Culture, demographics and social inequality sample question 3

the functionalist view of stratification

Culture, demographics and social inequality sample question 4

The crude birth rate divides births by the whole population, so it depends on age structure, whereas the total fertility rate sums age-specific rates and does not.

MCAT · Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior · Sociology

Culture, demographics and social inequality

Culture, demographics and social inequality is part of Sociology in the MCAT Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior section. The questions below are written in the style of the real test, each with the answer and a worked explanation.

Question types you will see here include demographic transition and population pyramids, migration, urbanisation and gentrification, intersectionality and compounding disadvantage and segregation and place-based inequality.

Common traps: confusing stage 2 with stage 3; mixing crude rates with total fertility; reading a wide base as high life expectancy.

Sample questions

Question 1
A community rejects wage labour, private property and formal schooling and seeks to replace them with communal living and self-directed learning. Its members are best described as forming a:
- A.
  subculture.
- B.
  counterculture.
- C.
  reference group.
- D.
  total institution.
Answer: B. counterculture.
A counterculture actively rejects and opposes central values and institutions of the dominant culture, as the rejection of wage labour, property and schooling does. A subculture has distinctive practices but remains compatible with the dominant culture, a reference group is a standard of comparison, and a total institution controls all aspects of residents' lives, as a prison does.
Question 2
In a country with low infant and child mortality, which total fertility rate is closest to replacement level?
- A.
  About 2.1 children per woman
- B.
  About 1.0 child per woman
- C.
  About 3.5 children per woman
- D.
  About 5.0 children per woman
Answer: A. About 2.1 children per woman
Replacement-level fertility is about 2.1 children per woman in low-mortality populations: two children replace the parents, and the small additional amount offsets deaths before reproductive age. A rate of about 1.0 is far below replacement and would lead to population decline over time.
Question 3
A theorist argues that societies must offer greater rewards for important positions requiring scarce talent and long training, so that the most capable people are motivated to fill them. This argument reflects:
- A.
  the conflict view of stratification
- B.
  the functionalist view of stratification
- C.
  the symbolic interactionist view of stratification
- D.
  the world systems view of stratification
Answer: B. the functionalist view of stratification
The argument that unequal rewards are needed to motivate qualified people to fill important roles is the Davis-Moore thesis, a functionalist account of stratification. Conflict theorists instead argue that inequality reflects the ability of powerful groups to protect their advantages rather than a necessity for society.
Question 4
In a country, women's total fertility rate has stayed at 1.8 children per woman for 15 years, yet the crude birth rate has risen because a very large cohort born 25 to 30 years ago is now in its main childbearing years. What best explains this divergence?
- A.
  The crude birth rate divides births by the whole population, so it depends on age structure, whereas the total fertility rate sums age-specific rates and does not.
- B.
  The total fertility rate counts only each woman's first birth, while the crude birth rate counts all births in a year.
- C.
  The crude birth rate measures births per woman, so it rises whenever the average woman has more children over her life.
- D.
  The total fertility rate subtracts deaths of infants, which lowers it relative to the crude birth rate in such a country.
Answer: A. The crude birth rate divides births by the whole population, so it depends on age structure, whereas the total fertility rate sums age-specific rates and does not.
A: CBR is births per 1,000 people, so more women at peak childbearing ages raises it even with no change in births per woman; TFR is built from age-specific rates, removing age-structure effects. B: TFR includes all births. C confuses CBR with fertility per woman. D: neither measure subtracts infant deaths.

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