UNIT 8 THE INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETY
Contents
8.0 Aims and Objectives
8.1 Introduction
8.2 To Make you Think
8.3 Reading and Interaction
8.3.1 Critical Reading
8.4 Text Exploration
8.4.1 Discourse study: Forms of argument
8.4.2 Grammar and Meaning: Even if ………
8.4.3 Word study: Maximizers and minimizers
8.5 Let Us Sum Up
8.6 Answers to Tasks
8.7 References
8.0 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit you are expected to:
argue for or against a point
accept or reject a point on the basis of argument
8.1 INTRODUCTION
In this unit you will study to develop the skills of critical reading. ‘Critical reading’
means the strength of an argument, proposal or explanations in a text. It also means
measuring the ideas in a text against your own ideas and against those of other writers.
Critical reading is an important skill for any student, but is of particular importance for
students majoring in the social sciences and humanities since most social science
disciplines contain conflicting viewpoints.
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8.2 TO MAKE YOU THINK
Task 1
Study these statements about education. Divide them into facts and opinions.
Discuss how you can recognize a fact and an opinion.
1. In the United States the per capita costs of schooling have risen almost as fast as
the cost of medical treatment.
2. Equal obligatory schooling must be recognized as at least economically
unfeasible.
3. Paradoxically, the belief that universal schooling is absolutely necessary is most
firmly held in those countries where the fewest people have been – and will be –
served by schools.
4. We have all learned most of what we know outside school.
5. A good educational system should provide all who want to learn with access to
available resources at any time in their lives.
6. I believe that a desirable future depends on our deliberately choosing a life of
action over a life of consumption.
7. The university graduate has been schooled for selective service among the rich of
the world.
8. Half of the people in our world never set foot in school.
9. School groups people according to age.
10. Schools create jobs for schoolmasters, no mater what their pupils learn from them.
Task 2
Note down points to use in argument to support this statement.
Note down points to use in argument to oppose this statement.
Even with schools of equal quality, a poor child can seldom catch up with
a rich one.
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Task 3
Discuss what makes a persuasive argument.
Task 4
Now study this argument. Does it persuade you to agree with the writer?
It should be obvious that even with schools of equal quality a poor child can
seldom catch up with a rich one. Even if they attend equal schools and begin at
the same age, poor children lack most of the educational opportunities which are
casually available to the middle class child. These advantages range from
conversation and books in the home to vacation travel and a different sense of
oneself, and apply, for the child who enjoys them, both in and out of school. So
the poorer student will generally fall behind so long as he depends on school for
advancement or learning.
8.3 READING AND INTERACTION
8.3.1 Critical reading
A first step in critical reading is to break down the argument into points.
You can do this in your head or by making notes like these on the text in Task 4.
1. Even with equal schools, poor child cannot catch up with rich
2. Lack m/c educational opportunities
3. e.g. conversation and books at home
vacation travel
diff. Sense self
4. Apply in/out school
5. Poor child falls behind if depends school
Then ask yourself these questions:
1. Are all the points supported (or are some just assertions)?
2. Are unsupported points either known facts or generally accepted opinions?
3. If a point is supported by examples, are they well-chosen?
4. Does the conclusion follow logically from the points?
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Task 5
Read texts 1 and 2. The notes which follow your text summaries the points of the
argument. Show how the points are linked by completing the blanks in the notes with the
appropriate symbol or word from this list:
because ALTHO’
ALTHO’ although
therefore BUT
& and Also in addition
e.g. for example
Text 1
A second major illusion on which the school system rests is that most learning
is the result of teaching. Teaching, it is true, may contribute to certain kinds of
learning under certain conditions. But most people acquire most of their
knowledge outside school, and in school only insofar as school, in a few rich
countries, has become their place of confinement during an increasing part of
their lives.
