Demographic and Social Structure

Social institutions

(eg, family) are enduring, organized systems that outline behavioral norms and fulfill a purpose in society. Family is broadly defined as at least two individuals connected by an intimate relationship (eg, marriage/partnership, birth, adoption) who often live together.

Symbolic Interactionism

A micro-level (small-scale) sociological perspective, is concerned with person-to-person interactions using symbols (eg, language, signs, objects/behaviors that have subjective meaning). The passage describes large-scale social changes, not small-scale interactions.

Resilience

Ability to prevail despite threats to adequate psychosocial development.

According to the demographic transition model, societies progress through stages marked by characteristic changes in birth/death rates and population size: high birth/death rates, small population (Stage 1); declining death rate, increasing population (Stage 2); declining birth rate, slower population growth (Stage 3); low birth/death rates, stable population (Stage 4); and very low birth rate, declining population (Stage 5).

According to the __________________, a society's transition from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates typically occurs in the following stages: Stage 1: In preindustrial societies, birth and death rates are both high and population growth is slow. Stage 2: As societies begin to industrialize, death rates drop as food/medicine availability and sanitation increase, and population growth is rapid. Stage 3: As societies urbanize, the population continues to grow, but birth rates begin to decline as access to contraception increases. Stage 4: In developed societies, birth and death rates are both low and population growth is slow. Stage 5: For highly developed societies with very low birth rates, the population may decline.

Attributional biases

Are cognitive biases (irrational thought processes) that occur when individuals attempt to understand their own behavior or the behavior of others. Common errors are often made when individuals attribute their own behavior (or the behavior of others) to some cause, including: Just world phenomenon Fundamental attribution error Self-serving bias

Family

At least two individuals connected by an intimate relationship (eg, marriage/partnership, birth, adoption) who often live together.

Feminist Theory

At the macro-level, ______________ considers how social structures maintain gender inequality. For example, workplace practices that discriminate against women (eg, less pay, fewer promotions) result in the underrepresentation of women in certain fields (eg, surgery). At the micro-level, feminist theory considers how one-on-one interactions also maintain gender inequality by objectifying or devaluing females/femininity. For example, patients often assume a female surgeon is a nurse. Removing barriers to female entry into a variety of occupations is consistent with a macro-level feminist theory concern as it addresses structural factors that contribute to gender inequality.

Social stratification

Categorization of people within a society into hierarchical social classes.

Cognition: Lev Vygotsky: Sociocultural cognitive Cognition: Jean Piaget: Cognitive

Child's cognitive development based on social interaction Four universal stages of childhood cognitive development Cognitive development is based on age

Piaget's theory

Cognitive theories of human development attempt to describe how learning and mental processes progress. ________________ contends that children progress through four universal stages that reflect the acquisition of predictable mental skills. This study does not assess human cognitive development.

Middle class

Educated professionals and semi-professionals with average wages.

Social institutions

Enduring, organized systems that outline behavioral norms and fulfill a purpose in society.

Personality: Sigmund Freud: Psychosexual Personality: Erik Erikson: Psychosocial

Five psychosexual stages, focused on childhood Unresolved childhood conflict impacts adult personality Eight psychosocial stages throughout life Unresolved crisis at any age impacts adult personality

Bureaucracy

In sociology, ______________- is defined as the most efficient and rational way to organize human behavior. A critical perspective of bureaucracy, McDonaldization describes the process by which extreme efficiency and rationalization produce negative consequences. The term stems from the fast-food industry, in which processes to increase efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control ensure that all franchised restaurants produce a similar, standardized product and experience. McDonaldization describes when the following happens in society: Efficiency produces optimization at the cost of individuality. Calculability produces high quantities at the expense of quality. Predictability produces standardization at the expense of uniqueness. Control increases automation, reducing the need for a skilled workforce. Standardized protocols, patient checklists, and clinical guidelines may increase efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control at the expense of patient care. Therefore, critics would most likely argue that McDonaldization of health care has occurred.

A difference in social status between parent and son reflects intergenerational mobility, as it occurs across more than one lifetime. The shift in status from parent (hourly wage employee) to son (neurosurgeon, a highly paid salaried position) is an example of vertical (upward) social mobility. A surgeon moving his practice between locations does represent intragenerational mobility, as it occurs within his own lifetime, but it would be an example of horizontal (not vertical) social mobility because there is no change in social status. A dentist inheriting his mother's dental practice would be an example of intergenerational (not intragenerational) mobility, as it occurs across more than one lifetime. It is also an example of horizontal (not vertical) social mobility because the status of mother and son are the same.

