XAT 2020 Question Paper | Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning

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Read the passage below and answer the 3 associated questions:

It’s as if someone were out there making up pointless jobs just for the sake of keeping us all working. And here, precisely, lies the mystery. In capitalism, this is precisely what is not supposed to happen. Sure, in the old inefficient socialist states like the Soviet Union, where employment was considered both a right and a sacred duty, the system made up as many jobs as it had to. (This is why in Soviet department stores it took three clerks to sell a piece of meat.) But, of course, this is the very sort of problem market competition is supposed to fix. According to economic theory, at least, the last thing a profit-seeking firm is going to do is shell out money to workers they don’t really need to employ. Still, somehow, it happens. While corporations may engage in ruthless downsizing, the layoffs and speed-ups invariably fall on that class of people who are actually making, moving, fixing, and maintaining things. Through some strange alchemy no one can quite explain, the number of salaried paper pushers ultimately seems to expand, and more and more employees find themselves—not unlike Soviet workers, actually—working forty- or even fifty-hour weeks on paper but effectively working fifteen hours just as Keynes predicted, since the rest of their time is spent organizing or attending motivational seminars, updating their Facebook profiles, or downloading TV box sets. The answer clearly isn’t economic: it’s moral and political. The ruling class has figured out that a happy and productive population with free time on their hands is a mortal danger. (Think of what started to happen when this even began to be approximated in the sixties.) And, on the other hand, the feeling that work is a moral value in itself, and that anyone not willing to submit themselves to some kind of intense work discipline for most of their waking hours deserves nothing, is extraordinarily convenient for them.

Question 14 : Which of the following statements will BEST explain the principle underlying the theme of the passage?

1. Keynes predicted that a happy and productive workforce is a force for the good.
2. People unwilling to submit to an intense work discipline deserve nothing.
3. Organizations that create more jobs are rewarded by the government for protecting political values.
4. Peace and order in society require humans to be engaged in some activity most of the time, regardless of its meaninglessness.
5. Work is a moral value in itself

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Explanatory Answer

A. Keynes predicted that a happy and productive workforce is a force for the good. – According to the passage, Keynes only predicted a situation where people work more on paper than in reality. This option is incorrect.
B. People unwilling to submit to an intense work discipline deserve nothing. – The passage says that this point is one of the beliefs of common people about working; but, that is not the underlying theme of the passage. This option is incorrect.
C. Organizations that create more jobs are rewarded by the government for protecting political values. – This is incorrect as it is not mentioned in the passage.
D. Peace and order in society require humans to be engaged in some activity most of the time, regardless of its meaninglessness. – This is true and can best explain the theme of the passage from the lines “The ruling class has…..danger”. This option is correct.
E. Work is a moral value in itself – This is not what the passage talks about. It talks about pointless work. This option is incorrect.

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The question is "Which of the following statements will BEST explain the principle underlying the theme of the passage?"

Hence, the answer is Peace and order in society require humans to be engaged in some activity most of the time, regardless of its meaninglessness.

Choice D is the correct answer.

 

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