Q18

[nnn2108]

Is D wrong because the first paragraph does not mention whether the views presented are the prevailing ones?

Is this just a trap answer that requires closer reading?

[ohthatpatrick]

Yeah, I think you're right. It mostly comes down to "prevailing".

We know that "some critics" (line 1) have a type of critique, and we know that Marcuse's writings are central to this type of critique.

The view of "some critics" is described and we are told how Marcuse's writings relate to that view.

But ... nothing's gonna give us "prevailing".

If you haven't already committed to training your eye to spot extreme language, make sure you do! It's my #1 friend when it comes to Reading Comp and to Inference / Necessary Assumption questions in LR.

The other way to potentially be less tempted by (D) is if you understood the entire passage as our author critiquing Marcusians.

Although the author starts the passage with "some critics", essentially the whole passage is about Marcuse's view. The "some critics" are simply people who agree with Marcuse. Our author is writing this passage in order to point out things she doesn't like about Marcusian theory.

So what would turn me off about (D) is that it sounds kinda like the 1st paragraph summed up several different views and then told us where Marcuse fits into that landscape.

But my pre-phrase for this question was, "P1 and P2 just tell us about Marcuse's view. P3 and P4 give us the author's objections/qualms to Marcuse's view."

=== other answers ===
(A) tempting ... the author IS summarizing Marcusian theory in P1. There is some discussion of political/economic things, but they seem to be from the point of view of Marcusian theory, not explaining the origin story of Marcusian theory. Keep it, but with a big ol' "meh" squiggle next to it.

(B) "false needs" is too narrow. I want this to mention Marcuse. The function of the 1st paragraph is to say, "This essay is about Marcusian critiques!" Plus, P1 doesn't outline several mechanisms by which false needs originate. Eliminate.

(C) I can stop reading at "evaluate". I know that the author didn't drop her opinion until P3.

(D) "prevailing" is too strong.

(E) This looks good too. How is different from (A)?

Which is more important to P1:
"describing Marcusian views"
or
"summarizing political/economic context"

Okay, (E) it is.

[snoopy]

Just to clarify, in E, is it referring to Marcusian’s view on mass market manipulation (lines 9-11) and how it relates to the creation of false needs in line 2 of P1?

[ohthatpatrick]

Yeah, the reason it says,
"describe Marcusian views"
vs.
"describe Marcuse's view"

.... is that the first paragraph is casting a wider net ... it's not just talking about M's view, but "this TYPE of critique" (line 4-5).

Why are people criticizing advertising?
because it leads to the oppression of modern people and to the profit and disproportionate power of corporations.

What does this have to do with Marcusian views?
advertising creates these false needs in us ... satisfying them makes us feel satisfied in spite of living in an objectively unsatisfying world ... we are able to succumb to oppression

[allenkw90]

I was thrown off by the word "role" in answer choice (E). Can anyone help please? What role does this indicate?

[ohthatpatrick]

There are certain criticisms mention in the first sentence of the passage. And then the second sentence begins, "Central to this type of critique are ..." the writings of Marcuse, which naturally give us the Marcusian views.

So the first paragraph explains that Marcusian views play a central role in type of critique "some critics of advertising" have espoused.

Hope this helps.

[CourtneyH949]

I'm thrown off by the phrase "mass market manipulation". At first I eliminated E because I thought it was a term shift. How does "mass market manipulation" fit in?

[dmitry]

This is a classic case of a synthesis question that requires us to pull from multiple sources. The phrase "mass market manipulation" doesn't appear in the passage, but we are told that advertising has "manipulative and hegemonic power" (line 4). Then in lines 10-11, we see that this manipulation by advertisers appears in "mass market culture." Voila! We have mass market manipulation.

If this seems like a lot to pull together, remember that on a first pass through the answers, our first task is to cut the choices that don't fit at all. So on a question like this, I will focus on which answers seem not to get at the point of the paragraph. Then I will dig into individual word choices as needed.