The "continuous change" hypothesis, as it is presented in the passage, can best be applied to which one of the follow...

Shiyi-Zhang February 1, 2019

Could you go through each answer choice and explain why is D correct?

Ravi February 1, 2019

@Alex and @Shiyi-Zhang,

Happy to help. The paragraph that gives us information on the
'continuous change' hypothesis is the second paragraph, which goes
from lines 12 to 25.

In this paragraph, we're told that proponents of the 'continuous
change' hypothesis don't think that federal law had much of an impact
at all on the economic progress made by black people in America
between 1940 and 1975. Rather, proponents of this hypothesis argue
that slowly evolving historical forces, like long-term trends in
education that improved segregated schools for blacks, led to the
earning potential of blacks increasing relative to the earning
potential of those attending white schools.

From this, we know that the proponents of the 'continuous change'
hypothesis are basically saying the government didn't do anything to
improve blacks' situations; rather, evolving historical forces did.

The question asks, "The 'continuous change' hypothesis, as it is
presented in the passage, can best be applied to which one of the
following situations?"

We want an answer that says that something about the government not
doing anything to improve something and historical forces being the
main cause of the improvement.

(A), (B), (C), and (E) can all be quickly eliminated because they all
mention the government playing a role in improving the situation
they're describing.

(A) is incorrect because it says that the government funding a project
to build subsidized housing helps low-income families find homes. We
know that the proponents of the 'continuous change' theory think that
the government didn't do anything to improve the situation.

(B) is incorrect because it says that the government provides special
grants; again, the correct answer needs to either not mention
government or say that the government didn't help.

(C) is incorrect because it mentions tax incentives being given to
private contractors. Who gives out tax incentives? The government.
Therefore, we know this isn't the right answer.

(E) is incorrect because it mentions the neighborhood organization
lobbying for government assistance. If the government is assisting,
this doesn't match up with the 'continuous change' hypothesis, so we
can get rid of this choice.

That leaves us with (D), which says, "A housing shortage is remedied
because the changing state of the economy permits private investors to
finance construction in a depressed area." This is correct because the
government is not cited as a helping factor, but the changing state of
the economy is, which matches up well with 'evolving historical
forces,' which is what was used in the 'continuous change' hypothesis
proponents' explanation.

Does this make sense? Let us know if you have any questions!