Reading comp PrepTest 108 · Section 1 · Question 20

Topic: Social Science

Paragraph 1

• Paragraph note
  • A criticism (corporations are immoral) and economists' rebuttal (corporations are just business relationships)
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Many people's criticism:
    • Businesses are immoral and the cause of many problems in Western society (first sentence)
  • Comparison, according to many people:
    • Criticisms of business apply not just when to those that are fraudulent but also to prioritizing profit (second sentence)
  • Economists' rebuttal:
    • This criticism unfairly applies ethical principles to business relationships (last sentence)

Paragraph 2

• Paragraph note
  • Background information on corporate ownership (corporations are not people, but most are run by CEOs who serve the owners)
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Author's view:
    • "Corporate responsibility" refers to the combined responsibility of the people in the corporation (second sentence)
  • Comparisons, according ot the author:
    • Corporations are not people (first sentence)
    • Some corporations are run by the owners, but many (and most large) are run by CEOs who have an obligation to the owners (last sentence)
  • Author's attitude: "only by" (first sentence), "are not" (first sentence)

Paragraph 3

• Paragraph note
  • Premises to economists' rebuttal (CEOs only responsible to owners, but even maximizing profits helps public)
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • The economists' view (the rebuttal against the criticism of corporations): CEOs are just doing their job
    • It's the CEO's job to produce profits (first and second sentence)
    • Even if the CEO was only obligated to look to the public good, they would still work to maximize profits because that will also eventually help the public (last sentence)
  • Comparison:
    • A CEO's job for a charitable institution is not simply producing profits, unlike non-charitable corporations (first sentence)

Paragraph 4

• Paragraph note
  • Author's criticism of the rebuttal (not all profit-seeking enterprises serve public, CEOs have moral responsibility)
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Author's view:
    • Corporate profit doesn't always lead to public profit (second sentence)
    • Business obligations do not override moral ones (fourth sentence)
      • A CEO could make a case against an immoral practice to owners (fifth sentence)
    • Example of profit-seeking endeavor that harms public
      • A paper mill that decimates forests & pollutes lakes to increase profits (third sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "But" (first sentence), "does not hold up under careful scrutiny" (first sentence), "although there is no doubt" (second sentence), "there is no guarantee—either theoretically or in practice" (second sentence), "It is absurd to deny" (third sentence), "they are not morally paramount" (fourth sentence), "ultimately do not excuse the individual from the responsibility of acting morally" (last sentence)

Main Point: The economists' defense of corporations is ill-founded because corporate profit doesn't always lead to public profit and business obligations do not override moral ones.

Paragraph 1, Sentence 1 (P1, S1): Criticism of corporations

P1, S3: The economists' rebuttal

P4, S1: The author's response is introduced

Criticizing a Viewpoint: This passage utilizes a Criticizing a Viewpoint Meta-Structure.* In such structures, the author describes a view held by another person or group, and then criticizes that view.

In passages that use a Criticizing a Viewpoint Meta-Structure, the main point will be the author's central criticism or a summary of the criticisms. We can often find a conclusion in which the author summarizes their criticisms. But since this author doesn't provide such a conclusion, we'll come up with one ourselves. Thus, the main point will be: "The economists' defense of corporations is ill-founded because corporate profit doesn't always lead to public profit and business obligations do not override moral ones."

*As is true for many Criticizing a Viewpoint passages, other Critical Meta-Structures could apply here. Correcting the Record could also certainly describe this passage's argument. You could even use the Resolving a Debate Meta-Structure.

Comparison: This passage’s most prominent minor Meta-Structure is the comparison. The author draws many distinctions throughout the passage (corporations and people, owner-operated and CEO-operated corporations, charitable organizations and corporations, the CEO’s business/legal obligations and moral obligations). At least one of these is bound to be relevant to a question, so having them conveniently highlighted can help us review relevant text when necessary.

Viewpoints in RC are sometimes stacked like onion layers. At the center of this particular passage, we have a view that claims corporations are to blame for many of the problems in Western society. This view is not articulated or expanded upon – it's simply the starting point. Then, the next layer of viewpoint belongs to the economists who think that corporations are absolved from this kind of moral evaluation. This view and the argument behind it are explained. Finally, the center layer of this onion is the author's view that these corporations do, in fact, have moral responsibilities. This view is outlined in the most detail and it represents the main point of the passage. Keeping these views organized and understanding the relationship between them is vital to a complete understanding of this passage.