Intragenerational social mobility occurs within a single generation (ie, within a lifetime). Intergenerational social mobility occurs over multiple generations (ie, across several lifetimes). A cardiologist who loses her medical license and struggles to find a new job is an example of both intragenerational mobility, as this shift occurs within her own lifetime, and vertical (downward) mobility, because her social status decreases.

Consanguineal kinship

Kinship based on genetic relationship (eg, biological parents).

Affinal kinship

Kinship based on marriage (eg, spouses).

Fictive kinship

Kinship based on relationships other than genetics or marriage (eg, adopted children).

Working poor

Low-skill service, clerical, and manual laborers with low wages.

Cultural capital describes the nonfinancial and nonsocial network assets that confer advantage in society (eg, a degree from a well-respected university). Standardizing medicine should not increase the cultural capital of physicians in any way.

Manifest functions are the intended social outcomes of an institution. For example, the health care system is meant to take care of ill individuals in society. Latent functions are unintended outcomes, such as increasing disparity in health outcomes for wealthy and poor individuals. Critics would be more likely to suggest that standardizing medicine leads to latent (not manifest) functions of health care.

Primary kin

Nuclear family members sharing one of three possible relationships: spouses, parent/child, siblings.

Secondary kin

One degree removed from the nuclear family (eg, grandparent, aunt, brother-in-law).

Residential segregation

Physical separation of groups by social characteristics such as race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. Segregated neighborhoods experience different degrees of environmental benefits (access to safe parks and good schools) and environmental burdens (crime, pollution); this is known as environmental injustice. Spatial inequality results in the worst health outcomes for residents in the poorest neighborhoods because of increased exposure to violence and environmental risks.

Abuse within families

Physical violence, emotional harm, neglect, and/or isolation within family relationships.

Morality: Lawrence Kohlberg: Moral

Six stages of lifespan moral development Most individuals do not progress past stage 3 or 4

Marx asserted that individuals in the upper class, to further their own interests, attempt to sway the thinking of those in the lower classes. False consciousness results when individuals from lower classes adopt the misleading views of the upper class and accept the status quo (ie, injustice, exploitation). Individuals from the lower classes who do not have class consciousness may blame themselves for undesirable health outcomes or be more likely to agree with media that stress individual responsibility above all other factors. Consequently, adopting false consciousness results in leaving systematic health care inequalities (eg, unequal access or quality) unchallenged. An article that emphasizes the role of individual choices in the development of heart disease, while overlooking the role of systemic inequality in health care access, promotes false consciousness.

Social stratification is a system of inequality in which individuals are hierarchically ranked into social classes, with different access to resources and opportunities. Class consciousness involves the recognition of class structure and an identification with one's own social class such that individuals understand that people from other classes have needs and interests different from their own.

Organizations

Social structures composed of individuals linked by specific purposes, tasks, and/or common goals. The three main types of organizations are normative, utilitarian, and coercive. are social structures composed of individuals linked by specific purposes, tasks, and/or common goals. In normative organizations, people come together based on shared values/goals, whereas utilitarian organizations compensate members for their involvement. In coercive organizations, membership is not freely chosen and/or maintained

Hawthorne effect

The ___________________describes research subjects acting differently as a result of knowing that they are being observed. Results confirming the hypothesis (student nurses make more errors when their instructor has low expectations for their competency) suggest the presence of the teacher expectancy (not Hawthorne) effect.

just world phenomenon

The______________________ is an attributional bias that occurs when one believes that the world is fair and good things happen to people who are hard-working and good and that bad things happen to people who are bad or lazy. Michael's attributing Jake's failure to being "a bad person" and his own success to having taken advantage of opportunities is an example of the just world phenomenon

Social learning theory

Theory that individuals commit violence by modeling behaviors they've seen in the past.

Tertiary kin

Two degrees removed from the nuclear family (eg, cousin, brother-in-law's mother).

Underclass

Unemployed or employed part-time individuals often relying on social services.

Environmental injustice

Unequal distribution of environmental benefits and burdens in different neighborhoods.

Intrafamily violence

Violence within a family, often explained by social learning theory or frustration-aggression theory.

Upper class

Wealthiest, most influential members of society.

Lower class

Working class and working poor with varying wages.

