MCAT Social and Behavioral Sciences › Social Class and Inequality
Which of the following is a common barrier to healthcare access for transgender individuals?
All of these
Refusal of care
Harassment or assault in a medical setting
Lack of provider knowledge
A 2010 survey conducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force collected the following findings: 50% of transgender or gender non-conforming individuals surveyed stated that their provider had very little or no knowledge of transgender care, 19% were refused care outright (including for conditions that did not relate to gender transition), and 28% reported experiencing harassment in a medical setting—with 2% reporting assault or some other act of violence perpetrated against them in a doctor's office.
Which of the following is a common barrier to healthcare access for transgender individuals?
All of these
Refusal of care
Harassment or assault in a medical setting
Lack of provider knowledge
A 2010 survey conducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force collected the following findings: 50% of transgender or gender non-conforming individuals surveyed stated that their provider had very little or no knowledge of transgender care, 19% were refused care outright (including for conditions that did not relate to gender transition), and 28% reported experiencing harassment in a medical setting—with 2% reporting assault or some other act of violence perpetrated against them in a doctor's office.
Rates of asthma tend to be highest in the neighborhoods closest to highways. Rents tend to be lowest in areas closest to highways.
Therefore, __________.
a patient who lives near a highway may be more likely to have asthma than a patient who does not live near a highway
poor people are more likely to have asthma
asthma rates are highest among people of color
people who live near highways are also more likely to smoke, so it is possible that the smoking, rather than highway pollution, causes increased rates of asthma
we cannot make any predictions based on this information
The correct answer is that a patient who lives near a highway may be more likely to have asthma than a patient who does not live near a highway. We can draw this conclusion based on the statement that rates of asthma tend to be highest in the neighborhoods closest to highways.
Yes, people who live near highways are more likely to be poor because rents are lower, but there are many pockets of poverty—in rural areas, for example—that are nowhere near highways. The statement does not claim that being poor alone increases the risk for asthma. Similarly, it may be true that more people of color live near highways and live in lower rent housing, but in some cities where there are few ethnic minorities, housing near highways may be occupied by non-minorities. There is no evidence from the text that people who live near highways tend to smoke more.
Rates of asthma tend to be highest in the neighborhoods closest to highways. Rents tend to be lowest in areas closest to highways.
Therefore, __________.
a patient who lives near a highway may be more likely to have asthma than a patient who does not live near a highway
poor people are more likely to have asthma
asthma rates are highest among people of color
people who live near highways are also more likely to smoke, so it is possible that the smoking, rather than highway pollution, causes increased rates of asthma
we cannot make any predictions based on this information
The correct answer is that a patient who lives near a highway may be more likely to have asthma than a patient who does not live near a highway. We can draw this conclusion based on the statement that rates of asthma tend to be highest in the neighborhoods closest to highways.
Yes, people who live near highways are more likely to be poor because rents are lower, but there are many pockets of poverty—in rural areas, for example—that are nowhere near highways. The statement does not claim that being poor alone increases the risk for asthma. Similarly, it may be true that more people of color live near highways and live in lower rent housing, but in some cities where there are few ethnic minorities, housing near highways may be occupied by non-minorities. There is no evidence from the text that people who live near highways tend to smoke more.
While many believe that education is a tool that any individual can obtain upward social mobility, it has been shown to be a social institution that actually reinforces and perpetuates social inequalities. Which of the following concepts does not help to explain why this is true?
Social loafing
Residential segregation
Environmental injustice
Social reproduction
Social capital
“Social loafing” is when individuals, who are part of a group, demonstrate decreased effort toward a common goal. It occurs often in nearly all school settings (i.e. it gives rise to a common disdain toward group projects in classes) regardless of the socioeconomic status (SES) of the individuals involved; it would not have a specific effect on social mobility.
The other answers are incorrect. “Residential segregation” refers to the separation of groups of people into different neighborhoods based on race, ethnic, and/or SES differences based on social patterns that persist through decades, despite supposed social progress. Because schools are generally organized by geographic location, neighborhoods with a low SES will have schools with fewer resources. “Environmental injustice refers” to the fact that individuals living in poorer neighborhoods have a greater risk of coming into contact with environmental hazards- often those that may affect cognitive and psychological growth and development. Therefore, even if they are able to attend a school with greater resources (e.g. a charter school or a private school on a scholarship), they face greater obstacles to be able to utilize those resources than students from non-compromised neighborhoods. Last, “social reproduction” refers to the structures (e.g. schools) and activities that propagate inequalities. "Social capital," meaning the potential for social networks that may aid in social mobility, is an example of a structure that may contribute to social reproduction.
While many believe that education is a tool that any individual can obtain upward social mobility, it has been shown to be a social institution that actually reinforces and perpetuates social inequalities. Which of the following concepts does not help to explain why this is true?
