LSAT 150 – Section 2 – Question 25

LSAT 150 - Section 2 - Question 25

June 2018

You need a full course to see this video. Enroll now and get started in less than a minute.

Request new explanation

Target time: 0:50

This is question data from the 7Sage LSAT Scorer. You can score your LSATs, track your results, and analyze your performance with pretty charts and vital statistics - all with a Free Account ← sign up in less than 10 seconds

Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT150 S2 Q25
+LR
Resolve reconcile or explain +RRE
A
5%
155
B
3%
153
C
78%
164
D
12%
157
E
3%
154
143
151
159
 +Medium 145.632 +SubsectionMedium

Sociologists study folktales because they provide a means of understanding the distinctive values of a culture. However, the folktales in almost all cultures are adaptations of the same ancient narratives to the local milieu.

"Surprising" Phenomenon
How can folktales help sociologists understand cultures’ distinctive values when almost all cultures’ folktales are derived and adapted from the same ancient narratives?

Objective
The right answer will describe some way in which folktales from different cultures are distinct from each other even when the stories are adapted from semi-universal narratives. That distinctive feature will possess some capacity to teach folktale-studying sociologists about cultures’ distinctive values.

A
Because no single person is the author of a folktale, folktales must reflect the values of a culture rather than those of an individual.
This reinforces the idea that folktales are a good way to study a culture’s values, but it doesn’t touch on the discrepancy we need explained: how do folktales represent those unique values when the stories are usually based on the same ancient narratives cross-culturally?
B
Folktales are often oral traditions that persist from times when few people left written materials.
The manner in which folktales are passed down has no bearing on what sociologists are or aren’t able to learn from them. This doesn’t speak to the discrepancy at hand, so it isn’t helpful here.
C
The manner in which a culture adapts its narratives reveals information about the values of that culture.
This explains how sociologists learn about cultural values from folktales! Even if the stories are often based on the same ancient narratives, each culture adapts those narratives in a unique way. Those adaptations reveal information about a culture’s distinctive values.
D
The ancient narratives persist largely because they speak to basic themes and features of the human condition.
This is the opposite of helpful: it reinforces the idea that the narratives folktales are based on are universal, meaning we wouldn’t expect to be able to learn much about individual cultures from them. We need to know what makes the folktales distinct from one another.
E
Folktales are often morality tales, used to teach children the values important to a culture.
This reinforces the idea that folktales are a good way to study a culture’s values, but it doesn’t touch on the discrepancy we need explained: how do folktales represent those unique values when the stories are usually based on the same ancient narratives cross-culturally?

Take PrepTest

Review Results

LSAT PrepTest 150 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Reading Comprehension

Get full LSAT course

Leave a Reply