krishnasikhakolli wrote:
The first part of the sentence talks about pre-capitalist era. We can see that the author is positive about the pre-capitalist era as the capitalistic era is referred to as rat-race capitalism. So, the first two blanks take positive words
"Nostalgic" fits perfectly in the first blank as there is a mention of "good old days". The only positive word available for the second blank is "preferable". Thus we can easily eliminate hideous and revolting.
The second sentence has the word "By contrast". So, this suggests that even though the author was not positive about capitalism is hinting a positive connotation towards the American, capitalistic consumerism. Therefore, "endorsement", the only positive word available for third blank, suits better
Agree that positive words are needed for the first and second blank. That is the key here.