GMAT Reading Comprehension - Years After the Movement to Obtain Civil rights for Black People in the United States

Reading Passage Question

Years after the movement to obtain civil rights for black people in the United States made its most important gains, scholars are reaching for a theoretical perspective capable of clarifying its (5) momentous developments. New theories of social movements are being discussed, not just among social psychologists, but also among political theorists. Of the many competing formulations of the (10) “classical” social psychological theory of social movement, three are prominent in the literature on the civil rights movement: “rising expectations,” “relative deprivation,” and “J-curve.” Each conforms to a causal sequence characteristic of (15) classical social movement theory, linking some unusual condition, or “system strain,” to the generation of unrest. When these versions of the classical theory are applied to the civil rights movement, the source of strain is identified as a (20) change in black socioeconomic status that occurred shortly before the widespread protest activity of the movement.

For example, the theory of rising expectations asserts that protest activity was a response to (25) psychological tensions generated by gains experienced immediately prior to the civil rights movement. Advancement did not satisfy ambition, but created the desire for further advancement. Only slightly different is the theory of relative (30) deprivation. Here the impetus to protest is identified as gains achieved during the premovement period, coupled with simultaneous failure to make any appreciable headway relative to the dominant group. The J-curve theory argues that the movement (35) occurred because a prolonged period of rising expectations and gratification was followed by a sharp reversal.

Political theorists have been dismissive of these applications of classical theory to the civil rights (40) movement. Their arguments rest on the conviction that, implicitly, the classical theory trivializes the political ends of movement participants, focusing rather on presumed psychological dysfunctions; reduction of complex social situations to simple (45) paradigms of stimulus and response obviates the relevance of all but the shortest-term analysis. Furthermore, the theories lack predictive value: “strain” is always present to some degree, but social movement is not. How can we know which (50) strain will provoke upheaval?

These very legitimate complaints having frequently been made, it remains to find a means of testing the strength of the theories. Problematically, while proponents of the various theories have (55) contradictory interpretations of socioeconomic conditions leading to the civil rights movement, examination of various statistical records regarding the material status of black Americans yields ample evidence to support any of the three theories. The (60) steady rise in median black family income supports the rising expectations hypothesis; the stability of the economic position of black vis-à-vis white Americans lends credence to the relative deprivation interpretation; unemployment data are consistent (65) with the J-curve theory. A better test is the comparison of each of these economic indicators with the frequency of movement-initiated events reported in the press; unsurprisingly, none correlates significantly with the pace of reports (70) about movement activity.

“Years after the movement to obtain civil rights for black people in the United States”- is a comprehension passage with answers. Candidates need a strong knowledge of English GMAT reading comprehension. This GMAT Reading Comprehension consists of 6 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. It can be inferred from the passage that the classical theory of social movement would not be appropriately applied to an annual general election because such an election

(A) may focus on personalities rather than on political issues
(B) is not provoked primarily by an unusual condition
(C) may be decided according to the psychological needs of voters
(D) may not entail momentous developments
(E) actually entails two or more distinct social movements

2. According to the passage, the “rising expectations” and “relative deprivation” models differ in which one of the following ways?

(A) They predict different responses to the same socioeconomic conditions.
(B) They disagree about the relevance of psychological explanations for protest movements.
(C) They are meant to explain different kinds of social change.
(D) They describe the motivation of protesters in slightly different ways.
(E) They disagree about the relevance of socioeconomic status to system strain.

3. The author implies that political theorists attribute which one of the following assumptions to social psychologists who apply the classical theory of social movements to the civil rights movement?

(A) Participants in any given social movement have conflicting motivations.
(B) Social movements are ultimately beneficial to society.
(C) Only strain of a socioeconomic nature can provoke a social movement.
(D) The political ends of movement participants are best analyzed in terms of participants’ psychological motivations.
(E) Psychological motivations of movement participants better illuminate the causes of social movements than do participants’ political motivations.

4. Which one of the following statements is supported by the results of the “better test” discussed in the last paragraph of the passage?

(A) The test confirms the three classical theories discussed in the passage.
(B) The test provides no basis for deciding among the three classical theories discussed in the passage.
(C) The test shows that it is impossible to apply any theory of social movements to the civil rights movement.
(D) The test indicates that press coverage of the civil rights movement was biased.
(E) The test verifies that the civil rights movement generated socioeconomic progress.

5. The validity of the “better test” (line 65) as proposed by the author might be undermined by the fact that

(A) the press is selective about the movement activities it chooses to cover
(B) not all economic indicators receive the same amount of press coverage
(C) economic indicators often contradict one another\
(D) a movement-initiated event may not correlate significantly with any of the three economic indicators
(E) the pace of movement-initiated events is difficult to anticipate

6. The main purpose of the passage is to

(A) persuade historians of the indispensability of a theoretical framework for understanding recent history
(B) present a new model of social movement
(C) account for a shift in a theoretical debate
(D) show the unity underlying the diverse classical models of social movement
(E) discuss the reasoning behind and shortcomings of certain social psychological theories

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