Most learning happens causally, and even most intentional learning is not the
result of programmed instruction. Normal children learn their first language
casually, although faster if their parents pay attention to them. Most people who
learn a second language well do so as a result of odd circumstances and not of
sequential teaching. They go to live with their grandparents, they travel, or they
fall in love with a foreigner. Fluency in reading is also more often than not a
result of such extracurricular activities. Most people who read widely, and with
pleasure, merely believe that they learned to do so in school; when challenged,
they easily discard this illusion.
1. Most learning NOT because teaching
2. ………….. Teaching may help in s. conditions
3. ………….. Most knowledge out/s school
4. ………….. In/s school only insofar as confined there
5. Most learning casual (not intentional)
6. ………….. 1st lang. Learnt casually
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7. Even most intentional learning NOT because teaching
8. ………….. If 2nd lang. Learnt well, learnt because odd circumstance like travel
9. ………….. Fluent reading because out/s school activities
10. Good readers merely believe learned at school
11. …………. When challenged, discard this illusion.
Text 2
Equal obligatory schooling must be recognized as at least economically
unfeasible. In Latin America the amount of public money spent on each
graduate student is between 350 and 1,500 times the amount spent on the
median citizen (that is, the citizen who holds the middle ground between the
poorest and the richest). In the United States the discrepancy is smaller, but
the discrimination is keener. The richest parents, some 10 percent, can afford
private education for their children and help them to benefit from foundation
grants. But in addition they obtain ten times per capita amount of public funds
if this is compared with the per capita expenditure made on the children of the
10 percent who are poorest. The principal reasons for this are that the rich
children stay longer in school, that a year in a university is disproportionately
more expensive than a year in a high school, and that most private universities
depend – at least indirectly – on tax-derived finances.
1. Equal obligatory schooling is economically unfeasible
2. …………. In Latin America 350/1,500 x more public money spent on graduate student
than median citizen.
3. ………….. In US discrimination worse.
4. ………….. Richest educate children privately.
5. …………. Richest obtain 10x more per capita public money than poorest
6. …………. Rich children longer at school
7. …………. University year more expensive than school year
8. …………. Most private universities depend on tax – derived finances.
Task 6
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Explain or discuss how persuasive the argument is.
8.4 TEXT EXPLORATION
8.4.1 Discourse study: Forms of agreement (I)
Task 7
Compare these two texts on marriage. They reflect the views of the sociologist, J.
Bernard. Underline the main ideas in each text. What differences can you note in the
structure of the two arguments? Compare your answers with your partner.
Text 1
Marriage has a beneficial effect on men. Compared to single men of the
same age group, married men enjoy better physical and mental health. Their
lives are likely to be longer and happier. In addition, they enjoy more
successful careers, fill higher status occupations and consequently earn more
money. Critics may argue that it is simply that more successful men tend to
get married, but the evidence shows that it is marriage which brings about
these beneficial effects. Hence the best guarantee of a long, happy, healthy
and successful life for a man is to have a wife devoted to homemaking and
the care of her husband.
Text 2
Surveys show that more wives than husbands express dissatisfaction with
their marriage and consider their marriages unhappy. More wives start
divorce proceedings. In addition, wives are much more likely to suffer from
stress, anxiety and depression than their partners. Compared to their single
peers, wives have poorer physical and mental health. It is clear that for many
women, marriage cannot be considered a beneficial experience.
How would you change Text 1 to give it the structure of Text 2? How would you
change Text 2 to give it the structure of Text 1?
Text 1 has this structure:
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Opinion Marriage is beneficial to men.
Supporting Better health.
Reasons Longer, happier lives
Better careers.
Counter-argument Not the case that more
dismissed successful men marry but that
marriage makes men successful
Conclusion Marriage best guarantee of
= opinion health, happiness, success for
restated in a man.
stronger terms
Text 2 has this structure:
Evidence More wives are unhappy.
More wives start divorce.
Wives suffer more stress.
Single women are healthier.
Conclusion For many women, marriage is not beneficial.
Both forms of argument are common in texts. Careful reading of the first and last
sentences should disclose the main idea. If the idea is not acceptable to you, check
the rest of the text for the supporting points.