Conflict Theory

a macro-level (large-scale) sociological perspective, is concerned with the class conflict that arises when resources (eg, wealth, power) are unevenly distributed across social groups (eg, rich vs. poor). The passage does not describe any sort of conflict between social classes.

Frustration-aggression theory

contends that individuals exhibit violence as a result of having a goal or effort blocked or defeated (ie, frustration). Therefore, intrafamily violence resulting from an individual experiencing stress from a defeat is best explained by the frustration-aggression theory.

Kinship

describes how individuals in society are related to one another, including connections through birth, marriage, adoption, or other socially defined relationships (eg, godparents, fraternity brothers).

Intersectionality

describes the multiple, interconnected social identities (eg, gender, age, race, class) that intersect to impact individuals' lives, perspectives, and treatment in society. The gender pay gap (or gender wage gap) depicted in Figure 1 illustrates how the inequality in pay between female and male workers is related to both gender and age, which is an example of intersectionality.

Sex/gender segregation

describes the separation of males and females by means that may be formal (eg, laws) or informal (eg, social norms). Occupational sex/gender segregation in the U.S. is exemplified by masculine-typed occupations (eg, construction work) that are generally fulfilled by males and feminine-typed occupations (eg, nursing) that are generally fulfilled by females.

Teacher expectancy effect

describes what occurs when a teacher's preconceived ideas about a student (eg, "he is lazy") result in student performance that ultimately meets the teacher's expectations. Students may overperform (when the teacher has high expectations) or underperform (when the teacher has low expectations). The teacher expectancy effect is thought to occur because teachers' beliefs unconsciously influence their actions, causing them to treat students differently (eg, giving less feedback to a student believed to be lazy). Students then perform in a manner that reinforces the teacher's beliefs.

The McDonaldization of society

describes when social structures (eg, health care, education) increase efficiency, quantity, standardization, and automation at the expense of individuality, quality, and a skilled workforce. Although the McDonaldization of society has its roots in industrialization, this is not described in the passage.

The glass escalator

exemplifies institutional discrimination because it involves systemic actions or policies that benefit one group (males) at the expense of another (females) based on group stereotypes (ie, "men are better leaders than women"). This contributes to sex/gender segregation as more males occupy top-level management roles while females remain at lower levels.

Humanitarian group

group composed of physician volunteers illustrates an organization in which members are united by shared values and/or goals (ie, a normative organization).

Structural functionalism

is a macro-level (large-scale) sociological perspective that compares modern society to a biological organism. This theory proposes that as the various organ systems cooperate to maintain an organism's homeostasis, social institutions work together in the interest of societal balance, known as dynamic equilibrium. From the structural functionalist perspective, social institutions have manifest functions, which are expected, and latent functions, which are unintended. For example, the higher education system is meant to teach students the skills necessary to become functioning citizens in society (eg, manifest function), but many students also end up meeting potential romantic partners in college (eg, latent function).

fertility rate

is a measure of the number of people being added to a given population through birth, as opposed to immigration. Of the multiple ways to express fertility rates, the age-specific fertility rate (ASFR) describes the number of live births per year per 1,000 women in a certain age group in a population. In the U.S., the ASFR for women age 25-29 is about 100 whereas the ASFR for women age 40-44 is about 10. If the ASFR for females age 25-29 increases, then more women in this age cohort will become mothers, which would likely cause the gender pay gap for females age 25-29 to increase.

Ascribed status

is a position in society based on a social construct such as age, gender, or race/ethnicity. Standardizing medicine would likely increase the categorization of patients based on these constructs, thereby increasing (not decreasing) the use of ascribed patient status.

Social privilege

is a theory that certain advantages are available only to certain people in society. For example, higher education is considered a social privilege for middle- and upper-class children. Jake and Michael grew up with similar underprivileged childhoods but demonstrated very different outcomes, so it is not possible to determine whether social privilege is correlated with resilience.

