#9 - Concept Reference, Must Be True

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (C).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[lunsandy]

Hi Powerscore!

Is question C correct because of line 13-15 that says "status attainment is seen as a result of individuals' ability to generate resources." So in other words, immigrants have to prove their ability to work in order to gain status attainment. Similarly, this is emphasized in paragraph 2 that the Chinese immigrants were first hampered in the labor market because they did not have small business based household mode of production in comparison to the Japanese immigrants. However, once the Chinese immigrants did establish nuclear families (line 45) they soon paralleled with the Japanese immigrants. Is that why C is the correct answer?

[nicholaspavic]

Hi lunsandy,

The short answer is "yes." You are seizing on the correct concepts in the passage. And not to over-simplify the author's viewpoint, but I would hang my hat on lines 13-16 in choosing (C) as the correct answer choice. It's the first example mentioned in the author's discussion of supply side and he's indicating that it's a common trait shared by the Chinese and Japanese immigrant labor forces. So well done and keep up the good work!

[T.B.Justin]

The passage describes a supply-side element in the labor market, as "the qualities immigrants bring with them for competition in the United States labor market (lines 9-12)," is this based on the common (real world) assumption that Japanese and Chinese immigrants, generally, are perceived to place a high value on their work ethic?


Finally, in the incorrect answer choice (B), because "need" for workers with varying degrees of skills connotes a demand-side element.

Is that why (B) is incorrect?

[Adam Tyson]

You're correct about the problem with answer B, T.B. - that's a demand side element, not a supply element.

As to answer C, this question and the answer choices have nothing to do with any specifics about the Chinese or Japanese immigrants. This question is broader than the specific subject matter of the passage. All we are looking for is something that fits with the lines you referenced - some quality that the immigrants themselves bring, rather than some element of the market into which they arrived. This could apply equally to Irish, Brazilian, or Somalian immigrants. Also, forget what you think you know from the real world! You have to base your answers solely on what you read in the passage. Here, we don't need to know anything about any specific populations. Answers A, B, D, and E all deal with demands rather than supply, so they are out.

[lsatquestions]

Would A be correct if it instead said "concentration of small immigrant-run businesses in a given geographical area" since immigration pattern is mentioned as an example of a supply side factor?

[Robert Carroll]

lsatquestions,

It's not clear to me whether that would make a difference, as that answer choice change seems really ambiguous. From one perspective, the concentration of businesses is a demand-side element, because it's about how the labor market is situated and what market workers would face. From one perspective, it's a supply-side element, since it discusses how immigrants were the owners of the businesses. I think this is just an illustration of the fact that considering counterfactuals where the answer choices change isn't particularly helpful, because we, by definition, can't tell what LSAC would say in those changed situations.

Robert Carroll

[ikim10]

Hi lunsandy,

The short answer is "yes." You are seizing on the correct concepts in the passage. And not to over-simplify the author's viewpoint, but I would hang my hat on lines 13-16 in choosing (C) as the correct answer choice. It's the first example mentioned in the author's discussion of supply side and he's indicating that it's a common trait shared by the Chinese and Japanese immigrant labor forces. So well done and keep up the good work!

I'm having a hard time seeing why (C) is correct other than that the other choices are demand-side. I only got this question right because I eliminated all the other choices. I understand that supply-side means we are looking for something that the immigrants brought with them to the labor market; however, I don't see how we are supposed to know that it is the value immigrants place on work. The jump from "status attainment is seen as a result of individuals' ability to generate resources" to immigrants valuing work doesn't seem obvious to me, and I can't see how this is a Must Be True questions because (C) seems to be bringing in new information. Instead of a high value on work, isn't it possible there were other factors that motivated immigrants to work (ex. effectiveness, make a living, status attainment)? How do we know that it was specifically because they valued it highly? Can you clarify where and how the passage implies this?

[Luke Haqq]

Hi ikim10!

Your reasoning in mentioning that the others are demand side seems correct. Answer choice (C) is the only one that addresses an element from the perspective of immigrants.

Answer choice (C) refers to the "high value placed by immigrants on work." The main thrust of this answer choice, which makes it contrast with the others, is that immigrants themselves place this value on work, rather than it being a structural feature of the host society. This answer choice must be true based on the way that this passage defines supply-side versus demand-side (see, e.g., lines 8-20).