RC Question 14 Explanation
DISCUSSION: Passage A discusses how comedians enforce their norms. This was notably absent in passage B.
Specifically this was the theme of paragraph 3 in passage A: comedians use sanctions, badmouthing, refusal to work with comedians who steal, etc.
Paragraph B tells us what chefs must do, but it doesn’t tell us what happens if a chef breaks the rules. So, we don’t know how the rules are actually enforced. Is it public badmouthing? Bad reviews on Yelp? A steak knife battle in the back alley? Who knows.
___________
- Both passages discuss this. Passage B starts by saying that legal protections are slim, but social norms take their place. It then specifically shows how certain norms parallel different types of property laws.
- Neither passage discusses how these norms evolve over time. The systems discussed are presented as complete systems that have always existed.
- CORRECT. Paragraph 3 of passage A discusses enforcement: sanctions, badmouthing, etc.
Passage B doesn’t discuss enforcement at all. - Neither author discusses the limitations of social norms. They’re presented as being just as effective as copyright law.
-
This is a trap. Both passages actually discuss this. It’s obvious how A does, but not obvious how B does. In passage A, paragraph 2 shows how lack of protection would hurt output. So, since paragraph 3 shows that comedians do have protection, we can infer that such protection helps output.
But what about B? You can justify it in two ways.
- Paragraph 2 mentions how social norms are analogous to the legal protections of intellectual property. You know from common knowledge that IP protections likely encourage or at the least shape how creators create. So, this would be enough for me to justify this answer. But there’s an even more specific reason….
- The first norm says that a recipe inventor can exclude other chefs from practicing his invention. This social norm clearly limits how other chefs can cook recipes, which is creative output.
Leave a Reply