1,800+ MCAT terms, defined.

Functionalism is a macro-level sociological theory that sees society as a system of interdependent institutions, each serving functions that keep society stable. Its testable contrast is with conflict theory, which stresses power and ine...

Norms are shared, often unwritten rules about how people are expected to behave in a society or group. The MCAT ranks them by seriousness: folkways (mild conventions), mores (morally significant), and laws (formally enforced), upheld by...

Discrimination is the behavior of treating people differently, usually unfairly, because of their group membership. It is the action component of bias, separate from stereotypes (beliefs) and prejudice (attitudes), and it can be individu...

Conflict theory is a macro-level sociological view that society is shaped by competition among groups for scarce resources and power, so social order reflects the dominance of powerful groups. The testable contrast is with functionalism,...

Culture is the shared beliefs, values, norms, language, symbols and objects of a group, learned through socialization rather than inherited. The MCAT splits it into material culture (objects) and symbolic culture (ideas, norms, language)...

Status is a socially defined position in a group or society, with expected rights, duties and a level of prestige. The MCAT mostly tests the types: ascribed (assigned, not chosen), achieved (earned or chosen), and master status (the one...

Social capital is the resources and advantages a person gains from their social networks and relationships, such as information, trust, and access to opportunities. Testable point: it is "who you know," a separate kind of capital from mo...

A micro-level sociological theory holding that society is built from everyday interactions in which people share and negotiate meanings through symbols such as language and gestures. Testable point: it explains small-scale behavior throu...

Social constructionism is the sociological view that many things we treat as natural or objective, such as race, gender, illness, deviance, or money, get their meaning through shared interaction and agreement. The testable point: these m...

An in-group is a social group a person belongs to and identifies with, defined in contrast to an out-group the person does not belong to. The most testable point is in-group bias: people tend to favor their own group and judge out-group...

Race is a socially constructed category that groups people by perceived physical traits such as skin color. The MCAT stresses that its boundaries and meanings are set by society and change across time and place, rather than reflecting di...

Cultural capital (Pierre Bourdieu) is the set of non-financial assets, such as education, knowledge, tastes, speech and manners, that signal and help maintain social class position. Because schools and employers often reward higher-class...

Social support is the emotional, esteem, informational, or tangible help a person receives, or believes is available, from their social network. It is linked to lower stress and better health, explained either by a direct effect on well-...

A reference group is a group a person uses as a standard for judging their own behavior, attitudes, or social standing. It can be a group the person belongs to or one they only hope to join. The testable point: comparison with the refere...

Migration is the movement of people from one place to another to settle, and it is one of the three demographic processes, with birth and death, that change a population. Immigration is movement into a region and emigration is movement o...

Mass hysteria is a form of collective behavior in which a fear, belief, or physical symptom spreads quickly through a group, usually with no physical cause found. The testable point is that it is explained by social contagion, meaning pe...

A social movement is a sustained, organized effort by a large group to bring about or resist social change, usually through channels outside routine institutions. The MCAT tests why movements arise and succeed: relative deprivation stres...

Role conflict is the tension that arises when the expectations of two or more roles a person holds at the same time are incompatible, such as worker and parent. The key test point: conflict spans different roles, whereas role strain is s...

Role strain is stress that arises from incompatible or excessive demands within a single social role, such as a teacher expected to be both friendly mentor and impartial grader. The testable contrast: strain involves one role, while role...

A bureaucracy is a formal organization run by written rules, a hierarchy of offices, specialized roles, and impersonal, merit-based treatment of members. Weber presented it as an ideal type of rational-legal authority that favors efficie...

Impression management is the deliberate effort to control how others see us by shaping our behavior, appearance, and speech. The MCAT ties it to Goffman's dramaturgical approach, where people act like performers managing front-stage beha...

Social identity is the part of a person's self-concept that comes from belonging to social groups, such as nationality, religion, gender, or team. Social identity theory says people boost self-esteem by favoring their ingroup over outgro...

Peer pressure is social influence from peers of similar age or status that leads a person to change behavior or attitudes to fit the group. The MCAT treats it as conformity, usually driven by normative social influence (the wish for acce...

A subculture is a group within a larger society whose members share distinctive values, norms, or practices that set them apart from the mainstream, while they usually still take part in it. The testable contrast is with counterculture,...

A self-fulfilling prophecy is a belief or expectation, often false at first, that changes how people behave so that the expectation comes true. The key test point is that the belief produces the outcome through behavior, as when teacher...

