GMAT Reading Comprehension - Direct Observation of Contemporary Societies at the Threshold

Reading Passage Question

Direct observation of contemporary societies at the threshold of widespread literacy has not assisted our understanding of how such literacy altered ancient Greek society, in particular its political culture. The discovery of what Goody has called the “enabling effects” of literacy in contemporary societies tends to seduce the observer into confusing often rudimentary knowledge of how to read with popular access to important books and documents; this confusion is then projected onto ancient societies. “In ancient Greece,” Goody writes, “alphabetic reading and writing was important for the development of political democracy.”

An examination of the ancient Greek city Athens exemplifies how this sort of confusion is detrimental to understanding ancient politics. In Athens, the early development of a written law code was retrospectively mythologized as the critical factor in breaking the power monopoly of the old aristocracy: hence the Greek tradition of the “law-giver,” which has captured the imaginations of scholars like Goody. But the application and efficacy of all law codes depend on their interpretation by magistrates and courts, and unless the right of interpretation is “democratized,” the mere existence of written laws changes little.

In fact, never in antiquity did any but the elite consult documents and books. Even in Greek courts the juries heard only the relevant statutes read out during the proceedings, as they heard verbal testimony, and they then rendered their verdict on the spot, without the benefit of any discussion among themselves. True, in Athens the juries were representative of a broad spectrum of the population, and these juries, drawn from diverse social classes, both interpreted what they had heard and determined matters of fact. However, they were guided solely by the speeches prepared for the parties by professional pleaders and by the quotations of laws or decrees within the speeches, rather than by their own access to any kind of document or book.

Granted, people today also rely heavily on a truly knowledgeable minority for information and its interpretation, often transmitted orally. Yet this is still fundamentally different from an ancient society in which there was no “popular literature,” i.e., no newspapers, magazines, or other media that dealt with sociopolitical issues. An ancient law code would have been analogous to the Latin Bible, a venerated document but a closed book. The resistance of the medieval Church to vernacular translations of the Bible, in the West at least, is therefore a pointer to the realities of ancient literacy. When fundamental documents are accessible for study only to an elite, the rest of the society is subject to the elite’s interpretation of the rules of behavior, including right political behavior. Athens, insofar as it functioned as a democracy, did so not because of widespread literacy, but because the elite had chosen to accept democratic institutions.

‘Direct observation of contemporary societies at the threshold’ is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with answers. Candidates need a strong knowledge of English GMAT reading comprehension.

This GMAT Reading Comprehension consists of 7 comprehension questions.

The GMAT Reading Comprehension questions are designed for the purpose of testing candidates’ abilities in understanding, analyzing, and applying information or concepts. Candidates can actively prepare with the help of GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice Questions.

Solution and Explanation

1. Which one of the following statements best expresses the main idea of the passage?

(A) Democratic political institutions grow organically from the traditions and conventions of a society.
(B) Democratic political institutions are not necessarily the outcome of literacy in a society.
(C) Religious authority, like political authority, can determine who in a given society will have access to important books and documents.
(D) Those who are best educated are most often those who control the institutions of authority in a society.
(E) Those in authority have a vested interest in ensuring that those under their control remain illiterate.

2. It can be inferred from the passage that the author assumes which one of the following about societies in which the people possess a rudimentary reading ability?

(A) They are more politically advanced than societies without rudimentary reading ability.
(B) They are unlikely to exhibit the positive effects of literacy.
(C) They are rapidly evolving toward widespread literacy.
(D) Many of their people might not have access to important documents and books.
(E) Most of their people would not participate in political decision-making.

3. The author refers to the truly knowledgeable minority in contemporary societies in the context of the fourth paragraph in order to imply which one of the following?

(A) Because they have a popular literature that closes the gap between the elite and the majority, contemporary societies rely far less on the knowledge of experts than did ancient societies.
(B) Contemporary societies rely on the knowledge of experts, as did ancient societies, because contemporary popular literature so frequently conveys specious information.
(C) Although contemporary societies rely heavily on the knowledge of experts, access to popular literature makes contemporary societies less dependent on experts for information about rules of behavior than were ancient societies.
(D) While only some members of the elite can become experts, popular literature gives the majority in contemporary society an opportunity to become members of such an elite.
(E) Access to popular literature distinguishes ancient from contemporary societies because it relies on a level of educational achievement attainable only by a contemporary elite.

4. According to the passage, each of the following statements concerning ancient Greek juries is true EXCEPT:

(A) They were somewhat democratic insofar as they were composed largely of people from the lowest social classes.
(B) They were exposed to the law only insofar as they heard relevant statutes read out during legal proceedings.
(C) They ascertained the facts of a case and interpreted the laws.
(D) They did not have direct access to important books and documents that were available to the elite.
(E) They rendered verdicts without benefit of private discussion among themselves.

5. The author characterizes the Greek tradition of the “law-giver” (Highlighted) as an effect of mythologizing most probably in order to

(A) illustrate the ancient Greek tendency to memorialize historical events by transforming them into myths
(B) convey the historical importance of the development of the early Athenian written law code
(C) convey the high regard in which the Athenians held their legal tradition
(D) suggest that the development of a written law code was not primarily responsible for diminishing the power of the Athenian aristocracy
(E) suggest that the Greek tradition of the “law-giver” should be understood in the larger context of Greek mythology

6. The author draws an analogy between the Latin Bible and an early law code (Highlighted) in order to make which one of the following points?

(A) Documents were considered authoritative in premodern society in proportion to their inaccessibility to the majority.
(B) Documents that were perceived as highly influential in premodern societies were not necessarily accessible to the society’s majority.
(C) What is most revered in a nondemocratic society is what is most frequently misunderstood.
(D) Political documents in premodern societies exerted a social influence similar to that exerted by religious documents.
(E) Political documents in premodern societies were inaccessible to the majority of the population because of the language in which they were written.

7. The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) argue that a particular method of observing contemporary societies is inconsistent
(B) point out the weaknesses in a particular approach to understanding ancient societies
(C) present the disadvantages of a particular approach to understanding the relationship between ancient and contemporary societies
(D) examine the importance of developing an appropriate method for understanding ancient societies
(E) convey the difficulty of accurately understanding attitudes in ancient societies

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