Scholarly accounts of the Chicano movement—a movement that advocated for the social, political, and cultural empowerment of Mexican Americans and...
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
Scholarly accounts of the Chicano movement—a movement that advocated for the social, political, and cultural empowerment of Mexican Americans and reached its zenith in the 1960s and 1970s—tend to focus on the most militant, outspoken figures in the movement, making it seem uniformly radical. Geographer Juan Herrera has shown, however, that if we shift our focus toward the way the movement manifested in comparatively low-profile neighborhood institutions and projects, we see participants espousing an array of political orientations and approaches to community activism.
Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?
It presents a trend in scholarship on the Chicano movement that the text claims has been reevaluated by researchers in light of Herrera's work on the movement's participants.
It identifies an aspect of the Chicano movement that the text implies was overemphasized by scholars due to their own political orientations.
It describes a common approach to studying the Chicano movement that, according to the text, obscures the ideological diversity of the movement's participants.
It summarizes the conventional method for analyzing the Chicano movement, which the text suggests creates a misleading impression of the effectiveness of neighborhood institutions and projects.
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "Scholarly accounts of the Chicano movement—a movement that advocated for the social, political, and cultural empowerment of Mexican Americans and reached its zenith in the 1960s and 1970s—tend to focus on the most militant, outspoken figures in the movement, making it seem uniformly radical." |
|
| "Geographer Juan Herrera has shown, however, that if we shift our focus toward the way the movement manifested in comparatively low-profile neighborhood institutions and projects," |
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| "we see participants espousing an array of political orientations and approaches to community activism." |
|
Part B: Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: When scholars shift focus from prominent militant figures to local neighborhood institutions, they discover the Chicano movement actually had diverse political orientations rather than being uniformly radical.
Argument Flow: The passage first establishes how current scholarship creates a one-dimensional view of the Chicano movement by focusing on its most radical voices. It then presents Herrera's work as a corrective that reveals the movement's actual ideological diversity by examining different evidence sources.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
What's being asked? The underlined portion is the entire first sentence that describes the current scholarly approach. We need to identify how this sentence functions within the overall argument.
What type of answer do we need? We need to identify the function of the underlined sentence.
Any limiting keywords? None specified.
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- The underlined portion describes the current scholarly approach that focuses on militant figures and makes the movement seem uniformly radical
- This serves as the setup that Herrera's work will challenge
- The correct answer should recognize that it describes the existing scholarly approach that creates a misleading or incomplete impression and sets up the contrast with Herrera's findings about diversity
It presents a trend in scholarship on the Chicano movement that the text claims has been reevaluated by researchers in light of Herrera's work on the movement's participants.
✗ Incorrect
- Claims the trend has been reevaluated by researchers in light of Herrera's work
- The passage doesn't say other researchers have changed their approach because of Herrera
It identifies an aspect of the Chicano movement that the text implies was overemphasized by scholars due to their own political orientations.
✗ Incorrect
- Suggests scholars overemphasized militant aspects due to their own political orientations
- The passage never mentions scholars' personal political views as the reason for this focus
It describes a common approach to studying the Chicano movement that, according to the text, obscures the ideological diversity of the movement's participants.
✓ Correct
- Accurately identifies this as describing a common approach to studying the Chicano movement that obscures the ideological diversity
- Matches our analysis that the scholarly focus on militant figures creates a misleading impression of uniformity
It summarizes the conventional method for analyzing the Chicano movement, which the text suggests creates a misleading impression of the effectiveness of neighborhood institutions and projects.
✗ Incorrect
- Claims the approach creates a misleading impression of the effectiveness of neighborhood institutions
- The passage is about ideological diversity, not institutional effectiveness