Social loafing
Residential segregation
Environmental injustice
Social reproduction
Social capital
“Social loafing” is when individuals, who are part of a group, demonstrate decreased effort toward a common goal. It occurs often in nearly all school settings (i.e. it gives rise to a common disdain toward group projects in classes) regardless of the socioeconomic status (SES) of the individuals involved; it would not have a specific effect on social mobility.
The other answers are incorrect. “Residential segregation” refers to the separation of groups of people into different neighborhoods based on race, ethnic, and/or SES differences based on social patterns that persist through decades, despite supposed social progress. Because schools are generally organized by geographic location, neighborhoods with a low SES will have schools with fewer resources. “Environmental injustice refers” to the fact that individuals living in poorer neighborhoods have a greater risk of coming into contact with environmental hazards- often those that may affect cognitive and psychological growth and development. Therefore, even if they are able to attend a school with greater resources (e.g. a charter school or a private school on a scholarship), they face greater obstacles to be able to utilize those resources than students from non-compromised neighborhoods. Last, “social reproduction” refers to the structures (e.g. schools) and activities that propagate inequalities. "Social capital," meaning the potential for social networks that may aid in social mobility, is an example of a structure that may contribute to social reproduction.
Excerpt from “Institutional Competition,” Edward A. Ross, American Journal of Sociology 1919 25:2, 171-184
The first impulse of any organization or institution on the appearance of a serious competitor is to destroy competition. The "trust" regularly cuts the prices of its products to a point below cost of production in localities in which an "independent" seeks to sell. A shipping combine will have "fighting ships" which are called into play when a new steamship line enters their trade. As soon as the competitor announces a sailing date the combine advertises a steamer to sail on or near this date and offers a freight rate below the actual cost of carriage. In this way the competitor is prevented from securing a cargo.
The highest social class hobbles by minute sumptuary regulations the classes, which aspire to come up abreast of it. In feudal Japan, for example, one might not use his money as he pleased. The farmer, craftsman, or shopkeeper could not build a house as he liked or procure himself such articles of luxury as his taste might incline him to buy. The richest commoner might not order certain things to be made for him, might not imitate the habits or assume the privileges of his betters. Although urged on economic grounds, sumptuary restrictions are doubtless intended to protect the monopoly of prestige by the higher social orders.
The spread of anti-slavery feeling among the producing people of the North during the generation before the American Civil War was due to their perception that slavery is a menace to the free-labor system. In accounting for the early abolition of slavery in Massachusetts John Adams remarks: "Argument might have had some weight ... but the real cause was the multiplication of laboring white people who would not longer suffer the rich to employ these sable rivals so much to their injury."
The whole history of religious persecution is the history of an organization trying to establish itself as a monopoly by ruthless destruction of the spokesmen of competing doctrines and movements. In Diocletian's time Roman religious beliefs were weak while the Christian beliefs were vigorous and spreading. In desperation the old system made a ferocious attempt to exterminate all Christians. A thousand years later the church stamped certain sects out of existence and strangled heresies in the cradle. Says Coulton:
…What Darwin took at first for a smooth unbroken grassland proved, on nearer examination, to be thick-set with tiny self-sown firs, which the cattle regularly cropped as they grew. Similarly, that which some love to picture as the harmonious growth of one great body through the Middle Ages is really a history of many divergent opinions violently strangled at birth; while hundreds more, too vigorous to be killed by the adverse surroundings, and elastic enough to take something of the outward color of their environment, grew in spite of the hierarchy into organisms which, in their turn, profoundly modified the whole constitution of the Church. If the mediaeval theory and practice of persecution had still been in full force in the eighteenth century in England, nearly all the best Wesleyans would have chosen to remain within the Church rather than to shed blood in revolt; and the rest would have been killed off like wild beasts. The present unity of Romanism so far as it exists, is due less to tact than to naked force.
Competition plays a major role in the economy of the United States today. Sometimes people use institutional barriers to eliminate competition. For example, an apartment manager could limit competition for apartment contracts by refusing to rent to members of a certain social class or ethnic group. This practice would demonstrate which of the following?
I. Discrimination
II. Gentrification
III. Redlining
I and III
I only
II and III
I and II
Gentrification is the redevelopment of a downtrodden area, for example, a run-down housing development being replaced by luxury apartments. From the given information, we cannot be clear if this is the case; we are not told which groups are excluded. Redlining is refusing services to a certain group of people based on racial or economic markers. Discrimination is an institutional prejudice. Both of these conditions are met in this example.
Excerpt from “Institutional Competition,” Edward A. Ross, American Journal of Sociology 1919 25:2, 171-184
The first impulse of any organization or institution on the appearance of a serious competitor is to destroy competition. The "trust" regularly cuts the prices of its products to a point below cost of production in localities in which an "independent" seeks to sell. A shipping combine will have "fighting ships" which are called into play when a new steamship line enters their trade. As soon as the competitor announces a sailing date the combine advertises a steamer to sail on or near this date and offers a freight rate below the actual cost of carriage. In this way the competitor is prevented from securing a cargo.
