wealth

00:23

by citing the theory of... what?

00:25

And here are your potential answers.

00:27

[ mumbles ] Huh. All right.

00:31

Well, members of the leisure class were not shy about money,

00:34

but because they had so much of it compared to the rest of society,

00:38

they often needed justification for, uh...

00:40

just how wealthy they were.

00:42

So did the leisure class justify their wealth

00:44

by citing the theory of A - conspicuous consumption?

00:48

Though it sounds like it would be used to describe a competitive year,

00:52

conspicuous consumption referred to those who displayed

00:55

their wealth by acquiring luxury goods.

00:58

Anyway, it ain't A.

01:00

Could the leisure class have justified their wealth

01:02

by citing the C - cult of domesticity?

01:06

Well, huh, the cult of domesticity was a push-back

01:09

against women working in factories,

01:11

not a justification of wealth. So get rid of C.

01:14

Did the leisure class justify their financial status by citing D -

01:18

social gospel?

01:20

Well, actually, social gospel was a movement aimed at

01:23

helping those trapped at the other end of the financial spectrum.

01:26

So it's not D.

01:28

That means the leisure class justified their wealth through B -

01:30

Social Darwinism.

01:32

The leisure class preferred to justifiy their wealth by attributing it

01:35

to their natural strength as businesspeople.

01:37

This idea was supported by Social Darwinism,

01:40

which applied the idea of survival of the fittest

01:43

in an economic and social sphere.

01:46

So B is the correct answer.

01:47

Though lower classes saw this justification as

01:50

pretty convenient, the wealthy relied on Social Darwinism

01:53

to help explain the origin of their...

01:56

specie.

01:57

[ moo ]

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