MCAT Psychological Social Foundations Flashcards: 10a Social Mobility Inter Intragenerational

What this deck covers

This deck focuses on 10a Social Mobility Inter Intragenerational, giving you a quick way to review the definitions, rules, and examples that matter most for MCAT Psychological Social Foundations.

How to use these flashcards

Work through these flashcards in short sessions. Try to answer each prompt before flipping the card, then revisit any cards you miss until the explanation feels automatic.

Flashcard 1: What is the difference between achieved status and ascribed status?

Answer: Achieved: earned; Ascribed: assigned at birth (for example, race, sex). Achieved requires effort; ascribed is inherited.

Flashcard 2: What is the status attainment model primarily used to explain?

Answer: How education, family background, and occupation shape adult socioeconomic status. Links individual characteristics to achieved social position.

Flashcard 3: What is social mobility in sociological terms?

Answer: Movement of individuals or groups within a social stratification system. Encompasses both upward and downward changes in class or status.

Flashcard 4: What is intergenerational social mobility?

Answer: Change in social position between parents and their children. Compares offspring's status to their parents' status.

Flashcard 5: What is intragenerational social mobility?

Answer: Change in social position within an individual’s own lifetime. Occurs during one person's career or life span.

Flashcard 6: Which option describes intergenerational mobility: (A) promotion at age 40 (B) higher status than one’s parents?

Answer: B. Between generations means parent-child comparison.

Flashcard 7: Which option describes intragenerational mobility: (A) moving from clerk to manager (B) child exceeds parent’s status?

Answer: A. Within generation means changes in one's own lifetime.

Flashcard 8: What is upward social mobility?

Answer: Movement to a higher socioeconomic position. Improves class, income, education, or occupational prestige.

Flashcard 9: What is downward social mobility?

Answer: Movement to a lower socioeconomic position. Decreases in class, income, education, or occupational prestige.

Flashcard 10: What is horizontal social mobility?

Answer: Status change with little or no change in social rank. Job change at same hierarchical level, like lateral career moves.

Flashcard 11: Identify the mobility type: A nurse becomes a school teacher with similar pay and prestige.

Answer: Horizontal mobility. Both professions have comparable status and compensation.

Flashcard 12: Identify the mobility type: A physician loses a license and becomes an aide with lower prestige.

Answer: Downward mobility. Loss of professional status represents decline in position.

Flashcard 13: What is structural mobility?

Answer: Mobility driven by societal changes that alter opportunities and occupations. Economic shifts create or eliminate entire job categories.

Flashcard 14: What is intergenerational social mobility?

Answer: Change in social class between parents and their children. Compares offspring's class to their parents' class.

Flashcard 15: What is social mobility in sociology?

Answer: Movement of individuals or groups within a stratification system. Refers to changes in position within society's hierarchy.

Flashcard 16: Identify the mobility type: a nurse becomes a teacher with similar prestige and pay.

Answer: Horizontal mobility. Same class level despite occupational change.

Flashcard 17: What does an IGE of $1$ imply about intergenerational income mobility?

Answer: No mobility; children’s income fully tracks parents’ income. Perfect correlation means income is inherited.

Flashcard 18: What does an IGE of $0$ imply about intergenerational income mobility?

Answer: Complete mobility; parents’ income does not predict children’s income. Zero correlation means perfect income mobility.

Flashcard 19: Which IGE indicates more intergenerational mobility: $0.2$ or $0.6$?

Answer: $0.2$. Lower values indicate weaker parent-child income link.

Flashcard 20: What does the intergenerational income elasticity (IGE) represent?

Answer: Strength of parent-child income persistence; higher IGE = less mobility. Coefficient showing income correlation across generations.

Flashcard 21: What is relative mobility (intergenerational) measuring?

Answer: How strongly children’s rank depends on parents’ rank. Measures correlation between parent-child positions.

Flashcard 22: What is absolute mobility (intergenerational) measuring?

Answer: Whether children’s outcomes exceed their parents’ in real terms. Compares actual income/status to parents' levels.

Flashcard 23: What is exchange mobility?

Answer: Mobility where upward moves are offset by downward moves overall. Zero-sum mobility where gains equal losses in society.

Flashcard 24: What is structural mobility?

Answer: Mobility caused by changes in the economy or labor market structure. Economic shifts create or eliminate entire job categories.

Flashcard 25: What is downward social mobility?

Answer: Movement to a lower socioeconomic position. Results in loss of class standing or resources.

Flashcard 26: What is upward social mobility?

Answer: Movement to a higher socioeconomic position. Improves one's class standing through advancement.

Flashcard 27: What is intragenerational social mobility?

Answer: Change in social class within an individual’s lifetime. Tracks class changes from start to end of one's career.

Flashcard 28: What is downward social mobility?

Answer: Movement to a lower social class or socioeconomic position. Often due to job loss, illness, or economic downturns.

Flashcard 29: Which concept best describes how cultural capital helps maintain class across generations?

Answer: Social reproduction. Cultural capital perpetuates class advantages across generations.

Flashcard 30: Identify the mobility type: Some people move up only because others move down.

Answer: Exchange mobility. Individual competition redistributes positions without structural change.