Passage 268

National character is not formally considered by social scientists in discussing economic and social development today. They believe that people differ and that these differences should be taken into account somehow, but they have as yet discovered no way to include such variables in their formal models of economic and social development. The difficulty lies in the nature of the data that supposedly define different national characters. Anthropologists and others are on much firmer ground when they attempt to describe the cultural norms for a small homogeneous tribe or village than when they undertake the formidable task of discovering the norms that exist in a complex modern nation-state composed of many disparate groups. The situation is further complicated by the nature of judgments about character, since such judgments are overly dependent on impressions and since, furthermore, impressions are usually stated in qualitative terms, it is impossible to make a reliable comparison between the national characters of two countries.

Questions:
1 The author's main point in the passage is that national character
A. is too elusive to merit attention by anthropologists and other social scientists
B. is of greater interest to social scientists today than it has been in the past
C. is still too difficult to describe with the precision required by many social scientists
D. has become increasingly irrelevant because of the complexity of modern life
E. can be described more accurately by anthropologists than by other social scientists
2 Given the information in the passage, which of the following is NOT true of modern nation-states?
A. They are complex.
B. They are heterogeneous.
C. They are of interest to social scientists.
D. They lack cultural norms.
E. They differ from one another in terms of national character.
3 It can be inferred from the passage that the social scientists mentioned in lines 1-7 would agree with which of the following statements?
  1. It is extremely difficult to create models that account for both economic and social development.
  2. Models of economic and social development would be improved by the inclusion of adequate descriptions of national character.
  3. It is important to supplement formal models of economic and social development with qualitative impressions of national character.
A. I only
B. II only
C. III only
D. I and III only
E. II and III only
4 Which of the following best describes the organization of the passage?
A. A problem is presented and reasons for its existence are supplied.
B. A controversial view is presented and evidence for its validity is supplied.
C. A hypothesis is presented and possible means of verifying it are suggested.
D. A recent development is described and then analyzed.
E. A dispute is summarized and one side defended.
Answers:
Question No. Answer
1 C
2 D
3 B
4 A

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