QUESTION TEXT: The production of leather and fur for…
QUESTION TYPE: Principle – Conform
FACTS:
- Leather and fur clothing have tended to be expensive, because much labor was required to produce them.
- But now fur and leather are less popular. So they cost less.
- Other materials that require less labor are now more popular. Prices of these materials have risen.
ANALYSIS: This is sort of like a “must be true” question. But since it’s a principle question, you have to figure out the rule behind the facts. We can tease out these rules here:
- Labor tends to be expensive.
- Fashionability matters too. Popular materials tend to be more expensive. Unpopular materials tend to be cheaper.
Deciding these rules in advance helps you avoid trap answers. Note, in particular, that leather/fur good can still be expensive. This question is just saying their prices have dropped compared to past prices.
This is the distinction between relative and absolute, which shows up all the time on the LSAT.
___________
- This is a trap answer. We know that both fashionability and materials affect price. We don’t know which good is more expensive.
- The stimulus didn’t mention “practical” clothes.
- We know that the new clothes require “less” labor. But this answer says “little” labour. It’s possible the new clothes are still labor intensive: they just have to require less labour than leather.
- Nonsense. The stimulus doesn’t even mention appearance, and this answer defies common sense. Obviously fashion is more complicated than just appearance.
- CORRECT. This is vague enough to be correct. Intrinsically speaking, leather/fur should be expensive, because they require much labor. Yet, fashion has caused their prices to drop. Fashion changes are indeed a cultural trend, using any reasonable definition of the word.
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Shannon Walsh says
I don’t understand how practicality is beyond the scope of the stimulus but cultural trends is not. The stimulus provides no context that would insinuate this to be true. I chose A “the answer trap” but in my understanding, it was the only reasonable answer.
FounderGraeme Blake says
It’s because fashion, by dictionary definition, is a cultural trend. Whereas practicality has no such analogue in the stimulus.
The LSAT requires you to be reasonable about what words mean and use common sense. Would people agree that fashion is part of culture? If yes, then it is. Whereas practicality is about how clothes are used, and this isn’t mentioned.
Note: This is an old comment but I wanted to clarify the point.
Mikala Schecodnic says
Another reason for rejecting A would be to imagine a scenario where, in the future, if leather and fur were equally fashionable as the less-labor intensive materials such as cotton, then the leather and fur may be marketed with a higher price than cotton since, in addition to being fashionable it has the whole labor-intensive thing going for it, right?
FounderGraeme Blake says
That’s correct. Cost of production will clearly affect price.
Note: This is an old comment but I wanted to clarify the point.