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Reading Comprehension - Capitalism and Pinmaking

CAT 1996 Slot 1 · Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension · Medium · VARC

This is a medium Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension question set from the CAT 1996 Slot 1 paper. It tests VARC. The full answer key and a step-by-step explanation are below — try it yourself first, then reveal the solution.

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Passage / data set

I want to stress this personal helplessness we are all stricken with in the face of a system that has passed beyond our knowledge and control... (Passage on specialization, division of labour, and loss of skill under industrial capitalism).

Question 1 of 2

A suitable title to the passage would be

  1. A.

    You Can't Hear a Pin-drop Nowadays.

  2. B.

    Capitalism and Labour Disintegration: Pinning the Blame.

  3. C.

    The Saga of the Non Safety Pins.

  4. D.

    Reaching the Pinnacle of Capitalistic Success.

Answer

B

Explanation

The passage discusses how capitalism leads to division of labour and loss of holistic skill/disintegration of labour.

Question 2 of 2

Why do you think that the author gives the example of Adam Smith?

  1. A.

    Because he thinks that Adam Smith was a boaster without any facts to back his utterance.

  2. B.

    Because he wants to give us an example of something undesirable that Adam Smith was proud of.

  3. C.

    Because he is proud to be a believer in a tenet of production that even a great man like Adam Smith boasted about.

  4. D.

    Because he feels that Adam Smith was right when he said that it took 18 men to make a pin.

Answer

B

Explanation

The author points out that Adam Smith boasted about extreme division of labour as a triumph, whereas it actually degraded workers.

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