In an unfinished but highly suggestive series of essays, the late
Sarah Eisentein has focused attention on the evolution of working
women’s values from the turn of the century to the First World War.
Eisenstein argues that turn-of-the-century women neither wholly accepted
nor rejected what she calls the dominant “ideology of domesticity,” but
rather took this and other available ideologies-feminism, socialism,
trade unionism-and modified or adapted them in light of their won
experiences and needs. In thus maintaining that wages-work helped to
produce a new “consciousness” among women, Eisenstein to some extent
challenges the recent, controversial proposal by Leslie Tentler that for
women the work experience only served to reinforce the attractiveness of
the dominant ideology. According to the Tentler, the degrading
conditions under which many female wage earners worked made them view
the family as a source of power and esteem available nowhere else in
their social world. In contrast, Eisenstein’s study insists that
wage-work had other implications for women’s identities and
consciousness. Most importantly, her work aims to demonstrate that
wage-work enabled women to become aware of themselves as a distinct
social group capable of defining their collective circumstance.
Eisenstein insists that as a group working-class women were not able to
come to collective consciousness of their situation until they began
entering the labor force, because domestic work tended to isolate them
from one another.
Unfortunately, Eisenstein’s unfinished study does not develop these
ideas in sufficient depth or detail, offering tantalizing hints rather
than an exhaustive analysis. Whatever Eisenstein’s overall plan may have
been, in its current form her study suffers from the limited nature of
the sources she depended on. She use the speeches and writings of
reformers and labor organizers, who she acknowledges were far from
representative, as the voice of the typical woman worker. And there is
less than adequate attention given to the differing values of immigrant
groups that made up a significant proportion of the population under
investigation. While raising important questions, Eisenstein’s essays do
not provide definitive answer, and it remains for others to take up the
challenges they offer.
1. The primary purpose of the passage is to
(A) criticize a scholar’s assumptions and methodology
(B) evaluate an approach to women’s study
(C) compare two sociological theories
(D) correct a misconception about feminist theory
(E) defend an unpopular ideology
2. It can be inferred from the passage that, in Eisenstein’s view,
working women at the turn of the century had which of the following
attitudes toward the dominant ideology of their time?
(A) They resented the dominant ideology as degrading.
(B) They preferred the dominant idology to other available ideologies.
(C) They began to view the dominant idology to other availbale
ideologies.
(D) They accepted some but not all aspects of the dominant ideology.
(E) They believed that the dominant ideology isolated them from one
another.
3. Which of the following best describes the organization of the
first paragraph of the passage?
(A) A chronological acount of a historical development is presented, and
then furture develpments are predicted.
(B) A term is defined according to several different schools of thought,
and then a new definition is formulated.
(C) A theory is presented, an alternative viewpoint is introduced, and
then the reasoning behind the initial theory is summarized.
(D) A tentative proposal is made, reasons for and against it are
weighed, and then a modified version of the proposal is offered.
(E) A controversy is described, its historical implications are
assessed, and then a compromise is suggested.
4. Which of the following would the author of the passage be most
likely to approve as a continuation of Eisenstein’s study?
(A) An oral history of promotion women labor organizers
(B) An analysis of letters and diaries written by typical female wage
earners at the turn of the century
(C) An assessment of what different social and political groups defined
as the dominant ideology in the early twentieth century
(D) A theoretical study of how socialism and feminism influenced one
another at the turn of the century
(E) A documentary account of labor’s role in the introduction of women
into the labor force
Neotropical coastal mangrove forests are usually “zonal,” with certain
mangrove species found predominantly in the seaward portion of the
habitat and other mangrove species on the more landward portions of the
coast. The earliest research on mangrove forests produced descriptions
of species distribution from shore to land, without exploring the causes
of the distributions.
The idea that zonation is caused by plant succession was first
expressed by J. H. Davis in a study of Florida mangrove forests.
According to Davis’ scheme, the shoreline is being extended in a seaward
direction because of the “land-building” role of mangroves, which, by
trapping sediments over time, extend the shore. As a habitat gradually
becomes more inland as the shore extends, the “land-building” species
are replaced. This continuous process of accretion and succession would
be interrupted only by hurricanes or storm flushings.
Recently the universal application of Davis’s succession paradigm has
been challenged. It appears that in areas where weak currents and weak
tidal energies allow the accumulation of sediments, mangroves will
follow land formation and accelerate the rate of soil accretion;
succession will proceed according to Davis’s scheme. But on stable
coastlines, the distribution of mangrove species results in other
patterns of zonation; “land building” does not occur.
To find a principle that explains the various distribution patterns,
several researchers have looked to salinity and its effects on mangrove.
While mangroves can develop in fresh water, they can also thrive in
salinities as high as 2.5 times that of seawater. However, those
mangrove species found in freshwater habitats do well only in the
absence of competition, thus suggesting that salinity tolerance is a
critical factor in competitive success among mangrove species. Research
suggests that mangroves will normally dominate highly saline regions,
although not because they require salt. Rather, they are metabolically
efficient (and hence grow well) in portions of an environment whose high
salinity excludes plants adapted to lower salinities. Tides create
different degrees of salinity along a coastline. The characteristic
mangrove species of each zone should exhibit a higher metabolic
efficiency at that salinity than will any potential invader, including
other species of mangrove.
