Anthropologists studying the Hopi people of the southwestern United

Question

Anthropologists studying the Hopi people of the southwestern United States often characterize Hopi society between 1680 and 1880 as surprisingly stable, considering that it was a period of diminution in population and pressure from contact with outside groups, factors that might be expected to cause significant changes in Hopi social arrangements.

The Hopis’ retention of their distinctive socio-cultural system has been attributed to the Hopi religious elite’s determined efforts to preserve their religion and way of life, and also to a geographical isolation greater than that of many other Native American groups, an isolation that limited both cultural contact and exposure to European diseases.  But equally important to Hopi cultural persistence may have been an inherent flexibility in their social system that may have allowed preservation of traditions even as the Hopis accommodated themselves to change. For example, the system of matrilineal clans was maintained throughout this period, even though some clans merged to form larger groups while others divided into smaller descent groups. Furthermore, although traditionally members of particular Hopi clans appear to have exclusively controlled particular ceremonies, a clan’s control of a ceremony might shift to another clan if the first became too small to manage the responsibility. Village leadership positions traditionally restricted to members of one clan might be similarly extended to members of other clans, and women might assume such positions under certain unusual conditions.  VRC000226-07 1 
 1. The author of the passage would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements about the explanation outlined in highlighted text?

(A) It fails to take into account the effect of geographical circumstances on Hopi culture.
(B) It correctly emphasizes the role of the religious elite in maintaining the system of matrilineal clans.
(C) It represents a misreading of Hopi culture because it fails to take into account the actual differences that existed among the various Hopi clans.
(D) It underestimates the effect on Hopi cultural development of contact with other cultural groups.
(E) It is correct but may be insufficient in itself to explain Hopi sociocultural persistence.

2 
 2. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about the Hopis' geographic situation between 1680 and 1880?

(A) It prevented the Hopis from experiencing a diminution in population.
(B) It helped to promote flexibility within their social system.
(C) It limited but did not eliminate contact with other cultural groups.
(D) It reinforced the religious elite's determination to resist cultural change.
(E) It tended to limit contact between certain Hopi clans.

VRC000226-06
 3 
 3. The passage is primarily concerned with

(A) reassessing a phenomenon in light of new findings
(B) assessing the relative importance of two factors underlying a phenomenon
(C) examining the assumptions underlying an interpretation of a phenomenon
(D) expanding on an explanation of a phenomenon
(E) contrasting two methods for evaluating a phenomenon

VRC000226-02
 4 
 4. The author of the passage mentions the control of ceremonies by particular Hopi clans most likely in order to

(A) provide an example of the way in which the religious elite protected their position within Hopi society
(B) note an exception to a larger pattern evident in many Native American cultures
(C) explain the connection in Hopi culture between religious and political leadership
(D) illustrate how the Hopis combined flexibility with tradition
(E) cite evidence that counters a common misconception about the structure of Hopi society

000226-04 
 5 
 5. The passage suggests that sociocultural change in Hopi society between 1680 and 1880 was

A. initiated primarily by contact with other cultural groups
B. greater than that experienced by many other Native American peoples during that period
C. less pronounced than might be expected, given the demographic conditions and external pressures during that period
D. less pronounced than it had been previously because of diminution in the Hopi population occurring after 1680
E. accelerated by the particular geographic circumstances of the Hopis

mba1382 · Accepted Answer

Really short and good passage but questions seemed on 600-700 level.

Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about the Hopis' geographic situation between 1680 and 1880?

(A) It prevented the Hopis from experiencing a diminution in population. --Cant infer this from passage certainly. A trap basically
(B) It helped to promote flexibility within their social system. --Wrong in the context of the passage.
(C) It limited but did not eliminate contact with other cultural groups.-- This is the one mentioned in the passage.
The Hopis’ retention of their distinctive sociocultural system has been attributed to the Hopi religious elite’s determined efforts to preserve their religion and way of life, and also to a geographical isolation greater than that of many other Native American groups,an isolation that limited both cultural contact and exposure to European diseases.
(D) It reinforced the religious elite's determination to resist cultural change.-- Can't be inferred surely.
(E) It tended to limit contact between certain Hopi clans.---- Can't be inferred surely.

