Which one of the following best expresses the main idea of the passage?

Ravi August 22, 2019

@Patricia-Adekunle,

Happy to help.

The question asks, "Which one of the following best expresses the main
idea of the passage?"

In reading this passage, we see that at the beginning of the second
paragraph, the author states that in order to understand the upward
mobility of Chinese and Japanese immigrants and their descendants, one
has to analyze both the "supply-side and demand-side factors together"
(lines 23-26). (E) has some confusing language, but we know from the
first paragraph that the culture of Chinese and Japanese immigrant
groups refers to supply-side factors (lines 7-12) and the
socio-economic structure of the host country refers to the demand-side
factors (lines 15-20). Thus, (E) states the synthesis viewpoint of the
author very well, so it's the correct answer choice.

(A) says, "The socioeconomic achievement of Chinese and Japanese
immigrants and their descendants is best explained by a historical
examination of the economic structures prevalent in the United States
when such immigrant groups arrived."

The problem with (A) is that the author thinks that we need to look at
both the culture of the Chinese and Japanese immigrants and the
economic structures prevalent in the U.S. (lines 23-27), but (A) says
that we only need to look at the structures. Since (A) does not
include anything about the culturally based or supply-side factors, we
can get rid of it.

(B) says, "The socioeconomic achievement of Chinese and Japanese
immigrants and their descendants is best explained by an examination
of their cultural backgrounds, in particular their level of
educational attainment."

The problem with (B) is that the author says that we need to look to
the economic structures in America in addition to Chinese and Japanese
immigrants' cultural backgrounds, but (B) claims that we only have to
look at the cultural backgrounds. Additionally, (B) places emphasis on
the immigrants' level of educational attainment, but the author never
states that this was a factor related to the immigrants' cultural
backgrounds. Thus, (B) is largely off base, so we can get rid of it.

(C) says, "The socioeconomic achievement of Chinese and Japanese
immigrants and their descendants has taken place in the context of a
culturally-based emphasis on the economic welfare of the nuclear
family."

The problem with (C) is that while the author does claim that Chinese
and Japanese immigrants' upward mobility was at least partially due to
the support of the families they established (lines 40-49), this was
not the main point of the passage. The author's main point in this
passage is that one needs to look at both structurally based and
culturally based theories (like the support of the nuclear family) in
order to understand the upward mobility of Chinese and Japanese
immigrants (lines 23-27). Thus, (C) misses out on the main point of
this passage, so we can get rid of it.

(D) says, "Only the market structure of the capitalist economy of the
United States in which supply has historically been regulated by
demand can account for the socioeconomic achievement of Chinese and
Japanese immigrants and their descendants."

The problem with (D) is that it does not include anything about
examining culturally-based theories or supply-side factors. The author
thinks that we need to look at both market structures and cultural
backgrounds to understand the socioeconomic achievement of Chinese and
Japanese immigrants (lines 23-27). Thus, we can get rid of (D).

Hope this helps. Let us know if you have any other questions!

Lucas September 10, 2019

I was originally going to go with E, but then the passage says that they cannot be combined, so I went with C. please explain

shunhe January 10, 2020

Hi @Lucas,

Thanks for the question! This is a Main Point passage, so let’s get a big picture idea of what the passage is telling us. The first paragraph tells us that sociologists have applied culturally based or structurally based theories to analyze the socioeconomic achievement of Japanese and Chinese immigrants to the US, and describes both. The second paragraph argues that both of the theories need to be use in conjunction with the other, giving various examples of why this is so. The second paragraph focuses on the “supply side,” whereas the third paragraph focuses on the “demand side.” It’s pretty clear that a main issue of the passage is the necessity of combining of the two approaches, and this is what (E) tells us. The passage doesn’t tell us that these two approaches CAN’T be combined, but rather, it tells us that they traditionally have not been combined (line 7). However, the passage argues that both are required to understand the socioeconomic mobility of Chinese and Japanese immigrants and their descendants (lines 23-27).

(C) isn’t the main idea of the passage because it doesn’t mention the two approaches at all, which is clearly a huge part of the passage. Yes, (C) is true, but it’s not the main point of the passage. Otherwise, we’d expect more emphasis on the nuclear family and its economic welfare. Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any further questions you may have.