Self-study
Speaker: Contemporary business firms need to recognize that Support avoiding social responsibility leads to the gradual erosion of power. ████ ██ █████ ███ ███████████ ████ ███ ██ ███████████████ ███ ███ ████ ████ █████ ███ ██ ███ ███ █████ ██ █ ██████ █████ ███████ █████████ ███████████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ████ ███ █████ ███████████ ██ █████ ████████████ █████████ ██████ █████████ ██ ████████ ██████ ███ █████ ████ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ ████ █████████ ██ ████ ██████████ ███████ ██████████ ████ ██ ██████ █████ ████ ███████ ██████ ██ ██ ███ █████ ████ ████████████ ██████████ █ ████████ ████ ██████ ██ ██████ ███ █████ ██ ████ ██ ██ ███ ████ ███ ████████████
Summarize Argument
The speaker concludes that businesses should use power responsibly in order to hold that power as long as possible. Why? Because according to history and the “Iron Law of Responsibility,” society will eventually act to disempower institutions it thinks are misusing power.
Notable Assumptions
The speaker assumes that a business must act responsibly in order for society to view it as responsible. She also assumes that when society tries to disempower an irresponsible business, it will have success. In addition, she assumes using power responsibly will not prevent a business from reaching the “long run.”
19.
Which one of the following ███████████ ██ █████ ████ ███████ ███ █████████ █████████
a
Government institutions are ██ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ██ ██████████████ ██ ████████ █████████████
This doesn’t mean businesses are exempt from that rule. This supports expanding the speaker’s argument to government institutions, but does not weaken her argument relating to businesses.
b
Public relations programs ███ █████ ███████ ██ ████████ ██ ███████████ ████████ ███████████ ████ ████ ██ ██ ████
This challenges the speaker’s assumption that a business must act responsibly in order to be viewed as responsible. It implies businesses can hold their power by acting irresponsibly but maintaining good public relations.
c
The power of ████ ████████████ ██████ ████ ██████ ████ ███ █████ ██ ███████ ███████ ████ ███ ████████ ███████████ ██ ████
This is an irrelevant distinction between institutions. The speed of that erosion is not important to the speaker’s argument, because she admits the “long run” is different in each case.
d
Since no institution ██ ████████ █████ ████████ ████ ██████████ █████
This is fully compatible with the speaker’s argument. She explains how businesses should act to remain powerful as long as they can—she does not imply they can retain power forever.
e
Some businesses that ████ ████ █████ ██ ████████ ███████████ ████ ████ ████ ███
The speaker does not say that socially responsible businesses will last forever. She states only that social responsibility will maximize the time a business has power.