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ACT Reading: Social Science (Drill 2)

Drill 2 · Reading · Social Science

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About This Drill

ACT Reading: Social Science (Drill 2) is a Reading practice drill covering Social Science. It contains 5 original questions created by Brian Stewart, a Barron's test prep author with over 20 years of tutoring experience.

Social Science passages cover topics in psychology, sociology, economics, political science, and related fields. As you read, identify the central argument or finding, the evidence used to support it, and how the author interprets that evidence. Questions may ask about main ideas, specific claims, inferences, or the purpose of particular information.

Passage

SOCIAL SCIENCE: This passage is adapted from the book Strangers in the Feed: Social Media and the Erosion of Local Identity by Jerome Whitfield (©2022). For most of American history, the primary sources of local news were institutions tightly bound to geography: the neighborhood newspaper, the community radio station, the local television affiliate. These outlets shaped not only what residents knew about their communities but how they thought about themselves as members of those communities. Shared knowledge of local events, a school board controversy, a new business opening on Main Street, a longtime resident's death, created a kind of social infrastructure, a set of common reference points that made civic conversation possible. That infrastructure has been weakened over the past two decades. The same digital forces that expanded access to national and international information also undermined the economic foundation of local news. As advertising revenue migrated online, local newspapers closed or shrank; between 2005 and 2020, the United States lost more than a quarter of its local newspapers, and many of those that survived reduced their coverage substantially. What has filled the void is a mix of national media, algorithmically curated social media feeds, and informal neighborhood platforms like Nextdoor. Each of these has significant limitations as a substitute for professional local journalism. National media covers local events only when they rise to a threshold of national significance; most of what happens in a community never clears that bar. Social media algorithms are designed to maximize engagement rather than civic relevance, which tends to amplify conflict and outrage over routine civic information. Neighborhood platforms carry hyperlocal information but lack editorial standards, and research has found them prone to misinformation and unverified claims. The consequences are not merely informational. Sociologists studying civic participation have found that communities with strong local news coverage tend to have higher voter turnout in local elections, more engagement in community organizations, and lower levels of political polarization at the local level. As local news weakens, these outcomes tend to deteriorate. Residents become less informed about local government, less likely to participate in it, and more likely to view their neighbors through the lens of national partisan conflict rather than shared community membership.

Questions & Explanations

Question 1. The main argument of the passage is that:

  • A) social media companies should be required by law to fund local journalism.
  • B) the decline of local news has weakened civic life in American communities. ✓
  • C) national media coverage has improved since local newspapers began closing.
  • D) digital technology has made it easier for citizens to stay informed about local events.

Explanation: Choice B is correct. The passage traces the decline of local news, explains what has replaced it and why those replacements fall short, and then describes the civic consequences, lower civic participation, higher polarization, of that decline. Choice A introduces a policy prescription the author does not make. Choice C contradicts the passage's argument. Choice D contradicts the passage's central claim that digital forces have undermined, not improved, local information ecosystems.

Question 2. According to the passage, between 2005 and 2020, local newspapers in the United States:

  • F) were replaced entirely by online news outlets serving the same communities.
  • G) lost more than a quarter of their total number. ✓
  • H) increased their coverage of national news to compensate for lost revenue.
  • J) were primarily affected in rural areas rather than urban ones.

Explanation: Choice G is correct. The passage states directly that 'between 2005 and 2020, the United States lost more than a quarter of its local newspapers.' Choice F is not supported; the passage discusses inadequate substitutes, not replacements of equal quality. Choice H introduces a shift in coverage strategy not mentioned in the passage. Choice J introduces a geographic distinction (rural vs. urban) not made in the passage.

Question 3. The passage most strongly suggests that social media algorithms are a poor substitute for local journalism primarily because they:

  • A) are controlled by companies located far from the communities they serve.
  • B) are designed to prioritize content that generates engagement rather than civic information. ✓
  • C) require users to have technical skills that older residents may lack.
  • D) make it difficult for journalists to distribute their work to local audiences, as the passage suggests.

Explanation: Choice B is correct. The passage states explicitly that social media algorithms 'are designed to maximize engagement rather than civic relevance, which tends to amplify conflict and outrage over routine civic information.' Choice A introduces corporate geography, which is not the passage's argument. Choice C introduces a digital literacy barrier not mentioned. Choice D mischaracterizes the problem; the passage is not about journalists struggling to distribute work.

Question 4. As it is used in the passage, the phrase 'social infrastructure' most nearly refers to:

  • F) the physical buildings where community organizations hold their meetings.
  • G) the shared knowledge and common reference points that make civic conversation possible. ✓
  • H) the formal institutions of local government, such as city councils and school boards.
  • J) the online platforms that allow neighbors to communicate with each other.

Explanation: Choice G is correct. The passage defines 'social infrastructure' in the same sentence: 'a set of common reference points that made civic conversation possible.' This refers to shared knowledge of local events, not physical spaces or formal institutions. Choice F too literally interprets 'infrastructure' as physical structures. Choice H narrows the concept to government institutions, which is more specific than the passage's meaning. Choice J describes online platforms, which the passage presents as inadequate substitutes for this infrastructure.

Question 5. The information in the final paragraph primarily functions to:

  • A) provide statistical evidence that local elections have lower turnout than national ones.
  • B) shift the argument from describing the problem to proposing specific solutions.
  • C) demonstrate that the decline of local news has consequences beyond access to information. ✓
  • D) suggest that political polarization is the leading cause of declining local news readership.

Explanation: Choice C is correct. The final paragraph moves from the informational gap left by local news decline to the broader civic consequences, voter turnout, community engagement, political polarization. This extends the argument to show the stakes go beyond simply not knowing local facts. Choice A misreads the paragraph; it compares communities with strong vs. weak local news, not local vs. national elections. Choice B is incorrect: the passage ends with consequences, not solutions. Choice D reverses the causal direction; the passage argues local news decline causes polarization, not the other way around.