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MCAT: Behavioural Sciences > Chapter 12: Social Stratification > Flashcards

Chapter 12: Social Stratification Flashcards

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MCAT flashcards
1
Q

Define a social class.

A

A category of people who share a similar socioeconomic position in society (economics, job positions, lifestyles, attitudes, behaviors)

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2
Q

What does social stratification focus on?

A

Social inequalities and studies the basic questions of who gets what and why

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3
Q

What are the two factors that determine socioeconomic status (SES)?

A

Achieved status and ascribed status

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4
Q

Differentiate achieved and ascribed statuses.

A

Achieved: clearly identifiable characteristics (age, gender, skin colour)
Ascribed: direct, individual efforts, merit, hard work

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5
Q

Do caste and estate systems stratify by ascribed or achieved SES? What about class systems?

A

Caste and estate: ascribed

Class: achieved

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6
Q

What are the three major types of statuses?

A
  • Ascribed
  • Achieved
  • Master: one that pervades all aspects of an individual’s life
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7
Q

Successful business and professional people fit into what class?

A

Upper-middle

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8
Q

What makes up a middle-middle class?

A

Those who have been unable to achieve the upper-middle lifestyle because of educational and economic shortcomings

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9
Q

Skilled and semi-skilled workers with few luxuries fit into what class?

A

Lower-middle

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10
Q

Define power. What is it based on?

A
  • The ability to affect others’ behavior through real or perceived rewards and punishments
  • Based on the unequal distribution of valued resources
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11
Q

How does power create worldwide social inequalities?

A

People tend to fall somewhere between the haves and have-nots

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12
Q

What is social inequality accelerated by?

A

Anomie

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13
Q

Define anomie.

A

Refers to a lack of social norms, or the break-down of social bonds between an individual and society

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14
Q

What have anomic conditions accelerated? What does that obstruct?

A
  • Accelerated the decline of social inclusion

- Further obstructed opportunities to acquire social capital

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15
Q

Give examples of anomic conditions that erode social solidarity.

A

Excessive individualism, social inequality, isolation

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16
Q

What does the strain theory focus on?

A

How anomic conditions can lead to deviance

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17
Q

What are the two primary sources of social trust?

A

1) Social norms of reciprocity (I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine)
2) Social networks

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18
Q

Define social capital.

A

The investments people make in their society in return for economic or collective reward; the greater the investment, the higher the level of social integration and inclusion

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19
Q

What is one of the main forms of social capital?

A

Social network

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20
Q

What are the two types of social inequalities that social networks can create?

A
  • Situational (socioeconomic advantage)

- Positional (based on how connected one is within a network, and one’s centrality within that network)

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21
Q

Low social capital leads to lower or greater social inequality?

A

Greater

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22
Q

Differentiate the strong and weak ties that join communities together.

A

Strong ties: peer group and kinship contacts, which are quantitively small but qualitatively powerful
Weak ties: social connections that are personally superficial (associates) but are large in number and provide connections to a wide range of other individuals

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23
Q

Will people without multiple weak ties find it difficult to contribute and access social capita?

A

Yes

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24
Q

What is included in the five ethnicities model?

A

White, black, Asian, Latino and Native American

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25
Q

How does social mobility differentiate between caste-based or estate-based systems and class systems?

A

Class systems have social mobility: the ability to move up or down from one class to another

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26
Q

What is social mobility typically the result of?

A

An economic and occupational structure that allows one to acquire higher-level employment opportunities given proper credentials and experience requirements (American Dream)

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27
Q

Social mobility can occur through intragenerational changes and intergenerational changes. Differentiate them.

A

Intragenerational: changes in social status happen within a person’s lifetime
Intergenerational: changes are from parents to children

28
Q

Define meritocracy.

A

Refers to a society in which advancement up the social ladder is based on intellectual talent and achievement

29
Q

What has been one of the largest factors driving American social mobility?

A

Meritocracy

30
Q

Define plutocracy.

A

Rule by the upper classes

31
Q

Define poverty.

A

Low socioeconomic status and a lack of possessions or financial resources

32
Q

Define social reproduction.

A

Refers to the passing on of social inequality, especially poverty, from one generation to the next

33
Q

How is the poverty line determined in the United States?

A

The government calculates the minimum income requirements for families to acquire the minimum necessities of life

34
Q

Differentiate absolute and relative poverty.

A

Absolute: when people do not have enough resources to acquire basic life necessities (shelter, food, clothing, water)
Relative: when one is poor in comparison to a larger population

35
Q

Define social exclusion.