The passage is primarily concerned with
A) reassessing a phenomenon in light of new findings---No reassessment of new findings. Out
B) assessing the relative importance of two factors underlying a phenomenon ---Wrong
C) examining the assumptions underlying an interpretation of a phenomenon--- This was a trap. But closely reading the words, we see that the passage is not examining any assumptions
D) expanding on an explanation of a phenomenon-- Yes. Passage is expanding on the explanation of a phenomenon i.e. Hopis’ retention of their distinctive sociocultural system as stated in 1st para
E) contrasting two methodsfor evaluating a phenomenon--- Wrong

Hope it helps :-)

GMATNinja · Answer

Question 1:

Here's the question again: 
 
And here's the relevant portion of the passage:
 
The highlighted text itself presents two factors to explain why the Hopis retained their distinctive socio-cultural system: the efforts of Hopi religious elites and the group's geographical isolation. Moving on from this highlighted text, the author presents a third factor: the flexibility of that system. The author brings this up to stress that this third factor was equally important to the retention of the Hopi's system.

As we evaluate answer choices, remember that "it" always refers to the highlighted text.

This completely contradicts the highlighted text, which plainly states that geographical circumstances were one of the key factors contributing to retention of the Hopi socio-cultural system. Eliminate (A).

The phrase "matrilineal clans" stops us from accepting this answer choice. The consideration of these clans is not part of the highlighted text. It comes later, in support of the author's consideration of social flexibility. Eliminate (C).

This is totally off the mark. The highlighted text may leave out the third factor of flexibility, but the author never indicates that accepting these other two factors is a  misreading  of Hopi culture. Rather, the author agrees with the highlighted text and wishes to add a third piece of the puzzle to complete this picture. Eliminate (C).

The author wrote this passage to explain why contact with outside groups did  not  lead to significant changes in Hopi society. This choice goes in a totally different direction, which doesn't reflect the highlighted text and runs completely counter to why the author writes those highlighted statements. Eliminate (D).

This is the correct choice we've been looking for! It perfectly matches why the author is bringing up the highlighted text: the author believes that these statements are true, but also believes there is a third, equally important factor that must be considered.

(E) is the best choice, and every other choice can be eliminated confidently. I hope this helps!

Skywalker18 · Answer

1 . E - It is correct but may be insufficient in itself to explain Hopi socio-cultural persistence.- This can be inferred from the lines following the highlighted text.
"But equally important to Hopi cultural persistence may have been an inherent flexibility in their social system that may have allowed preservation of traditions even as the Hopis accommodated themselves to change "

2) Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about the Hopis’ geographic situation between 1680 and 1880?
C. It limited but did not eliminate contact with other cultural groups. It can be inferred from the lines -
also to a geographical isolation greater than that of many other Native American groups, an isolation that limited both cultural contact and exposure to European diseases.

3) The passage is primarily concerned with
D. expanding on an explanation of a phenomenon. Correct

4. The author of the passage mentions the control of ceremonies by particular Hopi clans most likely in order to
(D) illustrate how the Hopis combined flexibility with tradition
But equally important to Hopi cultural persistence may have been an inherent flexibility in their social system that may have allowed preservation of traditions even as the Hopis accommodated themselves to change.

All the 3 correct in 7 mins 15 seconds

, took 2 mins and 40 seconds to read the passage (Latest attempt -- All correct(including the newly added Q4)in 8 mins , including 3 mins 10 seconds to read )

AdityaHongunti · Answer

2. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about the Hopis' geographic situation between 1680 and 1880?

(A)  It prevented the Hopis from experiencing a diminution in population .- the choice implies that the Geo location helpedin preventing hopis from diminution -para 1( often characterize Hopi society between 1680 and 1880 as surprisingly stable, considering that it was a period of diminution in population and pressure from contact with outside groups, factors that might be expected to cause significant changes in Hopi social arrangements. ) the anthropologists say that the hopis society was surprisingly stable . why was it surprising? read the next part after surprisingly stable. The diminution of Pop has been cited as a contast just to weigh in on the surprising stability.Nowhere is it related to Geo Loc.

(B)  It helped to promote flexibility within their social system . - Entirely goes against the given facts. In fact not the GL but the society's inherent flexibilty helped the retention of culture.

(C)  It limited but did not eliminate contact with other cultural groups .- para 2 (a geographical isolation greater than that of many other Native American groups, an  isolation that limited  both cultural contact and exposure to European diseases). Now the passage states that the GL limited the cultural contact. it did not eliminate it! how do we know this? read the later part of the para 2. evidently other cultural groups(clans) did come into their contact and even were a part of the culture.
 
(D)  It reinforced the religious elite's determination to resist cultural change .- para 2. (Hopis’  retention of their distinctive sociocultural system has been attributed to  the Hopi religious elite’s determined efforts to preserve their religion and way of life, and also to a geographical isolation )note here that the passage states that the retention was attributed to 2 things. nowhere is it mentioned that the elite's stance was strengthed by the GL.

