Direct observation of contemporary societies at the threshold of wides

Mapping of the Passage:

P1: How was wide-spread literacy possible in ancient Greek society?
some discovery, Goody, as of today-giving access to docs the same thing happened in ancient culture.
" reading, writing important for pol democracy "
NOTE: confusing often rudimentary knowledge of how to read means how to read is a rudimentary knoweledge

P2: Eg: ancient Athens on politics understanding?
law code, breaking power monopoly
law-giver, Goody
application depends on interpretation,
magistrate had all the powers
democratized, law existence changes little

P3: Elite consults doc & books only
Greek court jury - oral > written (prev preceding), verdict on spot
Athens, jury broad spectrum
guided by speeches, no access to doc

P4: Today scene - also oral
Prev v/s today - pop culture
Acient Law Book = closed book
Eg: Latin Bible, Church resistance
if popular- society might question
Thus, widespread because of elite accept democratic institutions.
Not because of widespread literacy.


1. Which one of the following statements best expresses the main idea of the passage?

Democratic pol institutions : like court etc..

(A) Democratic political institutions grow organically from the traditions and conventions of a society. -Incorrect, Not mentioned in the passage. It does not relate with the passage.
(B) Democratic political institutions are not necessarily the outcome of literacy in a society. -Correct, The gist of the author’s argument is probably best summarized at the end of Paragraph 4, but really it's implicit throughout: Contrary to Goody’s claims, literacy did not bring about radical political change, because the elite retained control of the important documents.
(C) Religious authority, like political authority, can determine who in a given society will have access to important books and documents. -Incorrect, it was a sub-topic: religion
(D) Those who are best educated are most often those who control the institutions of authority in a society. -Incorrect, best educated is not equal to democratic. The passage describes the authority of the elite over these documents and the effect of democracy on literacy.
(E) Those in authority have a vested interest in ensuring that those under their control remain illiterate.-Incorrect, illiterate was not the intention. Control on the documents was.

Answer- B

2. It can be inferred from the passage that the author assumes which one of the following about societies in which the people possess a rudimentary reading ability?

the gist of the author’s argument is that rudimentary reading ability did not shake up the aristocracy in ancient Greece, because the elite had exclusive access to the most important texts.
They - ancient societies

(A) They are more politically advanced than societies without rudimentary reading ability. - Incorrect, Goes against the author of the passage.
(B) They are unlikely to exhibit the positive effects of literacy. - Incorrect, no one cares in the passage about literacy
(C) They are rapidly evolving toward widespread literacy.- Incorrect, maybe/maybe not. The passage did say that the society is going ahead with the attaining documents because the elite allowed the process. But evolving towards widespread literacy is stated for contemporary society, not an ancient one.
(D) Many of their people might not have access to important documents and books.- Correct, Yes, last para, the elite allowed that process
(E) Most of their people would not participate in political decision-making.- Incorrect, Not mentioned in the passage about ancient v/s pol decisions

Answer - D

3. The author refers to the truly knowledgeable minority in contemporary societies in the context of the fourth paragraph in order to imply which one of the following?

(A) Because they have a popular literature that closes the gap between the elite and the majority, contemporary societies rely far less on the knowledge of experts than did ancient societies. - Incorrect, The passage does not suggest that the elite and the majority gap relations anywhere. It is about knowledge and control over the documents.
(B) Contemporary societies rely on the knowledge of experts, as did ancient societies because contemporary popular literature so frequently conveys specious information. - Incorrect, Criticism for today's media is not mentioned in the passage. It has a positive tone when it comes to the today's scenario.
(C) Although contemporary societies rely heavily on the knowledge of experts, access to popular literature makes contemporary societies less dependent on experts for information about rules of behavior than were ancient societies. - Correct, And looking at Granted, people today also rely heavily on a truly knowledgeable minority for information and its interpretation, often transmitted orally., we see that both societies rely on the interpretations of powerful, knowledgeable elites; but ancient Greek society wasn’t able to get “sociopolitical” information from the kind of popular literature and media that we have access to today
(D) While only some members of the elite can become experts, popular literature gives the majority in contemporary society an opportunity to become members of such an elite. - Incorrect, Ellite membeship??? Not mentioned in the passage
(E) Access to popular literature distinguishes ancient from contemporary societies because it relies on a level of educational achievement attainable only by a contemporary elite. - Incorrect, There was no link between the educational achievements and the pop literature.

Answer - C

4. According to the passage, each of the following statements concerning ancient Greek juries is true EXCEPT:

Greek Juries-
1. heard only the relevant statutes read out during the proceedings, as they heard verbal testimony,
2. They then rendered their verdict on the spot,
3. without the benefit of any discussion among themselves
4. broad spectrum (athens) - these juries, drawn from diverse social classes
5. both interpreted what they had heard and determined matters of fact.
6. they were guided solely by the speeches prepared for the parties by professional pleaders and by the quotations of laws or decrees within the speeches
7. rather than by their own access to any kind of document or book.

