September 2014 LSAT
Section 1
Question 18
The main function of the first paragraph is to
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Annie on October 24, 2019
@xDaltonLaney,This question asks you to focus in on one paragraph in the passage. You are looking for the main point of paragraph 1.
(A) is incorrect. This paragraph does not describe the background of Marcusians but rather describes Marcuse's actual views. It is important not to let yourself be distracted by certain words in the answer choices. Here, the answer choice mentions "political and economic context." Just because the paragraph mentions that Marcuse is a political theorist, does not mean the paragraph is talking about the political and economic background.
(B) is incorrect. This paragraph is not talking about the mechanisms behind creating "false needs." It does not look behind the "needs" themselves.
(C) is incorrect. While the paragraph briefly mentions psychology, it does not evaluate the psychological techniques.
(D) is incorrect. There is no categorization of Marcuse's views. Rather, the paragraph mostly just describes his views.
(E) is correct. The paragraph begins by stating that some critics of advertising assume that it creates "false needs." Then, it points to Marcuse as a an example of such a critic and describes his views. As Marcusians follow Marcuse's views, this paragraph describes their views and points to how the Marcusians are related to other critics.