understanding - Why are these NOT unstated assumptions for rural spaces? - Test 3, Q27, by Mark Shepherd

Passage: Mastering the National Admissions Test for Law by Mark Shepherd, page 146.

= Page 2, only first two paragraphs under the heading 'Spaces of Consumption' Don't read the entire PDF. Sorry, this passage is hard for me to comprehend, so I don't even know what to quote.

Question 27, p.147:

Which of the following is an unstated assumption made about rural spaces?
(a) They are capable of being moved to urban areas
(b) They represent the principal area of production.
(c) They are capable of being contained in arcades
(d) They are totally different in character to urban spaces
(e) They are specifi cally linked with individual spaces of consumption

From the answer key, p.237:

(a) INCORRECT. It is stated that rural spaces are capable of being moved to urban areas, so this cannot be said to be an unstated assumption.

(b) CORRECT. It is said that ‘the spaces of production are paradoxically rural spaces located within urban environments’, and a number of references are made to new forms of rural spaces. Given that such references feature in a discussion about production, the assumption must be made that rural spaces represent the principal area of production, otherwise the logic of the argument is lost.
(c) INCORRECT. It is suggested that it is consumption, not production, which takes place within the arcades.
(d) INCORRECT. Although it may be the case, it is not a necessary assumption to make that rural spaces are totally different in character to urban spaces.
(e) INCORRECT. No fi xed link between rural spaces and individual spaces of consumption is suggested or assumed.

1. 
   

   Why's (a) wrong? Where does the passage state that?

   
   


2. 
   

   Why's (c) wrong? Does the passage equate 'rural spaces' with production?

   
   
   


3. 
   

   Why's (d) wrong? Why's that assumption unnecessary?

   
   


4. 
   

   This article is too abstract, so please enlarge on and simplify why (b) is right?

   
   


5. 
   

   What's the logic of the argument?

   
   

Answer

Hooboy. Postmodernism. Here we go.

Which of the following is an unstated assumption made about rural spaces?

(a) They are capable of being moved to urban areas

1. Why's (a) wrong? Where does the passage state that?

Here:

The spaces of production are paradoxically rural spaces located within urban environments. The industrial revolution was orchestrated by the increased productivity in the agriculture sector during the take-off phase. The rural proletariat moved to the urban centers and helped reproduce new forms of rural spaces.

Next:

Which of the following is an unstated assumption made about rural spaces?

(c) They are capable of being contained in arcades

2. Why's (c) wrong? Does the passage equate 'rural spaces' with production?

In reverse order: yes, it equates 'rural spaces' with production:

[...] spaces of production are characterized by rural aesthetics and ethics emphasizing accumulation, the physical transformation of nature. The spaces of production are paradoxically rural spaces located within urban environments.

It is wrong because:

The arcade is overturning this [rural, transplanted by the proletariat into the urban] assemblage of aesthetics and makes consumption a spacial practice distinguished from that of spaces of production.

And also the rest of the paragraph and probably the next.

Which of the following is an unstated assumption made about rural spaces?

(d) They are totally different in character to urban spaces

3. Why's (d) wrong? Why's that assumption unnecessary?

Because the passage in question is discussing certain differences between the rural and the urban (as it has constructed them), but it hardly claims to have treated them comprehensively. It does not address whether they have commonalities, one way or the other.