(E)  It tended to limit contact between certain Hopi clans. - certain hopi clans? nowhere is it mentioned that there were particular clans the hopis's tried to stay away from. " certain" is the culprit here

thangvietnam · Answer

I want to say something about RC. I already said this point in a few last posting. now, I want to say it again.

there is difference between lsat passages and gmat passage. from this difference , we, non native ,can know how to study for RC.

lsat passages are harder and longer but their questions are easy, and so, we need to do prethinking for answering questions. in contrast, gmat passages are easy to understand and are shorter but their questions are harder to answer. because their questions are harder, we need to do both prethinking and POE (power of elimination) to find the correct answer. prethinking help us find some wrong answers which are contradicts the information in the passage flagrantly. POE is powerfull method and requires a higher level of infering. POE permit us to eliminate the wrong answers which is wrong in one or 2 words.

if you focus on understanding the hard passages and do not focus on inferring for answering the question , you can fail because that is not the point gmat want to test us. of course, at a 700+ level, gmat passage is also hard and long.

normally, understanding the hard passages is more easy than inferring for answering hard questions.

so, be aware that there are two skills inhere, understanding the hard passages and inferring at high level to answer the hard question. knowing these two skills is particularly helpful in studying RC for the non-natives.

thank you for reading this text.

this gmat passage is typical of gmat passage. the passage is easy to understand but answering questions are not so easy. it requires us a high level of inferring for answerng the questions.

mallya12 · Answer

The passage is primarily concerned with ?? Answer choice C vs D. Please explain

GMATNinja · Answer

To understand the primary concern of the passage, let's break it down into more manageable chunks:

Paragraph 1: The author introduces a surprising phenomenon (the stability of the Hopi tribe despite the fact that "  was a period of diminution in population and pressure from contact with outside groups"). 
 First sentence of paragraph 2: What this phenomenon "has been attributed to" ("the Hopi religious elite’s determined efforts" and "geographical isolation"). 
 The rest of the passage: Another explanation for the phenomenon ("inherent flexibility in   social system"), and several examples of this explanation.

From this, we can see that the author is primarily concerned with adding to an already existing explanation of a phenomenon.

Take a look at answer choice (C):
 
This answer choice implies that the primary purpose of the passage is to examine  assumptions  underlying an interpretation of a phenomenon. Looking back at our breakdown of the passage, this is clearly not the case -- the author does offer several factors to explain a phenomenon, but never examines the assumptions that led to these interpretations. So, examining these assumptions cannot be the primary concern of the passage. (C) is out.

Now look at (D):
 
This fits nicely with our breakdown of the passage. The author introduces a surprising phenomenon, gives an existing explanation, and then expands on this explanation at length. (D) is the answer to question #3.

I hope that helps!

jawele · Answer

Hi

I'm curious why E in Q2 is incorrect: what's your reasoning?

2) Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about the Hopis’ geographic situation between 1680 and 1880?
E. It tended to limit contact between certain Hopi clans.

After all, it says that the isolation limited cultural contact. Do we need to assume that, and if so why, "cultural contact" refers only to outside cultures? Perhaps there are other reasons to eliminate this option?

Thanks guys

GMATNinja   SajjadAhmad ,  workout   u1983   Gnpth

GMATNinja · Answer

The passage gives three main reasons that Hopi societies remained stable: 1) the religious elite's determined efforts to preserve their religion/way of life, 2) geographical isolation, and 3) flexibility within their social system.

This third reason (flexibility within their social system), depends on Hopi clans interacting with each other in the following ways:

Merging small clans or dividing large clans as needed  
  Shifting control of ceremonies if a clan became too small to manage them 
  Extending village leadership positions traditionally restricted to members of one clan to members of other clans

Because of this extensive interaction between Hopi clans, we cannot infer that geographic isolation "tended to limit contact between certain Hopi clans." The passage does not offer any evidence that contact was limited between clans within Hopi society, and provides a lot of information confirming that such contact was commonplace. For this reason, (E) is out.

I hope that helps!

katytranvo · Answer

GMATNinja

For Question 1, I debated between choice B & E. 
Choice B has the "matrilineal clans" which was mentioned later in the passage. I agree with this elimination.
However choice E. I feel that it can only be correct if we read onto the connecting words in the next sentence "But equally important"
What's your strategy in choosing choice E ?

GMATNinja · Answer

Question 1 
 
The question asks with which answer choice the author would agree concerning the highlighted text, but that does not mean that you can ONLY look at the highlighted text for clues.

