Question

MCAT Sociology Tutorial: Social Interactions & Changes

Answer 1

\({\bf{Social~Interaction:}}\) actions that affect others in a society or between socieities
- status: a person's relative social position compared to others in society
- status set: all the statuses of one individual
- ascribed status: status that is given at birth and is not inherently earned, like race or sex
- achieved status: status that is consciously earned, like one's profession

- roles: behaviors that are associated with a status
- role set: all the roles of an individual
- role strain: conflict between the roles of one status (ex. a doctor's obligation to be informative/truthful and their obligation to reduce harm sometimes comes into conflict)
- role conflict: conflict between roles of different statuses (ex. a doctor's obligations to help patients and their obligation to spend time with their family)

\({\bf{Social~Groups:}}\)
- social group: a group of individuals who interact with each other and share common traits
- primary group: a group characterized with stronger, more personal interactions
- secondary group: a group characterized by common goals and activities
- networks: less tightly organized groups of individuals over larger distances
- bureaucracy: a model of social organization that emphasizes efficiency and rationality over personal interactions
> bureaucratic ritualism: rigid rules that make the organization more efficient

Answer 2

\({\bf{Demography:}}\) the study and analysis of the characteristics of a general population
- common demographic characteristics:
> age, ex. characterizing people by their generation and b̶l̶a̶m̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶m̶i̶l̶l̶e̶n̶n̶i̶a̶l̶s̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶r̶y̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶
> sex, ex. studying the relative ratio of men/women
> race (a group of individuals characterized by biological characteristics)
> ethnicity (similar to race but more likely to be based on culture)
> immigrant status
> sexual orientation

\({\bf{Demographic~Changes:}}\)
> demographic transition theory: changes in demographics is linked to changes in technology (ex. decrease in death rate following the Industrial Revolution)
> fertility: number of births
- crude birth rate: number of births/1000 people
> mortality: number of deaeths
- crude mortality rate: number of deaths/1000 people
- infant mortality rate: number of infant deaths/1000 people

> social movement: a deliberate movement towards or against social change
- globalization: the process by which social interactions are more oriented towards the world and less isolated to one's own country
- urbanization: movement of people from rural/suburban to urban areas
> problems: too much competition in urban areas for resources/jobs, etc. not enough labor in the rural areas, esp. agricultural areas

Answer 3

Anyway, that's the end of my tutorial, I hope it was a helpful resource. Source material is the 2nd Edition Barron's Prep book for the new MCAT