Self-study
Commentator: Support In many countries the influence of fringe movements is increasing. ███ █████ ███████████ ██████ ██ ██████ ███████ █████ ██████ ███ ███████ ████████ ███ █████████ ███████████ ██████████ ████████ ██████████ ████████ █████████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ████████ ██████████ ██████ ██████ ███████ █████████ ███ ████████ ██████████ ████ ███ █████ ██ ███ ██████
Summarize Argument
The commentator concludes that modern culture threatens currently existing national identities. This is based on the fact that fringe movements are becoming more prominent, and modern culture is churning out new movements with increasing speed.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that modern culture's rapid production of new movements, and the increasing influence of these movements, is sufficient to threaten currently existing national identities. This assumes that national identities are not made up of such a variety of movements, or can't easily adapt to or incorporate them.
6.
Which one of the following ███████████ ██ █████ ████ █████████ ███████ ███ █████████████ █████████
a
New national identities ███ █████ ██████ ███ ██ █████████ █████ ███████ ███████
If anything, this might strengthen the argument. Since modern culture produces a great diversity of movements, then modern culture seems likely to produce new national identities, which would be a threat to currently existing national identities.
b
A stable national ████████ ██ █████████ █ █████████ ██ █ ██████████ ██████ ██ ████████████
This weakens the argument. If this is true, then national identities are already made up of a wide variety of smaller movements, not just a few main movements or ideologies. This makes it less likely that modern culture's production of many new movements will on its own threaten national identities. The new movements might just contribute to those identities.
c
The rate of ████████ ██████ ██ ████ █████████ ████ ████ ██████ ████████████
This doesn't affect the argument. This just tells us that the rate will \"change\", but we don't know if it will speed up or slow down. Either way, we don't know how that change would affect national identity.
d
It is preferable ██ ████ █ ███████████ ██████ ████ █ ██████████ ████████ ████████
Irrelevant. We're not interested in what is preferable, we want to know the actual effects of modern culture on current national identities.
e
A culture with █ ██████████ ████████ ████████ █████ ██ ████ ████ ██████ ████████ ████ ███ ███████ ████ ██ █████████
Irrelevant. We're not interested in the effects of weaker versus stronger national identities. We’re only interested in how modern culture changes national identities.