Reading comp PrepTest 153 · Section 4 · Question 26
Passage
Questions 22-27 . Social historians have noted that European social . and political thought of the nineteenth and early .
Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage SummaryTopic: Social Sciences
Paragraph 1
Despite working when they were proposed, "grand theories" can no longer be seen to accurately describe the world, and we need to move to a view that includes historical contingency, perspective, and a lack of inevitability.
Key Lines:
Lines 1-5 - Introduce the background view that the Author is going to pivot away from
Lines 18-20 - The pivot to show that this view is no longer viable
Lines 37-40 - Introduces the problem that the Author is ultimately trying to solve in coming up with a new approach
Lines 42-50 - An overview of the new approach advocated for by the Author
Meta-Structure:
Old theory/New Theory
Problem/Solution
This passage combines these two structures, to bring up an old theory that has problems ("grand theories"), and then to pose the problem that needs to be addressed in order to create a new approach to the study of history. The Author then concludes with a general description of this new approach.
Last Thoughts:
The passage relies heavily in the first two paragraphs on the examples of Marxism and Freudianism, so we should expect some questions on that. The second paragraph also includes two reasons for the old theories to have fallen out of favor (events that don't fit the theories; association with failed governments), so we should expect questions there, too.
The last paragraph is a bit complex and nuanced, so we should expect there to be questions that play into the difficulty in distinguishing exactly what the Author is saying there. Knowing that it's a solution to how to incorporate what was good about the old theory (provide some type of story/sense into history) without falling into its problems (fully determined history) should help for questions that ask about it.
Paragraph 1
- Paragraph note
- A history of the approach to social/political thought (19th and early 20th centuries)
- Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
- Social/political thought centered on "grand theories" that explained many events with general rules
- Examples - Marxism (economic) and Freudianism (psychological)
- Paragraph note
- The love of "grand theories" has waned in recent years for several reasons
- Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
- They were influential enough to be seen as hard-and-fast rules
- These theories hurt by events that don't fit them, and being linked to failed or abusive governments
- They worked at the time, but they no longer work
- Paragraph note
- A pivot to why "grand theories" were popular and thoughts on how to address that need with a new approach described by the author
- Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
- They were popular because they made people feel as if history/life made sense ("historical inevitability").
- We need something to address that need that doesn't have the problem of "grand theories"
- Solution - An approach that focuses on contingency, unique details, "constrains" rather than "necessitates," and allows all possibilities without saying history is fully determined
Despite working when they were proposed, "grand theories" can no longer be seen to accurately describe the world, and we need to move to a view that includes historical contingency, perspective, and a lack of inevitability.
Key Lines:
Lines 1-5 - Introduce the background view that the Author is going to pivot away from
Lines 18-20 - The pivot to show that this view is no longer viable
Lines 37-40 - Introduces the problem that the Author is ultimately trying to solve in coming up with a new approach
Lines 42-50 - An overview of the new approach advocated for by the Author
Meta-Structure:
Old theory/New Theory
Problem/Solution
This passage combines these two structures, to bring up an old theory that has problems ("grand theories"), and then to pose the problem that needs to be addressed in order to create a new approach to the study of history. The Author then concludes with a general description of this new approach.
Last Thoughts:
The passage relies heavily in the first two paragraphs on the examples of Marxism and Freudianism, so we should expect some questions on that. The second paragraph also includes two reasons for the old theories to have fallen out of favor (events that don't fit the theories; association with failed governments), so we should expect questions there, too.
The last paragraph is a bit complex and nuanced, so we should expect there to be questions that play into the difficulty in distinguishing exactly what the Author is saying there. Knowing that it's a solution to how to incorporate what was good about the old theory (provide some type of story/sense into history) without falling into its problems (fully determined history) should help for questions that ask about it.
Question prompt
According to the passage,
Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right
Credited answer: D
The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.
Question Type
Social Science
Answer choices
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AIt viewed human psychological Remaining source text redacted.
Why choice A is not credited
Incorrect. (Lines 7-11) Freudianism did view human psychological traits as universal rather than particular to the individual. However, that's not what made Freudianism a grand theory—rather, it's the application of these universal traits to historical events in order to explain them. This answer correctly describes Freudianism but fails to address the question stem! -
BIt had adherents who Remaining source text redacted.
Why choice B is not credited
Incorrect. The Author doesn't state that grand theories are grand theories because the adherents believed the theories to be factual. -
CIt attempted to explain Remaining source text redacted.
Why choice C is not credited
Incorrect. (Paragraph 3) The Author doesn't bring up narrative satisfaction until paragraph 3, and at which point she's moved past discussing Freudianism particularly. The definition in the first paragraph doesn't reference such satisfaction, so this answer is incorrect. -
DIt attempted to account Remaining source text redacted.
Why choice D matches the stem
Correct. Question Type:
Must Be True
Strategy Overview:
Find the section introducing grand theories and Freudianism, and then see why the latter is considered one of the former
Answer Anticipation/Relevant Lines:
Checking our notations, we can see that the first paragraph introduced the idea of grand theories and used Freudianism as an example. While you might be tempted to think that we should focus on Freudianism here, it's likely that the passage introduced a general definition of "grand theories" before discussing Freudianism specifically, so we should be sure to re-read that general definition, as meeting it is what makes Freudianism one.
Here, we get that in Lines 5-7. It states that these grand theories "attempted to account for a broad range of historical phenomena with a single, ambitious explanation." So, in short, grand theories try to explain a lot of things with a single explanation. For Freudianism, that explanation was psychological. Let's find an answer matching this definition.
Answer Explanation:
(Lines 5-7) This answer more or less matches the definition of a grand theory as stated in Lines 5-7, and Freudianism was one of two prime examples of it, making this the correct answer.
Key Takeaway:
When a question in RC asks you about something used as an example, be sure to check out the details of what it's an example of. It's easy to focus just on the details of the example, but that won't necessarily put that example in the full context. Here, failing to read the broader picture might have led you to answer choice (A). -
EIt emphasized the importance Remaining source text redacted.
Why choice E is not credited
Incorrect. (Lines 44-47) These traits aren't mentioned until Paragraph 3, and thus they're not tied to Freudianism. In fact, the passage notes that abandoning grand theories might lead us to return to contemplating these things!
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