Question

MCAT Sociology Tutorial: Social Stratification & Inequality

Answer 1

\({\bf{Social~Stratification:}}\) the formation of distinct layers or classifications of people based on status and power
- class: one's economic standing compared to others (typical divisions: upper, middle, working, low/impoverished)
- status: another way of distinguishing layers of society but not always based on wealth, can include reputation or prestige
- power: one's relative influence and control over others in society

- capital: resources available to an individual (usu. excludes economic wealth)
> cultural capital: things that can be learned or inherited like education or mannerisms
> social capital: social connections

- social reproduction: the tendency for one to pass on one's social status to the next generation
- privilege: benefits conferred to an individual based on unearned characteristics like race, age, gender
> important note: when somebody is considered "privileged" it does not mean their life is perfect, just that they have certain unfair advantages that a person of another social group would not have
- prestige: preferential attention or treatment based on class and power

Answer 2

\({\bf{Social~Mobility:}}\) movement between social classes
- intergenerational mobility: change in social status between generations, ex. an immigrant child working and eventually receiving a higher social status than their parents
- intragenerational mobility: change in social status within one generation, ex. an individual receiving benefits and improving their social status within their own lifetime
- meritocracy: a societal organizational system where people are rewarded through their actions, talents, skills, etc.
- social exclusion: certain individuals or groups are prevented from accessing the same resources that are readily available to others, ex. school segregation

\({\bf{Poverty:}}\)
- absolute poverty: the lack of basic resources
- relative poverty: lower amount of resources compared to others in the same social group

\({\bf{Inequality:}}\)
- spatial inequality: an individual is prevented from accessing resources because of their location, ex. food deserts
- residential segregation: an individual is prevented from living in certain places (ex. property owners can discriminate against providing housing to certain individuals)
- environmental inequality: an individual may be affected differently by the environment based on their communities ability to protect themselves, ex. wealthier communities can enact protections against pollutants, lobby against building power plants/etc. near their communities
- global inequality: inequality based on one's geographic location not being as technologically developed, ex. first world vs third world countries

Answer 3

\({\bf{Healthcare~Inequality:}}\)
- race: minority groups have higher incidences of many diseases, possibly due to discrimination in diagnosing/delivering healthcare (touched on this idea a lot in my abnormal psychology tutorials if you want to take a look)

- economic status: wealthier people have better access to healthcare, are less likely to deny treatment because of cost

- sex: men and women are affected differently by disease; men are more likely to get into accidents/violence; women are less likely to have access to education and healthcare resources based on religious/social expectations on women

\({\bf{How~Inequality~is~Perpetuated:}}\)
- at the individual level, people are prejudiced towards those with different appearances, beliefs, ideas
- at the institutional level, even if individuals are in favor of societal progress, prejudicial ideas and policies are built into the institution and disrupting them can interfere with their standard practices
- prejudiced people who attain positions of power
- legislation that purposefully or inadvertently favors certain social groups
- propaganda/mass media

Answer 4

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