16Hit1600
Craft and StructureVery hardDistinguishing particular losses from the overall total

Craft and Structure practice question

Text 1 An economist argues that automation destroys jobs and that each new wave of it leaves more people without work. Text 2 A labour historian replies that every wave of automation has indeed destroyed particular jobs, but that over the following decades the total number of jobs has grown each time. The losses, she says, are real and concentrated; the gains are diffuse and slow.

Based on the texts, how would the historian in Text 2 most likely respond to the economist's argument?

  1. A. By accepting that particular jobs are lost while arguing that the overall picture over time is different.Correct
  2. B. By denying that automation has ever cost anyone a job.
  3. C. By agreeing that total employment falls after each wave of automation.
  4. D. By arguing that automation should be banned.

Answer: A. By accepting that particular jobs are lost while arguing that the overall picture over time is different.

Text 2 grants the 'real and concentrated' losses and sets against them the slow growth of the total.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. By denying that automation has ever cost anyone a job.
Text 2 says the losses are real.
C. By agreeing that total employment falls after each wave of automation.
Text 2 says the total has grown each time.
D. By arguing that automation should be banned.
No ban is proposed.

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