Nuclear family

is considered the basic social unit or grouping in society and is defined as two coupled (usually married) adults and their offspring. Primary kin are nuclear family members sharing one of three possible relationships: spouses, parent/child, siblings. Secondary kin are one degree removed from the nuclear family (eg, grandparent, aunt, brother-in-law). Tertiary kin are two degrees removed from the nuclear family (eg, cousin, brother-in-law's mother).

social stratification

is the categorization of people within a society into hierarchical social classes. Michael advances social strata (level in the hierarchy) while Jake does not. Therefore, social stratum in adulthood appears to be positively correlated with resilience (as resilience increases, people advance in social strata).

social stratification

is the hierarchical organization of individuals in society based on social class, social status, and power: Social class is largely determined by economic resources (eg, income, property). Wealthy individuals are at the top of the social hierarchy, whereas those in the working and lower classes are at the bottom. Social status refers to one's prestige (reputation). Certain careers (eg, physician), personal characteristics (eg, attractiveness), and achievements (eg, winning an Olympic gold medal) confer status that is not necessarily tied to wealth (although it can be). Power is the ability to control others. Certain careers (eg, politician) and accomplishments (eg, a large social media following) increase one's power.

Absolute poverty

is the inability to secure the basic necessities of life, such as food and shelter. Relative poverty is subjectively defined in comparison to the economic conditions of others. Living in a high-crime public housing project reflects poverty that is relative to others in the same urban area with nicer living conditions.

absolute poverty

is the inability to secure the basic necessities of life, such as food, clean water, and shelter. Relative poverty, which is defined in comparison to the economic conditions of others, is a more subjective measure encompassing quality-of-life issues, such as relatively longer travel times to reach medical care using public transportation because one cannot afford a car.

Institutional discrimination

is the unfair treatment of some people, typically lower-income individuals or members of minority groups, by social structures (eg, laws, education system). If law enforcement arrests more minority men than white men, this would constitute institutional discrimination. Spatial inequality, while related to institutional discrimination, more directly describes the type of environment in which Jake and Michael grew up.

Industrialization

led to an increase, not a decrease, in bureaucracies, which involve divisions in labor and are hierarchically organized and impersonal social structures.

In a patriarchal society

males possess most of the power and prestige; therefore, focusing on increasing access for males is less likely to be the goal of feminist theorists than is providing access to power and prestige to females who have less of it.

Utilitarian organizations

members are compensated for their involvement, typically through money (eg, paid employment) or certification/diploma (eg, university students).

Coercive organizations

membership is not freely chosen (eg, prisoners) and/or maintained (eg, military service members must be discharged).

Self-fulfilling prophecy

occurs when a belief about oneself (eg, "I'm a terrible test taker") causes behavior that makes the belief come true (eg, belief causes test anxiety, resulting in actual poor performance). In other words, the belief itself, regardless of if the belief is true or justified, directly or indirectly initiates a chain of events that prove the belief true. Michael's comments about Jake are not consistent with a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Gentrification

occurs when higher-income residents begin to move into lower-income urban areas, resulting in renovation and increased property values that displace the original lower-income residents. Although the neighborhood where Jake and Michael grew up is a poor, high-crime area, there is no evidence of the urban renewal necessary for gentrification.

social exclusion

occurs when individuals are marginalized to the point of being unable to participate in society economically (eg, earning money, purchasing goods/services), socially (eg, interacting with others), and civically (eg, voting). Social exclusion is tied to many circumstances that are stigmatized in society (eg, mental illness, poverty), although it is unclear whether social exclusion is a cause or a result of such factors. The third paragraph, which states that poverty prevents or limits access to productive social activities, such as working, buying goods and services, community and political involvement, and engagement with social networks, most directly describes the relationship between poverty and social exclusion.

Normative organizations

people voluntarily unite based on shared values and/or goals (eg, church congregations, sororities).

Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of moral development

proposes that humans progress through stages of moral and ethical reasoning throughout their lifetime, starting with basic moral reasoning during childhood and progressing to more abstract reasoning in adulthood. Moral reasoning development is not assessed in this study.

Freud's theory

proposes that progression through psychosexual stages as a child determines adult personality. This study assessed the ability to prevail in the face of threats to adequate psychosocial (not psychosexual) development.

hidden curriculum

refers to all of the messages transmitted to students in an academic setting that are not based on content (eg, norms, attitudes, beliefs). Unintended messages conveyed by the informal curriculum (ie, hidden curriculum) that male students do not belong in a profession may lead to male attrition in pink-collar occupation training programs, contributing to sex/gender segregation in employment. Formal curriculum includes the explicit, official content taught to students in the educational system, whereas the hidden curriculum promotes certain values and behaviors implicitly. The stratification of the educational system is an aspect of the hidden (not formal) curriculum.

