LSAT 111 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q21

LR Question 21 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: All social systems are based upon a division of…

QUESTION TYPE: Most Strongly Supported

ANALYSIS: In plain English, this says that labor saving technology can sometimes eliminate an entire category of jobs.

That will undermine the values of society. The reason is because the values of society depend on the prestige given to different social roles (categories of jobs.)

If a social role disappears then that eliminates the prestige attached to that role as well.

The right answer may not seem directly related to this, but it does follow. It says that if a society’s values can’t change, then that society won’t let technology eliminate economic roles. Eliminating economic roles changes a society’s values.

___________

1. There could be other things that undermine a society apart from technology. Famine, for example, has undermined many societies.
2. We only know labor-saving technology is likely to undermine a system.
3. CORRECT. In plain English, this says: if it is impossible to change the values of a social system then technology won’t be able to get rid of any social roles. [If you get rid of social roles then you change the values of society. So you can’t get rid of them if you can’t change the values.] 
4. Not necessarily true. There may be many roles that are highly valued in a technologically advanced society. It just could be the case that technology more frequently eliminates roles. 
5. We only know this is true if the technology is labor-saving.