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It's unlikely that bureaucracies will be simplified.
Bureaucratic mechanisms are engineered to resist change.
Pretty short and sweet. We just have, "Premise. Thus, [despite Concession], Conclusion."
They're asking us about the first claim, which is the one premise offered for the conclusion that "it's unlikely that bureaucracies will be simplified".
The claim that bureaucratic mechanisms are engineered to resist change plays which one of the following roles in the argument?
It is a premise offered
Why this is right
Claim 1 is our premise. It's supporting Claim 3, which is our conclusion, signified by Thus. Claim 2 is just a concession / an opposing point that the author doesn't think is enough to keep the conclusion from being true.
Skill tested: Role · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.
81% picked this
It is a conclusion for
It is not a conclusion. The only conclusion is claim 3, prefaced by "Thus".
3% picked this
It is cited as evidence
It is cited as evidence, but the conclusion doesn't say "bureaucratic systems are becoming more complex"; it says "it's unlikely that bureaucracies will get any simpler". Those don't mean the same thing. Something could stay frozen at its current level of complexity and never be simplified. That doesn't mean that it's becoming more and more complex. It's just never becoming less complex. The conclusion is saying, "It's unlikely we'll go backwards" and this answer is saying "we are constantly going forward".
1% picked this
It is used to weaken
Our claim is used to support, not weaken. And there is no claim anywhere in the argument that bureaucracies should be simplified.
0% picked this
It is a conclusion for
It is not a conclusion. The only conclusion is claim 3, prefaced by "Thus".
14% picked this
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