Reading ComprehensionDifficulty: Easy

PT12 S3 P2 Q11 Explanation

Chinese and Japanese Immigrants

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Reading Comprehension question.

TopicsInferenceSociety

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Passage

In order to explain the socioeconomic achievement, in the face of disadvantages due to racial discrimination, of Chinese and Japanese immigrants to the United States and their descendants, sociologists have typically applied either culturally based or structurally based theories—but never both together. To use an economic metaphor, culturally based explanations assert the the economic metaphor, structural explanations assert the importance of the demand side of the labor market.

In order to understand the socioeconomic mobility of Chinese and Japanese immigrants and their descendants, only an analysis of supply-side and demand-side factors together, in the context of historical events, will suffice. On the cultural or supply side, differences in immigration pattern and family formation resulted in different rates of socioeconomic achievement established by Japanese immigrants, their socioeconomic attainment soon paralleled that of Japanese immigrants and their descendants.

On the structural or demand side, changes in institutional constraints, immigration laws, labor markets, and societal hostility were rooted in the dynamics of capitalist economic development. Early capitalist development generated a demand for low-wage labor that could not be fulfilled. Early Chinese and Japanese immigration was a response to this demand. In expanding primary labor market in the advanced capitalist economy that existed after the Second World War.

What this question is testing

Inference

Your task

Find what must be true based on what the passage or stimulus states.

Common trap

Answers that are plausible or likely but not actually guaranteed by the text.

Winning move

Keep only the choice the statements fully support — eliminate anything that requires an extra assumption.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question
11.

It can be inferred that the author’s analysis of the socioeconomic achievement of Chinese and Japanese immigrants and their descendants differs from that of most sociologists

Answer choices

  1. Opposite, if anything7% picked this

    address the effects of the interaction of

    This answer is saying that the author does not address the effects of the interaction of causal factors. That seems like an opposite.. The author is the one combining supply-side and demand-side factors, so she seems to be talking about the interaction of causal factors.

  2. Unrelated to Goal3% picked this

    exclude the factor of a developing

    We never heard that most sociologists exclude the factor of a developing capitalist economy. We only heard that most sociologists do cultural or structural analysis, but never both together.

  3. Unrelated to Goal3% picked this

    do not apply an economic

    We never heard that most sociologists avoid applying an economic metaphor. We only heard that most sociologists do cultural or structural analysis, but never both together.

  4. Unrelated to Goal4% picked this

    emphasize the disadvantageous effects of racial

    We never heard that most sociologists emphasize the ills of racial discrimination. We only heard that most sociologists do cultural or structural analysis, but never both together.

  5. Correct83% picked this

    focus on a single type of

    Why this is right

    This is what we predicted: most sociologists apply cultural theories or structural theories, but never both together. They focus on a single type of theoretical explanation. Meanwhile, the author thinks that only an analysis that appreciates cultural and structural factors will suffice.

    Skill tested: Inference · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

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