MCAT Psychological Social Foundations Flashcards: 9b Urbanization Industrialization Social Change

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This deck focuses on 9b Urbanization Industrialization Social Change, giving you a quick way to review the definitions, rules, and examples that matter most for MCAT Psychological Social Foundations.

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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 residential segregation in the context of urbanization?

Answer: Physical separation of groups into different neighborhoods by race or class. Creates unequal access to resources and opportunities.

Flashcard 2: Which concept describes the weakening of social ties due to mobility and urban living?

Answer: Social disorganization. Rapid change disrupts traditional community bonds.

Flashcard 3: What is the epidemiologic transition associated with industrialization?

Answer: Shift from infectious disease deaths to chronic/degenerative disease deaths. Better healthcare shifts mortality from infections to aging diseases.

Flashcard 4: What is the demographic transition model (DTM)?

Answer: Model linking development to changes in birth and death rates over time. Explains population growth patterns as societies modernize.

Flashcard 5: What is anomie in Durkheim's framework?

Answer: Normlessness from rapid social change, weakening social regulation. Anomie in Durkheim's framework results from disrupted social norms during transitions like industrialization, leading to individual disorientation and deviance.

Flashcard 6: What is gentrification?

Answer: Upgrading of urban areas that raises costs and displaces prior residents. Often changes neighborhood demographics and culture.

Flashcard 7: What is gentrification?

Answer: Wealthier residents move into a neighborhood, raising costs and displacing others. Gentrification arises from urban renewal investments that attract affluent populations, often resulting in socioeconomic displacement of lower-income residents.

Flashcard 8: What is the "iron law of oligarchy" as organizations grow and bureaucratize?

Answer: Large organizations tend to become ruled by a small self-interested elite. The iron law of oligarchy, proposed by Michels, argues that bureaucratic growth inevitably concentrates power in an elite, undermining democratic ideals.

Flashcard 9: What is urbanization in sociology?

Answer: Population shift from rural areas to cities, increasing urban living. Creates concentrated populations in metropolitan areas.

Flashcard 10: What is world-systems theory (core–periphery model)?

Answer: Global economy with core, semi-periphery, and periphery in unequal exchange. World-systems theory describes a global division of labor where nations are stratified into tiers engaging in exploitative economic exchanges to maintain inequality.

Flashcard 11: Which DTM stage has declining birth rates with low death rates?

Answer: Stage 3 (late industrial). Education and contraception reduce births as mortality stays low.

Flashcard 12: Identify the concept: a city has $>50\%$ of a nation's urban population in one metro area.

Answer: Primate city. Dominates the urban hierarchy, often twice the size of second city.

Flashcard 13: Which DTM stage has low birth rates and low death rates with stable population?

Answer: Stage 4 (postindustrial). Both rates equalize at low levels, creating zero growth.

Flashcard 14: What is the dependency ratio?

Answer: Ratio of dependents (young and old) to working-age population. Higher ratios mean fewer workers support more non-workers.

Flashcard 15: Which DTM stage has high birth rates but rapidly declining death rates?

Answer: Stage 2 (early industrial). Medical advances reduce mortality while fertility remains high.

Flashcard 16: What is a pull factor in rural-to-urban migration?

Answer: Condition that attracts people to destination (for example, city jobs). Positive urban features draw rural populations to cities.

Flashcard 17: What is the replacement-level fertility rate in developed countries?

Answer: Approximately $2.1$ children per woman. Accounts for infant mortality requiring slightly above 2.0.

Flashcard 18: What is urban sprawl?

Answer: Low-density outward expansion of cities into surrounding rural land. Urban sprawl is driven by population growth and automobile dependency, leading to environmental degradation and inefficient land use.

Flashcard 19: What is social stratification?

Answer: Structured inequality in access to resources, power, and prestige. Creates hierarchies based on class, race, and status.

Flashcard 20: What is industrialization in sociology?

Answer: Shift from agrarian production to mechanized, factory-based production. Transforms economies from manual labor to machine production.

Flashcard 21: What is suburbanization?

Answer: Population movement from central cities to surrounding suburban areas. Post-WWII phenomenon driven by cars and housing preferences.

Flashcard 22: What is the demographic transition model (DTM) in one sentence?

Answer: Model linking development to falling death rates followed by falling birth rates. The demographic transition model illustrates how industrialization reduces mortality before fertility, leading to population stabilization in advanced stages.

Flashcard 23: What is the difference between mechanical and organic solidarity in Durkheim's theory?

Answer: Mechanical: similarity; Organic: interdependence via specialized division of labor. Durkheim's theory distinguishes solidarity types based on societal complexity: mechanical in homogeneous groups and organic in diverse, interdependent ones.

Flashcard 24: Which concept best describes a shift from manufacturing to service and information work?

Answer: Postindustrial society. Postindustrial society emphasizes knowledge-based economies over manufacturing, driven by technological advancements and globalization.

Flashcard 25: What is the fundamental cause of the rural-to-urban shift during industrialization?

Answer: Concentration of wage labor and factories in urban centers. Jobs in factories drew workers from agricultural areas.

Flashcard 26: What is a push factor in rural-to-urban migration?

Answer: Condition that drives people out of origin area (for example, unemployment). Negative conditions motivate people to leave rural areas.

Flashcard 27: What is rural-to-urban migration?

Answer: Movement from countryside to cities, often for employment and services. Rural-to-urban migration occurs due to disparities in economic prospects and access to amenities, contributing to urbanization and social change.

Flashcard 28: What is social stratification?