(A) They were somewhat democratic insofar as they were composed largely of people from the lowest social classes. -Incorrect, Juries were democratic because they had a broad spectrum of people in their midst, but how many of them were from low status were not mentioned in the passage. This statement is jumping into conclusions.
(B) They were exposed to the law only insofar as they heard relevant statutes read out during legal proceedings. - Correct Point 1
(C) They ascertained the facts of a case and interpreted the laws. - Correct, point 5 and 6. ascertained the facts of the case, okay ; interpreted the laws, as they did not have any document of their own. They simply just went along with the quotations of laws or decrees within the speeches
(D) They did not have direct access to important books and documents that were available to the elite.- Correct, point 7
(E) They rendered verdicts without benefit of private discussion among themselves. - Correct, point 3.

Answer- A


5. The author characterizes the Greek tradition of the “law-giver” (Highlighted) as an effect of mythologizing most probably in order to

In Athens, the early development of a written law code was retrospectively mythologized as the critical factor in breaking the power monopoly of the old aristocracy: hence the Greek tradition of the “law-giver,”
mythologizing - means, convert into myth. Inshort, the idea of written law code can break the monopoly of the aristocracy was a mistaken idea/made up idea.

(A) illustrate the ancient Greek tendency to memorialize historical events by transforming them into myths -Incorrect, memorialise historical events?? I dont think so. Nothing of that sort was mentioned in the passage.
(B) convey the historical importance of the development of the early Athenian written law code -Incorrect, The author mentions the law-giver in order to dispute its historical importance, overestimated by people like Goody. In short, the word development goes against the tone of the sentence of law-giver in the passage.
(C) convey the high regard in which the Athenians held their legal tradition -Incorrect, yes, they do have a high regard as, hence the Greek tradition but it follows with a But, that means the point of the para-2 was something else. Not concentrating on the tradition.
(D) suggest that the development of a written law code was not primarily responsible for diminishing the power of the Athenian aristocracy -Correct, Yes, that was the whole point.
(E) suggest that the Greek tradition of the “law-giver” should be understood in the larger context of Greek mythology -Incorrect, Greek mythology, Nothing of that sort was mentioned in the passage.

Answer- D

6. The author draws an analogy between the Latin Bible and an early law code (Highlighted) in order to make which one of the following points?

The author’s point once again relates to the inaccessibility of important documents, the implication being that while ancient law codes were tremendously influential documents, very few people were permitted to read them, contrary to the misinterpretation of Goody and others like him.

(A) Documents were considered authoritative in premodern society in proportion to their inaccessibility to the majority. - Incorrect, Nowhere does the author suggest that the fewer people read an ancient document, the more important it was considered
(B) Documents that were perceived as highly influential in premodern societies were not necessarily accessible to society’s majority. -Correct, yes, true
(C) What is most revered in a nondemocratic society is what is most frequently misunderstood. -Incorrect, The author’s not making a critique of superstition in “nondemocratic” societies, they aren’t even part of his scope of interest.
(D) Political documents in premodern societies exerted a social influence similar to that exerted by religious documents. -Incorrect, because the influence of ancient laws is not the issue, it’s how accessible they were
(E) Political documents in premodern societies were inaccessible to the majority of the population because of the language in which they were written. -Incorrect, because it stretches the analogy too far; it was the elite’s control of texts, and not a language barrier, that prevented the majority from reading ancient law codes.

Answer- B

7. The primary purpose of the passage is to

As it is a global question, it demands that we translate the author’s specific approach into abstract language. Because such language is a step or two removed from the explicit content, it poses a special challenge for many students. Pay special attention to passage structure and, when appropriate, tone, in trying to translate
the abstract choices back into an approximation of the passage you’ve just read. Reviewing the passage from the top, it should be clear that the author outlines an
established theory in Paragraphs 1 and 2, and then sets out to disprove it in Paragraphs 3 and 4.

(A) argue that a particular method of observing contemporary societies is inconsistent - Incorrect, as it is misfocused on the topic of contemporary societies, which only
come up in the passage because people like Goody are misled by modern life when they try to analyze the ancient world — which is the real topic
(B) point out the weaknesses in a particular approach to understanding ancient societies - Correct, In other words, the author is “point[ing] out the weaknesses” in Goody’s approach
(C) present the disadvantages of a particular approach to understanding the relationship between ancient and contemporary societies - Incorrect, because it gives too great a weight to the modern world. Again, correcting misconceptions about ancient Greece is the focus of the passage as a whole; today’s world simply contributes to the
source of those misconceptions
(D) examine the importance of developing an appropriate method for understanding ancient societies -Incorrect, appropriate method? the author seems to consider his own assessment of the evidence satisfactory enough
(E) convey the difficulty of accurately understanding attitudes in ancient societies -Incorrect, The passage conveys no sense of methodical difficulties here, and no concern about the attitudes of the ancient Greeks either.

Answer- B

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