The idea that equipping home with electrical appliances and other "modern" household technologies would eliminate drudgery, save labor time, and increase leisure for women who were full-time home workers remained largely unchallenged until the women's movement of the 1970's spawned the groundbreaking and influential works of sociologist Joann Vanek and historian Ruth Cowan. Vanek analyzed 40 years of time-use surveys conducted by home economists to argue that electrical appliances and other modern household technologies reduced the effort required to perform specific tasks, but ownership of these appliances did not correlate with less time spent on housework by full-time home workers.
In fact, time spent by these workers remained remarkably constant-at about 52 to 54 hours per week-from the 1920's to the 1960's, a period of significant change in household technology. In surveying two centuries of household technology in the United States, Cowan argued that the "industrialization" of the home often resulted in more work for full-time home workers because the use of such devices as coal stoves, water pumps, and vacuum cleaners tended to reduce the workload of married-women's helpers (husbands, sons, daughters, and servants) while promoting a more rigorous standard of housework. The full-time home worker's duties also shifted to include more household management, child care, and the post-Second World War phenomenon of being "Mom's taxi."
Q1: According to the passage, which of the following is true about the idea mentioned in line 1?
A. It has been undermined by data found in time-use surveys conducted by home economists.
B. It was based on a definition of housework that was explicitly rejected by Vanek and Cowan.
C. It is more valid for the time period studied by Cowan than for the time period studied by Vanek.
D. It is based on an underestimation of the time that married women spent on housework prior to the industrialization of the household.
E. It inaccurately suggested that new household technologies would reduce the effort required to perform housework.
Q2: The passage is primarily concerned with
A. analyzing a debate between two scholars
B. challenging the evidence on which a new theory is based
C. describing how certain scholars' work countered a prevailing view
D. presenting the research used to support a traditional theory
E. evaluating the methodology used to study a particular issue
Q3: Which of the following best describes the function of the sentence in BOLDFACE ("In fact, time... in household technology")?
A. It offers an alternative interpretation of a phenomenon described in the previous sentence (lines 12-20 blue).
B. It provides the specific evidence on which an argument described in the previous sentence (lines 12-20 blue) is based.
C. It shifts the focus of the argument developed earlier in the passage.
D. It introduces evidence that has not been taken into account by Vanek and Cowan.
E. It introduces a topic for discussion that will be developed in the rest of the passage.
In fact, time spent by these workers remained remarkably constant-at about 52 to 54 hours per week-from the 1920's to the 1960's, a period of significant change in household technology. In surveying two centuries of household technology in the United States, Cowan argued that the "industrialization" of the home often resulted in more work for full-time home workers because the use of such devices as coal stoves, water pumps, and vacuum cleaners tended to reduce the workload of married-women's helpers (husbands, sons, daughters, and servants) while promoting a more rigorous standard of housework. The full-time home worker's duties also shifted to include more household management, child care, and the post-Second World War phenomenon of being "Mom's taxi."
Q1: According to the passage, which of the following is true about the idea mentioned in line 1?
A. It has been undermined by data found in time-use surveys conducted by home economists.
B. It was based on a definition of housework that was explicitly rejected by Vanek and Cowan.
C. It is more valid for the time period studied by Cowan than for the time period studied by Vanek.
D. It is based on an underestimation of the time that married women spent on housework prior to the industrialization of the household.
E. It inaccurately suggested that new household technologies would reduce the effort required to perform housework.
Q2: The passage is primarily concerned with
A. analyzing a debate between two scholars
B. challenging the evidence on which a new theory is based
C. describing how certain scholars' work countered a prevailing view
D. presenting the research used to support a traditional theory
E. evaluating the methodology used to study a particular issue
Q3: Which of the following best describes the function of the sentence in BOLDFACE ("In fact, time... in household technology")?
A. It offers an alternative interpretation of a phenomenon described in the previous sentence (lines 12-20 blue).
B. It provides the specific evidence on which an argument described in the previous sentence (lines 12-20 blue) is based.
C. It shifts the focus of the argument developed earlier in the passage.
D. It introduces evidence that has not been taken into account by Vanek and Cowan.
E. It introduces a topic for discussion that will be developed in the rest of the passage.
