Passage Summary: If people think they can't handle their own lives, democracy suffers. Since the public often adopts the logic behind new laws, lawmakers shouldn't pass rules that stop people from doing things that only hurt themselves.

Conclusion: Legislators who value democracy should not propose laws that prohibit behavior that only harms the person doing it.

Reasoning: Believing people can't take care of themselves is bad for democracy, and the assumptions behind laws often become popular beliefs.

Analysis: The argument relies on a missing link between the type of law proposed and the specific 'injurious' idea mentioned. The sociologist assumes that when a legislator proposes a law against self-harm, the public will infer that the underlying assumption is that 'individuals are incapable of looking after their own welfare.' To bridge this gap, the argument needs to assume that these specific laws actually communicate or embody that negative assumption. Look for an answer that connects the prohibition of self-harming behavior to the message that people are incompetent.