PrepTest 114 - Section 3 - Passage 3 - Question 18

Hide analysis

In explaining the foundations of the discipline known as historical sociology—the examination of history using the methods of sociology—historical sociologist Philip Abrams argues that, while people are made by society as much as society is made by people, sociologists' approach to the subject is usually to focus on only one of these forms of influence to the exclusion of the other. ██████ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ ███ ████████████ ██ ████ ██████ █████ █████████ ██████████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ██ ██ ██████ ███████████ ██ ███████████ ███ ███ ██ ███ ████ ████ ███████████ ██ █████ ████████ ██████ ██████ ██ ████ ██████████ ███████ ██ ██████████████

Abrams' perspective · Structuring

Sociologists should view society as made by individuals who are also made by society -- this process is called structuring. Typically sociologists take a one-sided approach -- they focus exclusively on either the individuals' impact on society, or on society's impact on individuals.

██████ ████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ████████████ ███████ ████ ████████████ ███ ██ ███████ ██ ████████████ ████ ████████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ██ ██████ ██████ ███ ████████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ █████ ███ ████ ██ ███ █████ █████████ ██ ███ ███ ██████████ ███ ███████████ █████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ██████ █████ ████████████████████████ █████████ ████ █████ ██ ████ ███████ ███████ ██ ████████ █████████████ ███████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████████ █████ █████ ██ ████ ██ ████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ████████ ███ ██████████ █████████ ██ ████ ██ ████ █████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███ ██████████ ██████████████ ███ ████ ██ █████ █████████████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ██ █████ ██████████ ██████ █ █████████ ██ ██████ ██████ █████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ████ ███ ████ █████████ ██████████ ███ █████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ████████

Expansion of structuring · There's also historical structuring

People make history, but this making is informed by historical conditions from the past, and by our own identities and abilities. These conditions, identities, and abilities are called "contingencies."

██ ████████ █████████ ██████████ ████████████ ████ ██████ ████████████ ██ ████████ ███ ████████████ ██ ██████████ ███ ██████████ ████████████ ████ ███████ ████ ██ ███████ ███████████ █████████ ██ ███████ ████ █████ ███████████ ███ ████ ███████ ███ ██████████ █████████ ██ ███████ █████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ██████ ███ ███████████ █████ ██████ ████ █████████ █ █████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ █ █████ █████ ██ ████ ████████ ███████████ █████ █████ ██ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████ ███████ ████ ███████ █ ██████ ███████ ██ ████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ███ █████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████ ██████████ ████ ███████ █████ ███████ ██ ████ ██████ ███████████ ███ █████ █████ █████ ██ ████████ ███ ██ ███████████ ███ ████ █████ ███ ███████████ ██ █████ ██████ ███████ ███

Abrams' view of proper historical sociology · Must analyze and interpret important events in history

During these events, individuals take actions but also show us how social conditions allowed their actions to come about.

Elaborating on Abrams' view · Four-part structure of historical sociology

First, describe event. Second, discuss social context. Third, summarize life of individual agents in event. Fourth, analyze consequences on history and on the individuals.

Passage Style

Single position

18.

Which one of the following ██ ████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ██ █ ██████████ ███████████ ██ ████████ ██ ███████

Question Type

Analogy (RC)

Abrams wants sociologists to follow the fourfold structure: describe the event, discuss the social context of the event, summarize the history of the individual person whose actions are important to the event, and analyze the consequences of the event for both history and for the individual. Let’s look for an answer that involves these 4 things.

In a report ██ ███ █████████ ██ █ ████ ████ ████ █ ██████████ ████████ ███ ███ ████ ███ ███ ████ ██████ ████████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██████████ ███ █████ ███ █████ ███ ███████ ███ ██████ ████ ███ ██████ █████████ ████ ████ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ██ ███ ████████████ ███████

This best fits the fourfold structure. We get the context of the bill, a summary of the history of the individual important to the bill, an analysis of the effect of the bill on society and the individual. (A) doesn’t explicitly say that the report describes the bill, but it’s reasonable to think a description of the bill is part of the report.

67%

In a consultation ████ █ ████████ █ ██████ ███████ ███ █████████ ███████ ████████ ████████ ████████ ███████ ███ ███ █████████ ███████ ██████████ ███ ██████████ █████ ████ ███ ███████ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ██████ ████ ███ █████████ ████████ ██ ██ █████ ████ ███ ███ ███ ██████

This doesn’t involve an analysis of how an event might impact something beyond the individual.

In an analysis ██ █ ██████████ ██████ █ ██████ ████████ ███████████ ██ ███████ ███ █████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ███████ ███ █████████ ████████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ███ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ████████ ███ █████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████████ █████ █████ ███ ██ ███ ████ ███████

This doesn’t involve an analysis of how an event might impact something beyond the individual.

In a presentation ██ █████████████ █ █████████████ █████ █████████ ███████ █████████ ███ █████████████ ████ ██████████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ████ █████ ██████████ ███ ████ █████████ ███████ ███████████ ███ █████ ███████████ ███ █████████ ███ ████████ ███ ████ █████████ ████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ █████

This doesn’t involve a summary of the history of the vice president an analysis of how an event might impact something beyond the individual.

In developing a ████ █████ ██ █ ██████████ ██████ █ █████████ ████████ ██████████ ████ ████████████ ██ ███ ██████ █████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ███ █████████ ███ ██████████ ████ █ ████████ ██ ██████ ███████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ███ ███████ ███████ ████ ██████████

This doesn’t involve an analysis of how an event might impact something beyond the individual.

PrepTest 114 - Section 3 - Passage 3 - Question 18

Difficulty

Analysis

Answer Popularity

Question history

Confirm action