Social critic: One of the most important ways in which a society

The author's conclusion is that "moral socialization has had a net effect of increasing the total amount of suffering". Though the social critic concludes that moral socialization has caused a net increase in the amount of suffering, the author does NOT suggest that moral socialization should be changed or eliminated. In other words, the author only presents a theory and does not suggest a course of action to change the present situation. Thus, choice C must be eliminated.

Choice D suggests that the argument "takes for granted that a behavior {moral socialization} that sometimes leads to a certain phenomenon {suffering} cannot also significantly reduce the overall occurrence of that phenomenon {suffering}". We only know that, for many people, moral socialization leads to suffering (ie guilt and self-loathing) that can be a severe hardship. The passage does NOT state that most people experience guilt and self-loathing or that those feelings of guilt and self-loathing are a severe hardship for most of those people. Furthermore, moral socialization in general may in fact reduce the overall occurrence of suffering among the people in a society (ie by reducing suffering in other ways, possibly not related to guilt or self-loathing). In that case, even if moral socialization causes many people to suffer from guilt and self loathing, moral socialization could still have a net effect of decreasing the total amount of suffering; this contradicts the author's conclusion, so D is the best choice.