MCAT Behavioral Sciences Question 268: Answer and Explanation

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Question: 268

5. Poor people in pre-modern societies are forced to live in a place where they lack food, water, and shelter for them to survive. Which of the following most closely defines the struggles that lower class pre-modernists faced?

  • A. Absolute poverty
  • B. Social change
  • C. Relative poverty
  • D. Global inequality

Correct Answer: A

Explanation:

Absolute poverty is defined as the capacity of necessary living resources that individuals are able to attain; poor pre-modernists have no choice but to live in a society that they struggle to acquire those necessities (choice A is correct). Social change is the adjustment of social systems that can occur over a period of time; pre-modernists in poverty were less likely to participate in creating social changes because of their fatalistic point of view (choice B is wrong). Relative poverty is when there is a reference point of the group of people in comparison to another group of people based on their socioeconomic status and living conditions; the question stem is closely related to absolute poverty because it focuses more on the physical resources needed for survival (choice C is wrong). Global inequality can be eliminated as an answer because the question does not go into the inequalities in a global perspective (choice D is wrong).

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