Logical Reasoning

PT157 · S3 · Q5 Taylorism, the early-twentieth-century industrial

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Taylorism, the early-twentieth-century industrial efficiency movement pioneered by Frederick Taylor, has had a profound effect on industrialized societies.

Situation

causal chain Taylorism >> more efficient methods >> increased productivity >> increases in most workers' standards of living.

pivot tension + causality Taylorism >> jobs feel more routine/repetitive >> jobs have less intrinsic worth (than when they required more creativity / talent).

Evaluate

When we see this Proposition / Generalization subtype of Most Supported, we usually hear a story about some Causal Difference-Maker or some Pivot Tension.

The correct answer typically reinforces that causal connection or addresses that pivot tension.

Goal

Since this paragraph has the Pivot Tension, we might see an answer that .

5.

The situation described above most closely conforms to which one of the following generalizations?

  1. Sometimes measures that appear to

    Bad Conclusion Match

    We only heard about Taylorism increasing efficiency. We never heard that it was deleterious to efficiency (i.e. harmful to / undermining).

    2% picked this

  2. Correct

    Some developments in industry can

    Why this is right

    This answer safely captures that Pivot Tension between the good effects of Taylorism and the bad ones. Workers benefited financially (a greater standard of living relates to what sort of things you can afford). But the work was made less rewarding (robbed of some of its intrinsic worth).

    Skill tested: Most Supported · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    87% picked this

  3. Increased efficiency in industrial settings

    Bad Evidence Match

    We never heard that workers were devoting less effort to their jobs, only that their jobs were more routine and repetitive, less creative and full of less intrinsic worth.

    3% picked this

  4. An increase in workers’ standards

    Bad Evidence Match

    Whatever phenomenon we hear about in one of these Situations is enough to support the idea that this type of phenomenon sometimes occurs, but it's stretching the facts a lot farther to say it usually occurs, as this answer does. Plus, we didn't hear that workers value their jobs less. We heard that their jobs had less intrinsic worth, which is more of a commentary on how satisfying the job is to perform. The idea of "how much does a worker value their job" seems more related to the idea of "how happy are they that they HAVE a job".

    6% picked this

  5. Workers who have greater than

    Unsupported Comparison

    The stimulus does not compare creative workers to non-creative workers in terms of their efficiency. It states that Taylorism reduced the role of creativity and talent in workers' jobs. That is a change in the nature of work over time, not a comparison between different types of workers at the same time.

    1% picked this

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