Reading ComprehensionDifficulty: Easy

PT5 S4 P4 Q22 Explanation

Life-Passage vs. Life-History Studies

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

TopicsMain PointSociety

Keep going in LSAT Lab

  • Save & drill this skill — build targeted practice sets from questions like this one

  • Video walkthroughs — watch every question solved step by step

  • 81 official LSATs — as questions, timed sections & full-length tests

Start practicing free

Free to start

Full official LSAT questions are available through LawHub. This page provides LSAT Lab's explanation, strategy, and review tools without republishing the full official question.

Passage

Anthropologist David Mandelbaum makes a distinction between life-passage studies and life-history studies which emerged primarily out of research concerning Native Americans. Life-passage studies, he says, “emphasize the requirements of society, showing how groups socialize and enculturate their young in order to make them into viable members of society.” Life histories, however, “emphasize or her culture. This distinction can clearly be seen in the autobiographies of Native American women.

For example, some early recorded autobiographies, such as The Autobiography of a Fox Indian Woman, a life passage recorded by anthropologist Truman Michelson, emphasizes prescribed roles. The narrator presents her story in a way that conforms with tribal expectations. Michelson’s work is valuable as ethnography, as a reflection of the day-to-day responsibilities outsiders shaping the story to reflect their preconceived notions of what the general cultural patterns are.

For example, in Maria Campbell’s account of growing up as a Canadian Metis who was influenced strongly, and often negatively, by the non-Native American world around her, one learns a great deal about the life of Native American women, but Campbell’s individual story, which is told to us directly, is always the reveals much about ethnic relations in Canada while reflecting the period in which it was written.

What this question is testing

Main Point

Anticipate

This is a Main Point question. Step back and ask: across the whole passage, what is the author trying to say?

The author lays out a contrast between life-passage studies and life-history studies in P1, gives an example of each in P2 and P3, and uses Native American women's autobiographies as the medium. So the headline is: these autobiographies illustrate the distinction.

Goal

Looking for an answer that captures both halves: the two types of studies, illustrated by the autobiographies. Be wary of:

Answers that rank one type as obsolete or superior — the passage doesn't take sides

Answers that conflate the two types's goals — they're different, not similar

Answers that focus on a relationship between the two example books that the passage doesn't draw

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

The question
22.

Which one of the following is the most accurate expression of the main point

Answer choices

  1. Too Strong1% picked this

    The contributions of life-history studies to anthropology have made life-passage

    The passage doesn't claim life-passage studies are obsolete. It treats both types as legitimate; Michelson's work is even called "valuable as ethnography." So calling life-passage studies obsolete goes far beyond what the passage says.

  2. Wrong View5% picked this

    Despite their dissimilar approaches to the study of culture, life-history and life-passage studies

    The passage emphasizes that the two types of studies have different goals — one focuses on cultural patterns, the other on individual experience. Saying their goals are similar reverses the central distinction.

  3. Correct93% picked this

    The autobiographies of Native American women illustrate the differences between life-history

    Why this is right

    This captures the whole-passage thread. P1 introduces the distinction and says it can be clearly seen in autobiographies of Native American women. P2 gives the Fox-woman life-passage example. P3 gives the Maria Campbell life-history example. So the autobiographies of Native American women illustrate the differences between the two types of study — exactly what (C) says.

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

  4. Unsupported1% picked this

    The roots of Maria Campbell’s autobiography can be traced to earlier narratives such as The Autobiography of

    The passage doesn't claim that Campbell's work has roots in Michelson's. They're used as contrasting examples, not as parts of a tradition where one descends from the other.

  5. Wrong View1% picked this

    Despite its shortcomings, the life-passage study is a more effective tool than the life-history study for

    The passage doesn't rank life-passage studies as more effective for cultural patterns; in fact, P3 notes that even Campbell's life-history reveals "much about ethnic relations." Both types reveal cultural patterns; the passage doesn't crown one a winner.

Continue the review in LSAT Lab

Save this question, watch the video walkthrough, and drill similar questions in your LSAT Lab account.

Save and practice this skill
LSAT Lab

Turn this review into a targeted study plan.

Save this question, drill more like it, watch the video walkthrough, and track your progress in your LSAT Lab account.

Start practicing free