PrepTest 128, Section 2, Question 21
Cultural anthropological theory tends to fall into two(79 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(9 more words not shown)
- APatterns of social(14 more words not shown)
- BCultural anthropologists too(14 more words not shown)
- CCultural anthropological theorists(13 more words not shown)
- DSystems of behavior(12 more words not shown)
- EDisagreement among cultural(11 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
The two camps focus on different aspects of culture. The first considers how everyday social behavior develops in response to human needs and the environment. The second emphasizes the meanings involved in thoughts, rituals, and mythology. Those are different emphases, but are they necessarily incompatible?
The author recommends combining them and adding attention to individual people and their actions. Rather than choosing a single lens, anthropologists should consider all three dimensions.
What we’re looking for
We could ask whether each approach has enough value to justify that recommendation, or whether trying to use several approaches at once might become too complicated. But the question asks what is most strongly supported by the passage. We need to follow the author's recommendation, not supply an objection to it. My prediction is that more than one approach can be worth using, even though the theorists have divided into competing camps.
Working the answers
- A
Recommending attention to a community's individuals doesn't establish that social behavior has meaning only from the community's point of view. 'Only' adds a requirement the passage never supplies. A useful perspective need not be the sole perspective from which behavior has meaning.
- B
The author says the dimension of individual people and their actions is often neglected. That is more specific than saying anthropologists' conception of human needs excludes community altogether. We don't know that their account of needs omits community, so B turns a particular neglected dimension into a broader diagnosis.
- C
Focusing on systems of meaning doesn't necessarily mean overlooking people's humanity. The author wants more attention to individual actions, but doesn't accuse that camp of failing to recognize its subjects as human beings. C adds a much stronger criticism.
- D
The passage does discuss behavior in relation to environments. What it doesn't say is that researchers must personally experience those environments to understand behavior. D adds a required method of study that is absent from the recommendation.
- ECorrect
One camp rejects the other's approach, yet the author recommends using both. That supports the point that theorists' disagreement doesn't necessarily make their approaches incompatible. Two groups can oppose one another while the perspectives they emphasize remain useful together.
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