Paragraphs are often steps in an argument rather than complete arguments.
What conclusion could follow from Texts 1 and 2 read as steps in an argument?
Compare your answer with the key.
8.4.2 Grammar and meaning: Even if …
‘If-sentences’ may be used to predict the consequences of a proposal. For example:
If we provided equal schooling for all, poor children could catch up with rich children.
In an argument, they may be used to show what the writer considers are the logical
consequences of a statement. For example:
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If we accept that crimes are due to social forces, we should not hold criminals responsible
for their actions.
‘Even if-sentences’ may be used to show that proposals will NOT have the expected
consequences.
Even if we provided equal schooling for all, poor children could not catch up with rich
children.
They may be used in a counter-argument to show that a statement will NOT have the
expected consequences.
Even if we accept that crimes are due to social forces, we should hold criminals
responsible for their actions.
Task 8
Complete these sentences, as you consider appropriate
1. Even if the state provided all requirements,
a) People would still steal.
b) People would not steal.
2. a) If divorce was made easier,
b) Even if divorce was made easier,
there would be fewer unhappy marriages,.
3. a) If housework is to be really valued,
b) Even if house work is to be really valued,
husbands should pay their wives for such work.
4. Even if marriage was abolished,
a) People would still live as families
b) People would not live as families.
5. a) If we built more prisons,
b) Even if we built more prisons
we would not solve the problem of increasing crime.
6. Even if the death penalty was reintroduced,
a) The murder rate would fall.
b) The murder rate would rise.
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8.4.3 Word study: Maximizers and minimizers
Task 9
Read this text with and without the words in bold type. What effect do these words have?
Try to divide them into two sets. Label the sets.
The traditional approach to parenthood is completely unsatisfactory. Women
have to spend many hours in child-rearing. Those with professional skills may
sacrifice their career in all respects for the benefit of only one child. Because
women spend time caring for their children, the services of many expensively
trained teachers, nurses, doctors and other professionals are altogether lost to
society. Even if child-rearing is shared by the father, it simply means that two
people waste time on an unproductive task for which they may be entirely ill-
equipped. Society would be much better served if parenthood was made the
responsibility of well-trained professional parents who would look after groups of
children as a paid occupation. This would end amateur child-rearing and allow the
biological parents to fully develop their careers for the benefit of society. Critics
may argue that children reared in this way would feel rejected, at least to some
extent, by their natural parents. This is quite untrue. Evidence from societies
where collective child-rearing is practiced shows that children merely experience
minor upsets and are hardly affected by the separation.
Writers try to persuade not only by well-structured argument, but also by well-chosen
words. They may try to maximize the points in favor and to minimize the points against
their opinion.
8.5 LET’S SUM UP
Task 10
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Study these statistics below on divorce in England and Wales. The figures are
typical for much of the industrialized world. What reasons can you think of to
explain these figures?
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Task 11
Read these textbook explanations of the rising divorce statistics. Make brief notes to
show the structure of each explanation. Which explanation do you find the most
convincing?
Text 1
Nicky Hart argues that the increasing divorce rate can be seen as a product
of conflict between the changing economic system and its social and
ideological superstructure (notably the family)’. In advanced capitalist
industrial societies, there is an increasing demand for cheap female wage
labor. Wives are encouraged to take up paid employment not only because
of the demand for their services, but also because the capitalist controlled
media has raised ‘material aspirations’ can only be satisfied by both spouses
working as wage earners. However, conflict results from the contradiction
between female wage labor and the normative expectations which surround
married life. ‘Working wives’ are still expected to be primarily responsible
for housework and raising children. In addition, they are still expected, to
some degree, to play a subservient role to the male head of the household.
These normative expectations contradict the wife’s role as a wage earner
since she is now sharing the economic burden with her husband. Conflict
between the spouses can result from this contradiction, and conflict can lead
to marital breakdown.