Symbolic culture is the nonmaterial part of culture: the shared symbols, language, beliefs, values, and rituals through which a society gives meaning to its world. The most testable point is the contrast with material culture, the physic...

A riot is a violent, disorderly outburst by a crowd, and the MCAT treats it as an example of collective behavior: spontaneous, loosely structured group action. The testable point is matching a riot to an explanation: contagion, convergen...

Cultural relativism is the principle that a person's beliefs, values and practices should be understood within their own culture's context rather than judged by the standards of another culture. It is the opposite of ethnocentrism, and t...

Social reproduction is the process by which a society's inequalities, especially class position, are passed from one generation to the next, often through schools and families. The testable link: Bourdieu's cultural capital helps explain...

A social network is a web of social ties linking individuals or groups, through which support, information, resources, and influence flow. Testable point: strong ties (close family, friends) tend to give emotional support, while weak tie...

Sanctions are social reactions that enforce norms: rewards (positive sanctions) for conforming and punishments (negative sanctions) for deviating. They can be formal (laws, fines) or informal (praise, gossip, ostracism), and they are a k...

Social class is a category of people who hold a similar position in a society's hierarchy, usually defined by income, wealth, education, and occupation. Marx defined it by relation to the means of production; Weber also added prestige an...

Conflict theory is a macro-level sociological view that society is shaped by competition among groups with unequal power for scarce resources like wealth and status. Institutions tend to protect dominant groups, and tension drives change...

Gender is the set of social and cultural roles, expectations, and identities a society links to being masculine, feminine, or another identity. It differs from sex, which is biological. The testable point is that gender is socially const...

Social institutions are enduring, organized patterns of norms, roles, and values that meet basic societal needs, such as family, education, religion, government, economy, and health care. Functionalism sees them as sustaining stability,...

Rational choice theory explains behavior as individuals weighing costs and benefits and choosing the option that best serves their own goals. Most testable point: it builds social patterns up from individual calculations (micro level), a...

Feminist theory is a sociological perspective that examines how gender inequality is built into institutions and everyday interaction, often through patriarchy (male dominance). It grows out of conflict theory and treats gender as largel...

A social group is two or more people who interact regularly and share a sense of belonging or common identity. The MCAT mainly contrasts primary groups (small, close, lasting) with secondary groups (larger, impersonal, goal-oriented), an...

Dramaturgy is Erving Goffman's approach that treats everyday social interaction as a theatrical performance, in which people manage the impressions others form of them. Most testable: behavior differs between the front stage (performing...

Max Weber was a German sociologist known for rationalization and bureaucracy, three types of authority (traditional, charismatic, legal-rational), and a stratification model of class, status and power. The most testable point is that cla...

The demographic transition is the shift of a society from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates as it industrializes. Death rates usually fall before birth rates, so population growth is fastest in the middle stage, whe...

Gentrification is the movement of higher-income residents into a lower-income urban neighborhood, raising rents and property values and often displacing longtime residents. Most testable: it changes the area's class makeup and can deepen...

Labeling theory says deviance comes from society's reaction to an act, not from the act itself. A label can be internalized and may lead to further deviance (secondary deviance, per Lemert). It is a symbolic interactionist view, tied to...

Social stratification is a society's ranking of people into unequal layers by wealth, income, power, prestige and education. Functionalists see it as rewarding important roles; conflict theorists see it as preserving elite advantage. Cas...

World-systems theory (Immanuel Wallerstein) treats the world as one capitalist economy with core, semi-periphery, and periphery nations. Core nations tend to draw cheap labor and raw materials from the periphery, which helps keep global...

Health outcomes are the measurable results of health in people or populations, such as morbidity, mortality, and life expectancy. On the MCAT they are the result that social factors like socioeconomic status and access to care predict; h...

Poverty is a lack of the resources needed for basic needs or ordinary social participation. It is defined in two ways: absolute (below a fixed standard) and relative (far less than others in the same society). Greater poverty usually goe...

Socialization is the lifelong process by which people learn and internalize the norms, values, language, and roles of their society. The MCAT most often tests the agents of socialization (family, peers, school, media) and primary versus...

A fad is a short-lived behavior, style, or object that spreads quickly through a group by imitation and then fades. It is a form of collective behavior: spontaneous and unorganized, with no goal of changing society, which separates it fr...

Social interaction is how people act toward and respond to one another, shaped by status, roles, norms, and setting. The MCAT tests the frameworks that explain it, such as symbolic interactionism and Goffman's dramaturgical approach, and...