Define:
social stratification
Social stratification refers to the grouping of people in a society into levels of a hierarchy.
Stratification is most commonly discussed in sociology with reference to socioeconomic status (middle-class, upper-class, etc.).
Define:
segregation
Segregation refers to the practice of separating people in society on the basis of demographic factors, such as race or religion.
A classic example of segregation occurred prior to the Brown v. Board of Education ruling, which ruled that segregation by race in schools was unconstitutional in the U.S.
Differences in opportunities, outcomes, and/or access to resources between different social groups is termed:
social inequality.
Many forms of social inequality exist and will be covered in this flashcard deck.
Virtually all cities in the world contain higher-income and lower-income areas. This region-based separation is termed:
residential segregation.
Residential segregation is the physical separation of groups into different neighborhoods, commonly along racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, or religious lines. This sorting into various neighborhood contexts shapes the living environment of the area.
One process that can impact neighborhoods is ________, or the infusion of wealth into an area in a manner that often forces low-income residents to move.
gentrification
Gentrification also appears on the MCAT in the context of demographic shifts. It is a controversial process, with both pros and cons.
True or false:
With the exception of areas that become gentrified, regions subjected to residential segregation tend to stay that way unless intervened with.
True
An unfortunate reality of residential segregation is that it tends to persist, as poorer people cannot afford to move out of poor areas and wealthier people often do not want to move in.
Researchers looking to investigate neighborhood safety, violence, and socioeconomic profile would be most likely to find a ________ correlation between safety and socioeconomic profile.
positive or direct
The relationship between socioeconomic status, neighborhood safety, and violence is that poor neighborhoods (low SES) generally have higher crime rates and are less safe, often accompanied by an increased police presence. Thus, there is usually a direct correlation between safety and SES.
Health in poorer neighborhoods suffers due to factors such as pollution and persists due to lower-quality healthcare and overcrowding. These disparities reflect a lack of ________ in these neighborhoods.
environmental justice
Environmental justice is the fair treatment of all people with regard to environmental laws and policies that might affect them. This encompasses obvious environmental factors (such as pollution) but also includes less obvious ones (such as overcrowding in urban areas).
Define:
social reproduction
Social reproduction is the transmission of social inequalities from one generation to the next.
For instance, poorer families often cannot afford to provide a good education for their children, meaning that those children—through no fault of their own—often grow up to be impoverished as well.
The theory of social reproduction posits that if Amy’s parents were middle-class, she will grow up to be:
middle-class as well.
According to the concept of social reproduction, children learn behaviors and are afforded certain opportunities that tend to cause them to stay in the same or a similar social class as their parents.
True or false:
Social reproduction does not apply to high-socioeconomic status (SES) individuals and families.
False
Social reproduction applies to all people and families, regardless of SES. In fact, one factor perpetuating social inequality is that children of wealthy parents tend to grow up and be wealthy as well (whether due to inheritances, better educational opportunities, or other factors).
Define:
social class
A social class refers to any group of individuals who occupy a similar position in the economic system of society.
One’s position in society can provide financial rewards, stability, and benefits such as healthcare.
Identify the three primary levels contained within the social class hierarchy.
The three levels, from highest to lowest, are:
- Upper class
- Middle class
- Lower class
This socioeconomic level of society includes the “elite,” who are typically members of institutional leadership, executives, heirs/heiresses, and heads of corporations, foundations, or universities.
The upper class
In this stratum of society, individuals’ wealth is derived from what they own, whether that is land, investments, companies, or other assets.
An engineer, a retail store regional manager, and a registered nurse would all likely fall into which socioeconomic class?
The middle class
This level is somewhat broader and less uniform than the upper class. Those in the upper middle class typically work in professional occupations, usually centered around financial, medical, technological, or engineering knowledge. The lower middle class then includes the array of positions that support the professionals of the upper middle class (e.g. paralegals, nursing assistants, or bank tellers).
Workers below the poverty line or individuals and families subsisting on social services generally fall into the:
lower class.
Individuals in this socioeconomic class often live paycheck to paycheck. In the U.S., the shrinkage of the middle class has led to more individuals falling into the lower class.
Identify an important distinction between socioeconomic status and social class.
Socioeconomic status is a sociological combined total measure of a person’s work experience and their family’s economic and social position in relation to others. This spectrum is based on income, occupation, and education.
A person’s social class influences their behavior, ideas, and attitudes. This status has less movement over time and may or may not match one’s occupation or actual income (e.g. inherited wealth).
A strong sense of class identity is termed:
class consciousness.
