Many politicians, business leaders, and scholars discount the role of

If we paraphrase the passage, it might look like this:
- people think that maternity leave policies were driven solely by market forces, because...
- the law about it was was passed in 1993
- but many employers enacted policies in the 70s and 80s, long before the law
- however... there was a version of the law put forward in 1972
- it was widely publicized, so perhaps employers started getting on board because they heard about it
- the law was struck down in 1973, but employers kept the policies
- because the law was struck down, people forget that it might have had an effect
- it might not be just the market that had the effect

Or, boiled down even further...
- people think that X caused Y
- however, there was a Z that could have caused Y, but people forgot about it

For the main idea, we want something that captures the idea of "people tend to think it's one explanation, but it might be this other thing they forgot about."

The primary purpose is to

A. present an alternative to a commonly accepted explanation for a phenomenon

Exactly. We know that "many politicians, [etc]... emphasize the role of the labor market." So that's the commonly accepted viewpoint. The alternative is that the 1972 law might have actually impacted company policies, even though "perhaps... politicians and scholars failed to recognize its effects."


B. reexamine a previously discredited explanation for a phenomenon in light of new evidence

There is no discredited explanation. There is just the commonly accepted one, and the alternative one that the author puts forward. There is also no new evidence, just overlooked evidence.


C. criticize politicians and scholars for failing to anticipate a phenomenon

Nope. "Criticize" is WAY too strong / opinionated. Also, "anticipate" would be future-looking, and this passage stated that politicians and scholars failed to look backwards and realize the effects of something.


D. correct a common misconception about the impact a phenomenon has had on a government policy

The author is not definitively stating that people are misinformed, only that "PERHAPS" they've overlooked something. Also, the causation is backwards. The government policy affected the phenomenon (of maternity leave), not the other way around.


E. analyze the ways in which a phenomenon has changed over time in response to market forces

It's not about the market forces. The purpose of the passage was to show that it was the government's law, not the market forces, that shaped this phenomenon.


For main idea questions, trying paraphrasing the passage, and abstracting the structure to the highest level. Don't get lost in the details - the specific nouns. Find the moments of transition and contrast.

Courtesy : Ceilidh Erickson
Manhattan Prep GMAT & GRE instructor

GMATNinja Just adding my 2 cents here. Also, there is no "new evidence". Best regards!

1. It can be inferred that the author of the passage would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements about government policy?

(A) Government policy is generally unaffected by pressures in the labor market.
(B) The impact of a given government policy is generally weakened by sustained press attention.
(C) It is possible for a particular government policy to continue to have an impact after that policy has been eliminated. - RIGHT

Yet perhaps because the Supreme Court later struck down the ruling, politicians and scholars have failed to recognize its effects, assuming that employers adopted maternity-leave policies in response to the growing feminization of the workforce.

The policy was struck down, yet it did continue to have an impact in response to the growing feminization of the workforce.

(D) A given government policy can be counterproductive when that policy has already unofficially been implemented.
(E) The impact of a given government policy is generally weakened when the ruling is contested in court.


2. The passage suggests that the relationship between the view of the author with respect to maternity leave policy prior to passage of the FMLA and the view of the politicians, business leaders, and scholars mentioned in lines 1-2 can best be characterized by which of the following statements?

(A) They agree that both the 1972 EEOC ruling on maternity-leave policy and the increasing feminization of the workplace had an impact on employers’ creation of maternity-leave programs but disagree about the relative importance of each factor.
(B) They agree that the EEOC ruling on maternity-leave policy had an initial impact on employers’ creation of maternity-leave programs but disagree over whether the Supreme Court’s striking down of the EEOC ruling weakened that impact.
(C) They agree that creating maternity-leave programs was a necessary response to the needs of the increasing number of women workers but disagree about whether maternity should be classified as a disabling medical condition.
(D) They agree that employers created maternity-leave programs prior to passage of the FMLA but disagree about employers’ motivations for doing so. - RIGHT

General view
arguing that prior to the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993, employers were already providing maternity leave in response to the increase in the number of women workers.
Author's view
Employers did create maternity-leave programs in the 1970’s and 1980’s, but not as a purely voluntary response in the absence of any government mandate. Yet perhaps because the Supreme Court later struck down the ruling, politicians and scholars have failed to recognize its effects, assuming that employers adopted maternity-leave policies in response to the growing feminization of the workforce.