Answer: Hierarchical arrangement of people into unequal social classes or groups. Creates systematic inequality in resources and power.

Flashcard 29: What is the fertility rate (total fertility rate, TFR)?

Answer: Average number of children born per woman over her lifetime. Measures reproductive behavior at population level.

Flashcard 30: What is the difference between absolute poverty and relative poverty?

Answer: Absolute: basic needs unmet; Relative: below society's typical standard. Absolute is objective deprivation; relative is comparative.

Flashcard 31: What is industrialization as a social process?

Answer: Shift from agrarian labor to mechanized factory-based production. Industrialization involves technological advancements that replace manual labor with machines, leading to economic growth and social reorganization around factories.

Flashcard 32: What is suburbanization?

Answer: Movement of residents and businesses from cities to surrounding suburbs. Often driven by housing costs and desire for space.

Flashcard 33: What is the infant mortality rate?

Answer: Deaths of infants under age 1 per 1,000 live births in a year. Infant mortality rate serves as an indicator of healthcare quality and socioeconomic conditions, reflecting broader public health challenges in populations.

Flashcard 34: What is urbanization in sociology?

Answer: Population shift from rural areas to cities, increasing urban density. Urbanization reflects sociological processes where economic opportunities and infrastructure draw populations to cities, transforming social structures and increasing density.

Flashcard 35: What is a slum (informal settlement) in the context of rapid urbanization?

Answer: Densely populated area with substandard housing and limited services. Slums develop in rapidly urbanizing areas due to inadequate housing policies and economic disparities, leading to informal settlements with poor living conditions.

Flashcard 36: What does the term "periphery country" mean in world-systems theory?

Answer: Less developed nation supplying raw materials and low-wage labor. Periphery countries are positioned in world-systems theory as providers of cheap resources and labor, perpetuating their economic subordination to core nations.

Flashcard 37: What is the demographic transition model (DTM)?

Answer: Model linking economic development to changes in birth and death rates. Shows how population growth patterns change with modernization.

Flashcard 38: What does the term "core country" mean in world-systems theory?

Answer: Wealthy industrialized nation dominating trade and high-skill production. In world-systems theory, core countries leverage advanced technology and capital to control global markets and extract value from less developed regions.

Flashcard 39: Which concept best fits: a city grows due to in-migration from rural areas for factory work?

Answer: Urbanization driven by industrial pull factors. Industrial jobs attract rural workers, causing urban growth.

Flashcard 40: What is the fertility rate?

Answer: Average number of children born per woman in a population. Fertility rate measures reproductive patterns influenced by social, economic, and cultural factors, impacting population growth and demographic structures.

Flashcard 41: What is residential segregation?

Answer: Physical separation of groups into different neighborhoods by race or class. Residential segregation stems from systemic inequalities and discriminatory practices, reinforcing social divisions and limiting access to opportunities.

Flashcard 42: What is modernization theory?

Answer: Development model in which societies industrialize and adopt "modern" norms. Modernization theory posits that societies evolve through stages of development by embracing industrial practices and Western cultural values for progress.

Flashcard 43: What is a pull factor for migration?

Answer: Condition that attracts people to a destination (for example, jobs). Pull factors are positive attributes of a destination that incentivize migration by offering better opportunities, driving population movements in social contexts.

Flashcard 44: What is a push factor for migration?

Answer: Condition that drives people to leave an origin location (for example, war). Push factors represent adverse conditions in the origin that compel migration by making staying untenable, influencing demographic shifts in sociology.

Flashcard 45: What is a semi-periphery country in world-systems theory?

Answer: Intermediate nation with mixed industry; buffers core and periphery. Semi-periphery countries serve as intermediaries in world-systems theory, stabilizing the global economy by bridging exploitation between core and periphery.

Flashcard 46: What is industrialization in sociology?

Answer: Shift from agrarian economies to machine-based manufacturing and industry. Transforms production from manual labor to mechanized systems.

Flashcard 47: Which option best describes a common health pattern during early industrialization?

Answer: High infectious disease burden from crowding and poor sanitation. Industrial cities initially had poor public health systems.

Flashcard 48: What is gentrification?

Answer: Urban renewal with affluent in-migration and displacement of prior residents. Economic revitalization often increases housing costs.

Flashcard 49: What is urbanization in sociology?

Answer: Population shift from rural areas to cities, increasing urban residence. Movement of people concentrates populations in metropolitan areas.

Flashcard 50: Which theory argues that industrialization shifts families toward a nuclear form?

Answer: Functionalism (industrial society favors nuclear families and mobility). Parsons argued extended families hinder geographic mobility.

Flashcard 51: What is a megacity?

Answer: Urban area with population of at least 10 million people. Megacities emerge from rapid urbanization and population growth, often straining resources and infrastructure in developing regions.

Flashcard 52: What is suburbanization?

Answer: Population shift from central cities to surrounding suburbs. Suburbanization results from preferences for space and lower density living, facilitated by transportation advancements and urban decentralization.

Flashcard 53: What is dependency theory?

Answer: Poor nations remain underdeveloped due to exploitation by wealthy nations. Dependency theory explains underdevelopment as a result of historical exploitation and unequal trade relations that benefit richer nations at the expense of poorer ones.

Flashcard 54: What is a megacity in demographic terms?

Answer: Urban area with population greater than $10$ million. Examples include Tokyo, Mumbai, and São Paulo.

Flashcard 55: Which DTM stage has high birth rates and high death rates?

Answer: Stage 1 (preindustrial). Both rates are high, resulting in stable but small populations.