CAT 2023 Slot 3 VARC · Question 24
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that
best captures the essence of the passage.
The weight of society's
expectations is hardly a new phenomenon but it has become particularly draining over
recent decades, perhaps because expectations themselves are so multifarious and
contradictory. The perfectionism of the 1950s was rooted in the norms of mass culture
and captured in famous advertising images of the ideal white American family that now
seem self-satirising. In that era, perfectionism meant seamlessly conforming to values,
behaviour and appearance: chiselled confidence for men, demure graciousness for women.
The perfectionist was under pressure to look like everyone else, only more so. The
perfectionists of today, by contrast, feel an obligation to stand out through their
idiosyncratic style and wit if they are to gain a foothold in the attention economy.
- A.Though long-standing, the pressure to appear perfect and thereby attract attention, has evolved over time from one of conformism to one of non-conformism.
- B.The pressure to appear perfect has been the cause of tension and conflict because the idea itself has been in a state of flux and hard to define.
- C.The desire to attract attention is so deep-rooted in individual consciousness that people are willing to go to any lengths to achieve it.
- D.The image of perfectionism is reflected in and perpetuated by the media; and people do their best to adhere to these ideals.
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