GRE Reading Comprehension

Home > GRE Test > GRE Reading Comprehension Questions

Next steps

Source: XDF

One of the principal themes of Walzer's critique of liberal capitalism is that it is insufficiently egalitarian. Walzer's case against the economic inequality generated by capitalism and in favor of "a radical redistribution of wealth" is presented in a widely cited essay entitled "In Defense of Equality." The most striking feature of Walzer's critique is that, far from rejecting the principle of reward according to merit, Walzer insists on its validity. People who excel should receive the superior benefits appropriate to their excellence. But people exhibit a great variety of qualities—"intelligence, physical strength, agility and grace, artistic creativity, mechanical skill, leadership, endurance, memory, psychological insight, the capacity for hard work—even moral strength, sensitivity, the ability to express compassion."Each deserves its proper recompense, and hence a proper distribution of material goods should reflect human differences as measured on all these different scales. Yet, under capitalism, the ability to make money ("the green thumb of bourgeois society") enables its possessor to acquire almost "every other sort of social good," such as the respect and esteem of others.

Question List: 1 2

The passage provides sufficient information to answer which of the following questions EXCEPT?

  • A What weight in relation to other qualities should a quality like sensitivity have, according to Walzer, in determining the proper distribution of goods?
  • B Which quality does Walzer deem too highly valued under liberal capitalism?
  • C Which are the social goods that are, according to Walzer, outside the reach of the power of money?

Show Answer

Previous       Next