I see why D is a trap answer and E is be a better answer.

However why is D wrong - isn't instigated closely aligned with provoked ?

** comment update ***
Carcass, its the last question.

Which question ?' the 3rd or the 4th ??

In general we do have this scenario

that racial prejudice-is generated by capitalists as a means of controlling workers.

BUT


However, since prejudice against these latter (Jews) peoples was not inspired by capitalists, he has to reason that such antagonisms were not really based on race.

So E is the answer

I do not know where or how you infer D could be a possible answer. If you connect the dots of the passage and relate the different parts, there is no way D might be a possible answer

Regards

This is portion which made me think D could be a valid choice.

He disposes thusly (albeit unconvincingly) of both the intolerance faced by Jews before the rise of capitalism and the early twentieth-century discrimination against Oriental people in California, which, inconveniently, was instigated by workers.

From this we do know that D is false

FOR QUE 3, I Didn't FIND CLUES FOR choice E.....

As racism is unique to the capitalist system, in a non-capitalist society, racial prejudice should be nonexistent.

Can someone explain why we can't choose E for the first question? Plus for the last question: Why instigated by workers is wrong?

Hey,

In Q1, choice E discusses evidence but in the passage, no evidence is given or discussed.

Rather or choice D: What explanation did the Marxist sociologist give for the existence of racial prejudice? , we are given in the passage that - racial prejudice is generated by capitalists as a means of controlling workers.

Hence D is the answer.

For the last question please read this explanation. https://gre.myprepclub.com/forum/a-marxist ... tml#p66797
If not clear, let us know.

17. The passage supplies information that would answer which of the following questions?

(A) What accounts for the prejudice against the Jews in medieval Europe?. No information in the passage.
(B) What conditions caused the discrimination against Oriental people in California in the early twentieth century?. No information in the passage
(C) Which groups are not in ethnic competition with each other in the United States?. No information in the passage.
(D) What explanation did the Marxist sociologist give for the existence of racial prejudice?. Correct. This is what the passage is about.
(E) What evidence did the Marxist sociologist provide to support his thesis?. No information in the passage.


18. The author considers the Marxist sociologist's thesis about the origins of racial prejudice to be

(A) unoriginal
(B) unpersuasive.Correct.
(C) offensive
(D) obscure
(E) speculative

relevant lines from the passage:

He disposes thusly (albeit unconvincingly) of both the intolerance faced by Jews before the rise of capitalism and the early twentieth-century discrimination against Oriental people in California, which, inconveniently, was instigated by workers.


19. It can be inferred from the passage that the Marxist sociologist would argue that in a noncapitalist society racial prejudice would be

(A) pervasive
(B) tolerated
(C) ignored
(0) forbidden
(E) nonexistent. Correct.

relevant lines from the passage:

A Marxist sociologist has argued that racism stems from the class struggle that is unique to the capitalist system-that racial prejudice-is generated by capitalists as a means of controlling workers.


20. According to the passage, the Marxist sociologist's chain of reasoning required him to assert that prejudice toward Oriental people in California was

(A) directed primarily against the Chinese
(B) similar in origin to prejudice against the Jews
(C) understood by Oriental people as ethnic competition
(D) provoked by workers
(E) nonracial in character. Correct.

relevant lines from the passage:

However, since prejudice against these latter peoples was not inspired by capitalists, he has to reason that such antagonisms were not really based on race.

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