According to sociological Marxists, what state of mind prevents individuals (in a given social group, usually a class) from combining their efforts and taking action to improve their societal conditions?
False consciousness
False consciousness is the term that Marxist economists and sociologists use to describe a state of mind that prevents a person from recognizing the injustice of his or her current socioeconomic position in society.
Pierre Bourdieu developed this concept to explain the ways in which relationships of social inequality were reproduced through culture, class, or the education system.
Cultural capital
Cultural capital refers to the collection of symbolic elements (e.g. education, bearing, clothing, mannerisms, speech, material belongings, etc.) that an individual acquires through being part of a specific social class or culture.
Name the three main forms of cultural capital.
The three main forms of cultural capital are:
- Embodied - long-lasting or permanent dispositions of the mind and/or body
- Institutionalized - educational achievements and professional qualifications
- Objectified - material goods such as books, musical instruments, pictures, paintings, etc.
Define:
social capital
Social capital is the collective value of all of the people whom an individual knows in society (his or her social network).
It also includes the behavioral or attitudinal dispositions that arise within such networks (for instance, the things that people do to help out each other).
Abel has over 500 connections on LinkedIn. These connections best exemplify which form of capital?
Social capital
One’s social network (which can be exemplified by either a physical network of acquaintances or a social network like LinkedIn) constitutes social capital.
Define:
social power
Power is one’s influence on society (i.e. the behaviors that he or she can elicit from others).
Define:
privilege
Privilege is the range of benefits or advantages one receives from society or societal institutions based on social standing.
Define:
prestige
Prestige is the level of respect one receives from society, usually due to one’s occupation, profession, or perceived status.
Name the concept which originated with Kimberlé Crenshaw and describes overlapping social identities and related systems of oppression, domination, or discrimination.
Intersectionality
For example, under intersectionality, a hypothetical individual is not just a Hispanic woman. She is also a heterosexual, middle-class, able-bodied, highly educated American, among other social attributes. She cannot be summed up in a single social category. Intersectionality acknowledges that race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, education, citizenship, and geographic location all interact.
A survey of hospitals reveals that those in the lower socioeconomic classes have lower access to healthcare and worse medical outcomes compared with individuals in higher socioeconomic classes. This is an example of which social spectrum?
The socioeconomic gradient in health
This concept helps describe the financial and social inequalities that exist in healthcare.
Max Weber analyzed three dimensions of stratification: class, status, and party. It was theorized that these stratifications result in ________, or the unequal distribution of resources among nations or groups based on their position in the social hierarchy.
global inequalities
Global inequalities are those that exist between developed and under- or undeveloped nations. These inequalities may be reinforced by unfair trade practices as a result of globalization.
A single, working-class father works two jobs in order to send his son to private school outside of their impoverished neighborhood. As a result, his son becomes a computer scientist and joins the upper middle class. What term best describes this situation?
Intergenerational mobility
This term refers to upward or downward movement along the social hierarchy in a society across generations (father to son, grandfather to granddaughter, etc.).
A young boy in the Papua New Guinean Eroto tribe is found and raised to be a simple hunter. When a tribal priest dies unexpectedly, the boy is nominated to become the new Shaman, a high-status position second only to chief. With regard to his generation, this boy has experienced _______ mobility.
intragenerational
Intragenerational mobility refers to an individual’s movements within the social hierarchy throughout his or her lifetime. In this case, the boy’s movement was vertical and upward.
What term describes upward or downward movement within a social hierarchy by an individual or group?
Movement up or down the social hierarchy is known as vertical social mobility.
Julian is injured in an accident and loses his job as a construction worker. Which of the following jobs could Julian take in order to undergo horizontal social mobility?
- Police officer
- Factory worker
- Nurse
- Lawyer
Factory worker
The position most similar to the social status of Julian’s original job is factory worker. Movement between two equal or near-equal social hierarchy positions is known as horizontal mobility.
My father is a lawyer, and now I am a substitute teacher. This represents [intragenerational/intergenerational], [vertical/horizontal] mobility.
Choose one term from each box above to accurately complete the sentence.
My father is a lawyer, and now I am a substitute teacher. This represents intergenerational, vertical mobility.
Since this transition happened over different generations, it is intergenerational. Since it involves movement down the social hierarchy, it is also vertical in nature.
Dr. Wu was a practicing physician and then decided to become a professor of medicine. This represents [intragenerational/intergenerational], [vertical/horizontal] mobility.
Choose one term from each box above to accurately complete the sentence.
