Logical reasoning PrepTest 111 · Section 4 · Question 21

Incorrect. The introduction of labor-saving technology is noted as changing the values of a social system, but it doesn't state that this is the only thing that could do so. Violent revolution would probably affect those values, as well!

Incorrect. Labor-saving technology is noted as undermining the values of a social system, but that doesn't mean that all other types of technology will, as well.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Must be True

Stimulus Summary:
Social system → Based on division of jobs
Social system values are embodied in prestige of these jobs
Therefore - Social system → Labor-saving technology that takes over certain jobs will undermine the system's values

Answer Anticipation:
Like many Must be True questions, this stimulus features conditional logic (though in the form of "All" statements, which can feel as if they're not conditional, so no worries if you didn't represent them as conditionals). With these statements diagrammed out, we can see that they don't chain together, so any answer derived from them will be limited to restating them, contraposing them, or applying them to specific situations (here, since all social systems have certain features, an answer could be about a specific social system).

Unlike most Must be True questions, this one features an argument in the stimulus. We still treat all statements in the stimulus as true—including the conclusion. This also opens up another avenue for a correct answer—since necessary assumptions must be true for the conclusion to be true, and we treat the conclusion as true, necessary assumptions can be correct in this question type.

The argument does make an assumption when jumping from the premises to the conclusion. The premises establish that a system's values are embodied in the prestige of jobs. The conclusion is that a change to these jobs undermines the values of the system. That's assuming that changing values/jobs necessarily undermines those values, so we can look for that answer.

Since we have a couple avenues that a correct answer could derive from, it's time to head to the answers!

Answer Explanation:
The conclusion of the argument states that all social systems will have their values undermined by technology that replaces jobs. As such, it must be true that a society who can't have their values undermined (if they can't be changed, then they can't be undermined) isn't one that can have this technology take over jobs. This answer is essentially the contrapositive of the conclusion, so it's supported by the stimulus and is thus correct.

Key Takeaway:
Strong statements—whether you view them as conditional or not—will generally lead to correct answers in Must be True questions. Here, there were multiple statements that applied to "all" social systems—that allowed quite a few inferences to be drawn, and it allowed us to "contrapose" our way to the correct answer.

Incorrect. If anything, this answer is contradicted by the stimulus. There, it's noted that all social systems—including technologically advanced ones—have a division of labor, and the values of the system are reflected in the prestige of various jobs. So even if there are fewer jobs not done by machines, the remaining jobs would still have prestige that reflects the society's values.

Incorrect. This answer tries to distract with all the "foreign" statements, but they're actually irrelevant. It's established that labor-saving technology will undermine values, which can make this answer seem supported. However, note the shift—the stimulus is about labor-saving technology, and this answer is about technological innovations generally. There's no guarantee that a non-labor-saving technology would have any effect on jobs and thus values, and so this answer is too broad.