2023 DHS GP Prelim P2 - Insert

CANDIDATE NAME CIVICS GROUP 6C __ __ INDEX NUMBER __ __ __ __ © DHS 2023 8807/02/2023/PRELIMS DUNMAN HIGH SCHOOL General Certificate of Education Advanced Level Higher 1 YEAR 6 PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION GENERAL PAPER 8807/02 Paper 2 28 August 2023 INSERT 1 hour 30 minutes READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST This Insert contains the passages for Paper 2. This document consists of 3 printed pages and 1 blank page. [Turn over

2 © DHS 2023 8807/02/2023/PRELIMS Passage 1. Kyle Chakya examines the case for minimalism. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Sonrisa Andersen ’s childhood home was a mess. Her parents split when she was eight years old and she moved in with her mother. Then she realised she was living with a hoarder. It might conceivably have been the lost marriage she was dealing with, or more evidently a habit that had spiralled out of control as her mother ’s dependence on drugs and alcohol intensified. As a child, Andersen kept her own space under control, but, beyond her bedroom door, the mess persisted. As an adult, the anxiety over her oppressive surroundings at home never left. Clutter was creeping back in, she realised, even though this time she thought she was fully in control. She went online for a solution and struck gold. The search turned up blogs about “minimalism”: a lifestyle of living with less and being happy with what you already ow n. The minimalist bloggers were men and women who, like her, had an epiphany that came from a personal crisis of consumerism. Buying more had failed to make them happier. In fact, it was entrapping them, and they needed to find a new relationship with their possessions — usually by throwing most of them out. After jettisoning as much as they possibly cou ld, the bloggers showed off their emptied apartments and shared the strategies they had used to own no more than 100 objects. In the 21st century, across the developed world, most of us do not need as much as we have. The average American household possesses more than 300,000 items, which are mostly tucked away in attics, basements or other forgotten recesses of the house. In the UK, one study found that children have on average 238 toys, but only play with 12 of them on a daily basis. The minimalist lifestyle seems like a conscientious way of approaching the world now that we have realised that materialism, accelerating since the Industrial Rev olution, is literally destroying the planet. Up through the 20th century, material accumulation and devotion made sense as forms of security. If you were in possession of your home and your land, no one could deprive you of your property. If you stuck with one company throughout your career, it was insurance against periods of future economic insta