A Look at the Fast-Food Industry by Eric Schlosser

Question 1 • CA-Common Core English Language Arts 11 B

Which excerpt from Fast Food Nation best states the author’s overall claim?

Answer

The fast food industry’s obsession with throughput has altered the way millions of Americans work, turned commercial kitchens into small factories, and changed familiar foods into commodities that are manufactured.

Unlike Olympic gymnastics—an activity in which teenagers consistently perform at a higher level than adults—there’s nothing about the work in a fast food kitchen that requires young employees.

Although Richard and Mac McDonald introduced the division of labor to the restaurant business, it was a McDonald’s executive named Fred Turner who created a production system of unusual thoroughness and attention to detail.

Teenagers have been the perfect candidates for these jobs, not only because they are less expensive to hire than adults, but also because their youthful inexperience makes them easier to control.

Explanation

The author’s overall claim should cover the book’s broad argument, not just one example or detail. Choice A connects the fast food industry’s focus on speed and output to wide-ranging changes in workers’ jobs, restaurant kitchens, and food itself. Choices B, C, and D focus more narrowly on kitchen workers, the McDonald brothers and Fred Turner, or teenagers’ employment.

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