GRE Reading Comprehension

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Source: CHP

Discussion of the assimilation of Puerto Ricans in the United States has focused on two different factors: social standing and the loss of national culture, depending on whether the commentator is North American or Puerto Rican. Many North American social scientists consider Puerto Ricans as the most recent in a long line of ethnic entrants to occupy the lowest rung on the social ladder. Such a ―sociodemographic‖ approach tends to regard assimilation as a benign process. In contrast, the ―colonialist‖ approach of island-based writers tends to view assimilation as the forced loss of national culture in an unequal contest with imposed foreign values. There is, of course, a strong tradition of cultural accommodation among other Puerto Rican thinkers, like Eugenio Fernandez Mendez. But the Puerto Rican intellectuals who have written most about the assimilation process in the United States all advance cultural nationalist views, advocating the preservation of minority cultural distinctions and rejecting what they see as the subjugation of colonial nationalities.

Question List: 1 2

It can be inferred from the passage that a writer such as Eugenio Fernandez Mendez would most likely agree with which of the following statements concerning members of minority ethnic groups?

  • A It is necessary for the members of such groups to adapt to the culture of the majority.
  • B The members of such groups generally encounter a culture that is static and undifferentiated.
  • C Social mobility is the most important feature of the experience of members of such groups.
  • D Social scientists should emphasize the cultural and political aspects of the experience of members of such groups.
  • E The assimilation of members of such groups requires the forced abandonment of their authentic national roots.

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