PrepTest 114 - Section 3 - Passage 3 - Question 20

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

20.

Based on the passage, which ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ████████████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ █ ███████████ ████ ██ ███████████

Question Type

Implied

The four wrong answers will be examples of how a contingency can affect an individual. The correct answer will not be, because this is an EXCEPT question. The author explains how contingencies can affect people at the end of P2: “Contingencies include such things as the social conditions under which we come of age, the condition of our household's economy, the ideologies available to help us make sense of our situation, and accidental circumstances. The ways in which contingencies affect our individual or group identities create a structure of forces within which we are able to act, and that partially determines the sorts of actions we are able to perform.”

the effect of ███ ████ ████ █ ██████ ███████████ █████████ █████████ ██ ████ ████████ ████████ ██ ████ ███ █████████ ██████

This is an example of a social phenomenon influencing someone’s actions.

the effect of ███ ████ ████ █ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ██ ████████████ ██████ ██ ████ ████████ ████████ ██ ██████ █ ██████ ██ ███████████

This is an example of a social conditions under which someone came of age influencing their actions.

the effect of ███ ████ ████ █ ██████ █████ ██ █ ██████████ █████████ ██ ████ ████████ ████████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ███████ █████████

This doesn’t involve how a person’s history/experiences affects their actions. The fact a person currently lives in a particular community isn’t part of the historical conditions of the individual. It’s also not clear that it’s an accidental circumstance. Even you think (C) shows an effect of contingency, it is the LEAST illustrative example compared to the other answers.

86%

the effect of ███ ████ ████ █ ████████ ███████ █████████ █ ██████████ ████████ ██ ████ ████████ ████████ ██ ████████ ████ ████████

This is an example of a social conditions influencing their actions.

the effect of ███ ████ ████ █ ██████ ████ ██ ██ █████████ ████████ ██ ████ ████████ ████████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ █████████ ████████

This is an example of social conditions influencing their actions.

PrepTest 114 - Section 3 - Passage 3 - Question 20

Difficulty

Analysis

Answer Popularity

Question history

Confirm action