The fact that several of the largest senior citizens’ organizations ar

I think the key here is to understand the question stem.
Which of the following generalizations, if true, would help to substantiate the criticism implicit in the statement above?

so what is the criticism. The organisations are not best represented. They will be best represented if more economically disadvantaged men are its members. Answer choice E best states that generalisation by saying:

People usually join organizations whose purpose is to further the economic, political, or social interests of their members.

Hence E tells us that if an organisation wishes to bring forward issues concerning a certain strata of the society then it may as well be represented by ppl from such a section.

HTH

Hi,

Please correct my understanding here.
I understand that the critics ask this question concerned with seriousness of organisation's commitment or representations in speaking about its middle aged employees.
Therefore, I see this as, the criticism is made since the critics primarily adhere to the fact that organized groups do a better job in getting redressed than individuals, and hence doubts the seriousness of the organisation's involvement in representing its middle aged workers. So, C seems to be this answer.
Pls correct me even if I am miserably wrong !
Thanks!

Hi

Greetings.

Both the choices B and E come very close, but I have a different opinion.

Some of you may not agree, but I feel none of the choices accurately substantiate the criticism. The critics argue that since the membership is almost exclusively middle-class, the organization’s commitment to speak out on behalf of the needs of economically disadvantaged elderly is questionable.

The critics feel that the middle class may not speak out on the needs of the economically disadvantaged people. (I’m leaving out the word elderly since I feel that it does not, in any way, contribute to what we are looking for.)

The premise on which the critics base their argument is: people of class A will not / cannot effectively speak out on the needs of people of class B.

Ideally, the correct choice could have been worded somewhat like this (or better :
“People from one particular class of the society cannot / will not effectively speak out for people from another class of society.”

I have a small issue with Choice E (though it comes close) because even if people join organizations to further interests of their members, it may not exclude them from furthering interests of other members. (For instance, John Doe works for educational needs of the Hispanic children; that does not mean he will be uninterested in the educational needs of other races. At least it is not conclusive.). Had the Choice E been worded like,
People usually join organizations whose purpose is to further the economic, political, or social interests of ONLY their members, I would agree.)

Choice B is fair but weak. The critics are not arguing whether the needs of a certain class are different from or similar to other groups in the society. Isn’t it likely that even the needs of two classes are different, the steps taken to benefit one class may spill over and spread benefits for other classes in the same proportion – like a win-win situation?

As an afterthought, choice B is appropriate for a question like, “Which of the following is the assumption upon which the critics rest their case?”

Anyway, since our task is to select from the one of the options (and not add one , I would rather E.

I wrote quite a lot; did I make sense?

Mayank
(1st post here)

Hello raghupara,
Your understanding of the question is a bit faulty. The critics arr concerned since the organizations are comprised of exclusively of middle class elderly people. Due to this they fear that the economically disadvantaged elderly people might not be represented by these organizations.

Now, the questions asks us to choose an option that could substantiate this criticism.

E highlights that people joining organizations generally tend to represent their own people. This leads us to conclude that economically disadvantaged elderly people might not be represented or benefited by these organizations since middle class elderly people would aim at working towards improvement of their people through these organizations.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you need any further clarifications.

I think it should be E as rest of the options don't actually relate to the criticism or are against it.

I didnt understand the question.

This is an interesting passage and so are the given options...

The stimulus states...

X (belonging to an economic class Y) formed an organisation for Y'
Critics : Questioning the seriousness of the Organisation as most of the members of the Org belongs to economic class Y and not Y'

Prethinking assumptions :

1. People of economic class Y can not empathesize / help the needs of economic class Y' , since the members do not themselves belong to the economic class Y'
2. People of Economic class Y' needs the economic support of Y for their upliftment.
3. People of Economic class Y' can not themselves form an association due to their economic conditions that will cater to their needs.

Hope this helps....

It is between b and e...

B says that the needs of the disadvantaged elderly people differ in “some ways”(not entirely) from the needs of the other groups.. This also means that in general they could be similar, if not same.. a few people feel that this option could be/should be an assumption, but it isn’t as explained above.

Option e is basically saying that the people join these so called ngos or organisations or whatever whose purpose, in general, is to further the economic, political, or social interests of all of their members, regardless of their members’ class/age..these organisations, as per the passage, are “almost” exclusively constituted of middle class elderly people.. let’s say there are 100 members— 90 are middle class elderly people and 10 are economically disadvantaged elderly people..... this clearly indicates that the people’s criticism is fair considering what the goal of these organisations is ie to speak for all it’s members not the most of its members..

E is the correct answer

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VeritasKarishma
can you please share your thoughts on this one ?

The question stem says "...organizations are constituted almost exclusively of middle-class elderly people..." and then Option E says "People usually join organizations whose purpose is to further the economic, political, or social interests of their members. "

Now my question is "their members" in E refers to middle-class elderly people, and if that's true why would critics question the commitment of such orgs. ?

Or does "their members" refer to the members these organizations are supposed to have.

Several senior citizens’ orgs are constituted almost exclusively of middle-class elderly people.
These orgs are committed to speaking out on behalf of the needs of economically disadvantaged elderly people.

Conclusion: The orgs are not serious in their commitment.

Which of the following generalizations, if true, would help to substantiate the criticism implicit in the statement above?

The criticism in the statement above is that the orgs are not serious in their commitment. What would help strengthen this criticism? Their commitment is to speak up on behalf of economically disadvantaged people but they are made up of mostly middle class. Which option will support the criticism?

(A) The ideology of an organization tends reflect the traditional political climate of its locale.

Irrelevant. The constitution of the org is under question.

(B) The needs of disadvantaged elderly people differ in some ways from those of other disadvantaged groups within contemporary society.

Doesn't support the criticism.

(C) Organized groups are better able to publicize their problems and seek redress than individuals acting alone.

Should be a point in support of the org.

(D) Middle-class elderly people are more likely to join organizations than are economically disadvantaged elderly people.

If this is true, the organisation's constitution reflects it. Why does the author say that the org is not serious about its commitment then?

(E) People usually join organizations whose purpose is to further the economic, political, or social interests of their members.

This says that people usually join those orgs whose purpose is to help their members. So if an org's purpose is to help
economically disadvantaged elderly, the economically disadvantaged elderly would join it. But several of the largest orgs for elderly do not have economically disadvantaged elderly. So do these orgs really have the purpose of helping speak on behalf of economically disadvantaged elderly? Seems doubtful. These orgs must not be serious abt their commitment towards the economically disadvantaged elderly, else the economically disadvantaged elderly would have joined the orgs.
This supports the author's criticism of the orgs' purpose based on the constitution of the orgs.

Answer (E)

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