Sociologist: The welfare state cannot be successfully implemented beca

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Sociologist: The welfare state cannot be successfully implemented because it rests on the assumption that human beings are unselfish—a seemingly false assumption. The welfare state is feasible only if wage earners are prepared to have their hard-earned funds used to help others in greater need, and that requires an unselfish attitude. But people innately seek their own well-being, especially when the interests of others threaten it.

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main conclusion of the sociologist’s argument?

(A) The welfare state will not work.

(B) The welfare state unfairly asks those who work hard to help those in greater need.

(C) The assumption that human beings are unselfish is false.

(D) The interests of the less fortunate impinge on the interests of others.

(E) The welfare state relies on the generosity of wage earners.

fiftyoneverbal · Answer

(a) Every premise in this argument serves to directly or indirectly support this statement. This is the right answer

(b) the fairness of the welfare state is not argued in the question

(c) the paragraph offers this as a premise for the statement that "the welfare state cannot be successfully implemented", not as a conclusion

(d) this is not argued by the question--the question says people innately seek their own well-being, especially  when  the interests of others threaten it. Not that the interests of others  do  threaten it.

(e) again this is offered as a premise for the statement "the welfare state cannot be successfully implemented", not as a conclusion

exc4libur · Answer

argument
=ws won't work
=bc humans are selfish
=especially when their well-being is threatened by others

con
ans (A) welfare wont work

chaitralirr · Answer

Sociologist: The welfare state cannot be successfully implemented because it rests on the assumption that human beings are unselfish—a seemingly false assumption. The welfare state is feasible only if wage earners are prepared to have their hard-earned funds used to help others in greater need, and that requires an unselfish attitude. But people innately seek their own well-being, especially when the interests of others threaten it.

Stimulus: sociologist states that welfare of state cannot be successfully be implemented because it rests on the assumption that human beings are unselfish. the welfare state relies on the earnings of the wage earners decision to let go off their money to the less unfortunate people. And doing so is not possible because this would mean people have to give up their own interests for others. 
IMO C as the author mainly concludes that humans are selfish

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main conclusion of the sociologist’s argument?

(A) The welfare state will not work.

(B) The welfare state unfairly asks those who work hard to help those in greater need.

(C) The assumption that human beings are unselfish is false.

(D) The interests of the less fortunate impinge on the interests of others.

(E) The welfare state relies on the generosity of wage earners.

Yellkrishna · Answer

A. The first statement validates this conclusion.

B. The sociologist definitely says that the welfare state asks those who work hard and earn money to give to the less fortunate but he doesn‘t say that it is unfair.

C. While this is true, it is not the main conclusion.

D. No, this is the case only when that is perceived to threaten themselves.

E. This is an assumption, not a conclusion.

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abhik1502 · Answer

Bunuel

will you pls elaborate more about the answer option.

In my opinion, whole of argument is about feasibility to achieve a welfare state condition, not its functioning once achieved. Every premise in argument talks about difficulty or challenges in achieving this welfare state itself.

Now, once achieved, whether welfare state will work or not come later. And answer option talks about the functioning of same.
So I think answer option needs to be modified.
Will you pls share your opinion on this.

Harsh9676 · Answer

Hi  GMATNinja ,  daagh

Can you please help with this question?

I eliminated A on the basis that the stimulus said "It cannot be successfully implemented" - Meaning the welfare state can still work inefficiently?

Thanks in advance.

