#7 - Global, Purpose

[Robert Carroll]

kwc,

Sure!

Answer choice (E) is easier to understand if you think of an example. I have one in mind because it's actually in another RC passage - specifically, Preptest 64, first passage. Three schools of thought are discussed there. One of these schools of thought holds that societal norms and institutions can affect individuals' choices to such an extent that they may make those individuals choose to commit or refrain from deliberate crimes, with the choice affected by the nature of the norms and institutions. So people in good societal circumstances will probably avoid crime, those in lousy circumstances may be drawn toward crime. This concept that societal circumstances affect your choice of behavior seems like it's exclusive to this group (it doesn't matter for Preptest 64, but I'm adding this information in to make it a good example for this question). Now let's say another school of thought believes that ALL deliberate actions are the result of a weighing of economic consequences. If that school of thought were to be applied to the concept of societal circumstances, perhaps by showing that societal circumstances change the economic costs and benefits of actions, then that school of thought would be applying itself to a concept normally considered the exclusive territory of the other school (the "societal circumstance" school).

If answer choice (E) were correct in a given passage, you'd have the author introducing a concept in the context of a particular school of thought, showing how exclusive that concept is supposed to be to the school of thought, and then introducing a surprising outside school of thought that can also be applied to that concept.

Robert Carroll

[heartofsunshine]

Hi,

I see how I rushed through this question, choosing A without really thinking what it was saying. I was between A and D, I decided to eliminate D because of the "providing examples", plural. I thought they really only gave one example, the example of the rural community and the harvest limitations. Where were the other examples I missed... or did I read too far into this? Thank you!

[Paul Marsh]

Hi heartofsunshine! You are correct that the part about the rural community and its harvest limitations is one such example that answer choice (D) is talking about. The last two sentences of the first paragraph of the passage serve as another example ("For example, as the Earth's ozone layer..."). That gives us at least two examples, which is enough to make the plural in (D) correct. Hope that helps!

[g_lawyered]

Hi,
To add a question to what Emily and Elewis were talking about why answer choice D is correct (and B isn't correct because I too chose B). I recognized that the author disagreed with the traditional economists point of view- especially in the last paragraph. But I stayed away from correct answer choice D because it states the author is "criticizing". I thought that disagreeing and criticizing don't mean the same thing which is why I picked answer choice B because it's a bit more neutral. Can you help me ID what language and lines the author criticizes the economists. I reread the last paragraph and the only thing I could think of is that the author makes a comparison between what traditional economists point of view and literature. Am I on the right track?
Thanks in advance,
Gabriela

[Adam Tyson]

There is some fairly strong language in the last paragraph, Gabriela, that rises to the level of criticism rather than remaining neutral. The author accuses the economists of dodging the issue and disregarding substantive issues, and says by way of analogy that their approach is a "poor substitute." Even in the earlier paragraphs we can see the author siding with the critics, saying that the view of economists leads to "troubling" outcomes (first paragraph) and "damage" to their quality of life (paragraph 2). These aren't the statements of the critics being neutrally reported by the author, but are the claims of the author herself. Our prephrase for this question should therefore be along the lines of "to criticize the purely economic view of prosperity and show why it's problematic."

[ntnguyen]

I am confused as to why the correct answer is D but not B, given that the paragraph as a whole gives a brief description of the 2 main arguments provided by critics and economists.

[Poonam Agrawal]

Hi ntnguyen,

Thanks for getting the discussion started for this question!

While answer choice (B) is something that the passage accomplishes, it's not the author's main goal here. This passage has a very pointed tone - the author is arguing a specific point. If we look in the last paragraph of the passage (starting from line 45), it is clear that the author does not support the economists' view on defining prosperity. The author says that the economists' position dodges the issue by disregarding substantive issues that influence real prosperity. The author also uses an analogy to illustrate that the economists use a convenient and quantifiable measure of prosperity but this is just a poor substitute for an accurate appraisal of true prosperity.

When authors use such strong language, we know that their main goal is to argue a specific point. Therefore, any answer that says the main point is to "summarize" is not enough to capture the strength of the author's language.

Answer choice (D) says the author's purpose is to "criticize one school of thought's definition," which is much stronger language. This is exactly what the author seeks to accomplish - the author wants the world to know that the economists' definition of prosperity is not adequate and uses the example of the rural community to illustrate why.

Let us know if you have any other questions!

[ashpine17]

So I chose C and want to know why it's incorrect. I think the first half is correct but do the critics even make an alternative suggestion as to how prosperity should be measured? All I've got is that she doesn't like the way the economists are doing so but I'm not sure if she gave an alternative measurement

[ashpine17]

The author did talk about environmental factors and happiness as important things the economists’ definition doesn’t take into account…does that count as a suggestion?

[evelineliu]

Hi Ash,

It's not answer choice (C) because we're never presented with "several possible alternative definitions." The reader only gets the critic's alternative definition, and the author doesn't question it.

Hope that helps,
Eveline