GRE Reading Comprehension

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Source: XDF

Historians have only recently begun to note the increase in demand for luxury goods and services that took place in eighteenth-century England. To answer the question of why consumers became so eager to buy, some historians have pointed to the ability of manufacturers to advertise in a relatively uncensored press. This, however, hardly seems a sufficient answer. McKendrick favors a Veblen model of conspicuous consumption stimulated by competition for status. The "middling sort" bought goods and services because they wanted to follow fashions set by the rich. Again, we may wonder whether this explanation is sufficient. Do not people enjoy buying things as a form of self-gratification? If so, consumerism could be seen as a product of the rise of new concepts of individualism and materialism, but not necessarily of the frenzy for conspicuous competition.

Question List: 1 2

According to the passage, a Veblen model of conspicuous consumption has been used to

  • A investigate the extent of the demand for luxury goods among social classes in eighteenth-century England
  • B classify the kinds of luxury goods desired by eighteenth-century consumers
  • C explain the motivation of eighteenth-century consumers to buy luxury goods
  • D establish the extent to which the tastes of rich consumers were shaped by the middle classes in eighteenth-century England
  • E compare luxury consumerism in eighteenth-century England with such consumerism in the twentieth century

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