PrepTest 103, Section 2, Question 8
Sociologist: The welfare state cannot be successfully implemented(58 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(10 more words not shown)
- AThe welfare state(3 more words not shown)
- BThe welfare state(12 more words not shown)
- CThe assumption that(6 more words not shown)
- DThe interests of(9 more words not shown)
- EThe welfare state(7 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Why must people be generous for the system to collect their money? A person could pay a required tax because they want to avoid a penalty, even if they dislike how the money will be used. That would be a self-interested reason to pay. The sociologist's claim that wage earners need an unselfish attitude makes me wonder about that possibility.
The argument concerns the people providing the funds. It says the welfare state needs their willingness to help others, then says people naturally put their own well-being first. Those claims are meant to support the opening prediction that the welfare state cannot work.
What we’re looking for
We are asked for the main conclusion, so we do not need to settle the objection about compulsory payment. What is the author trying to get us to believe? That the welfare state cannot be successfully implemented. The claims about its requirements and human selfishness are the reasons offered for that judgment.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
The welfare state will not work. This restates the opening conclusion that it cannot be successfully implemented.
The rest of the paragraph explains why the sociologist thinks that: the system supposedly requires an unselfish attitude that people do not have. A does not need to repeat those reasons to state the main point.
- B
The author questions whether the system can work, not whether its demands are fair. Having to give up money could be fair or unfair without settling whether a system can be implemented. B adds a moral judgment the sociologist does not state.
- C
The claim that people are not unselfish supports the prediction about the welfare state. It is not the final point of the argument. Ask why the author brings up human motivation: to explain why the system allegedly cannot work.
- D
The final sentence says people especially pursue their own interests when other people's interests threaten them. That contributes to the argument about selfishness. It is not the conclusion about implementing the welfare state, and the paragraph does not set out to establish a broad conflict between everyone who is less fortunate and everyone else.
- E
This captures a requirement the sociologist places on the system: it depends on wage earners having an unselfish willingness to help. That is part of the support. The conclusion comes from combining that claimed requirement with the claim that people naturally look out for themselves: therefore, the welfare state will not work.
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