Take another look at (B):
 
The issue with (B) is not that matrilineal clans are mentioned outside of the highlighted text -- the problem is that the highlighted text does not, in fact, emphasize the role of the religious elite in maintaining matrilineal clans! It only mentions the role of the religious elite in preserving "their religion and way of life." The author definitely would NOT agree that the highlighted text "correctly" emphasizes the role of the religious elite in maintaining the system of matrilineal clans, because the text doesn't make this claim at all. (B) is out.

Now look at (E):
 
You are right that we cannot conclude that the author would agree with (E) if we ONLY look at the highlighted text. In that portion of the passage, he/she introduces a couple of factors to which the Hopi's stability have been attributed. Only in the subsequent part of the passage do we discover that the author agrees that the information in the highlighted text is correct, but then argues that there are additional factors at play. It is totally fine to use this additional context to answer the question, because it gives us an accurate picture of how the author views the information in the highlighted text. (E) is the correct answer to question #1.

Question 2 
 
The author states that Hopi society remained "surprisingly stable  considering that it was a period of diminution in population."  The central question explored in the passage is how Hopi society retained its "distinctive socio-cultural system" during this time  despite  a diminution in population and pressure from contact with outside groups.

So, while geographical isolation " limited ... exposure to European diseases," we cannot say that it outright  prevented  a diminution in population. (A) is out.

I hope that helps!

jackbauer96 · Answer

Hey  GMATNinja , for Q3, I'm wondering why this passage is expanding on an explanation of a phenomenon. I might be too mechanical here, but doesn't expanding on an explanation mean clarifying or adding supporting information to an existing explanation (i.e. the geographic position and the determined efforts)? i.e. Not offering an additional explanation (the inherent flexibility) that is as important as the existing explanation?

For this reason I rejected D and picked B instead. Would you mind clarifying what a good reason to eliminate B would be? My rationale for picking it was that the second paragraph states "But equally important was the inherent flexibility" and gives examples of how that flexibility manifested.

Thanks!

GMATNinja · Answer

Question 3 
 
If you haven’t already, it may be helpful to take a look at the passage breakdown in our  previous post . With that in mind, let’s take a look at (B):

The problem with (B) is that the passage mentions the importance of more than two factors underlying the Hopi’s cultural persistence. It mentions the determination of the Hopi religious elite, the Hopi’s geographical isolation, and the inherent flexibility in the Hopi’s social system. That  third  factor is said to be as important as the first two factors. So, the passage actually assesses the relative importance of THREE factors underlying the Hopi’s cultural persistence.

Moreover, I still wouldn’t say that the passage is  primarily concerned with  ASSESSING the relative importance of these factors. The passage merely mentions the first two factors, states that the third factor is “equally important,” and then delves into an explanation of the third factor. The remainder of the passage is NOT dedicated to an exploration of the  relative importance  of these factors. It does not compare the importance of the three factors nor does not expound on the impact of the first two factors. For those reasons, we can eliminate (B).

And here’s (D):

To expand on something simply means “to make larger or more extensive.” So, is the passage making the explanation of the Hopi’s cultural persistence larger or more extensive? Definitely. The passage takes the current explanation (the determination of the religious elite and the geographical isolation) and adds to it that the Hopi social system was inherently flexible. The author is not replacing the current explanation or presenting an alternative explanation. Rather, he/she takes the current explanation and adds to it, making it  larger  and  more extensive . That’s exactly what “expanding” means, so (D) is correct.

I hope that helps!

SnorLax_7 · Answer

Hi  KarishmaB   MartyMurray   DmitryFarber

Why cant we say 'limited exposure to european disease' didn't led to diminution in population ? We are asked to make connections in RC and thats the obvious link, How and why to avoid 'A' as answer if option 'C' would not have been given ?

Kindly can you help ?

Thanks !

Kindly can you help ?

Thanks !

KarishmaB · Answer

You can avoid (A) as the answer because there will be something better than (A) available. Right now it is (C). If (C) were not there, there would be something else. 
(A) is problematic. It says "the geo location prevented populaton diminution" while the passage tells us that it was a period of population diminution. What was causing reduction in population, we are not given. Of course, we know that diseases were causing issues in Europe but were there other issues also (say birth rate was low), we don't know. So we don't know the exact factors responsible for population diminution in that period.
Besides, the passage tells us that geo location "limited" exposure to European diseases. It did not completely eliminate exposure.
Hence, saying "geo location prevented population diminution" is not justified.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Anthropologists studying the Hopi people of the southwestern United

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GMAT Reading Comprehension (RC) Questions

Anthropologists studying the Hopi people of the southwestern United

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