(E) They agree that employers created maternity-leave programs prior to passage of the FMLA but disagree about how widespread those programs were.


3. The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) present an alternative to a commonly accepted explanation for a phenomenon - RIGHT

commonly accepted explanation
Many politicians, business leaders, and scholars discount the role of public policy and emphasize the role of the labor market when explaining employers’ maternity-leave policies, arguing that prior to the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993, employers were already providing maternity leave in response to the increase in the number of women workers.

Authors explanation

Yet perhaps because the Supreme Court later struck down the ruling, politicians and scholars have failed to recognize its effects, assuming that employers adopted maternity-leave policies in response to the growing feminization of the workforce.



(B) reexamine a previously discredited explanation for a phenomenon in light of new evidence
(C) criticize politicians and scholars for failing to anticipate a phenomenon
(D) correct a common misconception about the impact a phenomenon has had on a government policy
(E) analyze the ways in which a phenomenon has changed over time in response to market forces


4. According to the passage, the 1972 EEOC ruling did which of the following?

(A) It provided a government mandate for maternity-leave policies that employers were already offering voluntarily.
(B) It provoked controversy among employers regarding the proper implementation of maternity-leave policies.
(C) It required all employers to provide employee leave for pregnant women and people with disabling medical conditions.
(D) It gave pregnant women the same rights to employee leave as people with disabling medical conditions. - RIGHT
(EEOC) ruled that employers who allowed leaves for disabling medical conditions must also allow them for maternity and that failure to do so would constitute sex discrimination under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

(E) It increased pregnant women's awareness of their rights to employee leave.

For, Primary purpose question, why is option D (correct a common misconception about the impact a phenomenon has had on a government policy) incorrect?

can anyone explain me question 1 and question 2 along with the rationale behind the answers,please?

Hi Talhahussaini,

Please refer the below replies by expert here:

For Question 1:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/many-politicians-business-leaders-and-scholars-discount-the-role-of-137377.html#p1113528

For Question 2:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/many-politicians-business-leaders-and-scholars-discount-the-role-of-137377.html#p1396682


Let us know if you still have doubts.

Thanks.

3. The primary purpose of the passage is to
(A) present an alternative to a commonly accepted explanation for a phenomenon
(B) reexamine a previously discredited explanation for a phenomenon in light of new evidence
(C) criticize politicians and scholars for failing to anticipate a phenomenon
(D) correct a common misconception about the impact a phenomenon has had on a government policy
(E) analyze the ways in which a phenomenon has changed over time in response to market forces


Can someone please explain why option D is incorrect
VeritasKarishma Bunuel mikemcgarry

Hi GMATNinja,

Could you please explain option A and option D of Question 3. Thanks

Question 3

When thinking about primary purpose questions, first break down the passage to understand why the author wrote each piece.

In the first sentence, the author provides a commonly held view:

• This view discounts the role of public policy and emphasizes the role of the labor market when explaining employers’ maternity-leave policies

Then, the author argues against this commonly held view:

• He/she thinks that public policy DID have a big impact on companies' maternity-leave policies.

So, overall, why did the author write this passage? He/she wanted to argue that the commonly held view was wrong, and to offer another explanation.

With that in mind, which answer choice captures the author's primary purpose? Take a look at (D):

The first part seems fine: the author does want to "correct a common misconception."

However, there's a problem with the rest of (D). Remember that the author thinks that public policy (in other words, government policy) had a big impact on the phenomenon of maternity leave.

(D) is written the other way around -- as if maternity leave had an impact on government policy!

That's not at all what the author is getting at, so you can eliminate (D).

Here's (A):

This fits nicely with our analysis of the passage. The author presents an alternate explanation for why companies adopted maternity-leave policies.

(A) is the correct answer for question 3.

I hope that helps!

Can someone explain me why the primary purpose is A
A: "present an alternative to a commonly accepted explanation for a phenomenon''

I was between A and D. But finally decided D
D: "correct a common misconception about the impact a phenomenon has had on government policy''

The last sentence say: "politicians and scholars have failed to recognize its effects, assuming that employers adopted maternity-leave policies in response to the growing feminization of the workforce."
For me is D... can someone explain me please

valeriacastro11,
You should check this link out : https://gmatclub.com/forum/many-politic ... 37377.html
I feel the answer under "Most Helpful Community Reply" will answer all your questions.

