MCAT - Psych/Social Foundations:: Sociology

Culture, a foundational concept in sociology, is broadly defined as encompassing:

- **A)** Only a specific society's material objects/artifacts (such as tools, art, and technology), with absolutely no meaningful, describable relationship whatsoever to that same society's shared beliefs, values, or norms
- **B)** Only a specific society's shared beliefs and values, with absolutely no meaningful, describable relationship whatsoever to that same society's actual material objects, artifacts, or technology
- **C)** The shared beliefs, values, norms, customs, behaviors, and material objects/artifacts that characterize a given specific group or society - sociologists commonly distinguish between material culture (tangible physical objects a society produces/uses, such as tools, clothing, art, and technology) and nonmaterial culture (a society's intangible shared beliefs, values, norms, language, and symbols) - together, both dimensions collectively define/characterize a given culture
- **D)** A concept that has no meaningful, describable relationship whatsoever to any shared belief, value, norm, or material object of any kind

Norms, an important sociological concept describing the specific shared rules/expectations governing behavior within a given society or social group, are commonly further sub-divided by sociologists into folkways and mores; folkways specifically refer to:

- **A)** A society's most morally serious, strictly-enforced behavioral norms, violation of which is generally met with severe social sanction/punishment, a description that instead corresponds more closely to mores (discussed further below), rather than accurately describing the genuinely distinct folkways concept itself
- **B)** A society's everyday, relatively minor social conventions/customs (such as specific norms regarding appropriate dress, table manners, or greeting customs) - violation of a folkway is generally considered a comparatively minor social transgression, typically met with only relatively mild social disapproval (such as a raised eyebrow, or being considered simply somewhat rude/unusual), rather than any severe formal punishment or serious sanction
- **C)** A concept that has no meaningful, describable relationship whatsoever to any social convention, custom, or everyday behavioral expectation of any kind
- **D)** A society's formal, explicitly written, and legally codified rules/laws specifically, rather than a society's more informal, unwritten social conventions/customs

Mores, the complementary, more seriously-enforced type of social norm to folkways discussed above, specifically refer to:

- **A)** A society's everyday, relatively minor social conventions/customs, a description that instead corresponds to folkways (discussed above), rather than accurately and distinctively describing the genuinely distinct, more seriously-enforced mores concept itself
- **B)** A concept that has no meaningful, describable relationship whatsoever to morality, serious social sanction, or strict norm enforcement of any kind
- **C)** A society's formal, explicitly written, and legally codified rules/laws specifically, and only those specific formal laws, with no meaningful, describable relationship whatsoever to any more informal, unwritten (but still seriously-regarded) social norm
- **D)** A society's more morally significant, seriously-regarded behavioral norms, considered essential to that society's own basic core moral order/functioning - violation of a more (such as, in most societies, a strong prohibition against murder, incest, or serious betrayal of trust) is generally considered a much more serious social transgression than violating a mere folkway, and is typically met with correspondingly much more severe social sanction/punishment, sometimes including formal legal punishment as well, though mores themselves are technically a broader sociological concept than formal law specifically, since not every more is necessarily formally codified into law, and not every formal law necessarily reflects a deeply, widely-shared more

Socialization, a foundational sociological (and developmental psychological) concept, refers to the lifelong general process by which:

- **A)** Individuals learn and internalize the norms, values, behaviors, and social skills appropriate to their own particular society/social group - this general process begins in early childhood (primarily through what sociologists term 'agents of socialization,' such as family, school, peer groups, and media) and continues, to at least some meaningful degree, throughout an individual's entire life, as that person continues to encounter and adapt to new social roles, relationships, and social contexts across their own life course
- **B)** Individuals are entirely and completely biologically determined from birth, with absolutely no meaningful, describable social/environmental learning process or influence whatsoever occurring at any point across their own individual lifespan, directly contradicting socialization's own actual, well-established core defining social-learning premise
- **C)** A concept that has no meaningful, describable relationship whatsoever to learning, internalizing, or adapting to any specific society's own particular norms, values, or social expectations
- **D)** A process that occurs only and specifically during early childhood, with absolutely no meaningful, describable continuation whatsoever occurring later during adolescence or adulthood, directly contradicting socialization's own well-established, lifelong general character/premise

Agents of socialization, the various specific social institutions/groups through which socialization (discussed above) actually occurs, commonly include the family, which is generally considered:

