A Marxist sociologist has argued that racism stems from the class struggle that is unique to the capitalist system—that racial prejudice is generated by capitalists as a means of controlling workers. His thesis works relatively well when applied to discrimination against Blacks in the United States, but his definition of racial prejudice as “racially-based negative prejudgments against a group generally accepted as a race in any given region of ethnic competition,” can be interpreted as also including hostility toward such ethnic groups as the Chinese in California and the Jews in medieval Europe. However, since prejudice against these latter peoples was not inspired by capitalists, he has to reason that such antagonisms were not really based on race. He disposes thusly (albeit unconvincingly) of both the intolerance faced by Jews before the rise of capitalism and the early twentieth-century discrimination against Oriental people in California, which, inconveniently, was instigated by workers

Q8. According to the passage, the Marxist sociologist’s chain of reasoning required him to assert that prejudice toward Oriental people in California was

(a) directed primarily against the Chinese

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(b) similar in origin to prejudice against the Jews

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(d) nonracial in character

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Solution

The correct option is D
(d) nonracial in character

Refer to “…he has to reason that such antagonisms were not really based on race…”

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A Marxist sociologist has argued that racism stems from the class struggle that is unique to the capitalist system—that racial prejudice is generated by capitalists as a means of controlling workers. His thesis works relatively well when applied to discrimination against Blacks in the United States, but his definition of racial prejudice as “racially-based negative prejudgments against a group generally accepted as a race in any given region of ethnic competition,” can be interpreted as also including hostility toward such ethnic groups as the Chinese in California and the Jews in medieval Europe. However, since prejudice against these latter peoples was not inspired by capitalists, he has to reason that such antagonisms were not really based on race. He disposes thusly (albeit unconvincingly) of both the intolerance faced by Jews before the rise of capitalism and the early twentieth-century discrimination against Oriental people in California, which, inconveniently, was instigated by workers

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Q. The passage as a whole can best be characterized as which of the following?

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The correct option is D (d) nonracial in character Refer to “…he has to reason that such antagonisms were not really based on race…”

The correct option is D
(d) nonracial in character

Refer to “…he has to reason that such antagonisms were not really based on race…”