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
Rational choice theory
People choose to act based on their certain preferences and goals.
Ex: Student choose to study during weekend to finish essay instead of hanging out with friends because she values her school performance more.
Social exchange theory
Self-interest and views social interactions as involving interchanges with costs and rewards
Ex: You invest time and energy into a friendship, and you receive benefits like companionship and support.
Rational choice theory vs Social exchange theory
- Rational choice theory is applied in social exchange theory
- Rational choice: how people** make choices**
- Social exchange: actual interactions
Feminist theory
Social inequalities based on gender including various phenomena (gender roles, inequalities btw men and women in social and occupational settings). This includes but is not limited to conflict btw men and women.
Hidden curriculum
What is not officially included in the curriculum (values, norms, and ways of interacting with others)
Ex: toxic and judgemental attitudes towards patients based on socioeconomic status.
! Hidden curriculum does not have to be negative
Educational segregation
Uneven distribution of students in school based on race, ethnicity or poverty
Define and give examples
Educational stratification
(Hint: Stratification = arrange things in layers/ levels)
Layers of students based on socioeconomic status
Ex: Rich family can access more educational resources for their children.
Schools put high-achieving students on a track towards college while lower-achieving students on a track towards voactional options.
Expectancy theory
(Education)
(microsociology) Teachers’ expectations of their students impact students’ performance
On what is kinship of descent based on?
(family)
Based on shared ancestry
Provide examples:
Kinship of affinity
(family)
Marriage, adoption
Classify kinships based on degrees of closeness
(family)
Primary kin: very close bond (parent-child, marriage, sibblings)
Secondary kin: primary kin of your primary kin (sibling’s spouse)
Tertiary kin: primary kin of your secondary kin, or secondary kin of primary kin (brother-in-law’s parent, your sibling’s sister-in-law)
Secularization
(religion)
A trend in which modernization decreases people’s religiosity
Fundamentalism
uncompromising, extreme approach to religion that emphasize the superiority of fundamentalist groups over other faith communities
Define
Power of government
ability to influence behavior of others and even compel certain behaviors
Ex: If you don’t pay tax, you get fined.
Authority of government
legitimacy and right of government to structure citizens’ lives
Ex: People feel paying tax is the right thing to do to contribute to all the services that the government provides.
Monarchy
(Chế độ quân chủ)
Rulership or sovereignty is passed down in a defined succession, usually through family networks.
2 major types of monarchy
-
Constitutional monarchy: a consitution puts restrictions in place on a monarch’s power. A monarch coexists with an elected government.
Ex: United Kingdom - Absolute monarchy: the king or queen is the sole person in charge
Authoritarianism
(Chế độ độc tài)
Citizens have no input into the government, and are expected to obey whatever the government decides.
Soft authoritarian system vs. Totalitarianism
(Both belongs to authoritarianism)
Soft authoritarian system: there may be some elections with limited choice of candidates.
Totalitarianism: Government regulates all aspects of citizens’ lives. Any form of dissent can be brutally punished.
Democracy
(Chế độ dân chủ)
A system where people vote
Direct democracy
People vote for law themselves
Indirect democracy (Democratic republics/ Representative democracy)
People vote for representatives who then make laws (Ex: federal government of the US)
Capitalism
- Usually democratic nations
- Private ownership
- Libertarianism: a movement that tries to minimize the role of gov
Socialism
- social ownership and workers’ self-management
- **collective **ownership and distribution
- state regulation
Communism
(Chủ nghĩa cộng sản)
Utopian society, class-less, state-less and free of hierarchy
Medicalization
When a condition that was previously not considered as a medical disorder comes to be described as such and is treated by medical professionals.
Ex: Depression used to be considered as being possessed by devils, but now is treated as medical condition.
Sick role
people with illness are exempt from certain responsibilities, but are also expected to follow doctors’ medical instructions to get better.
True/ False
The framework of sick role works better for acute illness like flu than it does for chronic conditions.
True
True/ False + Explain
Dyad (group of 2) is more stable that triad (group of 3)
True. If conflict arises, dyad easily breaks up. In triad, a person can mediate the problem and keep the group.
Paternalism
(in healthcare)
Physicians make decisions on patients’ behalf without giving them much input or information about their conditions. (Like how parents make decisions on their children’s behalf)
4 principles of medical ethics
- Beneficence = acting for patient’s benefit/ best interest
- Nonmaleficence = do no harm. Or the harm of treatment has to be balanced by its benefits
- Respect forpatient autonomy = patients have the right to make their own decisions, even when those decisions contradict medical advice (Exceptions: children or people that cannot make their own decisions)
- Justice = Doctor’s obligation to provide care equally and fairly
illness experience
how people conceive of and experience becoming ill, decide whether or not to seek care and recover.
Ex: some people may see cancer as battle while others consider it as punishment.
Epidemiology
study disease transmission and its causes in relation to other dimensions, such as age, sex, race, geography,…
Social epidemiology
Focuses on how social factors contribute to illness and health.
- Low socioeconomic status is associated with poor health outcomes.
Construct validity
Whether or not measures actually assess the variables that they are intended to assess.
External validity
The extent to which we can generalize results onto different experimental settings or real life situations.
Major theoritical approaches to sociology
Religion and social change
Relisiosity (Religiousness)
The degree to which an individual internalizes and incorporates that religion into their lives, demonstrated by behaviors and beliefs.
Religious affiliation
An individual identifying with a specific religious group. Not synonymous with living one’s life according to the principles, behaviors, customs of that religion.
Ex: One may consider oneself to be Catholic but not attend church.
Power vs Authority