A

A sense of powerlessness when poor individuals feel alienated from society

36
Q

What is one of the major problems of the official poverty line?

A
  • Not contextualized according to geographic location

- Does not take into account the cost of living in different communities

37
Q

What is the problem with social exclusion?

A

Can create further obstacles to achieving self-help, independence, and self-respect

38
Q

Define spatial inequality. What is it a form of?

A

Form of social stratification across territories and their populations, and can occur along residential, environmental, and global lines

39
Q

How can space itself create social inequalities?

A

Poorer neighborhoods have “undesirable” buildings (ex: trash-smoldering plants); poor people lack the social resources to fight the government and the industry

40
Q

Do rural or urban areas tend to have more diverse economic opportunities and more ability for social mobility?

A

Urban

41
Q

Do rural or urban areas tend to have more low-income racial and ethnic minority neighborhoods?

A

Urban

42
Q

What are environmental injustices?

A

Refers to an uneven distribution of environmental hazards in communities

43
Q

What are illnesses that are more common among people living in poor-quality conditions? Why?

A
  • Influenza, pneumonia, substance use disorders, tuberculosis, whooping cough
  • Toxin exposure (environment injustice), sanitation, inadequate housing, heating
44
Q

Much of the World lives on less than the equivalent of $1.25 per day. Name some of these areas.

A

Parts of India, sub-Saharan Africa, South Central Asia

45
Q

What inequalities has globalization led to? How?

A
  • Space, food, water, energy, housing, education

- As the production of goods shifts to cheaper and cheaper labor markets

46
Q

What is the relationship between social capital and social cohesion?

A

The less social capital a person has (reduced network equality and equality of opportunity), the more social inequality. This, in turn, decreases social cohesion

47
Q

What are some groups that suffer disproportionate social inequality?

A

Highest among racial and ethnic minorities (African-Americans and Hispanics), female-headed families, and the elderly

48
Q

Is social mobility dependent on merit?

A

Can be dependent on intellectual talent and achievement (meritocratic competition) but can also be obstructed by concentrated power as well as discrimination based on ethnicity, gender, age, or other identifiable characteristics

49
Q

How is incidence calculated?

A

As the number of new cases of a disease per population at risk in a given period of time (ex: new cases per 1000 at-risk people per year)

50
Q

How is prevalence calculated?

A

As the number of cases of a disease per population in a given period of time (ex: cases per 1000 people per year)

51
Q

Define morbidity.

A

The burden or degree of illness associated with a given disease

52
Q

Define mortality.

A

Refers to deaths caused by a given disease

53
Q

What is the second sickness?

A

Refers to the fact that health outcomes are exacerbated by social inequalities and social injustice. As a result, higher-income groups have longer life expectancies than lower-income groups

54
Q

If you have an illness, are you still considered to be at-risk?

A

No

55
Q

How did John Snow determine the cause of the 1854 cholera outbreak in London?

A

By tracing the geography of the disease, he deduced that a water pump was responsible for the cholera transmission

56
Q

What is health dependent on? (3)

A

Geographic, social, and economic factors

57
Q

In terms of racial and ethnic minority, who has the best health profiles? Who has the worst health profile?

A

Best: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
Worst: African Americans

58
Q

Which racial and ethnic minority has some of the highest mortality rates linked to diabetes?

A

Native Americans

59
Q

Females have better health profiles than males, but they have higher rates of what?

A

Chronic disease and higher morbidity rates

60
Q

What did the Affordable Care Act in 2010 attempt to rectify?

A
  • Healthcare system is not organized and planned by the government
  • Increasing the coverage rate and affordability of insurance for all Americans
  • Reducing the overall costs of healthcare
61
Q

What kind of patients does Medicare cover?

A
  • Patients over the age of 65
  • Patients with end-stage renal disease
  • Patients with ALS
62
Q

What kind of patients does Medicaid cover?

A

Patients who are in significant financial need

63
Q

What are some of the primary reasons why low-income groups have higher mortality rates?

A

Poor access to medical care, poor nutrition, feeling less in control of life circumstances

64
Q

Give examples of how healthcare quality differs across the population.

A
  • Low-income groups and racial minorities receive worse care

- Biases against overweight patients are associated with lower-quality treatment

65
Q

In terms of gender, who tends to be favoured by the healthcare system?

A

Women

MCAT: Behavioural Sciences (12 decks)

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