5. The primary of the purpose of the passage is to
(A) refute the idea that the zonation exhibited in mangrove forests is
caused by adaption to salinity
(B) describe the pattern of zonation typically found in Florida mangrove
forests
(C) argue that Davis’ succession paradigm cannot be successfully applied
to Florida mangrove forests
(D) discuss hypotheses that attempt to explain the zonation of coastal
mangrove forests
(E) establish that plants that do well in saline forest environments
requre salt to ahcieve maximum metabolic efficiency
6. According to the passage, the earliest research on mangrove forest
produced which of the following?
(A) Data that implied random patterns of mangrove species distribution
(B) Descriptions of species distribtutions suggesting zonation
(C) Descriptions of the development of mangrove forests over time
(D) Reclassification of species formerly thought to be identical
(E) Data that confirmed the “land-building” role of mangroves
7. It can be inferred from the passage that Davis’ paradigm does NOT
apply to which of the following?
(A) The shoreline of Florida mangrove forests first studies by Davis
(B) A shoreline in an area with weak currents
(C) A shoreline in an area with weak idal energy
(D) A shoreline extended by “land-building” species of mangrove
(E) A shoreline in which few sediments can accumulate
8. Information in the passage indicates that the author would most
probably regard which of following statements as INCORRECT?
(A) Coastal mangrove forests are usually zonal.
(B) Hurricanes interrupt the process of accretion and succession that
extends existing shorelines.
(C) Species of plants that thrive in a saline habitat require salt to
flourish.
(D) Plants with the highest metabolic efficiency in a given habitat tend
to exclude other plants from that habitat.
(E) Shoreline in areas with weak currents and trides are more likely to
be extended through the porocess of accumulation of sediment than are
shorleines with strong currents and tides.
Modern manufacturers, who need reliable sources of materials and
technologically advanced components to operate profitably, face an
increasingly difficult choice between owning the producers of these
items (a practice known as backward integration) and buying from
independent producers. Manufacturers who integrate may reap short-term
rewards, but they often restrict their future capacity for innovative
product development.
Backward integration removes the need for some purchasing and marketing
functions, centralizers overhead, and permits manufacturers to eliminate
duplicated efforts in research and development. Where components are
commodities (ferrous metals or petroleum, for example), backward
integration almost certainly boosts profits. Nevertheless, because
product innovation means adopting the most technologically advanced and
cost-effective ways of making components, backward integration may
entail a serious risk for a technologically active company-for example,
a producer of sophisticated consumer electronics.
A company that decides to make rather than buy important parts can lock
itself into an outdated technology. Independent suppliers may be
unwilling to share innovations with assemblers with whom they are
competing. Moreover, when an assembler sets out to master the technology
of producing advanced components, the resulting demands on its resources
may compromise its ability to assemble these components successfully
into end products. Long-term contracts with suppliers can achieve many
of the same cost benefits as backward integration without compromising a
company’s ability to innovate.
However, moving away from backward integration is not a complete
solution either. Developing innovative technologies requires independent
suppliers of components to invest huge sums in research and development.
The resulting low profit margins on the sale of components threaten the
long-term financial stability of these firms. Because the ability of
end-product assemblers to respond to market opportunities depends
heavily on suppliers of components, assemblers are often forced to
integrate by purchasing the suppliers of components just to keep their
suppliers in business.
9. According to the passage, all of the following are benefits
associated with backward integration EXCEPT:
(A) improvement in the management of overhead expenses
(B) enhancement of profit margins on sales of components
(C) simplification of purchasing and marketing operations
(D) reliability of a source of necessary components
(E) elimination of unnecessary research efforts
10. According to passage, when an assembler buys a firm that makes
some important component of the end product that the assembler produces,
independent suppliers of the same component may
(A) withhold technological innovations from the assembler
(B) experience improved profit margins of on sales of their products
(C) lower their prices to protect themselves from competition
(D) suffer finanical difficluties and go out of business
(E) stop developing new versions of the component
11. Which of the following best describes the way the last paragraph
functions in the context of the passage?
(A) The last in a series of arguments supporting the central argument of
the passage is presented.
(B) A viewpoint is presented which qualifies one presented earlier in
the passage.
(C) Evidence is presented in support of the argument developed in the
preceding paragrap.
(D) Questions arising from the earlier discussion are identified as
points of departure for further study of the topic.
(E) A specific example is presented to illustrate the main elements of
argument presented in the earlier paragraphs.
12. According to the passage, which of the following relationships
between profits and investments in research and development holds true
for producers of technologically advanced components?
(A) Modest investments are required and the profit margins on component
sales are lowl.
(B) Modest investments are required but the profit margins on component
sales are quite high.
(C) Despite the huge investments that are required, the profit margins
on components sales are high.
(D) Because huge investments are required, the profit margins on
component sales are low.
(E) Long-term contractual relationships with purchasers of components
ensure a high ratio of profits to investment costs.
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