In many countries the influence of fringe movements is increasing. The

Question

In many countries, the influence of fringe movements is increasing. The great centrifugal engine of modern culture turns faster and faster, spinning off fashions, ideologies, religions, artistic movements, economic theories, cultures, and dogmas in fabulous profusion. Hence, the modern culture threatens the national identities that now exist in the world.

Which of the following statement, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

A. New national identities are often forged out of conflicts among diverse groups.
B. A stable identity is typically a composite of a staggering number of subcultures,
C. The rate of cultural change in most countries will soon change drastically.
D. It is preferable to have a pluralistic than a monolithic national culture.
E. A culture with a solidified national identity tends to have more social problems than one without such an identity.

Source: LSAT

SOUMYAJIT_ · Accepted Answer

The conclusion is of the Stimuli is that , due to such movements, there is a threat to national identity or the strong identity that defines a particular nation. We need to weaken this conclusion here. Why is E not correct? " A culture with a solidified national identity tends to have more social problems than one without such an identity." --This is a classic trap. Even though this is written nicely to show us why such inter-mixing of culture is good, but is it really the conclusion in contention here? Do we really care if inter-mixing culture creates social stability or social problem? We need to weaken the conclusion that such inter-mixing of culture is threat to national identity in the first place. Why is B correct? It clearly states as it stands, that there are several subcultures present in the current state of nations which posesses national identity. Presence of such sub-cultures surely doesn not hinder the presence of national identiy. If this were true, this surely weaken's author's conclusion. Hope this helps!

Takdir · Answer

I did not get the main idea of the qn

GMATNinja · Answer

First of all, I corrected a couple typos in the original post: it should be "fringe movements " and "artistic movements ", not "fringe moments" and "artistic moments" Start with the conclusion, which is that "the modern culture threatens the national identities that now exist in the world." What modern culture? The one that spins off a lot of "fashions, ideologies, religions, artistic moments, economic theories, cultures, and dogmas" (i.e. different movements). Since "the influence of fringe movements is increasing", this implies that the influence of those newly created ideologies, religions, etc. is also increasing. So, we have the national identities that currently exist in the world and a bunch of new movements that are becoming more and more influential. This suggests that those movements will influence national identities, thus changing ("threatening") existing national identities. We'll leave the rest to you, but hopefully that helps you tackle the answer choices!

sarbjeetsingh777 · Answer

I am struck between option B and option E. Though the OA is B

, i am not able to eliminate option E. can anyone help? :oops:

GMATNinja · Answer

Thanks  SOUMYAJIT_ !

Yup, the author's conclusion is that the modern culture will threaten (or change) existing national identities. How that change would impact the number of social problems has no bearing on the author's argument. For example, say that the modern culture magically eliminates all social problems; if it does so only after eradicating all existing national identities, then the author's argument is still valid.

abhi2707 · Answer

I think this questions evokes a point on 1. Continuous evolution and 2. Synthesis of a multitude of things.
Option B: Addresses the synthesis part but it does not talk about evolution (as the CF engine of MC turns faster and faster, spinning off fashions, etc). Somehow the evolution part seems more important than the synthesis part. 
But option B is the best among the given choices.

Please clarify. Thanks

Sheetika · Answer

How is B the answer? 'composed of a number of subcultures' weakens the argument that modern culture threatens the national identities? How? 
Please help

GMATNinja · Answer

I think  SOUMYAJIT_  answered your question in  this post . Check it out, and let us know if you still have questions!

As you said, (B) is the best choice, and that's all that matters! (B) suggests that a "staggering number of subcultures" is not necessarily a threat to a national identity. And if a stable identity is typically a composite of a  staggering  number of subcultures, then adding/removing/changing some of those subcultures might not affect the broader national identity.

AbbyJ · Answer

I was not able to eliminate option A. My line of thinking was that I am looking for an answer which can suggest that national identities are not influenced by modern cultures. And A seems to fit the bill and thus weaken the argument. #Gmatninja #Charles if you can please help where I was mistaken.

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Posted from my mobile device

unraveled · Answer

Let me share my POV on this, since I chose correctly B over D(though i took too much of time). 
I must point out that the highlighted text is what the problem is. 
The situation we have is something like 
A ----> B

But i think your line of thinking is contra to that.

It can either be that A is neutral to B or C ----> B OR may be anything else. So, here is what i did:

In many countries, the influence of fringe movements is increasing. The great centrifugal engine of modern culture turns faster and faster, spinning off fashions, ideologies, religions, artistic movements, economic theories, cultures, and dogmas in fabulous profusion. Hence, the modern culture threatens the national identities that now exist in the world.

Which of the following statement, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

A. New national identities are often forged out of  conflicts among diverse groups . - WRONG. This somewhat strengthens the argument if conflicts can be considered fringe movements. 
B. A stable identity is typically a composite of a staggering number of subcultures, - CORRECT. This goes against the argument. The choice is relatively better than others, though it's a generic statement. 
C. The rate of cultural change in most countries  will soon change drastically . - WRONG. Which way that would be?
D. It is  preferable  to have a pluralistic than a monolithic national culture. - WRONG. Generic statement that might have been made after new identities formed.
E. A culture with a solidified national identity tends to have  more social problems than  one without such an identity. - WRONG. Like D only. Plus a comparison is not justifying or criticising anything.

Answer B.

GMATNinja · Answer

Sorry that I'm late to the party, but here are some thoughts in case they're helpful!

Note that the conclusion states that "the modern culture threatens the national identities  that now exist  in the world." So, the author is concerned with national identities that ALREADY exist.

Here's (A):

(A) talks about NEW national identities. The fringe movements discussed in the passage may well come into conflict and then forge these new identities, but what will happen to the OLD identities? Presumably, they will be threatened, just as the author argues.

So this answer choice actually goes along with the author's argument about national identities that already exist. That's why we can eliminate (A).

I hope that helps!

gullyboy09 · Answer

Hi  GMATNinja , while reading the passage, my understanding was that author is making a leap here, "spinning off" does not inherently mean "destroying". And B just does the opposite, so I chose B. Is it a good way to go about this question?

guddo · Answer

In many countries, the influence of fringe movements is increasing. The great centrifugal engine of modern culture turns faster and faster, spinning off fashions, ideologies, religions, artistic movements, economic theories, cultures, and dogmas in fabulous profusion. Hence, the modern culture threatens the national identities that now exist in the world.
 
 Which of the following statement, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

The argument assumes that the growth of many fringe movements and subcultures will  undermine  existing national identities. So the best weakener will show that diversity within a culture does not necessarily threaten national identity.

(A) New national identities are often forged out of conflicts among diverse groups.

This is not the best weakener. It talks about  new  national identities being formed, but the conclusion is about current national identities being threatened.

(B) A stable identity is typically a composite of a staggering number of subcultures,

This is the best answer. If a stable identity usually includes many subcultures, then the spread of fringe movements does not necessarily threaten national identity. It may simply be part of how such identity normally exists.

(C) The rate of cultural change in most countries will soon change drastically.

This is too vague. It does not tell us whether the change will reduce or increase the alleged threat.

(D) It is preferable to have a pluralistic than a monolithic national culture.

This is about what is preferable, not about whether national identities are actually threatened.

(E) A culture with a solidified national identity tends to have more social problems than one without such an identity.

This does not weaken the conclusion that modern culture threatens existing national identities.

Answer: (B)

In many countries the influence of fringe movements is increasing. The

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In many countries the influence of fringe movements is increasing. The

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