Hi, kntombat

No one is explaining why the correct answer is A and not D in the link...

Can someone explain me why is A: "present an alternative to a commonly accepted explanation for a phenomenon''
and not D: "correct a common misconception about the impact a phenomenon has had on government policy''?

GMATNinja, bm2201, Sajjad1994, can anyone of you answer valeriacastro11 question ?

Hello valeriacastro11

GMATNinja has answered the question in the post in the link below.

https://gmatclub.com/forum/many-politic ... l#p2913748

Cheers

GMATNinja has answered the question in the post in the link below.

https://gmatclub.com/forum/many-politic ... l#p2913748

KarishmaB GMATNinja

Hi experts, I have read all the explanations for Que2 - The passage suggests that the relationship between the view of the author with respect to maternity leave policy prior to passage of the FMLA and the view of the politicians, business leaders, and scholars mentioned in lines 1-2 can best be characterized by which of the following statements? - and I understood why option D is correct. Yet, I am unable to understand why option B is incorrect.

Option B - They agree that the EEOC ruling on maternity-leave policy had an initial impact on employers’ creation of maternity-leave programs but disagree over whether the Supreme Court’s striking down of the EEOC ruling weakened that impact.

Verification of option B :
Part 1 - "They agree that the EEOC ruling on maternity-leave policy had an initial impact on employers’ creation of maternity-leave programs"
Passage - "Many scholars.. discount the role" and "Employers ... not as a purely voluntary response"

Part 2 - "disagree over whether the Supreme Court’s striking down of the EEOC ruling weakened that impact."
Passage - "scholars have failed to recognize its effects" means they disagree on impact of SC's striking down of EEOC.

Please help me to in identifying gap in my understanding. Thanks in advance!

2. The passage suggests that the relationship between the view of the author with respect to maternity leave policy prior to passage of the FMLA and the view of the politicians, business leaders, and scholars mentioned in lines 1-2 can best be characterized by which of the following statements?


(A) They agree that both the 1972 EEOC ruling on maternity-leave policy and the increasing feminization of the workplace had an impact on employers’ creation of maternity-leave programs but disagree about the relative importance of each factor.
(B) They agree that the EEOC ruling on maternity-leave policy had an initial impact on employers’ creation of maternity-leave programs but disagree over whether the Supreme Court’s striking down of the EEOC ruling weakened that impact.
(C) They agree that creating maternity-leave programs was a necessary response to the needs of the increasing number of women workers but disagree about whether maternity should be classified as a disabling medical condition.
(D) They agree that employers created maternity-leave programs prior to passage of the FMLA but disagree about employers’ motivations for doing so.
(E) They agree that employers created maternity-leave programs prior to passage of the FMLA but disagree about how widespread those programs were.


Question - We need to compare the view of the author with the view of 'politicians, business leaders, and scholars.'

Do both 'the author' and 'the scholars etc.' agree that EEOC ruling had an initial impact on creation of maternity leave programs?

The author agrees that EEOC ruling had an impact.

(Author notes) Employers did create maternity-leave programs in the 1970’s and 1980’s, but not as a purely voluntary response in the absence of any government mandate. In 1972, the EEOC ruled... As early as 1973, a survey found that 58 percent of large employers had responded with new maternity-leave policies. Because the 1972 EEOC ruling was contested in court, the ruling won press attention that popularized maternity-leave policies.


The scholars etc. do not.

Many politicians, business leaders, and scholars discount the role of public policy (EEOC) and emphasize the role of the labor market when explaining employers’ maternity-leave policies,

Yet perhaps because the Supreme Court later struck down EEOC, politicians and scholars have failed to recognize its effects, assuming that employers adopted maternity-leave policies in response to the growing feminization of the workforce.

Hence (B) is not correct.

(D) They agree that employers created maternity-leave programs prior to passage of the FMLA but disagree about employers’ motivations for doing so.

(D) is correct. They agree that these programs were created in 1970s (before FMLA) but the author believes that these programs were created because of EEOC public policy while the scholars etc believe that these programs were created in response to the growing feminization of the workforce.