Read the passage given below and answer the question that follows: Some argue…
2025
Read the passage given below and answer the question that follows:
Some argue that globalization, the rise in technology, population growth, and the perceived diminution of nature's worth for human psychological, emotional and physical health has caused a disconnect between humanity and the rest of nature. As this disconnect continues and potentially grows, the prospects of achieving human well-being within the dominant economic development paradigm weakens. Vital alternative, sustainable, and integrated development paradigms are being developed that aim to re-address the balance between the human system and the Earth system.
What do you understand by the term 'economic development paradigm'?
- A.
The situation of developing dominance in an economy
- B.
The relation between economy and development
- C.
Both economy and development is needed for a country
- D.
The framework of a developing economy
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Concept: A 'paradigm' is the governing conceptual model or overall pattern of assumptions and methods within which a phenomenon is understood and pursued -- not a single fact, but the framework that shapes how something is approached. An 'economic development paradigm' is, in this sense, the framework that shapes how economic development is pursued.
Application: The passage attributes the disconnect between humanity and the rest of nature to globalization, the rise in technology, population growth, and the diminished value placed on nature for human well-being -- not to the paradigm itself. As this disconnect continues, it weakens the prospects of achieving human well-being within the dominant economic development paradigm, which is why 'alternative, sustainable, and integrated' development paradigms are being developed to re-address the balance between the human system and the Earth system. In both uses, 'paradigm' names the overall model or framework guiding how development is pursued. Among the four options offered, 'The framework of a developing economy' is the one that names such an overall framework -- the best match among those given, even though it is worded as 'of a developing economy' rather than 'for economic development'.
'The situation of developing dominance in an economy' describes dominance emerging within a single economy (for instance, one group or sector gaining sway domestically), not an overall approach that guides growth -- a different idea from what the passage's 'dominant ... paradigm' phrase is describing.
'The relation between economy and development' reduces 'paradigm' to a bare link between two words, when the passage is naming a specific model of growth, not a relationship between terms.
'Both economy and development is needed for a country' is a general claim of necessity -- it does not identify the model of growth the passage is actually describing.
Cross-check: Re-reading the passage's two uses of 'paradigm' -- the 'dominant' one being questioned, and the 'alternative' ones being developed -- both refer to an overall model/framework guiding development, which is what 'The framework of a developing economy' names among the options offered.