social mobility

refers to the change or movement of individuals, groups, or families between or within status categories in society (eg, from middle class to upper class). Social mobility can be horizontal (ie, same social status) or vertical (ie, up or down in social status) and is related to a multitude of other factors, such as educational achievement, job loss, career advancement, marriage, and institutionalized discrimination.

social reproduction

refers to the fact that successive generations tend to occupy the same social class (eg, children born into lower social class families tend to occupy a lower social class as adults). Social reproduction occurs because social structures (eg, tax laws) maintain and perpetuate social inequality over time. The conclusion by the longitudinal study that the social reproduction of poverty occurs because lower-income parents lack economic resources (ie, economic capital), social connections (ie, social capital), and knowledge about the education system (ie, cultural capital) would best be supported by a follow-up study demonstrating a positive correlation between children's educational attainment and their parents' cultural capital.

Social reproduction

refers to the fact that successive generations tend to occupy the same social class. In other words, children born into lower-class families tend to remain lower class as adults. Michael's trajectory defies social reproduction as he advanced his social class. Therefore, social reproduction appears to be negatively correlated with resilience (as resilience increases, social reproduction is less likely).

Educational stratification

refers to the mechanisms that produce inequality in educational access (eg, schools available to students) and outcomes (eg, graduation rates, college matriculation) in society. Students are stratified in the education system as a result of social characteristics, such as parent's income or influence. Educational stratification occurs on multiple levels. For instance, students with high social standing (eg, wealth) have many options (eg, well-funded local public schools, private schools), whereas students with low social standing have fewer options (ie, limited access to quality schools and teachers). The experts' suggestion in the final paragraph that the education system perpetuates income disparities through the unequal distribution of resources (ie, funding, quality teachers) draws most directly from the concept of educational stratification.

Social support

refers to the people who provide a network of love, help, and resources throughout one's lifetime. Social support can be provided by family, friends, coworkers, coaches, religious and social organizations, online networks, and even pets. Social support fulfills emotional (eg, physical intimacy), esteem (eg, encouragement), tangible (eg, a place to live), informational (eg, advice) and companionship (eg, activity partners) needs. Studies suggest that individuals with strong social support networks tend to have better health, possibly because social support lessens the impact of stress (but the exact mechanism is unclear). The study's primary finding is that high-resilience men had received more social support outside their immediate families while growing up than did low-resilience men. The fact that Michael has experienced fewer health problems than Jake can be best explained by his close relationship with his pastor, who helped him handle stress productively while he was growing up.

division of labor

refers to the specialization of tasks in society that are interdependent. In agrarian societies, nearly everyone engaged in the same form of labor (eg, farming) and produced what they needed for survival (eg, tools). In industrialized societies, tasks became more specialized and divided: one person farms, another makes tools in a factory, and everyone purchases or trades for what they need and did not produce. Division of labor has both advantages and disadvantages. When labor is divided among multiple individuals who each perform one task (rather than one individual performing all of the tasks) to accomplish the end product, each individual can specialize, which increases efficiency and quantity while reducing costs. However, this also can result in the exploitation of labor, reduced quality, and workers becoming bored with monotonous tasks.

Exchange-rational choice theory

refers to two micro-level (small-scale) sociological perspectives. Social exchange theory proposes that interactions between people are based on each person's calculation of benefits and costs; rational choice theory proposes that humans make rational decisions to maximize gain and minimize loss. The passage describes large-scale social changes, not small-scale interactions or individual decisions.

Spatial inequality

results from the uneven distribution of wealth and resources across a geographic area. Some of the best examples of spatial inequality are low-income subsidized housing projects (where Jake and Michael grew up) because these typically concentrate large numbers of lower-income individuals into one area that is geographically separated or isolated from middle- and upper-income areas.

The Malthusian theory of population growth

suggests that human populations increase exponentially but the resources needed to sustain those populations (eg, food) increase much more slowly, resulting in preventive checks that voluntarily decrease the birth rate and positive checks that involuntarily increase the death rate in society. Malthusian population growth is not described in the passage.

residentially segregated

​​​​​​​Individuals in ________________, low-income neighborhoods (ie, high-poverty neighborhoods) are subjected to spatial inequality: exposure to higher rates of crime, violence, pollution, and other environmental health risks that negatively impact their health. To explain behavior (our own or that of others) we make attributions, which are dispositional/personal (ie, based on internal characteristics such as motivation) or situational/environmental (ie, based on external factors such as the neighborhood in which one grew up).