Theory of the Leisure Class

I did not expect to find an academic work that deemed drunkenness as "honorific" but I supposed it was a sign of the time this passage was written in (end of the 19th century). I think that Thorstein Veblen makes some interesting claims in the few pages that I read for this assignment. He asserts that the leisure class' persistence "furthers the survival and culture of predatory traits". Initially, I disagreed, thinking that survival meant that these financially well-off men were also of the best fitness to overcome natural selection; I thought these boozed fat cats would have no chance of better fitness than a man of lower class employed in physical labor. However, the men higher in class do not face the risks of labor, but reap the rewards. Perhaps one's intelligence rather than physical capability is more important to survival of man. I did disagree with Veblen's sexist ideas; even if it was the 1800s, no woman;s duty is to "prepare and administer these luxuries" for "men to consume them". If only Velben could see society now with women out competing men in GPAs and advanced degrees.