The highest social class hobbles by minute sumptuary regulations the classes, which aspire to come up abreast of it. In feudal Japan, for example, one might not use his money as he pleased. The farmer, craftsman, or shopkeeper could not build a house as he liked or procure himself such articles of luxury as his taste might incline him to buy. The richest commoner might not order certain things to be made for him, might not imitate the habits or assume the privileges of his betters. Although urged on economic grounds, sumptuary restrictions are doubtless intended to protect the monopoly of prestige by the higher social orders.
The spread of anti-slavery feeling among the producing people of the North during the generation before the American Civil War was due to their perception that slavery is a menace to the free-labor system. In accounting for the early abolition of slavery in Massachusetts John Adams remarks: "Argument might have had some weight ... but the real cause was the multiplication of laboring white people who would not longer suffer the rich to employ these sable rivals so much to their injury."
The whole history of religious persecution is the history of an organization trying to establish itself as a monopoly by ruthless destruction of the spokesmen of competing doctrines and movements. In Diocletian's time Roman religious beliefs were weak while the Christian beliefs were vigorous and spreading. In desperation the old system made a ferocious attempt to exterminate all Christians. A thousand years later the church stamped certain sects out of existence and strangled heresies in the cradle. Says Coulton:
…What Darwin took at first for a smooth unbroken grassland proved, on nearer examination, to be thick-set with tiny self-sown firs, which the cattle regularly cropped as they grew. Similarly, that which some love to picture as the harmonious growth of one great body through the Middle Ages is really a history of many divergent opinions violently strangled at birth; while hundreds more, too vigorous to be killed by the adverse surroundings, and elastic enough to take something of the outward color of their environment, grew in spite of the hierarchy into organisms which, in their turn, profoundly modified the whole constitution of the Church. If the mediaeval theory and practice of persecution had still been in full force in the eighteenth century in England, nearly all the best Wesleyans would have chosen to remain within the Church rather than to shed blood in revolt; and the rest would have been killed off like wild beasts. The present unity of Romanism so far as it exists, is due less to tact than to naked force.
Competition plays a major role in the economy of the United States today. Sometimes people use institutional barriers to eliminate competition. For example, an apartment manager could limit competition for apartment contracts by refusing to rent to members of a certain social class or ethnic group. This practice would demonstrate which of the following?
I. Discrimination
II. Gentrification
III. Redlining
I and III
I only
II and III
I and II
Gentrification is the redevelopment of a downtrodden area, for example, a run-down housing development being replaced by luxury apartments. From the given information, we cannot be clear if this is the case; we are not told which groups are excluded. Redlining is refusing services to a certain group of people based on racial or economic markers. Discrimination is an institutional prejudice. Both of these conditions are met in this example.
Diana takes the subway to and from school every day. Her family’s apartment, situated in a low-income neighborhood of New York City, is a thirty-minute walk from the subway station. During her trips to the subway, Diana loves to watch people work, play, and socialize. She feels very safe in her community because she trusts the people around her.
One day, Diana observes a bulldozer tearing down a run-down shopping center. A sign in front of the property features a picture of a high-rise, luxury apartment complex. Which of the following would best describe the observed situation?
Gentrification
Redlining
Anomie
Justification
“Gentrification” describes the transformation of an area from old and rundown to new and modern. In this case, gentrification is observed because the new apartment is bringing a new, rich class to the rundown neighborhood. The situation could be described as “redlining” only if someone refused to sell a property or house to someone based on racial or other discriminatory means. “Anomie” describes a person that does not conform to social norms, which does not relate a building that does not fit in a neighborhood. Last, “justification” describes when people try to convince themselves to act in a way that is normally considered to be socially unacceptable.
Diana takes the subway to and from school every day. Her family’s apartment, situated in a low-income neighborhood of New York City, is a thirty-minute walk from the subway station. During her trips to the subway, Diana loves to watch people work, play, and socialize. She feels very safe in her community because she trusts the people around her.
One day, Diana observes a bulldozer tearing down a run-down shopping center. A sign in front of the property features a picture of a high-rise, luxury apartment complex. Which of the following would best describe the observed situation?
Gentrification
Redlining
Anomie
Justification
“Gentrification” describes the transformation of an area from old and rundown to new and modern. In this case, gentrification is observed because the new apartment is bringing a new, rich class to the rundown neighborhood. The situation could be described as “redlining” only if someone refused to sell a property or house to someone based on racial or other discriminatory means. “Anomie” describes a person that does not conform to social norms, which does not relate a building that does not fit in a neighborhood. Last, “justification” describes when people try to convince themselves to act in a way that is normally considered to be socially unacceptable.