Societies should take actions to provide for the welfare of their leas

Societies should take actions to provide for the welfare of their least privileged members. A society that fails to provide assistance to those without the means to provide a satisfactory standard of living for themselves places itself at risk. Individuals who cannot achieve self-sufficiency will feel that they have nothing to lose, and they may turn against the institutions that they feel abandoned them, resorting to violent crime or other antisocial behavior. If this segment of society reaches a critical mass, it could spark a full-scale revolution that threatens the integrity of the society.

The bolded phrase in the argument above serves which of the following functions?

A. It states a generally acknowledged truth upon which the validity of the conclusion depends.
B. It provides a specific example illustrating a general principle presented elsewhere in the argument.
C. It states a general principle derived from an analysis of the consequences of a failure to act in a prescribed manner.
D. It states a conclusion derived from a comparison of the consequences of two alternative courses of action.
E. It points out a flaw in a conclusion presented elsewhere in the argument.