Dr. Wu was a practicing physician and then decided to become a professor of medicine. This represents intragenerational, horizontal mobility.
Since this transition happened within a single generation, it is intragenerational. Since it involves lateral (same-class) movement within the social hierarchy (from practicing physician to professor of medicine), it is also horizontal in nature.
A hospital changes its pay structure to base yearly bonuses on a number of performance factors (e.g. procedures performed and patient satisfaction) and eliminates the consideration of peer review. This system of reward for job performance is an example of which social system?
A meritocracy
A meritocracy is a society where wealth, income, and social status are assigned or earned through competition and performance.
Define:
relative poverty
Relative poverty is a comparative economic standard defined in terms of the society in which the person lives (in essence, “How well off am I compared to my neighbors/friends?”).
For example, a $50,000 annual salary in a wealthy area like New York City is likely to place one in the lower classes, while the same salary in more rural, less wealthy Gary, Indiana will position the individual solidly in the middle class.
Define:
absolute poverty
Absolute poverty refers to a set standard for poverty which is the same in all regions/countries and which does not change over time.
An income-related example is worldwide poverty, which is sometimes defined as living on less than $2 per day.
True or false:
An individual can exist in absolute poverty while not experiencing relative poverty.
True
This situation is certainly possible! The individual may live in an area where everyone exists in absolute poverty while still having more money than his neighbors.
Social ________ is a form of bullying by segregating or isolating an individual or group from activities, events, or even social resources. An example of this concept is setting up a Facebook group for a new freshman class and not inviting the Indian-American students.
Social exclusion
Social exclusion is the process of excluding or blocking off someone or a group of people from social opportunities, rights, and resources to which other groups have access.
Janie wets her pants during recess one day. As a result, no one will go near Janie or play with her during recess for the next 3 months. This is an example of _______ by her peer group.
social isolation
Social isolation is the state of complete or near-complete lack of contact between an individual and the society they live in.
The caste systems of India, in which the Dalit, or “Untouchable,” class is barred from many aspects of society and from utilizing many societal resources, is an example of:
social segregation.
This occurs when a group (commonly identified on the basis of race, ethnicity, or economic status) is treated as an underclass, in that they are forced to exist separately from the rest of the population.
Health disparities by __________ are illustrated in the image below.
sex
The image shows that women suffer from far fewer cancers of all types than men. This is a healthcare disparity by sex. It is known that women live longer and suffer from more non-life-threatening pathologies than men. Men, on the other hand, typically die younger and experience a much higher rate of accidents and life-threatening illnesses.
Health disparities by __________ are illustrated in the image below.
race
This image depicts clear racial differences in the incidence of both cancer types shown. This is a healthcare disparity along racial lines. White individuals tend to have higher rates of skin cancer and renal disease, while African-Americans suffer from diseases such as sickle-cell anemia and have elevated rates of diabetes, stroke, and heart attack.
If it is found that the mortality rates of heart disease, stroke, and respiratory diseases are significantly higher in those with salaries, this is a health disparity by:
class.
Studies do show that poorer members of society suffer from higher rates of many infectious diseases, as well as chronic health problems (e.g. hypertension, diabetes, etc.).
Identify the healthcare disparity illustrated below.
People at or near the poverty line are 3 times as likely to be uninsured or underinsured.
This is a class-based disparity.
Class-based disparities in healthcare are present in both developed and undeveloped countries.
Identify the healthcare disparity illustrated below.
Hispanic men are 43% less likely than Caucasian men to return for necessary follow-up medical appointments due to a fear that their immigration status may be questioned, which leads to poorer health outcomes.
This is a race-based disparity.
Race-based disparities in healthcare are present in both developed and undeveloped countries.
Identify the healthcare disparity illustrated below.
Women are much more likely than men to schedule annual physicals with their primary care physicians, while transgender patients are significantly less likely than cis patients to attend the same visits, due to perceived judgment from medical staff.
This is a gender-based disparity.
Gender-based disparities in healthcare are present in both developed and undeveloped countries.
Bourdieu coined which term to describe the physical manifestation of cultural capital?
Specifically, these “gut feelings” are akin to an elite football player “knowing” where to throw a pass to hit the receiver who is running downfield. Another example is the “street smarts” one may earn by growing up on rough streets, learning to avoid violent confrontations with gangs and police harassment.
Habitus
Habitus refers to the physical embodiment of cultural capital: the deeply ingrained habits, skills, and dispositions that we possess due to our life experiences. In the right situations, habitus allows one to successfully navigate social environments.