AliciaSierra · Answer

Initially I got this question wrong. Like many others, I also selected option E. After re-reading question I understood what mistake I made. Question is asking about MAIN CONCLUSION of argument. Whole argument is about WELFARE STATE. Author starts passage saying "The welfare state cannot be successfully implemented". Then he/she gives reason why he/she thinks so. He/She thinks being Welfare state depends on that human being is not selfish. Then author clearly says this assumption is FALSE i.e. Human beings are selfish. He/she further gives reason to solidify his/her thinking. Now question asks us to Find Main Conclusion of argument. If we consider all information provided by argument is correct then Main conclusion will be "Welfare STATE IS NOT POSSIBLE or will not work"i.e. Option A. CORRECT No where in passage it is mentioned what fair or what is unfair. Passage supports that human beings are selfish. "people innately seek their own well-being, especially when the interests of others threaten it." Perfect example of situation when earning people try to escape from paying Government Tax. This is not scope of main argument. Argument is about Welfare State. Second best contender. I fell for it too

. If you re-read argument you will find that argument strongly says welfare state cannot be implemented successfully and provides reason for so.

deveshj21 · Answer

eakabuah   nightblade354   VeritasKarishma 
Dear Experts,
The option A talks about the working of the "WELFARE STATE", while the question stem just talks about IMPLEMENTATION.
This is why I rejected this option.

nightblade354 · Answer

Sociologist: The welfare state cannot be successfully implemented because it rests on the assumption that human beings are unselfish—a seemingly false assumption. The welfare state is feasible only if wage earners are prepared to have their hard-earned funds used to help others in greater need, and that requires an unselfish attitude. But people innately seek their own well-being, especially when the interests of others threaten it.

P: The welfare state is feasible only if wage earners are prepared to have their hard-earned funds used to help others in greater need, and that requires an unselfish attitude. 
P: But people innately seek their own well-being, especially when the interests of others threaten it. 
P: It rests on the assumption that human beings are unselfish 
P: A seemingly false assumption 
C: The welfare state cannot be successfully implemented.

Diagram: Welfare State -->  Successfully implemented   
 W.S. Feasible --> Earned money goes to others --> need to be unselfish 
  Need to be unselfish   -->  Earned money goes to other  -->  W.S. Feasible

--  so if it isn't feasible, how can it be successfully implemented? It can't!

This question is very heavy with Lawgic (logic), but that doesn't make it impossible to solve. In fact, this is a great question to help you learn premises and conclusions. As you can see, there is a ton of information, but being able to parse it quickly can net an easy answer. Always keep in mind what you are trying to prove. If you have to ask yourself "why do I need to believe this", it is either a conclusion or the conclusion of the argument; in this same vein, if something gives support to an argument, that is a premise. You can also use the because/therefore method. If you say because X therefore Y, the therefore Y is the conclusion, and the because X is the premise. Knowing this, let's dive into the answers, because we know where everything stands.

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main conclusion of the sociologist’s argument?

(A) The welfare state will not work. --  Perfect! Every premise points to this and it is, indeed, our conclusion. As noted above, if something isn't feasible, how can you implement it successfully? Yes, this isn't stated anywhere and you NEVER make assumptions. But this is a logical step to take in an argument. If you are told a project isn't feasible, unless there is some new development it cannot possibly be successful. One last note on this before I move on: We know what the conclusion is from the above. All we have to do is find the closest match to it. And this is it!

(B) The welfare state unfairly asks those who work hard to help those in greater need. --  This is a premise of the argument. Are we trying to prove that the system is unfair? Nope. We are trying to show how it won't work. Try the because/therefore method: Because the welfare state won't work, therefore the welfare state unfairly asks those who work hard to help those in greater need. WRONG!

(C) The assumption that human beings are unselfish is false. --  This is yet another premise. No premise points to this to support it. Where is the proof for this statement? If you point to the last sentence, let's break that down. If people care about their own well being, does that make them selfish? That is a dangerous assumption to make. But the biggest issue with (C) is that the other premises don't point to anything. They are just left in the paragraph. But because they are premises, they have to support something. So this can't be our conclusion.

(D) The interests of the less fortunate impinge on the interests of others. --  This is never stated anywhere. If you chose this, you are making an assumption about the intention of the author. But you can't do this!

(E) The welfare state relies on the generosity of wage earners. --  OK, but generosity is never stated anywhere. This has nothing to do with our argument and the premises because we talk about selfishness (which is not the same as generosity).

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Sociologist: The welfare state cannot be successfully implemented beca

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