- **A)** A relatively unimportant, marginal agent of socialization, with essentially all meaningful socialization instead occurring exclusively through formal schooling alone, an inaccurate characterization that considerably understates the family's own actual, well-established central importance as a primary agent of early socialization
- **B)** The only agent of socialization that has any meaningful, describable influence whatsoever on an individual, with absolutely no meaningful, describable additional contribution from school, peer groups, or media, an inaccurate characterization that considerably overstates the family's own relative exclusivity as a socialization agent, given the well-established, additional meaningful contributions of these various other important socialization agents as well
- **C)** Generally considered the PRIMARY agent of early childhood socialization, given that most children spend their earliest, most formatively important years primarily within their own family context, learning basic language, fundamental values, and initial behavioral expectations largely from parents/caregivers and other family members - though school, peer groups, and media (among various other additional agents of socialization) also become increasingly important as a child grows older and encounters an increasingly broader range of social contexts and social relationships beyond the immediate family alone
- **D)** A concept that has no meaningful, describable relationship whatsoever to language learning, value transmission, or early behavioral expectation-setting of any kind

Social status, an important sociological concept, refers to:

- **A)** Only a person's own particular occupational position/job specifically, with no meaningful, describable relationship whatsoever to any other social position, such as family role or community position
- **B)** A person's own particular recognized SOCIAL POSITION within a society or group - sociologists distinguish between an ASCRIBED status (a social position generally assigned to a person at birth or otherwise involuntarily, such as one's sex, race, or the specific family one is born into) and an ACHIEVED status (a social position a person attains at least in significant part through their own particular individual effort, choice, or accomplishment, such as their own particular occupation or educational level) - an individual generally holds multiple different specific statuses simultaneously (a status set), across various different specific social contexts and roles
- **C)** A concept that has no meaningful, describable relationship whatsoever to any recognized social position or social ranking of any kind
- **D)** A concept that applies only and exclusively to formal, legally-codified social positions specifically, with no meaningful, describable applicability whatsoever to any informal, socially-recognized (but not necessarily formally codified) social position

A social role, closely related to but conceptually distinct from social status discussed above, refers to:

- **A)** A term that is fully and completely synonymous with social status, with no meaningful conceptual distinction whatsoever existing between these two genuinely distinct sociological concepts
- **B)** A person's own particular ascribed or achieved social position itself, a description that instead corresponds to social status (discussed above), rather than accurately and distinctively describing the genuinely distinct social-role concept itself
- **C)** A concept that has no meaningful, describable relationship whatsoever to any specific behavior, expectation, or social status of any kind
- **D)** The specific set of expected BEHAVIORS, obligations, and privileges associated with a given particular social status - while social status describes a particular social position itself, a social role describes what a person occupying that particular status is generally expected to actually DO/how they are expected to actually behave in that same particular position (e.g., the status of 'teacher' comes with an associated role involving expected behaviors like preparing lessons, grading student work, and maintaining appropriate classroom management/discipline) - a single given individual generally occupies multiple different specific social statuses simultaneously, and correspondingly enacts multiple different associated social roles as well, sometimes leading to role conflict (when the specific expectations associated with two or more different roles a person simultaneously occupies actually directly conflict with one another) or role strain (when the various different specific expectations associated with a single given individual role itself are, on their own, already difficult to fully and simultaneously satisfy)

Primary groups and secondary groups, two genuinely distinct types of social group studied within sociology, differ in that a primary group is specifically characterized by:

- **A)** Relatively small size, close, intimate, and enduring personal relationships/bonds, and interaction generally valued as an end in itself (rather than as a purely practical means to achieve some other specific separate goal) - the family and one's own close circle of intimate friends are classic, frequently-cited examples of primary groups, which are generally considered central to an individual's own personal identity formation and their broader ongoing socialization process (discussed earlier in this same deck)
- **B)** Relatively large size, more impersonal, formal, and often quite temporary/instrumental relationships, generally organized around achieving some specific practical goal, a description that instead corresponds to a secondary group (discussed further below), rather than accurately and distinctively describing the genuinely distinct primary-group concept itself
- **C)** A type of social group that has no meaningful, describable relationship whatsoever to interpersonal relationship closeness, group size, or interaction purpose of any kind
- **D)** A type of social group that always and necessarily consists of a large number of people, at least several dozen at minimum, directly contradicting primary groups' own actual, well-established characteristically SMALL, rather than large, typical group size