Sociology MCAT Flashcards
Microsociology
How INDIVIDUALS navigate society
Macrosociology
LARGE-SCALE interactions, involving major social institutions
Achieved status
The status that we work to attain.
Ex: college student, physician,…
Ascribed status
The status that we have involuntarily (get assigned).
Ex: gender, race,…
Role strain
Difficulty handling multiple responsibilities associated with ONE role.
Ex: A researcher has to work at the lab bench, record data, and compose research papers
Role conflict
Difficulty handling multiple responsibilities from DIFFERENT ROLES.
Ex: A person tries to fulfill roles of physician, spouse and parent.
Role engulfment
When a role EXPANDS TO DOMINATE someone’s life (time and energy)
Ex: A nurse spends 16 hours a day working at the hospital.
Primary group
Long-lasting, deep bond among members
Ex: family
Secondary group
Short-lasting and superficial relationship
Ex: classmates, work colleagues
Peer group
People who are often similar in terms of age, status, background or interests; SELF-SELECTED
Ex: school clubs
Family group
- People with GENETIC relationship, marriage, partnership, adoption; BORN INTO/ MARRY INTO.
- More tight-knit than peer group
Reference group
The group that we COMPARE ourselves to
Formal organization
- Has defined rules for entering and exiting
- Will continue to exist even when all of its current members are long gone
Coercive organization
The one that you are FORCED to be in.
Ex: prison
Normative organization
The one that people join based on shared ideal or ethical goal
Utilitarian organization
Join to gain material reward (money,…)
Ex: workplace
Bureaucracy
Rational, well-organized, impersonal and large administrative system.
Ex: governments, hospitals, schools, corporations,…
Ideal bureaucracy (Max Weber)
- Hierarchical structure
- Specialization
- Is run impersonally based on formal rules
- Recruitment, employment and promotion are based on technical, merit qualifications.
Iron cage of bureaucracy
Stagnation in a bureaucratic system due to unchanging rules and procedures
Iron law of oligarchy
Any organization that starts off with democratic decision-making will wind up being dominated by a smaller group of decision-makers (oligarchy).
McDonaldization
An organizational approach that focuses on efficiency, calculability, uniformity, and technological control.
Functionalism (Emile Durkheim)
the ways in which interdependent elements of society work together to promote stability. Focus on FUNCTION of various structures and institutions.
3 important concepts of FUNCTIONALISM
Manifest function = intended function
Latent function = UNintended function
Latent dysfunction = UNintended NEGATIVE consequences
Ex: University provides education for student -> manifest
University also provides a credential for getting a job after college
Conflict theory
COMPETITION btw different groups for RESOURCES and POWER
Symbolic interactionism
(microsociology) How people INTERACT using symbols which are sth we have a shared meaning. Ex: hand-shaking, Tet holiday
Social constructionism
How people in a society develop CONSTRUCTED MEANING of the world. Social constructs can be fluid because they change as society changes.
Ex: gender roles, love, patriotism, the meaning of holidays
Symbolic interactionism vs. Social constructionism
Symbolic interactionism: focus on people interacting with each other in symbolic activities
Social constructionism: focus on how we build/ construct those symbols