#8 - Sociologist: The welfare state cannot be successfully implemented because it rests on the

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Main Point—Sufficient and Necessary. The correct answer choice is (A).

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

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

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

[kaylinamey]

Hello!

I think I am a bit confused on why A is correct. This answer seems like an assumption. My thought was "just because it is not successfully implemented, does not mean it will not work." This answer choice just seemed too strong. Can you please explain why this thought is incorrect?

I guessed E because of the use of the word generosity. If someone is generous, they are not selfish. The sociologist claims that the welfare state is feasible only when wage earners have an unselfish attitude. If the welfare state cannot be successfully implemented because it rests on the assumption that human beings are unselfish, then it "relies on the generosity of wage earners."

Please help! Thank you

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi kaylinamey,

Answer choice (E) is a great example of an answer choice that must be true but that isn't the main point of the stimulus. When we think about the main point, we are looking for something that is both true and represents the main idea of the passage.

The words you point to in the stimulus are the same words that prove answer choice (A) is the correct answer. If the welfare state cannot be successfully implemented" then it cannot work. It won't be able to be successful. We aren't making any assumptions, but we are just rewording the stimulus.

Hope that helps!

[kaylinamey]

Hi kaylinamey,

Answer choice (E) is a great example of an answer choice that must be true but that isn't the main point of the stimulus. When we think about the main point, we are looking for something that is both true and represents the main idea of the passage.

The words you point to in the stimulus are the same words that prove answer choice (A) is the correct answer. If the welfare state cannot be successfully implemented" then it cannot work. It won't be able to be successful. We aren't making any assumptions, but we are just rewording the stimulus.

Hope that helps!

Thank you! This helps a lot. I need to focus more on the question stem in the future. I can see how E is more a MBT than a conclusion.

[mollylynch]

So even though they say 'it can be feasible' that doesn't mean that it will work?

[Jeff Wren]

Hi Molly,

Be very careful when reading everything on the LSAT! (Very careful reading/attention to detail is one of the most important skills tested on the LSAT.)

Let's examine the exact wording of the relevant sentence in the stimulus.

"The welfare state is feasible only if wage earners are prepared to have their hard-earned funds used to help others in great need, and that requires an unselfish attitude" (my emphasis).

This is a conditional statement. If you're not familiar with conditional reasoning yet, you'll want to study it as soon as possible as it appears in many Logical Reasoning questions and in Logic Games. It's covered in lesson 2 of The PowerScore LSAT Course and in chapter 6 of "The Logical Reasoning Bible."

What this sentence is basically stating is:

If the welfare state were feasible, then it would require wage earners to be prepared to have their hard-earned funds used to help others in great need and that would require people to be unselfish.

The argument then goes on to state that people are basically selfish, and therefore, using the contrapositive (again, if you're not familiar with this term, it's discussed under conditional reasoning), the welfare state is not feasible.

Here's a similar argument to illustrate.

In order to do well on the LSAT, one must study very hard. John didn't study very hard. Therefore, John didn't do well on the LSAT.