CAT 2025 Slot 1 VARC Question & Solution
Question
The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, and 4) given below, when properly sequenced, would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and key in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer.
1. It can in fact be integrated into any function (education, medical treatment, production, punishment); it can increase the effect of this function, by being linked closely with it; it can constitute a mixed mechanism in which relations of power (and of knowledge) may be precisely adjusted, in the smallest detail, to the processes that are to be supervised; it can establish a direct proportion between 'surplus power' and 'surplus production'.
2. It's a case of it's easy once you've thought of it's in the political sphere.
3. The panoptic mechanism is not simply a hinge, a point of exchange between a mechanism of power and a function; it is a way of making power relations function in a function, and of making a function function through these power relations
4. In short, it arranges things in such a way that the exercise of power is not added on from the outside, like a rigid, heavy constraint, to the functions it invests, but is so subtly present in them as to increase their efficiency by itself increasing its own points of contact.
Solution
Main Idea of the Paragraph
The sentences together explain what the panoptic mechanism is and how it operates. They:
- Place the idea within a political framework
- Show how power is linked to social functions
- Describe the technical effects of this mechanism
- Conclude with a conceptual explanation of its logic
Overall, the paragraph moves from a general political understanding to a more abstract and formal definition of the panoptic mechanism.
Explanation of the Correct Order
Why the Sequence Is 2 → 1 → 4 → 3
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Sentence 2 works best as the starting point.
- Though informal in tone, it introduces the panoptic mechanism in the political sphere
- It establishes that the idea makes sense when viewed politically, setting the context for what follows
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Sentence 1 comes next by explaining how the mechanism works in practice.
- It shows how the panoptic system operates in areas such as education, medicine, punishment, and production
- It also explains how power and knowledge are adjusted to ensure supervision and productivity
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Sentence 4 logically follows as a summary of this explanation.
- Beginning with “In short,” it clarifies that power is embedded within the system
- Power is not imposed from outside, but built in to make the system more efficient
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Sentence 3 is best placed at the end.
- It provides the most abstract and conceptual definition
- It explains that the panoptic mechanism is not merely a link between power and function, but a system in which each operates through the other
The progression moves clearly from a general assessment to a formal, theoretical definition.