Text 2
As laws and procedures regulating divorce have altered, the divorce rate has
tended to increase by leaps and bounds; with each new piece of legislation
making divorce more readily available, the rate has risen rapidly for a time
before levelling off. Today there is one divorce in Britain for every three
marriages. (In the USA the rate is one in two). Many people have suggested
that the higher divorce rates reflect an underlying increase in marital
instability; the problem with this argument is that we have no way of
knowing how many ‘unstable’ or ‘unhappy’ marriages existed before
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legislation made it possible to dissolve them in a public (and recordable)
form. Some commentators have gone further, and argued that more
permissive divorce laws in themselves cause martial breakdown. But we can
certainly be skeptical of such a view, suggesting as it does that happily
married couples can suddenly be persuaded to abandon their relationship,
propelled by the attraction of a new divorce law. A more plausible
explanation for rises in the divorce rate after the passage of a law is that
unhappily married couples were for the first time given access to a legal
solution to pre-existent marital problems; in other words, changes in divorce
laws are less likely to cause martial breakdown than to provide new types of
solution where breakdown has already occurred.
8.6 ANSWERS TO TASKS
Task 1
Facts can be verified by experiment or by reference to other facts. They are true
statements supported by evidence. This does not mean that every statement presented as a
fact is true. Facts can also change when new evidence becomes available. Opinions are
personal beliefs. They are subjective.
Facts: 1, 8, 9
Opinions: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10
Task 5
Text 1
1. Most learning NOT because teaching.
2. ALTHO’ Teaching may help in s. conditions.
3. BUT Most knowledge out/s school.
4. & In /s school only insofar as confined there.
5. Most learnt casual (not international)
6. e.g. 1st lang. Learner casually.
7. Even most intentional learning NOT because teaching.
8. e.g. If 2nd lang. Learnt well, learnt because odd circumstances like travel
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9. ALSO Fluent reading because out/s school activities.
[Link] readers merely believe learned at school.
11. BUT When challenged, discard this illusion.
Almost all points are assertions.
Text 2
1. Equal obligatory schooling is economically unfeasible.
2. In Latin America 350/1,500 x more public money spent on graduate student than
median citizen
3. & In US discrimination worse.
4. Richest educate children privately.
5. & Richest obtain 10 x more per capita public money than poorest
6. Rich children longer at school
7. & University year more expensive than school year
8. & Most private universities depend on tax derived finances.
Task 7
Conclusion to Texts 1 and 2 on marriage:
If there are winners and losers in marriage, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that men are
more often the winners and women the losers.
Task 8
1. a 2. a 3. a 4. a 5. b 6. b
Task 9
Maximizers Minimizers
completely (1) only (4)
in all respects (3) simply (7)
altogether (6) at least to some extent (14)
entirely (8) merely (16)
much (9) hardly (17)
fully (12)
quite (15)
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Task 11
Text 1
Opinion Divorce due conflict between
economic system and family.
Supporting Industry needs cheap female labor.
reasons Media creates demand for goods.
Both spouses must work to purchase goods.
But wife still must work to purchase goods.
house work and raise children.
And be subservient to husband.
Even though sharing economic burden.
Conclusion Conflict between spouse results
Leads to divorce
Text 2
Statement Each time divorce laws eased, divorce rate increases.
Possible Higher divorce rate because
explanations more marital instability.
and argument But how know which came against first?
Permissive laws cause breakdown.
But would happily married divorce because of new law?
Explanation New laws provide solution to
of writer problems of unhappily married.
Explanation Changes in law do not cause breakdowns; provide solutions.
repeated
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8.7 REFERENCES
Byrne D. Holden S., Outlook, A reading practice book at intermediate level
(Longman, 1977)
Cooper J., Think and Link, An advanced course in reading and writing skills
(Aronold, 1979)
Cooper M., Heah C., Kailasapathy M. and Howatt A., Reading for Meaning
(University of Malaya, 1977)
Munby J., read and Think (Longman, 1968)
Smith F., Reading (CUP, 1978)
Wiener H. and Bazeralan C., Reading Skills Handbook (Houghton Mifflin
Company, 1978)
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