PT92.S3.Q12 - Public interest served by an earmarked tax for arts

qs2159

Hi I have a quick question on Q12, the disagreement question. I understand that passage A supports the idea that public funding can encourage the establishment of social capital. But I am not clear why B disagrees with it.. Is it because public funding creates arts that people don't like? It's the latest released test and I can't find any explanation on this online. I am wondering if any 7sager has finished this test and would be so kind as to help! Thank you!
.#help

Admin Note: Edited title. Please use the format: "PT#.S#.Q# - brief description of the question"

nurlsat234-1

hey, this one was tough for me to, but here is my explanation:

1. use a process of elimination
2. the question stem is asking what are the author's MOST LIKELY to disagree about, so this is an inference question rather than "according to the passage" - so it will require us to close some gaps and infer on our own

the reason social capital is correct is:

we know that the author of passage A agrees that subsidies help build social capital. we can infer that the author of passage B disagrees because social capital is something that binds/ties/bonds or brings society together. passage B talks all about how government subsidized art will NOT be of popular appeal and it will only reflect the tastes of a small minority of the population. one of the author's main points is that the subsidies will NOT result in widespread enjoyment, hence most people won't be interested. because of this, we can infer that the author does not think that subsidies will build social capital.

the other tricky AC for me was AC D, but this can be eliminated because:
passage A doesn't say anything about the quality of art under private funding. ALL it says is that private support is not as equitable. passage B, on the other hand, remains pretty ambiguous about the QUALITY of art under private funding. passage B concedes to the point to make a larger point. so we aren't sure whether they agree/disagree about this one.

hope this helps!

kat12345-1

I only got this one right by process of elimination. Once I eliminated the other choices, I figured A would agree with the social capital idea and I could imagine B would be opposed, since it emphasizes respecting the individual. Not as complete an explanation, but it's how I got to the right answer under time pressure! Hope it helps!