MCAT Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills Practice Test 11

The Depression yielded not only misery but also tremendous energy and radicalism. Union-organizing and reform movements of all kinds flourished as the crisis challenged Americans to abandon the constraints of the past and move forward, boldly, into the future. Recovery in the family, as in the economy, would be achieved not simply by returning to ways of the past, but by adapting to new circumstances. The economic crisis opened the way for a new type of family based on shared breadwinning and equality of the sexes.

But by the time the Depression was over and World War II had come and gone, it was clear that millions of middle-class American families would take the path toward polarized gender roles. What caused the overwhelming triumph of "traditional" roles in the "modern" home?

Although most Americans experienced some form of hardship during the Depression, it was the nation's male breadwinners-fathers who were responsible for providing economic support for their families-who were threatened or faced with the severest erosion of their identities. Those who lost income or jobs frequently lost status at home, and self-respect as well. Economic hardship placed severe strains on marriage. Going on relief may well have helped the family budget, but it would do little for the breadwinner's feelings of failure.

With the breadwinner's role undermined, other family roles shifted dramatically. Frequently wives and mothers who had never been employed took jobs to provide supplemental or even primary support for their families. Given the need for women's earnings, the widespread employment of women might have been one of the most important legacies of the Depression era. But discriminatory policies and public hostility weakened that potential. Although many families depended on the earnings of both spouses, federal policies supported unemployed male breadwinners but discouraged married women from seeking jobs. Section 213 of the Economy Act of 1932 mandated that whenever personnel reductions took place in the executive branch, married persons were to be the first discharged if married to a government employee. As a result, 1,600 married women were dismissed from their federal jobs. Many state and local governments followed suit; three out of four cities excluded married women from teaching, and eight states passed laws excluding them from state jobs. These efforts to curtail women's employment opportunities were directly related to the powerful imperative to bolster the employment of men.

If the paid labor force had been more hospitable, and if public policies had fostered equal opportunities for women, young people in the 1930s might have been less inclined to aspire to prevailing gender roles. Viable long-term job prospects for women might have prompted new ways of structuring family roles. In the face of persistent obstacles, however, that potential withered. The realities of family life combined with institutional barriers to inhibit the potential for sustained radical change among white middle-class American families.

The prevailing family ideology was gravely threatened when women and men adapted to hard times by shifting their household responsibilities. In the long run, however, these alternatives were viewed as temporary measures caused by unfortunate circumstances, rather than as positive outcomes of the crisis. Young people learned, on the one hand, to accept women's employment as necessary for the family budget; on the other hand, they saw that deviations from traditional roles often wreaked havoc in marriages. Children who grew up in economically deprived families during these years watched their parents struggle to succeed as breadwinners and homemakers, and they suffered along with their parents if those expectations proved impossible to meet. The sociologist Glen Elder, in his pioneering study of families during the Depression, found that the more a family's traditional gender roles were disrupted, the more likely the children were to disapprove of the altered balance of power in their homes.

Material used in this particular passage has been adapted from the following source:

E. T. May, "Myths and Realities of the American Family," A History of Private Life, Volume V. © 1991 by The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

1. In paragraph 1, families are compared to the economy. This comparison is based on:

• A. a contrast between the workplace and the home.
• B. the possibility of new forms of social organization.
• C. the actions of radicals hoping to undermine the status quo.
• D. the unfortunate results of an economic crisis.

2. The author's argument about the impact of the Depression on male breadwinners would be best supported by research that demonstrated:

• A. married men were more likely to lose jobs than unmarried men.
• B. government welfare programs helped ease financial hardship for the unemployed.
• C. unemployment was a reliable predictor of psychological depression.
• D. unfair wages meant many wives were unable to replace the breadwinner's income by entering the workforce.

3. The support for the author's view about government's role in the changing form of marriage is:

• A. strong: the author provides several examples suggesting government inhibited change.
• B. strong: the author supports his view thoroughly with relevant analogies.
• C. weak: the author's examples do not effectively support the author's view.
• D. weak: the author does not significantly address the government's role.

4. Which of the following best characterizes the author's attitude towards the effects of the Depression on gender roles?

• A. A missed opportunity
• B. A tragic development
• C. An important legacy
• D. A radical change

5. The author most likely feels that marriage based on equality of the sexes:

• A. can be successful, given the right circumstances.
• B. is untenable because government cannot accept women's equal right to work.
• C. is typical in the modern home.
• D. inevitably causes conflict within the family.

6. Suppose a study were to find evidence of widespread discrimination in employers' hiring practices during the Depression. Specifically, when less qualified male candidates and more qualified female candidates were in direct competition for jobs, the males were very frequently hired. Furthermore, the government took little to no action to rectify these supposed injustices. How would the author most likely respond?

• A. This is consistent with public and government attitudes during the Depression: men's employment was seen as more important than women's.
• B. Since prejudices are first shaped by family life, a radical change toward more equitable gender roles in marriage was necessary before society could reject gender discrimination in the workplace.
• C. Public and institutional viewpoints such as these, which prevented women from providing supplemental or even primary support for their families, were unfair and regrettable.
• D. Government's lack of response is surprising; the Economy Act of 1932 suggested government was interested in employment demographics at the time.