Q19

[carly.applebaum]

i chose E because in the first paragraph, it talks about the increase in urbanization/politicization/etc and then in the second paragraph, it says that the sociologists failed to recognize...which made me think that the author thinks that the sociologists exaggerated the increase in urban/etc. because there is something else they didn't include.

maybe i am reading too much into this/inferring too much, but i don't see why C is correct. is it because the passage says that "intertribal activities reinforce native American identity?" it doesn't say this compared to Euroamerican identity. Explain?

Thanks in advance!

[ohthatpatrick]

You're right to think that "failed to note" obviously indicates our author wants to set the record straight or clarify some misconception that the sociologists have.

But it we read the rest of that sentence (line 20), it's not discussing anything about greater urbanization, increasing politicization, or intertribal communication.

In fact, in lines 17-20, our author makes a point of agreeing with the sociologists that there indeed is more intertribal communication.

The author says sociologists have "failed to note" a concurrent revitalization of traditions unique to individual tribes. So we must ask ourselves, "what did the sociologists in the 1st paragraph say that conflicts with this?"

It would have to be lines 7-10, that the "inevitable outcome of this tendency is the eventual dissolution of tribes and complete assimilation of native Americans into Euroamerican society". This idea is then branded the "Pan-Indian" theory, and disputing that theory is the author's main purpose in this passage.

You were looking in the right vicinity to support (C). The last sentence of the passage says that intertribal activities "reinforce native American identity along a broader front, where this identity is directly threatened by outside influences."

What are these "outside influences"? From the context of the whole passage, the author is presumably referring to the encroaching Euroamerican influence. The sociologists believe that intertribalism is an indication that specific tribes are dissolving into each other, ultimately leading to native Americans dissolving into the Euroamerican culture. The author, meanwhile, believes that specific tribes are revitalizing unique tribal customs but also participating in more intertribal activities to RESIST dissolving into the Euroamerican culture.

This is the central argument of the passage.

(C) is still a weird paraphrase, but it's typical restatement language for LSAT.

If I tell you that "studying helps you score better on the LSAT", they might rephrase that in an answer as "without studying, it would be more difficult for students to see improvement on their LSAT score".

==other answers==

A) we can't anywhere support that native Americans are "beginning to have an important influence on Euroamerican society".

B) "there is no difference" is much too extreme.

D) Just because the powwow's revival may strengthen ethnic identify, we can't support that THE REASON it was revived was IN ORDER TO strengthen ethnic identity.


Hope this helps. Let me know if it elicits any other questions.

[logicfiend]

This is probably me reading too much into this answer choice and question, but I just couldn't reconcile myself with C initially based on the word "reinforce." Reinforce means additional support, but that doesn't mean it's the only support.

Here's my thought process for more clarification with C:

The way I read "reinforce" is that it implied there must have been other things that the native Americans were doing to protect their identity because intertribal activities were "reinforcing," given that it is the definition of the word.

If all the intertribal activities were doing was "reinforcing," does it really follow that without these particular activities it was would have been "more difficult" for native Americans to maintain cultural differences?

Perhaps some accompanying support could solidify the reasoning behind this answer choice: L41-42 says, "Yet the fact remains that intertribal activities are a major facet of native American culture today."

This line explains (C) more fully, in my opinion. We know that the purpose of the intertribal activities is to reinforce their identity, and if these activities were a major facet of their culture/played a major role, we can conclude that without these activities, it may have been more difficult to protect their identity from outside influences.

Any thoughts?